News Nosh 09.21.16

by APN 09/21/16
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APN's daily news review from Israel
Wednesday September 21, 2016 
 
Quote of the day:
"Barack Obama’s farewell address to the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday was starkly anti-Israeli, or at least the antithesis of the current Israeli zeitgeist. Not because of his praise for the Iran nuclear deal or his token words of condemnation of settlements and occupation, but in the deeper layers of his speech; in his shameless promotion of universal values, in the presentation of his vision as the presumptive leader of the free world, with emphasis on the word “free.”
--Haaretz US bureau chief, Chemi Shalev, explains why US President Obama's speech was perceived by some Israelis as 'anti-Israeli.'**

Breaking News:
13-year-old Unarmed Palestinian Girl Shot After Refusing to Stop at West Bank Checkpoint
Civilian guards initially fired warning shot in the air before shooting her in the leg. No weapons were found in her bag, and she allegedly told army investigators that she 'came to die.' (Ynet and Haaretz)
 
At Least One Person Reported Killed in Attack on Israeli Embassy in Turkey - CNN Turk is reporting that the incident was a stabbing attack, at which point the alleged assailant was shot in the leg. (Haaretz and Ynet)

Front Page:
Haaretz
Yedioth Ahronoth
Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)
Israel Hayom

News Summary:
Ahead of his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu today, US President Barack Obama said Israelis would be better off if Israel recognized that “that it cannot permanently occupy and settle Palestinian land,” while ‘pro-Israel’ US senators sought to overturn parts of new Israel aid package that limited US aid to Israel and Israel shot down a Hamas drone over Gazan skies, while in the West Bank, Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian teen after an alleged stabbing attack – making top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers.
 
