APN's daily news review from Israel
Wednesday November 23, 2016
Quote of the day:
“(It is) a very dangerous step.”
--Sheikh Muhammad al-Far, imam of a mosque in the mixed Israeli city of Lod. The imam was fined $200 for using the loudspeakers (as he has done everyday, five times a day) to broadcast the call to prayer. Al-Far said it was the first time this has ever happened in the city since the founding of the State of Israel.*
--Sheikh Muhammad al-Far, imam of a mosque in the mixed Israeli city of Lod. The imam was fined $200 for using the loudspeakers (as he has done everyday, five times a day) to broadcast the call to prayer. Al-Far said it was the first time this has ever happened in the city since the founding of the State of Israel.*
Front Page:
Haaretz
- Defense Ministry legal advisor: Shimron asked whether the tender will be stopped – as per the Prime Minister’s request
- Institutionalized corruption // Ido Baum
- Homes burned in Zichron Yaakov, three neighborhoods evacuated
- Trump: US to withdraw from Trans-Pacific Trade Agreement in my first days at White House
- Dispute over Polish people’s part in Holocaust: Israel falls in live with Warsaw’s narrative
- Ministers agreed: Muezzin Bill will exempt the Sabbath siren and only harm mosques
- Rabbi Berland got 1.5 years prison for sex crimes
- Money, ideology and PR: Why chefs prefer kosher restaurants
Yedioth Ahronoth
- Heroes of fire – Enormous fire in Zichron Yaakov and Latrun
- The smoking gun of the submarine scandal; Netanyahu vouches for Shimron
- In their voices – International day for struggle against violence against women
Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)
- Wave of fires in the north - “The house went up in flames”
- Submarines in the fog
- The job festival in the municipalities
Israel Hayom
- Battling for their homes – wave of fires across the country
- State to High Court: “There is no excuse for intervention in appointment of Rabbi Karim”
- Rabbi Berland admitted to committing sex crimes – and was sent to 18 months in prison
News Summary:
An email that could incriminate Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s personal lawyer, David Shimron (but Netanyahu said he was ‘straight as a ruler’) and fires that broke out in the dry windy weather across the country were today’s top stories in the Hebrew newspapers. Also in the news, Israel’s Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit came out again against the “Regularization Law,” which would make it legal in Israel for Israel to confiscate privately owned Palestinian land for settlers to live on. Mendelblit and the Knesset’s legal advisor told a Knesset task panel that it violated international law and could be seen as ‘de facto annexation.’ (Maariv) And, US President-elect Donald Trump said he’d like his son-in-law Jared Kushner to be involved in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. And what was once a front-page type of story was but a small news item in the back of the papers: Israeli forces killed a Palestinian at a military checkpoint in the West Bank when he allegedly brandished a knife. (Also Maan)
Quick Hits:
An email that could incriminate Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s personal lawyer, David Shimron (but Netanyahu said he was ‘straight as a ruler’) and fires that broke out in the dry windy weather across the country were today’s top stories in the Hebrew newspapers. Also in the news, Israel’s Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit came out again against the “Regularization Law,” which would make it legal in Israel for Israel to confiscate privately owned Palestinian land for settlers to live on. Mendelblit and the Knesset’s legal advisor told a Knesset task panel that it violated international law and could be seen as ‘de facto annexation.’ (Maariv) And, US President-elect Donald Trump said he’d like his son-in-law Jared Kushner to be involved in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. And what was once a front-page type of story was but a small news item in the back of the papers: Israeli forces killed a Palestinian at a military checkpoint in the West Bank when he allegedly brandished a knife. (Also Maan)
Quick Hits:
- Ultra-Orthodox minister removes block on mosque noise bill after Shabbat loophole OK'd - New clause added to prevent mosque loudspeaker broadcasting of the call to prayer in the early morning hours, but would not prevent the sounding of a siren to announce the beginning of Shabbat. Watered down bill may prove to be toothless. (Haaretz+)
