APN's daily news review from Israel
Tuesday August 9, 2016
While News Nosh's Israel editor is on vacation, we are publishing an abbreviated version produced in Washington and therefore it may be sent later in the day.
While News Nosh's Israel editor is on vacation, we are publishing an abbreviated version produced in Washington and therefore it may be sent later in the day.
Quote of the day:
"My bill suggests that no criminal investigation be launched against a prime minister for any offense carrying
less than a six-month [prison] sentence. Naturally, prime ministers have to be held accountable for such
actions as well, so the bill also suggests that the statute of limitations exclude any such offense, so that
once a prime minister's term comes to an end, an investigation could be launched."
- MK David Amsalem on his new bill to ban certain legal probes into the PM's conduct
Front Page:
Haaretz
- Israel claims UN aid official abused position to help Hamas
- City Hall backs plan for thousands of new housing units in East Jerusalem
- Netanyahu admits he opposes establishment of new public broadcast corporation
- ISIS plundered, destroyed ancient Assyrian city in Syria, liberators find
Israel Hayom
- PA fires Palestinian who helped Jewish terror victims
- MK floats bill banning frivolous legal probes into PM's conduct
- War on terror: Israel to block illegal calls by Hamas prisoners
- Defense minister apologizes for comments on Iran nuclear deal
Times of Israel
- Watching from an Israel aghast, president Trump is just unthinkable, while Clinton has started to look invaluable
- Police say Hebron woman held after stabbing attempt
- Netanyahu's chief of staff resigns as promotion scuppered
- Signaling priority shift, Biden omits Israel from foreign policy adieu
Ynet News
- Company commander arrested over theft of IDF weapons
- No supervision at West Bank construction sites leads to increase in work accidents
- Israel Aerospace Industries UAV crashes in northern Israel
- Doctors at government hospitals plan strike
News Summary:
Following an Israeli charge that a senior Gaza-based Palestinian employee of World Vision, a large international relief agency, diverted millions of charity dollars to Hamas, another international nonprofit operating in the Gaza Strip, Save the Children, opened an internal probe into Israeli allegations that a Palestinian Save the Children staff member has also been recruited by Hamas.
Shin Bet has also arrested another Palestinian working for an international relief agency on suspicion of providing material support for Hamas. Waheed Abdallah Burish, a 38-year-old Gaza resident employee of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), reportedly confessed to having aided and abetted Hamas in various ways.
Private developers, backed by City Hall, are advancing a plan to build thousands of new housing units in the Gilo neighborhood of East Jerusalem, near the Palestinian town of Beit Jala - 30% of this land belongs to Palestinians who fled in 1948. Despite the anticipated disapproval from the United States, the local community is confident the plans will go through.
Quick Hits:
- A 24-year-old female West Bank settler, Eliraz Fein, has been indicted for inciting violence by advocating deadly attacks on Israeli soldiers and Palestinians to protest the demolition of illegal outposts, built by West Bank settlers in violation of Israeli law. Fein published Facebook posts in support of throwing rocks on IDF soldiers, “even if it causes the death of a soldier,” and in support of the deadly firebomb attack on the home of a Palestinian family in the West Bank. (Ynet)
- A senior US diplomat claims that President Barak Obama is considering a presidential speech to set the guiding principles for a two state solution for the next administration. He also states that the United Nations is not interested in a Security Council resolution and will likely veto one raised by others. (Al Monitor)
- Israel razed five Palestinian homes south of Hebron, three of them were built by the European Union, without a permit from Israel’s Civil administration. (Haaretz)
- Funding problems for a billion-dollar project to build an underground anti-tunnel barrier along Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip is holding up the initiative. (Haaretz)
- Israeli academic institutions fear budget cuts as the new term approaches. Professor Peretz Lavie, president of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and head of the Association of University Heads in Israel (VERA), asserts "the slogan 'Start Up Nation' has a price - and it is a constant and persistent investment in higher education." (Jerusalem Post)
- Israel’s Supreme Court ordered the Government of Israel to immediately release a Finland-registered boat that it confiscated in 2012, after pro-Palestinian activists used the vessel to break the naval siege on the Gaza Strip and provide humanitarian support to Gaza. The Courts determined that the government did not follow the legal procedures required for such a confiscation. (Haaretz)
- The National Infrastructure and Defense Ministries presented plans to improve the West Bank's water supply, responding to complaints of low water pressure and cut offs. The plan, to be completed in 2030, aims to double the water supply for all populations. (BICOM)