Quick Hits:
  • Azaria supporters to war hero: 'Traitor!', 'Enemy of Israel' - The respected journalist Amnon Abramovich was outside the Elor Azaria trial in Jaffa when he required police intervention to extricate him from the threatening crowd; they apparently weren't aware that he received one of the IDF's highest decorations for his heroism in the Yom Kippur War. (Yedioth/Ynet) 
  • MK Ben Reuven on the Elor Azariya trial: Lieberman does not understand that he needs to help the Chief of Staff, who faces the public - MK Reuven, a reserve general and MK of the Zionist Camp, attacked the defense minister on Radio Non-Stop and commented on the testimony of Uzi Dayan at the trial, who said that ‘Terrorists need to be killed.’: “It was inappropriate, incorrect. His remarks serve those who oppose the IDF's combat ethics." (Maariv)
  • Senior officers testify for soldier who shot subdued terrorist - High-ranking officers assert that Hebron shooter Sgt. Elor Azaria treated unfairly, had right to fire if he felt threatened • Gen. Dan Biton: The military cannot have a lawyer accompany each soldier on the battlefield. You are castrating the military." (Israel Hayom)
  • Mahmoud Abbas comforts family of dead Jordanian terrorist Sayid Amro - The Palestinian Authority president sent a condolence message to the family of the Jerusalem attacker, who attempted to stab people passing the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City on Friday; Amro 'a martyr who has quenched the land of Palestine with his pure blood.' (Ynet) 
  • Police Arrest Merchant Who Allegedly Sold Knives to Terrorist - Owner of a houseware store in the Old City alleged to have sold knives to Palestinian who attempted to stabbed two police officers on Friday. (Haaretz+)
  • Policeman stabbed also stopped 2005 attack - The policeman who neutralized the terrorist Tuesday morning in Jerusalem, despite being injured himself, also thwarted an attack 11 years ago; Chief of Israel Police Roni Alsheikh praises his determination, saying that it “saved your life and probably the life of the policewoman who was with you.” (Ynet)
  • Israeli Kibbutz Evacuates Private Palestinian Land It Used to Farm - The owners of the land are on the other side of the security barrier and may not be able to access it. (Haaretz+)
  • 1 in 5 soldiers entitled to financial assistance, IDF reports - In addition to 6,700 lone soldiers currently serving in the military, the IDF provides financial relief to soldiers from impoverished families or who are supporting families of their own. Some 20,000 soldiers hold down jobs while serving in the military. (Israel Hayom)
  • Purported video from Israeli spy Eli Cohen's execution surfaces - Video of what appears to be his body after his execution in a Damascus Square in 1965 is uploaded on Facebook. His widow says she never saw it before. (Haaretz+ and Ynet)
  • Lawmakers warn anti-NGO law could harm Israeli Arab, women's lobby - The aim of the so-called V15 bill is to ‘prevent clearly political party activity' to be carried out under 'cover of nonpartisan activity.' (Haaretz+) 
  • Tzachi Hanegbi heads Israeli delegation to conference on Palestinian economy - At a conference on foreign donors to the Palestinian Authority in New York, Hanegbi arrived with a package of aid and incentives to the PA and urged other countries to continue to aid and strengthen the Palestinian economy. (Yedioth/Ynet) 
  • Israeli court issues prison sentences against 5 young Palestinians - Sentences of between four and nine years on were handed to the Jerusalemites, two for unspecified charges, one for carrying a knife, another for charges related to the Al-Aqsa mosque and another, said a Palestinian NGO, to four years for “fighting back Israeli settlers.” (Maan) 
  • Israel releases female Jerusalem journalist after serving 6-month sentence for Facebook post - Israeli authorities released Palestinian journalist Samah Dweik on Monday, after she served nearly six months in prison over charges of “incitement.” (Maan) 
  • Israel releases 13-year-old Palestinian boy after 2-day detention - Israel's military court decided to release 13-year-old Muhammad Ahmad Youssef Maharmeh on Tuesday, after detaining him on Sunday from an Israeli military site near Jericho for allegedly being in possession of Molotov cocktails and a knife. The family was fined. (Maan) 
  • Israeli forces level lands in southern Gaza border area - Witnesses said that four army bulldozers and two excavators escorted by military vehicles advanced ten meters inside the Gaza Strip and razed lands. (Maan) 
  • Hebron mayor: Palestinians security detained Palestinians for collaborating with Israel to 'escalate violence' - “Our reports indicate that Israeli forces provoke Palestinian children and incite them to carry knifes. Israeli soldiers keep asking Palestinian children at checkpoints, ‘Where are your knifes? Why aren’t you carrying knifes?’” said Mayor Kamel Hameid. Seven Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in Hebron since Thursday. (Maan) 
  • JNF accuses MK of slander, denies allegations of waste and lack of transparency - Yesh Atid lawmaker says 'threatening defamation suits has become a pattern for the Jewish National Fund as a means of silencing people.' (Haaretz+) 
  • MK Zoabi drives herself into a traffic violation - While providing backup in the Wadi Ara area due to right-wing protests, police asked MK Hanin Zoabi, who was spotted talking on her phone while driving, to see her license, thus discovering that it was not valid; Zoabi’s spokesman claimed she was not talking on the phone and that her license was up for renewal. (Ynet)
  • Israeli academic ostracized for refusing to condemn occupation - Palestinian editor-in-chief of academic journal refuses to collaborate with Technion doctoral student who wouldn’t condemn 'ongoing violation of human rights in Palestine.' (Haaretz+) 
  • Israel Police chief mulls setting up fund for shamed cops - Heading the committee is traffic police chief Maj. Gen. Yaron Be'eri, who was recently accused of illegal fundraising. (Haaretz+) 
  • Local activist group calls for support of all-women flotilla headed towards Gaza - Two “solidarity ships” led by an all-female crew of 24, including Nobel Prize winner Mairead Maguire, set sail earlier this month from the port of Barcelona in Spain to head towards Gaza in an attempt to break the nearly decade long Israeli blockade of the small Palestinian territory. (Maan)
  • India conducts successful test of Barak 8 missile system - The Israeli surface-to-air missile system, designed to handle various aerial threats, has once more been successfully tested by the Indian government on Tuesday; system’s capabilities could prove vital in possible future Israeli conflict with Hezbollah. (Ynet)
  • UN halts aid convoys in Syria after airstrike hits trucks near Aleppo - U.S. says Russian warplanes were in the sky over the convoy of 31 trucks of humanitarian aid heading to besieged Aleppo right before the strike • Russia denies allegations, says no proof convoy was hit by ordnance. (Agencies, Israel Hayom)

