APN's daily news review from Israel
Friday May 5, 2017
Quote of the day:
"Israeli civil society, including groups like Breaking the Silence, B’Tselem and Peace Now, have been a
beacon of hope in a period of despair."
--22 Israelis, former MKs, former ambassadors, artists, and Israel Prize laureates bought a front-page ad in today's Haaretz Hebrew and English thanking German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel for insisting on meeting with representatives of Israeli civil society groups. The papers reported that the German President agreed not to meet with them in his upcoming visit.**
--22 Israelis, former MKs, former ambassadors, artists, and Israel Prize laureates bought a front-page ad in today's Haaretz Hebrew and English thanking German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel for insisting on meeting with representatives of Israeli civil society groups. The papers reported that the German President agreed not to meet with them in his upcoming visit.**
Front Page:
Haaretz
- Prosecution in Netanyahu case: No one receives hundreds of thousands of shekels from friends
- The strange twist in the Ben-Eliezer case – in an exceptional move, the judge closed the doors and asked to take it easy on the defendants accused of bribery
- Two days to the fateful elections in France
- Trump confirmed he will come to Israel and the West Bank on May 22nd
- Budget of Mossad and Shin Bet doubled in 12 years
- US House of Representatives voted in favor of canceling Obama’s health reform
- [Religious] Channel 20 won tender to operate the Knesset Channel
- Jews and Arabs cooperating – in stealing antiquities
- Lacking an embarrassing opponent, (Theresa) May is directing fire towards the European Union
- In order to solve the problem of the Negev, the state is creating a new problem // Sami Peretz
- What do the children of the summer of ’67 think today about the great victory?
- From the point of view of the founder of [semi-fascist organization – OH] Im Tirtzu, Begin was also a left-winger // Carolina Landsmann
- My life with Arabic began at age three: memoirs of an Orientalist // Menachem Milson
- **¼ page ad: Dear Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, We, the undersigned, are a group of Israelis who fear for the future of our country and are writing to convey to you our sincere gratitude for your support of Israeli civil society…It is with great sorry that we will soon mark 50 years of occupation. Already half of a century our beloved country has engaged in the denial of basic freedoms and rights from million of Palestinians…Israeli civil society, including groups like ’Breaking the Silence, B’Tselem and Peace Now, have been a beacon of hope in a period of despair. These groups, who struggle for a better future for Palestinians and Israelis alike, operate from a place of love and dedication to the future of our country. We thank you, Minister Gabriel, for refusing to give in to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s ultimatum, and for the insisting on meeting with representatives from ‘Breaking the Silence,’ B’Tselem and Peace Now…By showing support for Israeli human rights organizations who struggle against the occupation, you have acted as a true friends of Israel... Signed by 22 former ambassadors, MKs, Israel Prize winners, a former attorney general, and famous Israeli artists, authors and photojournalists
Yedioth Ahronoth
- The prosecutor in Netanyahu’s case: “Hundreds of thousands shekels is not a present from a friend”
- The Trump’s are coming
- Exclusive: Every law will also apply to settlers
- Exclusive: The JNF’s inheritance hunters
- How could parents do that? // Deputy commander of (undercover) Duvdevan Unit, Major A. on finding a gun hidden in storage under a Palestinian child’s bed
- Duel in Hebron – On the right: Yoaz Hendel. On the left: Raanan Shaked. Fifth column in series on the occasion of fifty years since the Six Day War
- What scares me – (TV anchor) Miki Chaimovich arrives in a stormy Pyongyang with Raz Sokenik
- What does Independence Day matter if we don’t control it? // Sima Kadmon
- The ‘I Believe’ of (renowned author) Amos Oz
Maariv Weekend (Hebrew links only)
- “No one demands to get gifts like that” – Adv. Liat Ben-Ari, who recently joined the team investigating the prime minister, reveals what is the mood in the prosecution regarding the ‘presents case’
- Get this thing done // Ben Caspit writes that the police have enough evidence to indict Netanyahu
- Trump’s peace trip
- Initiative: Doctors from abroad will force-feed [hunger-striking Palestinian] security prisoners
- Shooting and crying: The tough questions that arise from holding an alternative Memorial Day ceremony // Kalman Libeskind
- The Gaza obstacle: The dilemma that Israeli preparation to thwart the tunnels threat places before Hamas
- Hamas 2017: The double opportunity in the terror organization’s new political charter // Jacky Khougy
- Back to paradise: 35 years since the traumatic evacuation from Sharm al-Sheikh
- Rare document: This is how the battle of the minds between the Israel Prison Service and the Palestinian prisoners looks
- Women, alcohol and soccer: Rod Stewarts’s path to (performing at) Hayarkon Park
- The First Lady: How Hapoel Beersheva (soccer team owned by a woman) turned into the team of the country
Israel Hayom
- Trump alert: Unprecedented security – US President officially confirmed: “I will visit Israel at the end of the month”
- Fighting over France
- “There’s no such thing as presents of hundreds of thousands of shekels” – Prosecutor appointed to Netanyahu’s case
- Israel Prison Service harshening punishment against hunger-striking (Palestinian) prisoners
- The elections that could shake up a whole continent: France goes to the ballot boxes
News Summary:
The recently appointed prosecutor in the case investigating Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on suspicion of receiving illicit gifts said, “No one asks for or receives hundreds
of thousands of shekels from friends,” US President Donald Trump officially confirmed he will be visiting Israel on May 22nd (and has meanwhile appointed a new Israel advisor) and he will meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the Palestinian Territories (and he has deleted a Tweet he wrote saying, “It was a great honor to welcome President Abbas to The White House") - making top stories in today's Hebrew newspapers. Also, a Palestinian official said that contrary to Israeli claims, Abbas and Trump discussed all ‘core issues.’ And, Israel is considering bringing foreign doctors to force-feed the Palestinian security prisoners who are on hunger-strike to get the use of a phone and other requests, because Israeli doctors refuse to do so.
The recently appointed prosecutor in the case investigating Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on suspicion of receiving illicit gifts said, “No one asks for or receives hundreds
of thousands of shekels from friends,” US President Donald Trump officially confirmed he will be visiting Israel on May 22nd (and has meanwhile appointed a new Israel advisor) and he will meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the Palestinian Territories (and he has deleted a Tweet he wrote saying, “It was a great honor to welcome President Abbas to The White House") - making top stories in today's Hebrew newspapers. Also, a Palestinian official said that contrary to Israeli claims, Abbas and Trump discussed all ‘core issues.’ And, Israel is considering bringing foreign doctors to force-feed the Palestinian security prisoners who are on hunger-strike to get the use of a phone and other requests, because Israeli doctors refuse to do so.
Prepared for APN by Orly Halpern, independent freelance journalist based in Jerusalem.