APN's daily news review from Israel

Wednesday January 15, 2014

Quote of the day:

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Front Page News:

Haaretz

• US: Yaalon's remarks offensive and inappropriate, that is not how an ally behaves
• That's not rain, it's a spit in the face // Chemi Shalev
• Lieberman's successor in IDF headquarters // Barak Ravid
• The complicated relations between Rabbi Pinto's court and senior police
• Egypt: We will overthrow Hamas after we finish off the Muslim Brotherhood
• Education Ministry compares between Ariel Sharon and Moses
• For first time, court gave prison sentence to builder for illegal waste disposal
• I'm not going out, my life is good between the book and the field - New look at Leah Goldberg through letters that were revealed

• US to Netanyahu: Renounce Yaalon
• The painful truth // Shimon Shiffer
• In a parallel universe // Alon Pinkas
• They taught the teachers a lesson - Following student protest, the annual hiking trips will return
• Between holy and roll - Want to order sushi? Call Eish Kodesh settler outpost in Samaria
• From beginning of month 400 career soldiers dismissed
• Red light - Founder of 'Green Light' organization: State responsible for rise in road deaths
• Don't throw us out - Almost half a million Israelis are at retirement age don't have a pension

• Lieberman: "The gaps with the US are bridgeable, Israel is prepared to go far"
• - Shake-up in US-Israel relations following publishing of remarks by Defense Minister, according to which John Kerry is "obsessive and messianic"; US sources demanded Netanyahu make public clarification that opposes the remarks
• The quiet destroyer // Shalom Yerushalmi (Hebrew)
• Letter of settlement and excommunication // Nadav Eyal (Hebrew)
• Between Sharon and Netanyahu // Jeffrey Goldberg (Hebrew)
• (Likud member) Kahlon preparing future party. Looking at General Tal Russo
• Medical tourism at Tel-Hashomer Hospital: Preference for foreign patients over Israeli patients
• The affair of Rabbi Yeshayahu Pinto and the senior police officer: Between a medal and an indictment (Hebrew)
• Target number one: Who is David Chai Chasdai, 19, who is giving Shin Bet interrogators and the police in Judea and Samaria (W. Bank) a headache, and why did a court suggest "exiling" him to the Golan Heights? (Hebrew)

• Yaalon: I apologize  - The insult and the apology: In Washington they were furious, in Jerusalem they tried to calm things
• We cannot allow Yaalon to become a persona non grata // Dan Margalit
• Most Israelis really don't believe in the negotiations // Gonen Ginat
• The police: "Enough of the rumors, do not taint the rest of us
• The desperate rabbi and the shame of the media // Mordechai Gilat
• 2013 deficit was only 3.1%; Steinitz: "Lapid caused damage"
• The victory of the high school students (to keep their annual hiking trip)
• Rouhani on the nuclear agreement: "The West capitulated to Iran"
• "My whole life I hurried": Leah Goldberg's letters are revealed
• Rose Fostanes is the X-Factor winner

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Peace Talk Highlights:
The top story in today's Hebrew papers was how the US is furious at Israel and expects Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to make a public renouncement of the remarks by Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told Maariv that the gaps between the US and Israel are 'bridgeable.' Also in the Hebrew papers was the news that Israeli forces pulled over  the Palestinian Prime Minister's car . However, they did not tell the whole story, Maan reveals.

Last night at about midnight, Yaalon's ministry published an apology of sorts for calling US Secretary of State John Kerry 'obsessive and messianic.' The remarks has caused another rift between the two allies. But the US State Department still demands Netanyahu make clear publicly that Kerry is concerned about Israel's security interests. Netanyahu said that Yaalon's remarks don't change Israel's cooperation with the US, but he stopped there. Netanyahu and Yaalon have good relations and, as Alon Pinkas writes in Yedioth, Netanyahu did not call Yaalon in to his office and chastise him, nor did he make a public apology. However, Israeli ministers on the center and left side of the political spectrum have slammed Yaalon for his remarks, accusing him of harming ties with the US.
 
Maariv/NRG Hebrew reports on an expression of support from a far right-wing cabinet member. In a phone call from Geneva, Foreign Minister Avidgdor Lieberman said, "Israel is willing to go far, but the key is security arrangements." When asked whether the gap between the US proposal and the Israeli demands is bridgeable, Lieberman said: "It appears - that is it possible to bridge between the American positions and our positions."

Meanwhile, Israeli security forces stopped Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdullah's car, causing a row. The Israeli police said he was stopped for reckless driving. Some Hebrew reports said that he was released immediately. However, a video uploaded by an Israeli human rights activist shows that he was there over 20 minutes. The Israeli police said it was because he demanded an apology from the Israeli security forces for stopping him. Hamdullah said in a video that the soldiers tried to push his car over and kill him. But Maan revealed he was stopped not once, but twice in the same day. The first time was the one reported on in the media and filmed - near Turmus Aya village, north of Ramallah. Maan reported that it was not police that stopped him, but 'a group of settlers escorted by Israeli soldiers.' The video shows that mostly military. The second time was near Zaatar checkpoint in Nablus area. Israeli forces blocked his car's path and asked for the IDs of those with him.  They refused and continued on their way, Maan reported. A Palestinian government spokesman said that Israeli forces intentionally impeded the movement of the prime minister as part of the series on violations against Palestinians.

