APN's daily news review from Israel
Thursday, March 1, 2018
Quote of the day:
“The Haredim have climbed very high up a tree, very much increasing the chance of elections."
“The Haredim have climbed very high up a tree, very much increasing the chance of elections."
-- Hadashot TV News quoting Israeli officials from Likud talking about the fight over legislation exempting
ultra-Orthodox students from military service
Front Page:
Haaretz
- Analysis: First royal visit to Israel is sign of Britain's diminished status in the world
- Heads up: Israel is about to strike the Iranian military base in Syria
- Lindsey Graham: Israeli leaders warned me of war with Hezbollah in Lebanon
- Opinion: Saudi Arabia wants to go nuclear, here's what Israel must do about it
Israel Hayom
- Iran is playing with fire, Israeli defense official warns
- Official: Eliminating Hezbollah's leader could decide next war
- Report: US peace plan to include East Jerusalem as PA capital
- Israeli-American teen indicted for bomb threats, hate crimes
Times of Israel
- Prince William to visit Israel this summer, in first official trip by UK royal
- Report: El Al seeking to fly over Saudi Arabia to India
- Likud warns coalition row over draft bill 'could bring government down'
- Putin boasts of new Russian nuclear weapons that 'can't be intercepted'
Ynet News
- IDF, Tamimis battle over injury to Ahed's cousin
- El Al seeks international help to access Saudi airspace
- Hezbollah airs footage of deadly blast 19 years ago
- PM and his wife to be questioned Friday in Bezeq affair
i24 News
- Israel, Bahrain to have diplomatic ties in two years: US rabbi after Gulf visit
- UK's Prince William to embark on first-ever royal visit to Israel this summer
- Polish delegation aims to appease Israel as Holocaust law enforced
- IDF says neutralized explosive device planted on Gaza border during protests
News Summary:
Commenting on satellite images of what is believed to be a new Iranian base north of Damascus, a senior Israeli official said: "Iran is playing with fire." Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman dismissed the report as nothing new and IDF Ground Forces Commander Maj. Gen. Yaakov Barak said: "The chances of war in 2018 have grown but that doesn't mean that we, or the other players in the region, have an interest in going to war." However, Amos Harel of Haaretz posits whether these images could signal an Israeli strike. After the BBC issued a similar report in December of a pro-Iranian Shiite base in Syria, the base was bombed from the air and many foreign media outlets attributed the attack to Israel.
Israeli airline El Al made an appeal to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) for help in obtaining permission to use Saudia Arabia's airspace for a direct flight from Israel to India. This comes after Saudi Arabia gave Air India permission to use its airspace for flights between Israel and India. El Al CEO Gonen Usishkin wrote to the IATA: "I am approaching you and kindly requesting IATA to intervene and to represent aviation industry's interest by advocating equal overfly rights for all carriers over the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and opposing any form of discrimination." The IATA has not yet responded.
Quick Hits:
- Edo Konrad writes in +972 Magazine that "military dictatorship requires dehumanization," and condemns the mainstream Hebrew-language media for irresponsibly publishing Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai's claims that Mohammed Tamimi was injured in a biking accident and not shot in the head with a rubber bullet by an Israeli soldier, without even mentioning the medical and eyewitness reports that confirm the shooting.
- The PLO Executive Committee is planning its own event to mark the US embassy's move to Jerusalem, which is scheduled to occur on Israel's 70th Independence Day, which is also the 70th anniversary of the Nakba.
- A new video shows Israeli soldiers beating and abusing a young Palestinian in Jericho after he was shot. The IDF has been struggling to get its story straight about how Yasin al-Saradih died, and the video refutes many of the claims the IDF has made.
- Haaretz Correspondent Amir Tibon posits whether Jared Kushner's loss of a security clearance might affect his Mideast peace plan. Robert Danin, a former senior State Department and National Security Council official, said: “While losing access to top secret intelligence will limit some of the information that Mr. Kushner will have access to, it will not fundamentally alter his ability to negotiate successfully between Israelis and Palestinians."