- **As Israel Mulls Banning Mosque Loudspeakers, Imam Fined for Excessive Noise During Call to Prayer - An imam in the city of Lod was fined a penalty of $200 by the Israeli municipality for using loudspeakers to make the call to prayer on Monday. A leading Catholic clergyman said it would fuel Muslim extremism and fundamentalism. (Maan, JPost and Haaretz+)
- Israeli Watchdog Raps Housing Discrimination Against Palestinians in Jerusalem - East Jerusalem gets only 15 percent of building permits issued, comptroller report finds, while also criticizing lax enforcement of building violations in same area. (Haaretz)
- Hebron municipality calls on Israel to remove settler structures from schoolyard - Israeli settlers have recently set up tents and steel structures on the privately-owned land rented by the Hebron municipality for use as a Palestinian schoolyard. Israeli authorities said the tents were established "temporarily in the bus parking lot at the entrance of the Patriach's Cave" for a Jewish event that would take place this weekend. (Maan)
- Terrorists' Interrogations to Remain Secret, Israeli Lawmakers Vote - Knesset okays bill waiving need to record suspected terrorists' interrogations; only Arab lawmakers opposed, saying 'bill will give security interrogator total immunity.' (Haaretz+)
- Palestinian prisoner declares hunger strike in protest of administrative detention - Ammar Ibrahim Hamour declared an open hunger strike against his nine-month-long administrative detention. (Maan)
- Lawyer: 3 hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners in critical condition - Anas Shadid, 20, and Ahmad Abu Farah, 29, who are being held at the Assaf Harofeh Medical Center in Tel Aviv, were both detained on Aug. 1 and have been on hunger strike since Sept. 24 and Sept. 23, respectively, in protest of being placed under administrative detention -- an Israeli policy of internment without charge or trial based on undisclosed evidence. (Maan)
- Longest-held Palestinian prisoner still detained despite serving latest sentence - Nael Barghouthi was one of more than 50 Palestinian prisoners who had been released in a prisoner swap deal in 2011 but who had since been re-detained, has spent more than 35 years of his life in Israeli prisons, despite him having served the entirety of his 30-month sentence. (Maan)
- Lawyer: Court rejects appeal against solitary confinement of Islamic Movement leader - An Israeli court in Beersheba rejected the latest appeal seeking to end the solitary confinement of Sheikh Raed Salah, the imprisoned leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel. The Israel Prison Service claimed that "he is a threat to other prisoners due to his influential personality." (Maan)
- Israeli ministers slam High Court for delaying appointment of controversial top army rabbi - Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and Religious Services Minister David Azoulay call on High Court to revoke injunction barring Eyal Karim's appointment, issued until he clarifies past contentious remarks. (Haaretz+)
- Incoming IDF chief rabbi not planning on apologizing - Those close to Col. Eyal Karim say that, as he prepares his ordered explanatory affidavit for the High Court of Justice regarding his controversial statements, he will say some were misattributed and stand by others. (Ynet)
- Palestinian company accused of stealing Palestinian lands for sale to Israeli settlers - Watan, a company headed by Palestinian land brokers from occupied East Jerusalem, had made eight deals with Israeli settlers that sold Palestinian land through forged documents, receiving 10,775,000 shekels ($2,789,933) as a result of the deals. (Maan)
- Israeli forces demolish Palestinian home, seal off restaurant in Jerusalem area - The family said it had stopped working on the house and started procedures to obtain a license. (Maan)
- Netanyahu Threatens to Sue Unemployed Man Over Link Shared on Facebook - Yoav Salem received a letter demanding that he delete the link to a blog critical of the Netanyahus or face legal action over what the prime minister's lawyer says is the latest of a number of defamatory posts. (Haaretz)
- Israeli diplomat in Turkey accused of calling for Netanyahu's ouster - The Foreign Ministry has launched an investigation into the alleged remarks at a luncheon in Istanbul, which the diplomat, Israel's charge d'affaires in Ankara, has denied. (Haaretz+)
- Second suspect arrested in murder of Sudanese man in central Israeli city - Two teenagers said to have beaten man in Petah Tikva after he insulted girls; police seeking third suspect. (Haaretz+)
