APN's daily news review from Israel

Sunday September 3, 2017
 

Quote of the Day #1:

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

Israel Hayom

News Summary:
Weekend protests in Israel made headlines in today’s Hebrew newspapers: a couple hundred handicapped people, who demanded the government fulfill its commitment to provide them with a larger monthly stipend, about a 1000 people, who stood near the Attorney General’s home demanding faster investigations into corruption allegations against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and some 200 right-wing activists and residents of south Tel-Aviv protesting outside Chief Justice Miriam Naor’s home against the ruling prohibiting forced deportation of African migrants and asylum seekers. And then there was Yair Revivo, the Mayor of the mixed Jewish-Arab city of Lod, who burst into a mosque on the Muslim high holiday of Eid al-Adha, against police warnings, demanding that the volume of the prayers over loudspeakers, which was too high, be lowered. (Haaretz reported he 'burst in' to ‘complain’ and that a ‘confrontation ensued,’ but that police arrived before things got violent. However, the right-wing Israel Hayom headline wrote that Revivo “requested to lower the volume and was beaten.” A YouTube video posted on Maan showed the mayor, wearing a kippah, arguing aggressively and trying to prevent a worshiper filming him. But the weekly protest march of Palestinian villagers of Kafr Qaddum against Israel over confiscation of their land for a settlement and the closure of one of their roads got no mention - even after Israeli soldiers shot a 14-year-old boy in the stomach while he was reportedly inside his uncles’ house in the village.

Also in the news, Iran warned it would respond harshly to any attack against it and its Defense Minister named Israel and the US as its enemies. And, Lebanese prime minister Said Hariri rejected Israel’s claims that there are Iranian missile factories in Lebanon, saying that “Israel knows that” and the story is part of an Israeli 'campaign of deception.' Israel, which is keen to have the UN force UNIFIL act against Hezbollah, also said that one of UNIFIL’s Lebanese officers was working as Hezbollah mole.

Separately, it turned out that Israelis who met with Trump peace envoy Jason Greenblatt told him (as they did to visiting UN Secretary General) that Israel has a moral obligation to help improve 'our neighbors' (i.e. Gazans’) living conditions' and urged him to help ‘ramatically improve' Gaza’s economy, Haaretz’s Amir Tibon reported. The Strip is under a paralyzing siege by Israel and Egypt, which control its entries, and also has just a few hours of electricity a day at Israel’s agreement. But Greenblatt said Friday that the answer to Gazans’ problems laid with Hamas and that Hamas should resign and transfer power to the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority.
 

Quick Hits:

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Features:
A Job at the Pentagon, and a Lesson on Kosher Food From a Senior Palestinian Official
Dov Schwartz met his wife Revital while serving as a diplomat in Israel: 'I'm Ashkenazi, my wife is from an Iraqi home, and a Christian Arab thought we would get along.’ (Liat Elkayam, Haaretz+)
The secular parents intend to come prepared for the school year
Kiryat Ono wants to distance a religious association, Tzur Hadassah focuses on textbooks, and in Ramat Hasharon there are first signs of the success of the struggle. Parents across the country are working against religionization in secular schools. (Or Kashti, Haaretz Hebrew 11/8/2017)
Bordering on the unknown
Israel Hayom offers an exclusive glimpse into one of the most volatile sectors on northern border, where troops and ISIS operatives come in contact nightly. The calm on the border is deceptive and the threat lurking beyond it is very real, IDF says. (Yoav Limor, Israel Hayom)
From terrorist to the face of the Palestinian struggle
Convicted [in Israel - OH] terrorist Rasmea Odeh, set to be deported from the US for hiding her past from the authorities, came a long way from being a security prisoner, to becoming a prominent 'freedom fighter' in the struggle against Israel. (Amir Bogen, Yedioth/Ynet)
According to foreign reports: A decade has passed since the bombing of the Syrian reactor
Intelligence, disagreements, the decision, the implementation and the consequences. Ten years after the bombing of Assad's reactor, back to the dramatic operation that prevented Damascus from developing nuclear capability. (Yossi Melman, Maariv)
 
