News Nosh 08.18.16

APN's daily news review from Israel
Thursday August 18, 2016

With editor Orly Halpern returning to Israel tomorrow, News Nosh will return to its regular schedule and full format, including translated news, commentary and analysis from the Hebrew media.
 
Quote of the day:
"
We have to eliminate the need for mediators when addressing those who truly seek to pursue coexistence. Just as Abbas holds a direct dialogue with the Israeli public, I want to hold a direct dialogue with the Palestinian public. Abbas is an obstacle...I want to talk with those who do want a deal."
- Israeli Defense Minister Avidgor Lieberman
 

Front Page:
Israel Hayom
Times of Israel
Ynet News

News Summary:
Israeli MK's are calling on the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee to hold an emergency meeting summoning former Primer Minister and Defense Minister Ehud Barak to flesh out his claims that Prime Minister Netanyahu is responsible for a "series of incidents" harming Israel's security. Meretz chairwoman Zehava Galon says, "Barak cast serious aspersions on Netanyahu's ability to defend the State of Israel's security interests, and his words cannot be left alone."

Right wing politicians, most notably Likud MK David Amsalem, are speaking out against the nomination of Dr. Youssef Shahada, a supporter of the Islamic Movement in Israel, as chairman of the Education Ministry's new professional committee. "I cannot accept that there is even a possibility that Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who is from the national [religious] camp, would allow such a move to take shape," said Amsalem.

The Justice Ministry closed the case of the October 2015 incident in which a policeman threw a stun grenade at journalist Hana Mahameed, claiming the policeman could not be identified. Video footage shows Mahameed dressed in a fluorescent vest clearly indicating her identity as a journalist and that the grenade was unnecessary and served no operational need.
 
Quick Hits:
  • Anne Frank film shot during 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict secretly screened in Iran. Anne Frank: Then and Now presents excerpts from the diary acted by two Israelis and eight Palestinian girls, one of whom performs in front of rubble from an Israeli airstrike. Ayatollah Khamenei marked Holocaust Memorial Day by publishing a video questioning whether the Holocaust took place. (The Guardian)
  • More Arab Israelis join national service, discovering state benefits, patriotism. East Jerusalem non-citizens are also secretly volunteering with 85% of the participants getting good jobs afterwards. (Times of Israel)
  • Israel punishes troops filmed attacking hookah smokers. A platoon sergeant has been sentenced to 10 days in jail and two other soldiers were disciplined after a video emerged of them shooting a stun grenade at Palestinian men smoking a water pipe in the northern West Bank. (Washington Post)
  • New York Times reviews Natalie Portman's directing debut, A Tale of Love and Darkness. The film addresses the founding of the state of Israel. "There is no simple way to tell the story, and Ms. Portman's film, closely based on a memoir by the Israeli novelist Amos Oz, is full of mixed emotions and chronological tangles. It's an elegant and intimate movie." (New York Times)
  • A Tel Aviv University researcher awarded 2016 MetLife Foundation prize: Dr. Inna Slutsky won the MetLife Foundation Promising Investigator Award in Medical Research for Alzheimer ’s disease. She has focused her research on the breakdown of communication lines between brain cells in the pathology of this disease. (EurekAlert.org)
  • Israeli composer and Israel Prize laureate, Nachum Heiman, died Wednesday night at the age of 82. "In his decades long career, Heiman released 40 albums and composed over 1,000 songs, including the hits 'Kmo Tzemach Bar,' 'Hofim,' 'Anshei Hageshem,' and 'Hahol Yizkor.'” (Times of Israel)