- Israel accuses Iran of sending Hezbollah arms on commercial flights - Israel's ambassador at the UN Danny Danon issues a public letter to the UN Security Council, admonishing Iran for supposedly using commercial airlines to transfer weapons to Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah. (Agencies, Ynet)
- Son of Dutch Couple That Hid Jews From Nazis Wants Father’s Name Removed From JNF Memorial - Erik Ader, a former ambassador of the Netherlands to Norway, says the monument built on what used to be a Palestinian village is 'an abuse of Ader's memory' because of Israel's 'ethnic cleansing.' (Haaretz)
- After Nazi Salutes at pro-Trump Event, Holocaust Museum Issues Ominous Warning - 'The Holocaust did not begin with killings: it began with words,' says museum, calling on leadership to confront racism after alt-right pro-Trump event. (Agencies, Haaretz and Ynet)
- Israel Adopts Warsaw's Narrative, Ignores Holocaust Crimes by Poles - A statement published following a joint Israeli-Polish cabinet meeting in Jerusalem ignores crimes by Poles against Jews. 'It seems as if the Poles wrote the statement and gave it to the Israeli government to sign,' says one critic. (Haaretz+)
- Renewed Bombardment of Aleppo Kills 141, Including 18 Children - Assault began after a week-long halt of air strikes and shelling in east Aleppo. (Agencies, Haaretz)
Features:
Meet Suzi Boum, Israel’s favorite drag queen
‘I always say I came out three times: as secular, as gay and as a drag queen,’ Lior Yisraelov said regarding his transformation from Yeshiva boy to Israel’s most in-demand drag queen. (JTA, Haaretz)
‘B’ is Berlin – “While making the movie, I understood there’s no choice but to leave (Israel)”
Shir Nusatzky and Regev Kuntas were among the leaders of the 2011 social protest movement. Four years later they are still collecting the pieces. Tonight Israeli TV will broadcast Kuntas’ personal film with the provocative name, “See you later, Adolph,” which follows a couple who are having difficulty finishing the month in Israel and are starting a process of immigration to Berlin. In essence that the social protest failed and we are leaving the country to Berlin. “The protest was a meteor that hurt us in life, destroyed our income, made our friends disappear. We both gained a few kilos. We did not succeed in building anything from it.” (Yedioth’s 24 Hours supplement, cover)
New TV Show Tries to Teach Israeli Jewish Kids Not to Hate Arabs, but Treads Gently
As 'Between the Lines' premieres, presenter Ohad Hamu tells how he deals with the Nakba, and why he doesn’t deal with the occupation. (Itay Stern, Haaretz+)
Why is the global tourism boom passing Israel by?
Beaches, nightlife, and holy sites are all in just a few hours' drive for visitors. So why aren't a lot more tourists coming? (Gili Melnitcki, Haaretz+)
Commentary/Analysis:
Don't be fooled: In submarine deal, attorney Shimron represented Bibi, too (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) Since the affair blew up, more troubling information has surfaced concerning the actions of the defense establishment and various politicians – particularly those in PM Netanyahu's close circle.
Again, Israel's Attorney General Waits on Netanyahu (Haaretz Editorial) Given Avichai Mendelblit's treatment of Netanyahu, the public is liable to conclude that he is tainted by the same sort of conflict of interest he seems averse to investigating in the submarine affair.
IDF’s job is to win, not to be a gender equality school (Yoaz Hendel, Yedioth/Ynet) If a combat unit has to be completely changed in order to incorporate one or two women a decade, the army will find itself engaging in the fulfillment of feminism instead of in training fighters.
Why Are Jews Giving the White Nationalist Alt-right the Respectability It Lacks? (Abe Silberstein, Haaretz+) We protested ZOA’s grotesque display of solidarity with Bannon. But we were also saying to the American Jewish establishment: Don't even think about establishing normal relationships with his camp.
Trump, Israel, and US Jews (Isi Leibler, Israel Hayom) Some in the American Jewish community have reacted to the election with hysteria. Especially the ADL director, who is using the organization to promote his radical liberal agenda.
How to Oppose Trump: A Guide for American Progressives, From Your Israeli and Palestinian Peers (Libby Lenkinski, Haaretz+) Israeli and Palestinian rights activists have weathered many years of repeated and well-coordinated attacks on democratic and liberal values. But we're still here. And we have hard-won lessons to offer.
