News Nosh: June 1, 2018

APN's daily news review from Israel
Friday June 1, 2018

You Must Be Kidding: 
Police cuffed Arab rights activist Jafar Farah to the hospital bed, despite an over-the-knee cast. The police officer suspected of breaking Farah’s knee after detaining him at a protest in Haifa was questioned again after being placed on leave.


Front Page:
Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

  • Netanyahu told the Shin Bet: “Wiretap the phones of the Chief of Staff and the Mossad chief”
  • Of all the settings in the world // Nevo Ziv on the photo op that PM Binyamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara did with the mourning notice of soldier Rone Lubarsky behind them
  • ‘Hadar’s army crew’ joins the protest - Soldiers who served under Hadar Goldin wrote Netanyahu: If you agree to rehabilitate the Gaza Strip without forcing Hamas to return the bodies of Hadar and of Shaul Oron, we will return our ‘Operation Protective Edge’ badges of honor
  • Even without Netanyahu’s support: Minister Elkin is running for mayor of Jerusalem
  • Noam Gershoni led Israel to the finals of the world championship of wheelchair tennis
  • Mr. Israel - Aviv Alush gets closer to religion and reveals what he compromised on completely in order to preserve his relationship
  • (Columnist) Raanan Shaked in the Gaza vicinity communities - This is how you raise children in the shadow of kite terror and mortars

Maariv Weekend (Hebrew links only)

  • The goal: Arrangements on two fronts
  • The magic circle // Tal Lev-Ram
  • Hudna shmudna // Adv. Yoram Sheftel
  • Retaliation action // Alon Ben-David
  • Until the next round // Yossi Melman
  • The muscle flexers // Jacky Khougy
  • After the (exchange of) fire: Netanyahu and Lieberman got stronger - Smith Institute found that the Mossad action in Iran, the attacks in Syria and the short round of combat in the south strengthened the PM and Defense Minister; 58% are satisfied with their conduct, Likud rose to 34 mandates and Yisrael Beiteinu to 8
  • Minister Zeev Elkin: Running for mayor of Jerusalem
  • Friends of Naor - This is how former chief justice Miriam Naor advanced the status of George Kara over David Mintz in contradiction of the decision of the committee to appoint high court justices
  • “They threw us into the road” - Hundreds of handicapped and elderly demonstrated in Tel-Aviv and blocked the Ayalon Hwy in protest of the plan the government passed. They demand: Make disability allowance be equal to minimum wage
  • On the day of the bomb: The regret of the man who destroyed Hiroshima
  • Not just the Islamic Movement: Um al-Fahm that you never knew
  • I’ll cook: Former MK Yigal Gueta returns to the Tunisian kitchen

Israel Hayom

  • “The Iranians are on their way out from south Syria” - Reports: “The militias and Hezbollah are preparing to withdraw from the area”
  • Teheran-Moscow rift: Hope and caution // Oded Granot
  • Education Ministry vs “(Sexual) exploitation of girls in Lod”
  • Senior Officer on Hamas: Will compromise? Will accept
  • IDF Spokesman Unit, Prisons Authority and Police in one voice: “Stop spreading rumors on WhatsApp”
  • The poll that caused Minister Elkin to run for mayor of Jerusalem
  • Light at the end of the ruer: Invitation to travel in Afula
  • “The Armored Corps is irrelevant? Ask ISIS” - Brigade 7 celebrates 70 years and charges forward
  • Timing strip: The quiet in the south returned - but the balance (of power) between Israel and Gaza Strip was broken // Yoav Limor


News Summary:
Israel was working on arrangements on both the Syria and Gaza fronts, while a TV investigative program claimed Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu asked the Shin Bet to wiretap the previous Chief of Staff and Mossad chief and his wife, Sara, was accused of attacking the Eli Groner, the director-general of the Prime Minister’s Office, who resigned this week, and Environment Minister Zeev Elkin (Likud) announced he was running for mayor of Jerusalem - despite not getting Netanyahu’s approval - making top stories in today’s Friday newspapers. Also in the news, Friday Gaza border protests resume today with the theme, ‘Friday from Gaza to Haifa'—hinting both at dream of return and at recent naval flotilla and Palestinan President Mahmoud Abbas refused to meet Democratic delegation led by Nancy Pelosi.

Maariv’s Ben Caspit reported that Jerusalem is conducting intensive contacts with Washington, Cairo, Doha and Amman over the distancing of Iranian forces from the border with Israel on the Golan Heights. Haaretz reported that Israel was discussing the subject with Russia. And a Syrian war monitor said Iranian troops and Hezbollah fighters were already preparing to withdraw from southern Syria. Oddly, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview that there were no Iranian forces in Syria.

Meanwhile, an unnamed senior IDF officer told Israeli reporters that now was the time for a settlement with Hamas due to the suffering in Gaza. "Currently, the state does not want conflict in the south because there are other, wider considerations. It should be remembered that the terrorist organizations limited themselves in the range of rocket fire this week."
 
Prepared for APN by Orly Halpern, independent freelance journalist based in Jerusalem.