Commentary/Analysis:
The Inhuman Outlook of Netanyahu: A Response to Ari Shavit (Chaim Levinson, Haaretz+) We on the 'radical left' have a different way of looking at things. The basis of our ideology isn’t history but human beings. 
In Israel, racial profiling doesn't warrant debate or apologies (Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz) While other democracies hesitate to resort to racial profiling, Israel takes the practice for granted. 
Why Israelis should not give up on peace (Lars Faaborg-Andersen, Yedioth/Ynet) Tonight, on the International Day of Peace, EU Ambassador Lars Faaborg-Andersen and his colleagues will be talking to Israelis at bars in Tel Aviv, Kfar Saba and Haifa, hoping to hear how they think peace can be achieved.
Religious Fascism, an Israeli Minister’s Gift to the World (B. Michael, Haahttp://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.743260retz+) Naftali Bennett and his people have joined up with God and His commandments, and together they fight the Enlightenment and its abominations. 
Israel Must End Its Shameful Policy of Collective Punishment (Haaretz Editorial) Every time a police officer closes a store with no legal justification, it just makes it all the more clear to the local residents and the rest of the world that East Jerusalem is occupied territory by any law.
A powder keg waiting to explode (Sever Plocker, Yedioth/Ynet) The binational state being created between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River is based on deep and extremely dangerous economic gaps, not just between the Israelis and the Palestinians but also between the Palestinians themselves.
Obama’s anti-Israeli Farewell Speech at the UN (Chemi Shalev, Haaretz+) 'A nation ringed by walls will only imprison itself,' the president said, and our analysts explained, without a hint of self-irony, that he meant Donald Trump.
America's Love for Israel Doesn’t Come at a Real Price (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) Maybe the United States ought to have stipulated that the billions of dollars of aid that were approved would go toward pre-determined diplomatic purposes. 
American fear is Trump's hope (Orly Azoulay, Yedioth/Ynet) Hillary Clinton may have much more experience than Donald Trump in counterterrorism and policy management, but the Republican presidential candidate employs the correct vocabulary for an increasingly terrified public. 
BDS Is a Lot of Things, but It's Not anti-Semitic (David Rosenberg, Haaretz) People legitimately upset over Israel’s conduct find themselves allied with people who don’t like Jews. 
Lip service: the UN General Assembly will not bring good news to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Shlomo Shamir, Maariv) With 65 million refugees and displaced persons whose fate and future were discussed at an emergency conference, a war in Syria and the nuclear tests of North Korea, interest in the conflict appears small and marginal…All this does not mean of course that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can look forward to a pleasant visit at the current assembly. The speech he will deliver tomorrow (Thursday) will be rhetorically a masterpiece. Netanyahu also probably inserted a trick to rivet media attention to his speech. But even if his speech includes a new diplomatic initiative, the speech will not arouse expectations of practical results and prospects of a breakthrough. The level of trust for the Israeli Prime Minister in the international arena is low. Off the record conversations with diplomats, the repeated assessment is that the prime minister has no interest and a desire to promote peace. 
The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Is Not 'The World’s' Problem (Nitzan Horowitz, Haaretz+) If we stop believing that someone else will solve our problems for us, perhaps we’ll be able to do it ourselves.
 
Prepared for APN by Orly Halpern, independent freelance journalist based in Jerusalem.

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