Five Tips for Jewish Resistance: How to Be Bannon's Worst Nightmare (Bradley Burston, Haaretz+) While AIPAC and other groups are dithering, or, like the ZOA, bending over backwards to present their every opening to Bannon and his man, the list of U.S. Jewish groups engaging in active resistance grows by the day.
State-sponsored chaos (Oded Revivi, Yedioth/Ynet) Israel must pass a law to prevent the recurrence of cases like Amona by settling once and for all land-ownership issues and setting a clear land registration system that overrides all others.
In Battle Over a Rabbi, Israel's Culture War Becomes a Fight to the Death (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) Women’s dignity, gay rights and Palestinians’ property rights are all left-wing issues that Naftali Bennett’s Habayit Hayehudi party feels it must fight to the end.
Don't judge opinions (Dror Eydar, Israel Hayom) The petition over a decade-old response by the chief rabbi-designate should concern us all -- since when does the court have the authority to judge what other people think, especially in matters the petitioners themselves don't understand?
A Newspaper Ad Published by Netanyahu's Party Reveals the Truth (Uzi Baram, Haaretz+) Trump's election has prompted Likud's demand for unrestricted construction in the West Bank. Opposition parties must prepare for the new era.
A letter to the Palestinian friends – I don’t have (Rami Simani, Yedioth/Ynet) The rules of the game have changed. It was US President-elect Donald Trump’s adviser on Israel and Middle Eastern affairs, David Friedman, who saw it first…All those involved in settling conflicts – who actually want to solve them – should speak the truth. Those who want to turn the negotiation process between Israel and the Palestinians into a false ‘masquerade,’ should go to Venice.
And Meanwhile They Can Keep Talking (Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz+) Convicting senior politicians requires concrete evidence of criminal intent, which is difficult to prove.
Women Are Propelling the Israeli Army Against the Enemy of Sexism (Tal Laor, Haaretz+) A few retired generals are worried about our maternal feelings that might be damaged on the battlefield, but we belong in the tank corps and higher.
‘I always say I came out three times: as secular, as gay and as a drag queen,’ Lior Yisraelov said regarding his transformation from Yeshiva boy to Israel’s most in-demand drag queen. (JTA, Haaretz)
‘B’ is Berlin – “While making the movie, I understood there’s no choice but to leave (Israel)”
Shir Nusatzky and Regev Kuntas were among the leaders of the 2011 social protest movement. Four years later they are still collecting the pieces. Tonight Israeli TV will broadcast Kuntas’ personal film with the provocative name, “See you later, Adolph,” which follows a couple who are having difficulty finishing the month in Israel and are starting a process of immigration to Berlin. In essence that the social protest failed and we are leaving the country to Berlin. “The protest was a meteor that hurt us in life, destroyed our income, made our friends disappear. We both gained a few kilos. We did not succeed in building anything from it.” (Yedioth’s 24 Hours supplement, cover)
New TV Show Tries to Teach Israeli Jewish Kids Not to Hate Arabs, but Treads Gently
As 'Between the Lines' premieres, presenter Ohad Hamu tells how he deals with the Nakba, and why he doesn’t deal with the occupation. (Itay Stern, Haaretz+)
Why is the global tourism boom passing Israel by?
Beaches, nightlife, and holy sites are all in just a few hours' drive for visitors. So why aren't a lot more tourists coming? (Gili Melnitcki, Haaretz+)
Commentary/Analysis:
Don't be fooled: In submarine deal, attorney Shimron represented Bibi, too (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) Since the affair blew up, more troubling information has surfaced concerning the actions of the defense establishment and various politicians – particularly those in PM Netanyahu's close circle.
Again, Israel's Attorney General Waits on Netanyahu (Haaretz Editorial) Given Avichai Mendelblit's treatment of Netanyahu, the public is liable to conclude that he is tainted by the same sort of conflict of interest he seems averse to investigating in the submarine affair.
IDF’s job is to win, not to be a gender equality school (Yoaz Hendel, Yedioth/Ynet) If a combat unit has to be completely changed in order to incorporate one or two women a decade, the army will find itself engaging in the fulfillment of feminism instead of in training fighters.
