APN's daily news review from Israel

Thursday September 14, 2017
 

Quote of the day:

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

Israel Hayom

News Summary:
Shas rabbis forced an ultra-Orthodox MK to resign after he attended his gay nephew’s wedding to a man, the Israeli army has changed the definition of combat soldiers and is giving incentives to those who join frontline units, while Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that all 18-year-old men must go to the army or serve in national service and that he won’t support any laws that try to bypass the High Court ruling canceling an exemption for ultra-Orthodox making top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers.

Also two noteworthy reports came out of the High Court yesterday. The Court criticized the state for secretly burying the bodies of four Palestinian assailants while a court case over their release to their families was taking place. "Is it correct for our country, as a Jewish and democratic state that is proud of being a state that operates by the light of moral values, to act as it does in the matter of returning the bodies of terrorists?" asked High Court Justice Yitzhak Danziger after the State revealed for the first time that the bodies were already buried. “With all due respect to political considerations, bodies have been returned in the past. Questions about how to return, when to return, how to make the funerals and what restrictions can be imposed on the funerals in terms of the number of participants can be understood, but there has been a change. In my opinion, the State of Israel needs to give great thought to whether this is appropriate and correct." Maariv gave the Justice’s criticism, while Ynet only noted they were buried.

Even as it criticized the State for 'inappropriate' actions, the High Court made a ruling overturning a state decision - 11 years after it was implemented. The court ruled that it was unjust of the State to expel from Jerusalem four Palestinian Jerusalemites just because they were elected members of the Palestinian Legislative Council on the Hamas ticket. Today, two of the four are living in Ramallah and two are imprisoned by Israel without charges. [NOTE: One of those imprisoned, Sheikh Mohammed Abu Tir, left his home and moved to Kufr Aqab, on the edge of Ramallah, beyond the Qalandiya military checkpoint, but Israel said that wasn’t far enough and he later moved to Ramallah before he was detained without charges.]

MK Yigal Guetta left the ultra-Orthodox Shas party after its rabbis demanded his resignation for attending his nephew’s same-sex wedding. Guetta’s sister, Suzi Ben-Zvi, told Maariv she would no longer vote for Shas after what the “righteous from Shas did to my brother.” Chen Artzi-Sror, a feminist religious journalist, wrote in an Op-Ed on Yedioth’s front page: “MK Yigal Guetta, you are so naive. How could you have dared to be caught on such a serious transgression such as ‘ahavat hinam’ (love for your fellow human beings without expectation of anything in return). How you fell like that, and went be celebrate in the happiness of your beloved nephew who chose to live with a man. You couldn’t organize a more minor transgression, such as 'Do not steal' or 'Bribery do not take'? Shas has a clear standard: Bribery and theft are transgressions, but they can be absolved, but the (Shas) legislative body is not capable of accepting a sensitive and honest man…” [NOTE: A couple of Shas MKs have been jailed for accepting bribes, including its leader, Arieh Deri, who sat in jail, and today leads the party again.]

Following a drop in army age men joining combat units, the army has decided to give them incentives to become combat soldiers. Infantry and elite combat units are now considered ’Spearhead’ combat soldiers and get higher salaries and other added benefits. Those who go to the elite combat units will have to serve much longer, but will also get paid-for university degrees, among other things.

The ultra-Orthodox accused the High Court of making the ruling nixing the law exempting them from the draft in order topple the government. Shas leader Arieh Deri said he and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu have agreed to push a draft exemption bill that would bypass the High Court.

However, it appears not everyone in the coalition government will back that bill. Lieberman responded saying that “Anyone who has reached age 18 must enlist or go to national service…I don’t understand why an ultra-Orthodox can’t serve in the army. If not in the army as in the national service. The same goes if he’s Muslim or Christian (Arab).”
 

