APN's daily news review from Israel

Sunday April 17, 2016
 

Quote of the day:

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Front Page:

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

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News Summary:


Quick Hits:

• Relative of Murdered Palestinian Teen Mohammed Abu Khdeir Beaten Up in Jerusalem - Family of Zoheir Abu Khdeir, 62, says police refused to launch an investigation unless the victim files it himself. (Haaretz+)
• MK Bahloul responds to the storm: "I would support an attack on soldiers? Are you crazy?" - The Zionist Camp MK was interviewed for the first time since his statement that a Palestinian who stabbed soldiers is not a terrorist. He referred to the rise of radical Islam and said: "The ISISists will look for me first. I cannot live without my Jewish neighbors, without our values… "I’m a man with my feet on the ground, I knew what I was doing," he told Channel Two. "I want to be a bridge between the sides, but I won’t give up on my ethnicity and my meaning." Regarding claims that he wants IDF soldiers to die: "It is impossible to attribute these things to me. Are you crazy? The soldiers are the victims of the cursed politics that we live in. They could have been the children of my neighbors. I want their lives ended? All I said was that terms need to be used to wake (Jewish) Israelis from their slumber. The occupation exists here." (Maariv)
• Netanyahu calls for incitement probe against Israeli Arab lawmaker - MK Jamal Zahalka (Joint Arab List) told a Gazan news website that Palestinians needed to unite to prevent Jewish visits to the Temple Mount. (Haaretz+ and Israel Hayom)
• Italian Prime Minister Asks Netanyahu to Rethink Choice of Envoy to Rome - Opposition to former Italian MP Fiamma Nirenstein's appointment stems from ostensible conflicts of interest, mainly that she had represented Italian voters and would now serve another country in Rome. (Haaretz+)
• Former Irish Prime Minister: We and the British compromised - and we achieved peace - Bertie Ahern arrived arrived in Israel at the invitation of MK Hilik Bar (Zionist Camp) and described how the Northern Ireland conflict was resolved and what can be learned from it about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (Maariv)
• Herzog: "Abbas told me there would be a third Intifada, Netanyahu did not respoknd" - Opposition leader met with former Irish Prime Minister and told him that during the 2015 election he met with Chairman of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, who warned of an escalation. "Netanyahu did not respond and the rest is tragic history.” (Maariv) 
• Lapid against Haaretz newspaper: "left-wing extremists who cause terrible damage to Israel" - Chairman of Yesh Atid party has attacked the newspaper following the publication of an Op-Ed by Gideon Levy about IDF soldiers: "They have lost it. Whoever views our soldiers as indiscriminate murderers is deliberately lying and also allowing others to kill them." (Maariv and Israel Hayom)
• Israel mistakenly hands over assailant's body to Palestinians - Army initially claimed it gave PA the body of Ibrahim Baradiya, who tried to attack soldiers with an ax, at the government's request, but later backtracked. (Haaretz+, Israel Hayom and Ynet)
• Palestinian who drove terrorists to Jerusalem attack charged with involuntary manslaughter - Border Policewoman Hadar Cohen was killed during the Damascus Gate attack in February and a female colleague of hers was badly wounded. (Haaretz+ and Israel Hayom) 
• Israel razes buildings in Jerusalem-area Palestinian village - The two orders were carried out despite an application for a stay of execution of the demolition order that apparently never reached the court. (Haaretz+)
• High Court justices leery about Netanyahu's multiple ministries - Justice Hanan Melcer says the prime minister’s holding of the communications portfolio undermines the separation of powers. (Haaretz+) 
• Israel Police to recruit more Muslim officers - On the heels of Gamal Hakroosh's appointment as Northern Police Commissioner, the Israel Police is attempting to recruit over 1,300 Arab and Muslim police officers. Many within the sector are opposed. (Ynet) 
• Hundreds of Palestinian laborers discover their permits to work in Israel have been revoked - By contrast, the security cabinet has approved issuing 30,000 new work permits for Palestinians seeking to work inside Israel. (Haaretz+) 
• "The condition of 'just no Arabs’ is impossible in the (home) renovations industry" - Eran Siv, chairman of the Renovations Contractors Union, blames the wave of terror for the difficulties in the industry and is angry at the lack of government support: "Why do we deserve this disrespect? These are small businesses without financial reserves.” He said families in need of home renovations are afraid to have Arabs enter their homes to work because of the wave of Arab terror, and there are many instances where customers condition a renovation on there not being Arab laborers. "About 80% of workers in the industry are Israeli Arabs and Palestinians," he said. "For us the condition of only non-Arabs is impossible. I would like to point out that our Palestinians employees have work license, received after passing a strict check by the defense establishment. These are people who come here to earn a living, not to carry out attacks. Moreover, since the outbreak of the knife intifada, there was no case of a house renovation worker making any attack.” (Maariv)
• Rocket alert in southern Israel was false alarm, no Gaza rocket fired - Residents said they did not hear Thursday the sound of an explosion after the Color Red siren was sounded. (Haaretz)
• For most Israelis, there's no such thing as retirement - Only one in 10 working Israelis aged 65 say they'll retire at 67. (Haaretz+)   
• 350,000 Israelis to travel abroad for Passover - More than 1.1 million travelers are expected to pass through Ben Gurion Aiport during the holiday: Israelis' preferred destinations this year include the US and southern Europe. (Yedioth/Ynet)
• Greek government offers gift to Israeli tourists - Israel one of four nations whose tourists have been granted a 20% discount in Greek shops and other businesses in 2016 • According to Greek Tourism Ministry, some 400,000 Israelis visited Greece in 2015, due in part to tension between Israel and Turkey. (Israel Hayom)
• Israel ranked 28 in UK tourism poll - Israel beat out countries such as Mexico, Brazil, and even Spain in a Telegraph poll of British people’s favorite vacation sites. (Ynet)
• When Israel met North Korea on the ice - They look alike, are totally disciplined and never leave their hotel rooms or mix with other players. Israel’s ice hockey team gets a rare glimpse into the world’s most cut-off country. (Haaretz+)
• 'Jonathan Pollard still holds top-secret information'  -Channel 10 report: U.S. National Intelligence Director James Clapper says freed Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard holds information that could harm American national security, justifying the strict parole conditions imposed on him. (Israel Hayom)
• Over 50 Muslim Nations Accuse Iran of Supporting Terror - Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) 'deplore' Iranian meddling in regional affairs; Iran laments 'division in Islamic community.' (Agencies, Haaretz)
• For the first time in a decade: Delegation of Israeli industrialists in Egypt - The delegation visited last week in Cairo in the framework of the 38th QIZ conference, in order to examine possibilities of deepening economic contacts with Egypt. (Yedioth's 'Mamun' supplement, p. 1)
• Trump links Netanyahu's rejection of Muslim ban to cancellation of Israel visit - 'He said something that wasn’t as positive as I would have liked, and I cancelled it,' Trump says about his trip to Israel, that he postponed following Netanyahu's criticism. (Haaretz) 
• Trump Meets With Orthodox Jews and Reveals His Israel Advisers - His Jewish Lawyers - The 20-minute question-and-answer session touched on religious liberty in the workplace, U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and federal education tax credits, but with scant details. (Haaretz)
• CUNY Doctoral Students Call to Boycott Israeli Academic Institutions - Resolution, which also states support for Students for Justice in Palestine, was disavowed by university leaders. (Haaretz) 
• Protesters demand fall of Egypt's government over islands deal - Egypt’s recent deal transferring control of two islands to Saudi control has sparked renewed protests in the country, and clear, loud, calls of disapproval towards the once-popular President al-Sisi. (Agencies, Ynet)

