APN's daily news review from Israel

Wednesday July 19, 2017

You Must Be Kidding: 
Palestinians in Askar refugee camp near Nablus returned a military drone to the IDF that fell while it was helping soldiers search for wanted individuals from the refugee camp.** 

---

Front Page:

Haaretz

• Submarine affair: Police expected to interrogate serving officers
• Pandora box opened // Amos Harel
• In the IDF General Headquarters, embarrassed, but investigating // Amir Oren
• (Jerusalem Mayor) Barkat made agreement with rabbis over division of Jerusalem to ultra-Orthodox and secular neighborhoods
• Last night: Injuries from clashes next to Temple Mount
• (Hungarian PM) Orban to Netanyahu: Hungary sinned by collaborating with the Nazis
• State Comptroller: Conduct of the state in the ammonia tank affair raises suspicions of criminal wrongdoing
• Social Welfare Minister to High Court: We will re-examine the (state’s) position against homosexual and lesbian couples adopting
• Not because of the occupation // Uzi Baram
• Proud discrimination // Chemi Shalev
• What is behind the drop in the ratings of the news broadcasts // Itai Stern
• The prosecutor’s dilemma: Why are lawyers refusing to represent the state witness

Yedioth Ahronoth

• Rivlin and Merkel and the submarine affair embarrassment
• Children are at the pool, the lifesaver is on the smartphone
• Storm state’s position against same-sex couples adopting: (Singer) ‘Static’ cries out – I was adopted
• Expose: The harsh rebuke against the judge who lied
• 1,500 shekels medium-well done: We took a bite out of the most expensive steak in the country

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

• The Submarines affair branches out - Suspicion: Acts of corruption in more security-related deals
• “Suspicion of criminal wrongdoing in dealing with the ammonia tank”
• High preparation ahead of Palestinian day of rage – against security check at entrance to Temple Mount
• Hungarian Prime Minister: “Collaboration with the Nazis was a mistake”

Israel Hayom

• Case 3000 branches out: Attempt to recruit additional state witnesses from among the suspects - The suspicion: Criminal wrongdoing in additional security-related deals
• Special: “You saved my life” -  Cancer-stricken Shayetet 13 (Navy Seal) officer in moving meeting with the man who donated stem cells to him
• “Suspicion of criminal wrongdoing in the dealing of the ammonia (tank)”
• Israel and Egypt strengthening economic cooperation
• Patients waiting up to a year: Lack of hundreds of psychologists in the public sector

News Summary:
Corruption was the theme in today's Hebrew newspapers as the submarine scandal branched out to possible criminal acts in more security-related deals and the State Comptroller said that the conduct of the state in the ammonia tank affair raised suspicions of criminal wrongdoing. Also in the news, escalating violence at the Temple Mount between Israeli police and Palestinian worshippers, who protested the use of metal detectors, and Hungary's Prime Minister said his country was wrong to collaborate with the Nazis.

Yedioth and Channel 10 revealed that it was President Reuven Rivlin who was asked by the Defense Ministry to ask German Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2015 whether it was true that a senior Israeli official gave Germany a green light to sell advanced submarines to Egypt as part of a tripartite deal. Police will question serving naval officers after Michael Ganor, the Israeli representative of German shipbuilder ThyssenKrupp, who is suspected of bribery and money-laundering, gave the police additional information connected with other arms deals signed in recent years. Investigators hope to recruit more state witnesses. Thyssenkrup said it found no sign of corruption in the deal, but Germany has postponed the submarine deal due to Israel's corruption probe.

At least 14 Palestinians were wounded, one critically in Temple Mount clashes with Israeli police Tuesday. Ynet reporter Hassan Shaalan was also attacked by police while covering the clashes (photos). Maan reported that the Palestinians were injured when Israeli forces violently dispersed Muslim worshipers who were performing the night-time Isha prayer in the streets outside of the Temple Mount compound to express their opposition to the metal detectors Israel had installed at the holy site following the deadly attack at the Temple Mount in which two Border Police were killed. Witnesses said Israeli police officers on horseback assaulted worshipers who tried to approach Lions’ Gate, one of the entrances to the Al-Aqsa compound. Military wings of Palestinian organizations in Gaza warned Israel that Israel's new measures will 'explode in the region,' Fatah called for a 'day of rage' for today, and one report said that the Saudi King asked the US to intervene in the crisis.
 

