APN's daily news review from Israel

Monday September 4, 2017
 

Quote of the day:

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

Israel Hayom

News Summary:
The legal troubles getting closer to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, the launching of a hydrogen bomb by North Korea, and the resignation of the captain of Israel’s national soccer team were top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers.

There is a sense in reading the Israeli papers that the noose is getting tighter around Netanyahu. Yesterday, Police arrested Netanyahu’s former bureau chief, David Sharan, on suspicion of bribery in the submarines acquisition corruption affair, dubbed Case 3000, and detained five others, including the former commander of Israel’s navy seals (‘Shayetet’) and former commander of the navy, Eliezer Marom. Haaretz’s Amos Harel wrote that the “identities of some of the latest suspects indicate that detectives are seeking to answer the question of if and how senior politicians were involved in these transactions.”

Then there were the regular conversations Netanyahu held with the editor-in-chief of the ‘Netanyahu freebie,’ ‘Israel Hayom.’ Channel 10’s Raviv Drucker exposed the late-night phone logs that suggest that Netanyahu influenced the headlines during the 2013 election campaign. Yedioth’s Tovah Tzimuki reported that a very high ranking judicial source assessed that in light of the regularity of the calls, the State Comptroller Yosef Shapira will examine whether the relations between the sides signify a violation of the Law on Funding Political Parties.

And then Haaretz+'s Gidi Weitz revealed that Sara Netanyahu was expected to be indicted for fraud in accepting $110,000 worth of goods in the affair of the Prime Minister’s Residence. ‘Netanyahu is suspected of ordering chef’s meals at the prime minister’s official residence, which is against regulations, and concealing the fact that she did so. She and her husband have accused the former chief caretaker of the official residence, Meni Naftali, who is currently leading protests against the prime minister, of inflating the residence’s expenses,’ Weitz wrote. Yedioth reported that the Jerusalem District Prosecutor's Office now considers Naftali a state witness in the affair about Mrs. Netanyahu’s alleged misuse of state funds.
 

Quick Hits:

---

Features:

1929 -2017 Izhak Parviz Nazarian, from Tehran to [Israel then back to Tehran, then to] Beverly Hills
Born in Iran, he fought in Israel’s War of Independence and went on to become a major shareholder in Qualcomm. (Ofer Aderet, Haaretz+)

Commentary/Analysis:
New Arrests in Israel's Submarine Affair Signal Suspicions Against Top Politicians (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) Police aim to recruit a second Netanyahu ex-chief of staff as state’s witness.
*The names of the coupons cutters from the submarine deal continue to emerge courtesy of the state (Ben Caspit, Maariv) The affair rose from the depths - other senior officials are involved, and only Netanyahu did not know. And also: the exposure of the prime minister's dates of talks with senior Israeli officials leaves no room for doubt as to who dictated the headlines there.
The submarine affair: A clueless Netanyahu is just as bad as a complicit one (Barak Ravid, Haaretz+) The deeper the investigators dig, the more suspects they find in senior positions in the security establishment, the National Security Council in the Prime Minister’s Office and in Netanyahu’s inner circle.
The prime minister needed to have real concern for the stability of his government in order to descend to the people (Dr. Revital Amiran, Maariv) Netanyahu was welcomed in South Tel Aviv, but in a proper democratic regime, citizens are not supposed to be grateful to the ruler. In order to find a real solution to their distress, the residents of the region must recognize their political power.
Why Would the Army Spokesperson Lie? (Amira Hass, Haaretz+) Every Jewish Israeli mother should know her son was drafted to ensure that only kosher Jewish sheep enjoy a free life in the Jordan Valley.
Lessons from the Syrian strike (Prof. Eyal Zisser, Israel Hayom) What would have happened if the Syrian nuclear reactor had not been destroyed in 2007 and Syrian President Bashar Assad had access to nuclear weapons?
Judges are not saints, but discourse must be kept civil (Amnon Abramovich, Yedioth/Ynet)  Illegal aliens' affair, and High Court's ruling on the matter, bring to bear acrimonious, toxic discourse around the justice system and its role in Israel; While judges may overstep their authority occasionally, the court system is still the foundation of life in a country as divided as Israel.
The Israelis Who Push the Ultimate Conspiracy Theory (Roy Arad, Haaretz+) In their eyes, the Earth is flat as a pita and the moon landing never happened. Another sign of the post-truth era?
The difficult questions I would like to ask the prime minister (Meir Uziel, Maariv) I tried several times to reach to make a media connection with Netanyahu but without success. Unilateral withdrawals, the submarines affair, and the vision of two states. These are the things I would expect to get answers about.
Why ISIS Collapsed, but Not Terrorism (Anat Hochberg-Marom, Haaretz+) The terrorist organization continues to function and serve as a model for imitation despite its ‘manufacturing plant’ in Iraq and Syria being gravely damaged and the possibility that its leader has been killed.
The tension between the United States and Russia - very bad news for Israel (Shlomo Shamir, Maariv) The heated rivalry between the White House and the Kremlin and the worsening relations between the leaders are grave developments for Israel's interests. Thus, for example, there is a difficulty in curbing Iranian expansion in Syria.
When Nasrallah strikes a deal with Syria (Smadar Perry, Yedioth/Ynet) Nasrallah's deal with Syria to move 300 ISIS militants from the Syrian border with Lebanon to their border with Iraq could be another sign of Iran's attempt to establish its presence in Lebanon. This is a worrying step that could destabilize the area right before the Iraqi presidential election.
Lessons Learned From Hezbollah (Moshe Arens, Haaretz+) How did successive Israeli governments allow a minor danger to northern Israel to become a major threat to the entire country?
Israel as a regional, maritime superpower, Part II (Rear Admiral Oded Gour-Lavie (Res.), Yedioth/Ynet) Israel needs an agency dedicated to the promotion of a grand maritime strategy that will enable it to reduce threats of choke holds to its sea access, promote its gas and energy interests and further other sea-linked goals.

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