Features: 
Israel sentenced a 13-year-old Palestinian girl to prison
This week, just as a 12-year-old's term was reduced, a 13-year-old girl was sentenced and told to pay an unimaginable fine – and if not, her mother will be sent to jail for up to seven months. (Gideon Levy, Haaretz+) 
Brimming with motivation and faith
Y., a sergeant first class‎ serving in a sensitive position in the Intelligence Corps, is not the typical IDF soldier: He's ultra-Orthodox, married, and a father • On Monday, he will be cited by IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot for outstanding service. (Yehuda Shlezinger, Israel Hayom)
How the National Civilian Service Became a Habayit Hayehudi Activist’s Private Playground
Sar-Shalom Jerbi, head of the National Civilian Service Administration, has family members in several voluntary service NGOs. (Tali Heruti-Sover, Haaretz+) 
IDF struggles with rising influence of Religious Zionists
Religious Zionists increasingly represent a larger percentage of the IDF, changing the nature of the once-secular institution. Over the past decade or so a new generation of leaders that combines religion and nationalism has emerged. The IDF Jewish Awareness Branch helps soldiers weave together Jewish and military values. (Maayan Lubell, Reuters, Ynet and JPost) 
Paris private clubs and pricey ski trips, investigation reveals ties between French criminal and Netanyahu
Arnaud Mimran is under investigation for theft, kidnapping and extortion. He was also a close friend and donor of Benjamin Netanyahu’s for years, underwriting the Israeli leader’s family vacations and hosting him in private clubs, according to a joint investigation of Haaretz and the French website Mediapart. (Dov Alfon, Haaretz+) 
WATCH: High schoolers debate the peace process
Does Israel have a Palestinian partner for peace? Two young Israelis, one Arab and the other Jewish, debate one of the most important, controversial, and hotly contested questions on the public agenda in Israel today. (Israel Hayom)
 
