APN's daily news review from Israel

Sunday January 8, 2017  
 

Quote of the day:

“Gaza is cloaked in desperation. You feel it the minute you cross the border. It’s like traveling to another world. Already at the crossing you see seriously ill people, mainly cancer patients, waiting in line in a hall. They are hoping for some compassion and permission to cross the border and receive some treatment. You go by car and see ruins, thousands of destroyed houses, factories in ruin, sewage flowing through the streets.”
--Salah Haj Yahya, an Arab Israeli who leads delegations from  Israeli NGO 'Physicians for Human Rights' to the Gaza Strip. *

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Breaking News:
4 Israelis, likely all soldiers, killed in suspected truck ramming attack in E. Jerusalem
Truck veered off course and sped towards a group of soldiers getting off a bus for a tour at the Armon Hanatziv promenade, which is over the Green Line. Some civilians were present, 15 people were wounded, mostly soldiers. Three were caught under the truck and rescued by firefighters. The alleged Palestinian attacker, who was from the adjacent E. Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabal Mukaber, was shot dead by soldiers. (Haaretz, Ynet, Ynet Hebrew, Nana Hebrew, Maariv, Channel 10 video and Israel Hayom)

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Front Page:

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

Israel Hayom

News Summary:
The support for the IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot and against the incitement against him and the military judges of the Elor Azariya case and the investigations against Prime Minister Binyain Netanyahu were today’s top stories.

After former chief of staff Benny Gantz and dozens of reservist battalion commanders sent letters last week in support of the IDF Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, following incitement against him due to the conviction of Sgt. Elor Azaria, Yedioth brought together fiive former IDF chiefs who expressed support for Eisenkot, who gave a joint interview at the Yedioth publishing house. On Saturday, a Jerusalem man was arrested on suspicion of incitement against Eisenkot. and on Saturday night, thousands rallied in Tel Aviv against such incitement and for national unity as the country divided between those who supported the sergeant who executed a wounded and incapacitated Palestinian assailant and those who saw his act as a failure of purity of arms. Maariv reported that the debate over the conviction reached the classroom of the daughter of Military Judge Maya Heller, who presided over the trial. Children wrote on her daughter’s notebook: "Azariya is a hero.” In strongly-worded statement the U.S.-based ADL said, “We harshly condemn the recent incitement against Israeli authorities.” 
 
Even Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who before he joined the government was a supporter of Azariya, told government ministers to ‘shut up’  about the conviction, coming appeal and eventual sentencing of Azariya. Yet his Deputy, Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben Dahan,  proposed a bill to give soldiers immunity for their actions in operational events. (Also Maariv.) Former High Court chief justice Dorit Beinisch said in an interview with Channel 2 News that "an evil wind is blowing from the Israeli leadership…The frameworks that are the very basis for our existence as a society have been broken and I am very worried." And on Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked’s attempt to involve politicians in choosing judges, she said: "It’s the end of democracy." (Maariv) Maariv and Maan reported that the Palestinian man from Hebron, Imad Abu-Shamsiyeh, who caught on film Sgt. Elor Azariya executing the Palestinian assailant Abdul Fattah Al-Sharif, said that settlers tried to break into his home and have tried to hurt him. After Israeli soldiers prevented them from doing so, they began throwing stones at the house.
 
Maariv ran a feature looking at other cases in the world, such as US soldiers in Abu Ghraib in Iraq, where violations by soldiers of the values of purity of arms sparked a debate about the character of the military.
  
Haaretz+ scooped the other big story about the investigations into Netanyahu when it reported that in the second more serious and still unrevealed case, known as ‘Case 2000,’ that Netanyahu was caught on tape negotiating an exchange of mutual benefits with a businessman. (Ynet reported on the Haaretz+ report here.)

In the less severe case involving Israeli producer in Hollywood, Arnon Milchan, Channel 10 reported that Netanyahu spoke to John Kerry on behalf of Milchan who allegedly gave Netanyahu gifts in return. Netanyahu’s lawyer said Friday there was nothing wrong with receiving gifts. Interestingly, Yedioth reported that Israeli filmmaker Dvorit Shargal wrote on Facebook that she was given a very hard time when she asked to send a copy of her documentary film, ‘Where is Ella-Kerry and what happened to Noriko-san?’ to the Prime Minister Netanyahu and his wife. “They explained to me, the people who worked in his offices, that it is prohibited for the couple to receive any gift from anyone at all. There are difficult guidelines,…and only after a thorough security and administrative check they might receive the present and they will also have to leave it behind after their term in a crate of presents at the Prime Minister’s Residence.”

