APN's daily news review from Israel

Thursday October 26, 2017
 

Quote of the day:

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

Israel Hayom

News Summary:
So Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s associates have replaced the highly controversial ’French Law’ (‘Bibi Law #1’) with the ‘Police Law’ (‘Bibi Law #2’), Netanyahu’s state envoy, Yitzhak Molcho resigned the day before the High Court was supposed to discuss whether his employment was a conflict of interest, the UN has boycotted dozens of Israeli companies operating in the West Bank and today, Chief Justice Miriam Naor will be replaced by Justice Esther Hayut making top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers.

After the bill prohibiting investigating a prime minister ran into opposition within the coalition, Netanyahu’s associates are promoting a new bill, which will prohibit police from recommending indicting someone at the end of an investigation. The police are furious and the Attorney General has expressed reservations (Maariv). But according to Yedioth, no opposition to the bill is expected from within the coalition. However, Maariv reported that sources in the coalition say they will support the Police Law - only if it’s implementation begins in the future, 2020, - and that it won’t apply to Netanyahu. The assessment is that Netanyahu wants to move to elections and start campaigning - without a police recommendation for indicting him.

Political commentators Sima Kadmon (Yedioth) and Yanir Kozin (Maariv) believe that the French Law was just a spin and that all along Netanyahu planned to propose the Police Law, which is far more important to him. Kozin writes: “The reason is simple. In the present situation, when the investigation is completed and the materials are submitted to the State Prosecutor's Office, the police write a statement stating ‘an evidentiary basis has been found in the suspicions.’ But if [the Police bill] is approved it will also apply retroactively. This means that at the end of the prime minister's investigations, the police will not be able to say a word beyond ‘we have finished investigating.’ Such a situation, of course, has political implications. The prime minister will not have to deal with the issue of whether to resign in the event that the police find evidence to prosecute him. Kadmon writes that if the bill is passed, “it will prevent the public from knowing the severity of the allegations against him…Netanyahu will achieve something greater than peace: time.”
 

Quick Hits:

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Features:
The New Face of Israel’s Arms Exporters
The NSO Group, founded by graduates of Israel’s prestigious military intelligence unit, sells surveillance tools to governments around the world – which occasionally use them for political persecution. (Nathan Lipson, Haaretz)
Smuggled Sperm Allows Palestinian Prisoners to Become Fathers
A Palestinian prisoner serving a 21-year sentence recently became a father for the third time even though he had not seen his wife in a year. "Every attempt at illegal smuggling is dealt with by a disciplinary officer," the Israel Prison Service said. (Dima Abumaria, MediaLine/Maariv)

Commentary/Analysis:
Where Is the Outrage Over Netanyahu's Crusade for Righteousness? (Dan Margalit, Haaretz) The ardor with which Netanyahu’s henchmen are pursuing a bill to exempt him from investigation for fraud and bribery is evident of this government's moral rot.
What benefit did the public derive from the speeches of Rivlin and Netanyahu? (Shmuel Rosner, Maariv) The chance that the prime minister will find listeners among people who are not his supporters - have only dropped: the president's chances of winning the attention of the audiences he wants to bring back to stateliness - only dropped.
Proposed Powers for Israel's Defense Minister Befit a Totalitarian State (Haaretz Editorial) Allowing the defense minister to impose any kind of limitation on a citizen if there's a 'reasonable possibility' he may harm state security threatens our democracy.
Hezbollah's leader in the Golan exposed(Yossi Yehoshua, Yedioth/Ynet) Marked by Israel and entrusted by Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah in charge of the Syrian Golan Heights, Munir Ali Na'im Shaiti—nicknamed Haj Hashem—could be the man who shapes the next war on Israel's northern border.
Hopelessly Criminalizing BDS Only Augments Its Impact (Gideon Levy, Haaretz) Dickinson’s 20,000 inhabitants, who had probably never heard of Israel, are now new and ardent supporters of the movement to boycott it.
(Outgoing chief justice Miriam) Naor guarded the court despite (Justice Minister) Shaked's attempts to erode its power (Dr. Yechiel Gutman, Maariv) During her tenure in the High Court, quite a number of laws were annulled (the Third House Taxation Law, the Infiltrators Law, etc.), and decisive rulings were passed such as the evacuation of Amona (outpost settlement).
The Balfour Declaration Promised Lebanon and Jordan to the Jews, Too (Benjamin Pogrund, Haaretz+) As the First World War raged, the imperial powers raced to recognize Jewish self-determination. France put out its pro-Zionist statement five months before Balfour, while Britain worried that enemy Germany would also pre-empt it.
The enemy of my enemy (Isi Leibler, Israel Hayom) Most European far-right parties once had active fascist support, but if they expel their anti-Semites and Holocaust deniers, they may be friendlier than parties on the Left.
Moshe Arens, the Likable Orientalist (Emilie Moatti, Haaretz) It’s not the occupation that’s keeping me and my friends awake at night, but thoughts about your families who turned us into slaves.
Israel’s next challenge: Precision-guided missiles in Gaza (Roi Kais, Ynet) As part of its expansion in the region, Iran plans to produce upgraded rockets in Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. In light of the Iranians' warming relations with Hamas, Israeli defense officials believe they will seek to produce accurate missiles in the strip as well. Meanwhile, Hezbollah already has its eyes set on the day after the war in Syria.
School Field Trips That Whitewash the Occupation (Or Kashti, Haaretz) School trips are advancing a political agenda. It’s time to keep the kids at home.
A clear warning shot (Yoav Limor, Israel Hayom) Until now, Munir Shaito has lived in the shadows: Few knew he was Hezbollah's commander in southern Syria. Revealing his identity means that his activities are now transparent to Israel and that he is firmly in the IDF's crosshairs.
 

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