Commentary/Analysis:
Israel Must Stop Sanctifying a Racist and Violent Late General (Haaretz Editorial) The Knesset made a mockery of itself in legislating 'Ze’evi’s legacy' — a costly disgrace financially but even more in terms of values.
The comfort of the herd (Aviad Kleinberg, Yedioth/Ynet) If Israel’s political opposition continues to accept the Netanyahu narrative and refuses to fight for what it believes in, it will never be more than a pale, weak imitation of those in power. 
Why Jews in terror-stricken Turkey aren’t fleeing to Israel – yet (Judy Maltz, Haaretz+) Turkey has become the main crossroads in a burgeoning refugee crisis while Kurdish militants fight government forces and tourists are targets for ISIS attackers from neighboring Syria. So what drives local Jews to stay put? 
You can't replace the public (Dror Eydar, Yedioth/Ynet) Israeli youth, along with the general public, are turning toward the right because they understand reality for what it is, and not as the other side presents it. The Left is bypassing Israeli democracy and taking its campaign to the international arena.
Yair Lapid, the Populist 'Defender' of Israel (Gideon Levy, Haaretz+) Lapid changes roles and opinions as if they were socks. Once he was in the center, now he’s a confirmed right-winger, even the extreme right. 
Justice According to Israel’s Nationalist-demagogue Spokeswoman (Rogel Alpher, Haaretz+) Zionist Union MK Shelly Yacimovich thinks the Palestinians aren’t a people under occupation, and a soldier in Hebron isn’t an occupier. 
Terrorists in every way: the not innocent mistake in the remarks by (MK) Zouheir Bahloul (Omer Dustri, Maariv) International law proves that the Zionis Camp MK was wrong and misleading in his remarks and his statements are based, at best,on  partial knowledge and half-truths. In accordance with the Israeli reality and in accordance with the Third Geneva Convention, a person, whether acting independently or within an organization, who acts with nationalist violence against a soldier does not meet the definition of a militia man, and of course he does not meet the definition of a fighter. It is also clear that he does not meet the definition of a citizen, because a citizen who participates in hostilities loses his rights as a citizen and henceforth is considered an unlawful combatant. [NOTE:: the writer’s interpretation of the international law is unusual. He appears not to know that Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Convention of 1949, (Act 1 C4), added in 1977, declared that armed struggle can be used, as a last resort, as a method of exercising the right of self-determination. - OH]
When Is It Appropriate to Use the Term 'Terrorist'? (Sayed Kashua, Haaretz+) I'm starting to think that the unadulterated pain that comes with voluntary exile for political reasons is gradually losing intensity in favor of a routine life without national pathos. 
Does Yitzhak Rabin's Party Still Believe the Occupation Is Israel's Biggest Problem? (Uzi Baram, Haaretz+) The absolute condemnation by the Labor Party of its own MK for his comments on the Hebron shooting raises difficult questions. 
Simone Zimmerman, the Latest Victim of the U.S. Jewish Right's Witch Hunt (M. Dove Kent, Haaretz+) The vicious offensive by the Jewish Right and its mainstream collaborators against Simone Zimmerman is just part of their ongoing attempts to choke the justice-based Jewish politics she represents.
Israel-Turkish relations and their implications (Eldad Beck, Yedioth/Ynet) While Turkey and Israel begin to thaw their relations following the Istanbul terror attack, Israel should be wary of getting too close to a dictator such as Erdoğan too quickly, taking into account his anti-Semitism and and oppressive policies. 
Sanders’ Plea on Behalf of Palestinians Was Banal but Sensational (Chemi Shalev, Haaretz) His tough Brooklyn bout with Hillary Clinton made it clear: the two Democratic candidates can’t stand each other any more. 
Pulling a fast one on you: The right-wing will have to work harder for the Mizrachi vote (Dr. Revital Amran, Maariv) In 2016 it’s no longer enough to pressure a few Mizrachim on their stimulation glands to release their voting reflex for the right-wing. Too bad our politicians have yet to understand that.