Quick Hits:

---

Commentary/Analysis:
Phasing Out Jewish Identity (Miron Izakson, Haaretz+) Must I believe that the only people who share my loyalty to my Jewish faith and tradition are people on the absolute right wing? 
Submarine affair requires commission of inquiry (Giora Eiland, Yedioth/Ynet) Regardless of the criminal aspect of the affair, a committee must be appointed to investigate the handling of defense purchases. The police should not be the ones to check, for example, how Israel reached a discreet agreement with Germany on selling weapons to Egypt. 
Netanyahu Is Finished (Bradley Burston, Haaretz+) Politics may be a very temporary business. But betrayal is forever. 
Israel's submarine affair: A Pandora's box that Netanyahu might elude (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) Sources say the investigation might spill over into non-defense procurement, but Netanyahu isn't in the danger zone yet. 
Labor Is the Israeli Right; It’s Time for the Left (Ron Cahlili, Haaretz+) Avi Gabbay’s election to lead the party is the end of the right wing's campaign of conquest. Now they have it all, and all to lose. 
ISIS in the Sinai eyeing Israel (Roi Kais, Ynet) According to senior IDF officials, it is only a matter of time and strategic consideration before ISIS in the Sinai—which boasts hundreds of fighters—turns its attention towards Israel and aims to carry out a serious attack.
The Biggest Attack in Jerusalem (Ilana Hammerman, Haaretz+) It began in 1967 with the expulsion of hundreds of Arab Jerusalemites from the area of the Western Wall, and continues with a series of Jewish triumphalist projects seeking to blot out the presence of Arabs.
The story behind the Jerusalem attack: How Trump and Netanyahu pushed Palestinians to a corner (Ramzy Baroud, Maan) It began when the Israeli Knesset began pushing laws that make life even more difficult for Palestinian Jerusalemites, including a law that limits the Muslim call for prayer. The law, which passed its second reading last March, was championed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 
Israel Stuck Between a Trump Rock and Putin Hard Place Over Syria Cease-fire (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) If Israel is looking for someone to blame it's not the U.S. but Russia, which publicly committed to taking Israel's security interests into account.
Israel Escalates Threats Against Iran (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) Ex-national security adviser warns that Israel must prevent Iranian infrastructure in Syria at any cost. The explicit threat to Iran and Hezbollah is not an official declaration, but foreign governments will find it hard to ignore
How defeating BDS is closer, literally, than we think (Reuven Weiss, Ynet) Organizations committed to fighting those who slander and ostracise Israel have developed a counter-strategy that aims to bring dignitaries, cultural leaders, politicians and journalists to Israel to view first hand the realities on the ground; 'They can’t believe just how small the country is.' 
Editorial Justice, Not Compromise (Haaretz Editorial) Instead of trying to legitimize state and settlers crimes and suggest unjust compromises, the High Court should order Israel to return lands to Palestinians. 
Sailing after the money (Alex Fishman, Yedioth/Ynet) Did Israel allow Germany to sell advanced submarines to Egypt in return for a discount on patrol boats to protect the natural gas rigs, which are both too big and too expensive? 
Jerusalem mayor's deal with ultra-Orthodox is sensible yet worrying (Nir Hasson, Haaretz+) For the ultra-Orthodox, the deal grants formal recognition communities that have already arisen within secular neighborhoods; for secular Jerusalemites that's exactly the problem. 
The wave of investigations has already become a tsunami: And Netanyahu? He is still a suspect (Ben Caspit, Maariv) The structure that the Prime Minister established and through which he took control of the centers of power, paralyzed the gatekeepers and trained the regulators, is crashing in front of our eyes ... The time has come for (Netanyahu’s special envoy) Molcho and (personal lawyer) Shimron be completely removed from the state's affairs.  
Israel's Right Clings to Conspiracies Again (Nitzan Horowitz, Haaretz+) Israeli citizens, not the New Israel Fund, are rallying for the PM’s indictment, while police and prosecutors, not the media, are leading the criminal investigations against him.
Jerusalem Without Palestinians? (Amira Hass, Haaretz+) Israel continues to treat peace talks with the Palestinians like a soccer game: There has to be a winner and a loser. Peace as a shared interest has disappeared from Israelis’ emotional and intellectual lexicon. 
Police harassment and harassment of Jews: the deterioration of the Temple Mount until the next attack (Nadav Haetzni, Maariv) The hypocrisy and incompetence are also expressed against the current provocateurs on the outskirts of the Temple Mount, who pretend to be naive worshipers – and are (now) stunned by the metal detector checks. The message and direction are clear and the demonstrators act accordingly.
A warmer Israel will be a much poorer Israel (David Rosenberg, Haaretz+) A recent study on the economic impact of climate change shows how vulnerable Israel, and the whole Middle East, are to climate change.
 

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