The opposition drew parallels to convicted prime minister Ehud Olmert and urged Netanyahu to suspend himself. Indeed, the issue of his replacement has already become a subject of discussion. Channel 2 took a poll asking who was best suited to replace Netanyahu as prime minister. Within the government, far right-wing Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Habayit Hayehudi) led, but in terms of all Israeli politicians, Yesh Atid chief Yair Lapid led. (Maariv) Moreover, Channel 2 News reported that Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon spoke with President Reuven Rivlin about the feasibility of establishing an alternative government with the Zionist Camp if Netanyahu is forced to resign. Kahlon denied the report. (Maariv)
 

Quick Hits: 

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Features:

Drawing Inspiration From Trump, Far-right Kahane Movement Seeks U.S. Revival
Jonathan Stern, organizer of New York memorial event for the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, tells Haaretz his movement won't stand in solidarity with Montana Jews targeted by neo-Nazis: 'They started it.' (Taly Krupkin, Haaretz+) 
Israeli Arab Women Forge Businesses and Break Society’s Shackles
It sure would be easier, however, if conservative segments of the community like the Bedouin weren't so queasy about men and women mixing. (Janan Bsoul, Haaretz)
 
Commentary/Analysis:
This Man Is a Danger to Israeli Democracy (Rogel Alpher, Haaretz+) A television channel should never accept government funds to produce content that looks independent, but is actually pure propaganda. Avi Nir is a danger to democracy. Nir runs Keshet, one of the two franchisees of Israel’s main commercial television network, Channel 2. According to the media watchdog website The Seventh Eye, Keshet received 2 million shekels ($520,000) from the Diaspora Affairs Ministry in exchange for making last month’s propaganda documentary “Ne’elmim” (“Disappearing”), whose sole purpose was to serve the ideological and political agenda of Education Minister Naftali Bennett.
Two reconciliations for two people (Eitan Haber, Yedioth/Ynet) The Israeli-Palestinian conflict will likely not end before a peace is achieved between the rival camps in the two populations. Until that happens, we will continue to live in the shadow of terror, and occasionally war, for many more years to come. 
 Israel's Theft From Asylum Seekers (Haaretz Editorial) Amendment to law stipulating taking fifth of African asylum seekers' wages and holding it until they leave Israel is another attempt to break their spirits. 
And perhaps Rabin is waiting for (Chief of Staff) Gadi (Eisenkot): Waiting for a leader who does what he believes in (Udi Segal, Maariv) Morality is the IDF’s Iron Dome. The fact that most people, like Netanyahu, are in favor of pardoning Elor Azariya does not prove anything - only that the Prime Minister is attentive to the wind coming from the masses, instead of leading. 
Elor Azaria Isn't 'The Child of All of Us' - He's Their Child (Uri Misgav, Haaretz+) Those defending Elor Azaria remind us that he did not really act alone, or in a vacuum. 
A soldier, not a 'child' (Maj. Gen. (ret.) Gershon Hacohen, Israel Hayom) When we ask young men and women to give everything they have and more for the sake of their country and their people, we cannot at the same time see them as kids. Still every soldier is in fact a son or daughter to their mothers and fathers. 
The Friendship That Could Have Been Between Azaria and Abed (Gideon Levy, Haaretz+) The Israeli sergeant became a national hero, while Abed Fattah al-Sharif got killed as he lay wounded for resisting a violent occupation. But the two weren’t that different. 
2017 will be another bad year for the Arab world (Smadar Perry, Yedioth/Ynet) All Mideast experts are predicting that least one leader in our neighborhood will be murdered this coming year. Who will it be? Each expert has his own guess, each commentator has his own scenarios. 
Two Irreconcilable Israels Clash Over Elor Azaria: Defender of Jewish History vs. Convicted Killer (Dahlia Scheindlin, Haaretz+) Outside the courthouse, there was more anger and disgust for the foundational institutions of Israeli society and the rule of law than for terrorists. 
Elor Azaria’s real enemies (Nahum Barnea, Yedioth/Ynet) If the soldier convicted of manslaughter wishes to be pardoned and to turn over a new leaf in his life, he must understand that some government ministers, radical right-wing gangs and his lawyers are not that anxious to see him go home. 