In Bid to Repair Mr. Security Image, Netanyahu Lets Secret Slip (Yossi Verter, Haaretz+) What is it with Netanyahu and Syria? Once a decade, he reveals classified information regarding our problematic neighbor to the northeast. 
Bernie Sanders vs. the Out-of-touch American Jewish Establishment (Max Berger, Haaretz+) Sanders' Jewish socialism, his recognition of the injustice of the occupation, is a rebuke to those in the U.S. and Israel who believe Jews should only care about other Jews’ freedom and dignity. No wonder they’re trying to marginalize him. 
Bernie Backs the Jewish Values We Millenials Believe in - and Israel's Not One of Them (Jacob Bacharach, Haaretz+) Sanders calls back to an earlier era before Jews integrated into white, affluent America and before the assumption that American Jews’ highest priority was support for a foreign county thousands of miles away. 
Beyond the Israel-Syria border fence, ISIS and Al-Qaida plot (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) Israel’s staying out of the Syrian civil war is a great achievement, but the army says it could easily be dragged into fighting by terror groups that have threatened Israel. 
The “Yacoubian" storm: For Egypt, Israel is a friend and an enemy (Jacky Khougi, Maariv) Ever since the successful novel written by Egyptian Alaa al-Esau was published in Israel (in Hebrew), the author has been harshly attacked in his country, where he has been accused of "putting his hands in the hands of the Zionists." They called him a traitor and hinted that the Hebrew translation is harmful to security. 
An Israeli-Saudi Peace Agreement? Not Anytime Soon (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) Reports of Israeli involvement in Egypt's handover of two Red Sea islands to the Saudis caused uproar in the Arab world, but don't hold your breath over the prospect of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
With Herzog in legal limbo, Peretz and Yacimovich set sights on top Labor seat (Yossi Verter, Haaretz+) While awaiting a decision by the attorney general as to whether the current police examination against him will morph into a full-fledged investigation, Labor leader Isaac Herzog is being buffeted by slings and arrows from two main directions. 
Not every Arab is an enemy (right-wing settler Elyakim Haetzni, Yedioth/Ynet) Inciters are trying to rip the coexistence between Arabs and Jews apart. Yet, despite this, there are still many Arabs who continue to try and live peacefully with Jews.
Israel's Extreme Makeover for Faux Fascists (Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz+) Heinz-Christian Strache, the leader of Austria’s far-right Freedom Party, is the latest member of Europe’s post-neo-Nazi fraternity arriving in Jerusalem in an attempt to detoxify himself and his party. Should we rejoice at his penitence or view it with suspicion? 
Who's Hurt by the UN Human Rights Council’s Israel Obsession? Not Least the Palestinians (Edward Rettig, Haaretz+) The UN Human Rights Council’s negative hyper-focus on Israel hurts its credibility worldwide, but it causes far worse damage to the struggle for human rights in Israel itself. 
By Constructing in the Settlements, Israel Is Giving a Boon to Boycotters (Friday Haaretz Editorial) Netanyahu and Ya'alon are more concerned with appeasing the extreme right than with the rising threat to Israel's standing in the world. 
The Political Dilemma Facing Israel's Defense Minister (Ari Shavit, Haaretz+) The new strategic danger Ya’alon sees is the danger from within. The populistic right-wing’s anarchistic attack on the state, the army and state institutions has become the central threat to Israeli sovereignty. 
That Time When I, a Rabbi, Prayed in a Mosque (Rabbi Yehoshua Looks, Haaretz+) How comfortable, I wondered, should I feel in this space?

Interviews:
'The solution is radical inclusion'
Yossi Vardi, considered the godfather of the Israeli high-tech industry, says entrepreneurship "cannot be taught, it can only be unleashed." He insists that the divided Israeli society must "agree on a vision of a shared future" if it is ever to unite. (Interviewed by Steve Ganot in Israel Hayom)