APN's daily news review from Israel

Tuesday July 4, 2017
 

---

Front Page:

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

Israel Hayom

News Summary:
Labor party members head to polls to choose leader today in a close race between five prominent candidates, with Amir Peretz as a frontrunner, and all the candidates saying they wouldn’t join a government led by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, but disagreeing about whether Labor should break left or cater to centrists, the arbitration collapsed over the crisis in the hematology-oncology department at Hadassah Hospital and Britney Spears performed before 50,000 Israelis in the midst of an incredible heatwave that compelled 400 people across the country to get first aid, making top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers.
 
Also in the news, Netanyahu said he was committed to making every Jew feel at home at the Wailing Wall, while Interior Minister Arieh Deri called the crisis over the Wailing Wall and the conversion bill a 'disinformation campaign against the ultra-Orthodox public’ and promised to prevent a 'back-door' entry of the Reform movement into the Israeli establishment, to which Israeli Reform movement leader Gilad Kariv called him a liar.

Also of interest, after speaking with the Saudi king about Mideast peace, US President Donald Trump Tweeted that 'interesting things are happening.' And after earlier calling them ‘worse than kapos, U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman met with a J Street delegation, which brought Democratic Congresspeople to Israel.

And Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi lands in Israel today for a historic visit, but before parting he gave an interview to Israel Hayom and reaffirmed India's commitment to a two-state solution. Haaretz has live updates of his historic three-day visit and a list of India's arms deals with Israel.
 

Quick Hits:

---

Features:

'My Father Is anti-Zionist, but I Went Against the Flow: I Served in the IDF'
An ultra-Orthodox Israeli insists the Torah doesn't make things hard for him; a British 'three-day Jew' talks about the one trait he wants to learn from Israelis. (Liat Elkayam, Haaretz+)  
Land of dispute: tour of the West Bank, 50 years after Six-Day War
From Israel’s largest organic farm, run by the ‘inventor of outposts,’ to Jericho, where residents are letting go of the dream to become the next Dubai; from the pre-army academy in Eli, to the crowded crossings, where thousands of Palestinian laborers shove their way into Israel; and between Palestinian stone throwers and soldiers who just want to get back to their base. (Oded Shalom, Yedioth/Ynet)
Are Haredim Really Taking Over? New Study Reveals How Secular Israelis Have Eroded the Religious Status Quo
Seventy years ago, David Ben-Gurion laid the foundation for the relationship between religion and state in Israel - or in other words, the status quo. What's left of it? (Aaron Rabinowitz, Haaretz+)
A look into Haredi textbooks shows hatred and racism
A study of almost 100 textbooks used in ultra-Orthodox education institutions finds exclusion of women and noticeable absence of Mizrahi Jews, even at Shas schools, while the leftists are to blame for the security situation and Zionists and Reform Jews are seen as the enemy. (Itay Ilnai and Yehuda Shohat, Yedioth/Ynet) 
UK citizen apologizes for uncle's role on SS Exodus - After finding out that her uncle had been an officer aboard a UK destroyers that forced Holocaust survivors sailing to Israel aboard the Exodus to return to Europe, violinist Verity Steele seeks to make amends by accompanying Shuli Natan as she sings Jerusalem of Gold during ceremony commemorating 70 years since freedom in to-be Israel was denied to the Nazis’ victims. (Yaniv Halili & Israel Moskowitz, Yedioth/Ynet)
PTSD Is a Big Problem for American Drone Operators, but Not for Israeli Ones
In an IDF survey of its drone operators, signs of PTSD were scant, but the more they stayed on, stress started to take its toll. (Haaretz+)
Can Anti-occupation Groups Leverage U.S. Jewish Ire at Israel's Moves Against Liberal Judaism?
Activists hope American Jewish leaders who slammed Israel's backtrack on egalitarian prayer plaza at the Kotel and its support of bill bolstering Orthodox control of conversions will speak out about Palestinian plight. (Debra Nussbaum Cohen, Haaretz+) 
Jewish Fiction Fans, This Should Be Your Next Read
'The Worlds We Think We Know,' by author Dalia Rosenfeld, an immigrant to Israel and a writing instructor at Bar-Ilan University, feels at once familiar and strange, fathomable and mysterious. (Susan Comninos, Haaretz+)
 
