Quote of the day:

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Breaking News:
Reports: Israel Attacked 'Hezbollah Arms Depot' in Syria's Damascus (Haaretz)

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Front Page:

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

Israel Hayom

News Summary:
A woman was appointed for the first time as an Israeli Air Force squadron commander, the US froze more than half of the humanitarian aid to the UN Palestinian refugee organization, and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu visited the Taj Mahal yesterday during his official trip to India and little ‘Moishe’ visited for the first time his former home at the Chabad House in Mumbay where his parents were murdered in a terror attack nine years earlier and in Germany, agents raided homes of Iranians suspected of spying on individuals and groups with close ties to Israel making top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers.

UN Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, began laying off dozens of teachers at refugee camps in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Jordan after the US withheld the transfer of $65 million to the organization, more than half of the aid funds it was scheduled to transfer. The US will transfer only $60 million. The Palestinians said the move proved that the Trump administration is complicit “with the Israeli occupation by attempting to remove another permanent status issue off the table." Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump warned he might punish the Palestinians by withholding future aid payments to UNRWA over what he called the Palestinians' unwillingness to negotiate peace with Israel and US. Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, reiterated that. But Tuesday the US State Department denied that the withholding of $65 million was punishment. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres expressed great concern saying that cutting the UNRWA budget hurt Israel, as well. "(The services UNRWA provides are) of extreme importance, not only for the well-being of these populations … but also in my opinion and an opinion that is shared by most international observers, including some Israeli ones, it is an important factor of stability.”

Maariv reported that against the background of the tension between Trump and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas following the latter’s fiery speech against Trump and the withholding of monies to UNRWA, Jason Greenblatt, Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, will arrive today (Wednesday) in Israel and meet with diplomats. He is expected to remain until Vice President Mike Pence’s arrival next week.

In India, Netanyahu continued to receive royal treatment. The Taj Mahal was closed to the public for a private visit of Netanyahu and his wife, Sara. And Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the Raisina Dialogue Conference in New Delhi, where Netanyahu gave the keynote speech, saying that radical Islam challenges modernity and that strengthening the relationship between India and Israel can overcome that challenge. “The weak don’t survive. The strong survive. You make peace with the strong. You make alliances with the strong. You’re able to maintain peace by being strong,” he said.
 

Quick Hits:

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Commentary/Analysis:
The Demise of the Two-state Solution Deprives Netanyahu's Israel of Its Political Iron Dome (Chemi Shalev, Haaretz+) Presumed impermanence allowed annexationists to entrench the occupation, expand settlements and deny basic rights to Palestinians.
Abbas the spectator (Yossi Beilin, Israel Hayom) From the content to the fiery tone, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' fiery speech, Sunday, offered nothing but the message that the situation is terrible and will likely continue.
Let Every Palestinian Mother Know (Hagai El-Ad, Haaretz+) Israel's whitewashing machine did not surprise us: The soldier who riddled a 15-year-old boy with bullets won't be prosecuted.
The blunt attack by the Palestinian Authority chairman stunned the UN veterans(Shlomo Shamir, Maariv) “You don’t speak publicly like that against the President of the United States," an ambassador from an Asian country said of Abu Mazen's speech against Trump. UN veterans know the rule: don’t quarrel openly with America.
Why Is Netanyahu So Pleased? (Haaretz Editorial) The PM doesnt propose a solution to the current situation beyond hollow statements, designed to silence his critics on the left and the right.
Despite threats, Abbas won't halt security coordination (Elior Levy, Ynet) Like in 2015, when the PLO's Central Council voted to suspend security coordination with Israel, the Palestinian president's final decision will be made with his own personal cabinet.
Annexation of the West Bank Would Lead to Endless Civil War (Gadi Taub, Haaretz+) Israel's right, which prides itself on its realism regarding the peace process, has become surprisingly optimistic about the possibility of coexistence.
Cool the enthusiasm: We must not forget that the "new star" of the right-wing was convicted of indecent assault (Kalman Liebeskind, Maariv) There are no good corrupt people, and no good criminals. Not ours and not others. If the right-wing is convinced that its position regarding the matter of the High Court is just, that it should fight for it. Haim Ramon does not help this struggle….His recent statements against the left-wing, the High Court of Justice, the judges, and the idea that Netanyahu will have to resign solely because of the police recommendations make him attractive enough on this (right-wing) side of the political scale…The problem is that they are part of an unwritten deal: you throw us some texts that benefit us. We, in turn, will spill a bucket of stain-removal liquid over all your sins.
How Netanyahu should have handled criticism over 2014 Gaza war (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) The prime minister needs to drop the Trumpisms and stop playing 'Who's the bigger patriot' with the writers of the report into Operation Protective Edge.
In hospitals, yes, but giving tickets, no: a ‘Goy Shabbat’ is not intended to inflame hatred (Yasir Ukbi, Maariv) A few years ago I served for the first time as a "Goy of Shabbat" and happily helped an ultra-Orthodox family. But a role in which Arabs would enforce the Shabbat laws would harm the already fragile relationship between Arabs and Jews.
Wadjungah Mohammed Is One African Refugee Israel Can't Deport by Force. He Just Killed Himself (Lisa Richlen, Haaretz+) For Israel's government, he was just another feared and despised African 'infiltrator'. Now he's a number on a death certificate.
99% of 'Palestine refugees' are fake (Daniel Pipes, Israel Hayom) Aid to the Palestinians should be contingent upon the majority acknowledging that they are not now and never have been refugees.
With Bannon banished from Trump World, pro-Israel hard-liners pin their hopes on Pence (Allison Kaplan Sommer, Haaretz+) Far-right U.S. Jewish Republicans believed the one-time Breitbart supremo had their back, but his fall from grace shifts their focus to the vice president and a very unlikely blast from the recent past.
The goal: A blonde America (Orly Azoulay, Yedioth/Ynet) A little over 70 years ago, Germans wanted to get rid of the weird Jews; now, Trump wants to get rid of the blacks; as far as some of his supporters are concerned, Jews aren’t part of the white race either; following the president’s racist comments, they’re no longer afraid to say: ‘Jews, get out.’
Michelle Obama for president in 2020 (Bradley Burston, Haaretz) If anyone can take the obscene smears and overcome them with grace and force of principle, she can. It's 2018. America needs a kick in the butt and a real president.