Quick Hits:

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Commentary/Analysis:
How Israel's defense minister shot himself in the foot (Barak Ravid, Haaretz) Moshe Ya'alon's attack on Kerry is an attack on Obama too.
Ya'alon's frustration got out of control (Ron Ben-Yishai, Ynet) After being blasted by Kerry and his team as main obstacle to framework agreement with Palestinians, frustrated defense minister had enough, but frustration is no substitute for sophisticated public diplomacy.
An apartheid legal system just got worse (Haaretz Editorial) Prohibition on Palestinian appeals to military court decisions confiscating their property embodies the essence of occupation.
The painful truth (Shimon Shiffer, Yedioth) Shiffer reminds his readers that Defense Minister Yaalon is said to have described US Secretary of State John Kerry as, "obsessive and Messianic," and suggests, "There is something refreshing and much more important than niceties in these remarks – straight talk directly with Israel's citizens...It seems that US Secretary of State John Kerry has almost completely adopted the Palestinian position...This is the background to Yaalon's sharp remarks in closed talks with American sources. The draft agreement which they are offering is liable to end as a security disaster for Israel, but if we insist on our vital interests they will blame us for the failure of the talks. And if this is the case, it is no wonder that the Defense Minister is outraged...The Defense Minister claims that, in effect, there are no negotiations right now because Abu Mazen is refusing to recognize Israel as the national state of the Jewish people, is refusing to give up on the right of return and is refusing to sign an agreement that would lead to the end of all claims. Maybe this truth hurts, but somebody has to say it – and this is what Yaalon did."
**Israel needs borders, not therapy (Brent Sasley, Haaretz+) If Netanyahu must demand recognition of Israel as a 'Jewish state,' it could be an expensive trade-off: Israel recognizing its part in the Palestinian Nakba.
Our excessive howls of anti-Semitism (Esti Shoshan, Ynet) Uproar over coverage of NY Hasid's murder shows trauma of anti-Semitism has taken over our minds in an irreversible manner.
Israel, a far cry from traitorous Iran (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) The Islamic Republic has removed God from the nuclear equation and decided to choose life; Israel meanwhile is firm that not only are the Palestinians not a partner - neither is the United States,
Yaalon: The quiet destroyer (Shalom Yerushalmi, Maariv/NRG Hebrew) claims that, "The Defense Minister has become the quiet eliminator of the diplomatic process...He stopped believing in it after the Oslo accords." Yerushalmi asserts that the remarks in question, "caused Israel serious diplomatic damage at a time when the government is feeling the momentum in light of the Palestinians' hardline positions and the latest terrorist actions." Yerushalmi speculates that Yaalon is a potential leader of right-wing opposition within the Likud, and beyond it, should Prime Minister Netanyahu, "decide to take a historic step and announce that he accepts the principle of dividing the land," and is calculating his steps accordingly.
Where the Democrats divide on Iran (and Israel) (Ali Gharib, Haaretz+) If the U.S. Senate sanctions bill ends up triggering hostilities between the U.S. and Iran, there will be bad times ahead for the pro-Israel groups pushing sanctions– and their Democrat supporters.
Israel must heed the warning signs (Prof. Ron Breiman, Israel Hayom) Focusing on security arrangements in the Jordan Valley is nothing but a smokescreen meant to divert attention from the true course of a peace process taking place behind the scenes.
Why I can't mourn for Ariel Sharon (Amit Schejter, Haaretz+) His death reawoke memories that I ordinarily try to suppress from when I was just one of Ariel Sharon's pawns.
The delicate business of eulogizing Sharon (Yossi Mekelberg, Haaretz+) The eight years Sharon spent in a coma clearly mellowed the assessments - in public at least - of world leaders and the Western media of his often aggressive and flawed policies.
Israel should apologize to U.S. Jews for Pollard (David Fachler, Haaretz+) The spy saga's critical lesson has still not been learnt: Israel can't take Diaspora Jews for granted while trampling on their rights when convenient.
The mistakes behind the myth (Nadav Shragai, Israel Hayom) It is a shame the sad farewell from Sharon is clouded by an attempt to bury the truth.
Non-academic activity doesn't belong in Israel's ivory towers (Ariel Rubinstein, Haaretz+) When professors invite to a conference a speaker who praises the academic boycott of Israel – it is a disgrace.
A complex, but admirable man (MK Isaac Herzog, Israel Hayom) Sharon understood there was no choice but to make a supreme effort to separate from the Palestinians.
I'd move to Palestine, if it were real (Oudeh Basharat, Haaretz+) The creature known as the Arab citizen was the product of a traumatic rape. Yet even he has the right to think about his future.
Terror in the West Bank, rockets in Gaza (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) Israeli security forces say it is clear that the Palestinian Authority is afraid to deal with the growing pockets of anarchy in the refugee camps.

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