Commentary/Analysis:
Whoever becomes the head of Israel's Labor Party will face mission impossible (Yossi Verter, Haaretz+) Twenty-five years ago, the party had 44 Knesset seats. Now it's predicted to get 15 seats in the next election, highlighting the Herculean task it faces. 
The winner who won’t be prime minister (Sima Kadmon, Yedioth/Ynet) The Labor Party members heading to the polls Tuesday aren’t going to elect Israel’s next leader. The top five candidates are all good and worthy people who would make excellent ministers, but none of them is an alternative to Netanyahu. 
A response to Kalman Liebeskind: The real face of the incitement in the state education system (Dr. Ram Fruman, Maariv) True, the Ministry of Education's programs integrate secular Hebrew culture, but only on condition that the hierarchy is clear: religiosity is preferable and superior. It's not the mix we deserve. 
A Letter From Benjamin Franklin to Donald Trump on Freedom of the Press and Idiot Leaders (Chemi Shalev, Haaretz+) For July 4, a Founding Father explains why any suppressor of criticism should be viewed as 'an enemy of liberty and the constitution.' 
No one stands up to save us from the religious-ultra-Orthodox occupation, the ministers are busy with surviving (Yitzhak Ben-Ner, Maariv) The Likud ministers cannot be trusted to fix the crisis with American Jewry. They are too busy with the survival conspiracy: buying the loyalty of the ultra-Orthodox against Ministers Bennett and Shaked (of Habayit Hayehudi).
'Europe Is Ruined': Conversations With Israelis in Berlin (Nitzan Horowitz, Haaretz+) For years, Israel has been flooded with monstrous descriptions of Europe. But there is no such thing as 'pure' Europe - national purity is a hollow and dangerous myth. 
Give us our sons back, and we’ll restore your power supply (Sima and Tzur Goldin, Yedioth/Ynet) When the Goldin family asked the government to pressure Hamas to return the bodies of soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, they were warned that any pressure would lead to war. But when Abbas asked Israel to cut electricity supplies to Gaza, the government approved it right away. Now, Goldin’s father and brother write, it’s time for a humanitarian condition. 
Give them borders: Without an agreement in Hebron, the violence is likely to increase (Dr. Revital Amiran, Maariv) Without an additional agreement that will divide the mixed city and establish a clear separation between the (Israeli and Palestinian) populations and physical border lines, we can expect the intensification of the friction and the continued violation of human rights in the area. 
Why India's Narendra Modi Can Afford to Ignore the Palestinians (David Rosenberg, Haaretz+) Indian PM Modi's Israel visit doesn't mean he turned his back on the Palestinian cause, but the Cold War is over and he has a billion people to feed.
Red lines on the Golan Heights (Prof. Eyal Zisser, Israel Hayom) Israel has responded moderately and with restraint to spillover fire from the fighting in Syria, but this approach will not be enough to ensure long-term calm.
Iran's challenge in Lebanon: Israel's options not limited to 'war' or 'doing nothing' (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) Israel must decide how to deal with the arms manufactures the Iranians are setting up in Lebanon. So far, it's trying to limit the dialog to words, not missiles. 
The Western Wall and the Jewish pocket (Nahum Barnea, Yedioth/Ynet) American Jews’ threats to withhold donations from Israel are based on the assumption that striking at the Israelis’ pocket will make them give in. The panic that has consumed Prime Minister Netanyahu and his colleagues indicates that, sadly, they may be right. 
3 years after war, Hamas may provoke new conflict with Israel (Daniel Siryoti, Israel Hayom) Three years after Operation Protective Edge in the Gaza Strip, Hamas is sparing no effort to restore its military infrastructure. The dire economic situation in Gaza and the terrorist group's diplomatic isolation may push it into making a desperate move.
No Linkage, No Leverage, No Momentum: The Wall Crisis Won’t Harden US Jews’ Views on the Occupation (Jonathan S. Tobin, Haaretz+) Anti-occupation activists' resentment and disbelief at liberal U.S. Jewish outrage over the Wall shows how disconnected they are from key tenets of American Jewish identity. 
In Israel's Religious Wars, Women Are Fair Game (Dana Sharon, Haaretz+) By attacking Diaspora Jewry, Gideon Levy is indirectly supporting the preferential treatment given to ultra-Orthodox Jews.
 

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