Quick Hits:

---

Features:

'My Color Is Beautiful and Strong': A Fierce Takedown of Racism, Courtesy of Ethiopian-Israeli Girls
A group of Ethiopian-Israeli teens who penned a searing rap opens up about racist teachers, facing discrimination and finding solidarity with Palestinians. (Meital Shapiro, Haaretz+)
Son follows in ill father's footsteps aboard INS Tarshish
Eli Koren served on INS Tarshish in the Israeli Navy when he was struck by debilitating illness, rendering him paralyzed; his son, Omer, is now set to serve on same ship; the pair board it together for Omer's graduation. (Yoav Zitun, Ynet)
Before Netanyahu's Cigars: Israeli Leaders' Hedonistic Acts Through the Ages
'I don’t know of any Israeli leader who wasn’t tainted by power,' historian Yossi Goldstein says. (Ofer Aderet, Haaretz+)

Commentary/Analysis:
Yes, in Israel We Elect a Family (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) It's a mistake to only hold Prime Minister Netanyahu accountable for his son Yair's behavior. There’s no division of labor within the ruling family and no defined roles.
Why are right-wing journalists defending corruption? (Ben-Dror Yemini, Yedioth/Ynet) Netanyahu didn’t create the norm of benefits at the expense of wealthy people or the state. He simply took it to new heights, allegedly of course. The journalists defending him on a daily basis have lost their decency and common sense.
The Goal: To Weaken Israel's Supreme Court (Haaretz Editorial) Ultra-Orthodox parties are joining the assault on Israel’s already-fragile democratic institutions after it struck down the law exempting ultra-Orthodox Jews from the draft.
End the saga: it is time to leave Vaanunu alone (Ran Adelist, Maariv) The State of Israel does not appear to have suffered any security damage due to the revelations of the nuclear spy, Mordechai Vaanunu. Perhaps we even gained a strong image. Now that he has finished serving another sentence, it is time to stop chasing him.
Throwing Decency – and Jews – Under the Bus, Yair Netanyahu Becomes neo-Nazis' Newest Surrogate (Nancy Goldstein, Haaretz) Yair has just shown the real family values the Trumps and Netanyahu's share.
Israel’s missed opportunity with Sunni states (Alex Fishman, Yedioth/Ynet) Israel had a golden opportunity to reach agreements with region's Sunni countries on future of Middle East and Israel’s role in it. Unfortunately, someone waited too long, and now with Syrian President Assad's surprising survival, and Iran and Hezbollah's growing strength, Israel is recording yet another diplomatic failure.
Suddenly Israelis Care About Equality (Gideon Levy, Haaretz+) We want only one thing – ultra-Orthodox men in uniform. That will make our society fair and our camp pure.
Who is running this show? (Yehuda Shlezinger, Israel Hayom) Perhaps the nature of the draft law should be decided by the country's 8 million citizens, rather than the nine judges of the High Court of Justice.
En Route to Separating Religion and State in Israel (Shuki Friedman, Haaretz+) One of the Chief Rabbinate’s two significant monopolies – kashrut, the other being marriage – has now been broken.
Haredi draft ruling: High Court at the public’s service (Ben-Dror Yemini, Yedioth/Ynet) Court’s decision to strike down law allowing mass ultra-Orthodox exemptions from military service is an important milestone against political cynicism in which a minority repeatedly prevents State of Israel from being a slightly more decent and civilized country.
Israel's High Court: Bull in the China Shop (Israel Cohen, Haaretz+) If anger towards the High Court has until now mainly come from religious Zionists and rightist activists, now the ultra-Orthodox may join them.
High Court shows military service is at the heart of Israeli consensus by nixing ultra-Orthodox exemption (Revital Hovel, Haaretz+) The ruling is the latest in a string of challenges the High Court has made to the government, showing it has more moxie than some have thought.
Civilian Hardships in Gaza Force Hamas to Become More Pragmatic (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) Terror organization finally agrees to pay for some of Strip’s electricity, signaling shift in policy.
Why Mexico's Jews are embracing Netanyahu, even though he endorsed Trump's wall (Alan Grabinsky, Haaretz+) In January, Bibi implied that Trump’s envisioned wall was a good thing. Now on an Israeli prime minister’s first visit to Latin America, Netanyahu gets a chance to make amends.
 

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