Why Are Jews Giving the White Nationalist Alt-right the Respectability It Lacks? (Abe Silberstein, Haaretz+) We protested ZOA’s grotesque display of solidarity with Bannon. But we were also saying to the American Jewish establishment: Don't even think about establishing normal relationships with his camp.
Trump, Israel, and US Jews (Isi Leibler, Israel Hayom) Some in the American Jewish community have reacted to the election with hysteria. Especially the ADL director, who is using the organization to promote his radical liberal agenda.
How to Oppose Trump: A Guide for American Progressives, From Your Israeli and Palestinian Peers (Libby Lenkinski, Haaretz+) Israeli and Palestinian rights activists have weathered many years of repeated and well-coordinated attacks on democratic and liberal values. But we're still here. And we have hard-won lessons to offer.
Five Tips for Jewish Resistance: How to Be Bannon's Worst Nightmare (Bradley Burston, Haaretz+) While AIPAC and other groups are dithering, or, like the ZOA, bending over backwards to present their every opening to Bannon and his man, the list of U.S. Jewish groups engaging in active resistance grows by the day.
State-sponsored chaos (Oded Revivi, Yedioth/Ynet) Israel must pass a law to prevent the recurrence of cases like Amona by settling once and for all land-ownership issues and setting a clear land registration system that overrides all others.
In Battle Over a Rabbi, Israel's Culture War Becomes a Fight to the Death (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) Women’s dignity, gay rights and Palestinians’ property rights are all left-wing issues that Naftali Bennett’s Habayit Hayehudi party feels it must fight to the end.
Don't judge opinions (Dror Eydar, Israel Hayom) The petition over a decade-old response by the chief rabbi-designate should concern us all -- since when does the court have the authority to judge what other people think, especially in matters the petitioners themselves don't understand?
A Newspaper Ad Published by Netanyahu's Party Reveals the Truth (Uzi Baram, Haaretz+) Trump's election has prompted Likud's demand for unrestricted construction in the West Bank. Opposition parties must prepare for the new era.
A letter to the Palestinian friends – I don’t have (Rami Simani, Yedioth/Ynet) The rules of the game have changed. It was US President-elect Donald Trump’s adviser on Israel and Middle Eastern affairs, David Friedman, who saw it first…All those involved in settling conflicts – who actually want to solve them – should speak the truth. Those who want to turn the negotiation process between Israel and the Palestinians into a false ‘masquerade,’ should go to Venice.
And Meanwhile They Can Keep Talking (Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz+) Convicting senior politicians requires concrete evidence of criminal intent, which is difficult to prove.
Women Are Propelling the Israeli Army Against the Enemy of Sexism (Tal Laor, Haaretz+) A few retired generals are worried about our maternal feelings that might be damaged on the battlefield, but we belong in the tank corps and higher.
Interviews:
“We won’t give in”
For eight years Ibrahim Khalil Yaakub Jamaah, 56, one of the owners of the Palestinian land on which Amona outpost was built, watches how the appeal he submitted with other landowners for the eviction of the outpost rolls from the state to the court and back and forth. “The Israeli public must decide if it wants to live in a state of law or a state of theft,” he announces in the wake of the attempts to prevent the nearing eviction. He also reveals what will be if the “Regularization Bill” (that would allow Israel to take the privately-owned Palestinian land and give it to settlers) passes: “We will turn to the International Criminal Court” at The Hague. (Interviewed by Yasser Ukbi in Maariv’s daily supplement (11/22)
“We won’t give in”
For eight years Ibrahim Khalil Yaakub Jamaah, 56, one of the owners of the Palestinian land on which Amona outpost was built, watches how the appeal he submitted with other landowners for the eviction of the outpost rolls from the state to the court and back and forth. “The Israeli public must decide if it wants to live in a state of law or a state of theft,” he announces in the wake of the attempts to prevent the nearing eviction. He also reveals what will be if the “Regularization Bill” (that would allow Israel to take the privately-owned Palestinian land and give it to settlers) passes: “We will turn to the International Criminal Court” at The Hague. (Interviewed by Yasser Ukbi in Maariv’s daily supplement (11/22)
Prepared for APN by Orly Halpern, independent freelance journalist based in Jerusalem.