Commentary/Analysis:
For Israeli Coexistence: Arabic Studies (Friday Haaretz Editorial) None of the education ministers have done much to strengthen Arabic studies. None had the courage and desire to see the language as a bridge between groups.
A short story about privatization and religion, at the end of which is a call for the realization of one great opportunity (Rami Hod, Haaretz Hebrew) Since the Molad Institute published two months ago the investigation into the infiltration of the religious right-wing organizations into the state education system, the discussion about religionization is now at the heart of the public discourse. The findings of the investigation, according to which the gates of state schools are open to religious right-wing organizations, constituted a wake-up call for secular parents in Israel. Parent groups from Herzliya and Kiryat Ono, Tzur Hadassah and Kfar Sava, Ashdod and Rishon LeZion have recently been working in a variety of ways to remove the associations from state schools. But  religion and the struggle against it are much more than the story of a clash between secular and religious people. In fact, they tell the most important story of Israel's public education system. This is a story in which the prime player is the government - who in one hand promotes privatization, expands inequality, and in the other hand promotes a right-wing agenda by changing the contents of the curriculum - and the secondary player is the middle class secular parents, who out of concern for the quality of education their children accepted the privatization policy, thus opening the door to  religious indoctrination. In order to act to change the direction and strengthen the state character of the Israeli education system, one must understand how an entire generation of parents fell asleep on guard, thereby abandoning it to the privatized arrangements on which the wave of religionization was carried out.
Mr. Prime Minister, we are not against you, we are for Israel (Ben Dror Yemini, Yedioth/Ynet) You have achieved many things, Netanyahu, and you and Israel can be very proud of them, but stop attacking the media, for we cannot ignore the details emerging on a series of scandals in which you are implicated. Do not allow your long period of power to turn you into a cynic. People on the Right are also asking many questions about your integrity.
The New National Zionism (Daniel Blatman, Haaretz+) Israeli Justice Minister Shaked’s worldview recalls the racist xenophobia of the southern U.S. states during the 1930s and onward.
Netanyahu needs to be troubled, but he continues with an incitement campaign that raises real concern for his situation (Ben Caspit, Maariv) The river of materials produced by Miki Ganor is flooding and stormy, and the parade of those being investigated in the affair will begin soon. The big question is whether the prime minister will be one of them - and how will the political system respond to an indictment?
Mounting evidence of change (Nadav Shragai, Israel Hayom) As the Palestinians continue to try and light up the Temple Mount, more and more Jewish visitors of all ages and backgrounds -- and far from right-wing extremists -- are touring the holy site, some for the first time and some for the first time in decades.
Israel Pretending to Respect Human Rights (Aeyal Gross, Haaretz+) The government treats Africans as asylum seekers who cannot be deported to their home countries, while at the same time treating them as ‘infiltrators’ who must be jailed and deported.
The civil war in Syria has proven - in our neighborhood, survival is the name of the game (Jacky Khougy, Maariv) 600,000 Syrian citizens have been killed, more than six million have been exiled and entire cities have been paralyzed, but Assad's head is still on his shoulders. And also: the connection between Da'ash and Israel according to Nasrallah.
Netanyahu Shamelessly Vilifies the Left as the Crowd Chants 'King Bibi' (Yossi Verter, Haaretz+) Casting the media and the left as the enemies of the people, haters of Zionism and, especially, as persecutors of Bibi and Sara, is turning out to be a political gold mine for the beleaguered leader.
The Supreme Court is losing the people's trust (Einav Schiff, Yedioth/Ynet) While the political right calls to 'raise the shovel of a D9 bulldozer against the High Court,' or at the very least calls for constitutional revolution, even the political left is growing tired of the highest court in the land. It's time for a change.
Israel's Lovesick Leader (Carolina Landsmann, Haaretz+) Like a rock star who dives from the stage into the crowd and surfs through the masses, Netanyahu seems to let the audience carry him on their raised hands and lead him as he lies on his back.
The Likud owes fealty to no leader (Dr. Haim Shine, (Israel Hayom) MK Benny Begin's claim that Prime Minister Netanyahu enjoys blind allegiance from Likud members is false. The PM is supported because he produces results in agreement with the Likud's vision.
Class-based School Tracking (Haaretz Editorial) According to new analysis, about half of the students in areas outside of the center of the country are in vocational-technical programs as opposed to higher education.
Why shouldn't Meni Naftali be allowed to sue the prime minister? (Shahar Ginossar, Yedioth/Ynet) The current law shields elected officials from being sued for libel, in order to allow them to do their jobs. But when someone as powerful as Netanyahu feels safe in leading a smear campaign against a former maintenance man who worked at his house, the time has come to amend it.
When Gideon Levy Fell in Love With Ayelet Shaked (Ravit Hecht, Haaretz+) My colleague Gideon Levy prefers hard-line rightists to the left because they tell the truth; that is, they sincerely express dangerous sentiments popular among the people. The damage in Levy’s alliance with people like Shaked is his view that what Shaked and her ilk are offering is Zionism. It’s not.
The Zionist Tango (Gideon Levy, Haaretz+) Why the racist honesty of Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked is preferable to the fake views of the Israeli left.
Not mathematics: Lieberman's opposition to the Regulation Law [Law to expropriate privately-owned Palestinian land in West Bank] does not meet the test of reality (Prof. Arieh Eldad, Maariv) When the defense minister claimed that 10,000 were more than 2,000 - regarding the number of Arab homes to be saved due to the law, he chose to ignore reality and the two most influential factors: time and money.
Are Israel’s Police Really More Violent Toward the Ethiopian Community? (Nomi Levenkron , Haaretz+) Are police in Israel and the U.S. inherently racist, or are they part of a bigger problem? A series of reforms undertaken by the Israel Police indicates a desire to change.
What's new in Assadistan? (Nahuma Barnea, Yedioth/Ynet) In this year's UN speech, Netanyahu will once again focus on Iran, but instead of the nuclear threat it would be Iran's entrenchment in Syria at the forefront of his mind. But the situation is more complex than what the prime minister describes, with Syria reducing the number of Iranians in its territory and Rouhani being more preoccupied with rehabilitating Iran's economy.
A Settler Farm Sows Fear Among Palestinian Shepherds, With Help From the Israeli Army (Amira Hass, Haaretz+) Thirteen years ago Omer Atidiah situated his private farm on Palestinian land north of Jericho; since then his name has terrorized the area.
How to reduce terrorism (Maj. Gen. (ret.) Yaakov Amidror, Israel Hayom) ISIS is effectively defeated, but its members can now go back to their homelands, and Western nations must take drastic steps to contain terrorism.
Egypt’s 'Newspeak' Masks Public’s Perception of Israel (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz) Egypt’s war on words isn’t new, but during al-Sissi's four years in power, freedom of expression has become a strategic target.
The Gulf States Have a New Political Weapon: Soccer (Adrian Hennigan, Haaretz) Cash-rich gulf states with limited political leverage have turned to the soccer field with the goal of winning hearts and minds.
 

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