Why a Labor Party Lawmaker Thinks Azaria Should Be Pardoned (Iris Leal, Haaretz+) And why Shelly Yacimovich’s reasoning on the event in Hebron is admirable, but dead wrong.
More than the soldiers protecting ethics in combat, the ethics are protecting them (Gen. (res.) Yom Tov Samia, Maariv) The blatant interference of politicians is what got Elor Azariya into more trouble, put an entire country into a head spin and increased the polarization within the nation. The politicians continue to blatantly and crude this intervention. 
Israelis Aren’t Appalled Enough Yet (Carolina Landsmann, Haaretz+) Change will come when people feel that the children are coming home from school as monsters, when parents will do everything to prevent their children from being made into soldiers, when the fear is over life itself.
A testament to Israeli engagement (Ruthie Blum, Israel Hayom) A guilty verdict, coupled with a pardon, would be the perfect end to this horrible story.
The IDF Is Still the Most Moral Army in the World (Israel Harel, Haaretz+) Those who have made the killing of the terrorist the ultimate proof of 'the slippery slope' down which the IDF is purportedly sliding are the ones responsible for the extensive counter-reaction and for the excessive identification with Azaria. 
If Elor Azaria was Ashkenazi (Ron Cahlili, Haaretz+) Elor Azaria isn’t everyone’s child - he's child of the new Israeli right, and had he come from a good Ashkenazi family, the national debate would have been about the futile occupation and how it criminalized one of our finest.
Speaking out of turn (Maj. Gen. (ret.) Yaakov Amidror, Israel Hayom) U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's speech last week against the settlement enterprise offered a very partial representation of reality • As we all know, half-truths are far worse than a whole lie.  
Hebron shooter Elor Azaria's trial: The death throes of a healthy society (Gideon Levy, Haaretz+) There will be no more Azaria trials. The politicians and the masses won’t let it happen
Netanyahu's champagne is finished? Arnon Milchan would organize a new supply (Ben Caspit, Maariv) Israel is flooded with a murky militant stream and the Prime Minister wouldn’t extract even a word against the incitement against the Chief of Staff. And also, the only minister from the ruling party who feels that "the country has become derailed.” “I think that the country has become derailed. I’m very worried about this festival around Elor Azariya. Clear and unequivocal support should be given to the IDF chief of staff, especially the judges who are supposed to judge by the evidence and facts and not by public sentiment or the media. It’s good that the IDF knows how to handle such events through judicial procedure. The phenomenon of threatening judges should be killed at its roots and those responsible should be punished. Elor Azariya is a personal tragedy, certainly the heart understands what is happening and our heart hurts. But it is not possible that the IDF turns into militias and not every soldier can decide for himself what he's doing.” Who is speaking? Yuval Steinitz, a member of Knesset and Minister of Israel in a phone conversation Thursday. I think that right now he is the only righteous member of the ruling party.
The citizenry of Israel should have been in the dock with Azaria (Yagil Levy, Haaretz+) You have allowed the army and state institutions in the West Bank to be taken captive by the settlers. And you remained silent. 
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner: Israel’s insurance policy (Amnon Abramovich, Yedioth/Ynet) For the first time in its history, instead of leaning on a world power, Israel is leaning on the marital relationship between the US president-elect’s daughter and her Jewish husband. We should hope and pray, therefore, that this marriage lasts many years, or at least until the end of the president’s term.
Elor Azaria’s act of murder, and the rabbis who justify it, defile Judaism (Rabbi Daniel Landes, Haaretz) Jewish notions of the horror of murder are being dumped into the sewer of messianic madness, abetted by a prime minister who comforts the perpetrator’s family, implicitly justifying Azaria’s act.
All Downhill for Obama After He Won the Nobel Peace Prize (Asaf Ronel, Foreign News Editor, Haaretz+) The outgoing U.S. president entered the White House amid great expectations, but leaves having racked up very few qualitative achievements. 
 
 

Prepared for APN by Orly Halpern, independent freelance journalist based in Jerusalem.