News Nosh: 8.21.18

by APN 08/21/18
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APN's daily news review from Israel
Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Quote of the day:

"The man who has influenced generations of (Israeli) journalists and editors, his political and social-political assessments have been proven right again and again, he has fought institutional corruption even before there was a 'media' and before it became a norm, and he preferred morality and combat ethics over victorious victories and territorial achievements…Avnery is also the man who has never been awarded the Israel Prize for Media, which signifies everything about him, about the media and about Israeli society."
--Maariv journalist Ran Edelist parts from journalist, intellectual and peace activist, Uri Avnery.*


You Must Be Kidding: 
No less than 9,120 curses and calls for violence against the Druze have been located on the Internet in the three weeks following the approval of the Nation-State law.**


Front Page:

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

  • The bubble burst - big time (Pepsico bought Sodastream for $3,200,000,000)
  • Bubbling victory // Udi Etzion
  • Death of a man of peace - Parting from Uri Avnery: Journalist, fighter, and the man who did not give up on the battle for peace, even at age 95
  • The man of morality who preaches to those who fall from the path // Ronen Bergman
  • Opponent by grace // Yoaz Hendel
  • The last of the dreamers // Anat Saragusti
  • Rare peek at the private legacy of Avnery
  • Expose - These are the safest hospitals

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

  • The bubbles worth billions (Pepsico bought Sodastream for $3,200,000,000)
  • Closing circle - Pepsico, which boycotted Israel, acquires company which operated over the Green Line
  • Selling ice to eskimos // Yehuda Sharoni says it’s almost impossible to sell soda to Americans
  • Rahat’s hope // Yasir Ukbi writes that the Bedouin in the south hope that the company will continue to employ the locals
  • Not just hi-tech - in the conventional industry they are proud that finally an exit that isn’t technology
  • (Likud MK David) Bitan was recorded saying: “Netanyahu will appoint me as Minister of Interior Security in place of Erdan”
  • Uri Avnery 1923-2018 - Last peace - Fighter of peace and one who was considered one of the most influential journalists in Israel passed away

Israel Hayom


News Summary:
Legendary and courageous peace activist and journalist, Uri Avnery, passed away at age 94 and SodaStream, an Israeli company, which relocated from a West Bank settlement to the Negev, was acquired by Pepsico for over $3 billion making the top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers.

Interesting news regarding Israel and Gaza, comes from the Palestinian groups, as Israel is not revealing anything about the negotiations with Hamas over an ‘arrangement’ that is meant to bring quiet to the area, an end to the siege, the rehabilitation of the Gaza Strip, and a prisoner swap. The negotiations are on hold during the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday. However, senior Hamas figures told Israel Hayom that a deal including significant easing of the Gaza blockade may be signed next week. And, the deputy chief of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad said that Israel agreed to ease restrictions on Gaza in the meantime in order to promote the ceasefire. Interestingly, Yedioth’s military affairs commentator Yossi Yehoshua writes that the IDF Spokesman’s Unit played down an incident which took place Monday morning, when a Palestinian tried to enter Israel from Gaza and opened fire on Israeli soldiers, who charged at him and killed him. Normally, wrote Yehoshua, the IDF would have made a big deal about it, but it barely mentioned it. Fatah and the PLO insisted that Israel must make the truce with all of the Palestinians, not just with Hamas. “We are for total calm in the context of a comprehensive national plan….(but) if Hamas decides to conclude a unilateral truce agreement with Israel, it will be contributing to the destruction of the Palestinian national project,” said Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) Executive Committee Saeb Erekat. A Fatah delegation will go to Cairo next week to continue reconciliation talks with Gaza factions. Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman accused Abbas of working to push Israel and Hamas to a confrontation in the Gaza Strip because the two factions were unable to solve the crisis between them.

Uri Avnery - Summaries from the Hebrew media:
President Rivlin: Uri Avnery was a fighter for freedom of expression
Opposition leader Livni: Avnery planted the idea of peace before it was part of the public discourse. (Haaretz)
Uri Avnery, veteran peace activist and among first Israelis to meet Arafat, dies at 94 - The Gush Shalom founder was one of the first Israelis to actively seek a Palestinian state as a peaceful solution to the conflict: ‘The difference between a freedom fighter and a terrorist depends on your perspective.’ (Haaretz+)
"A patriot on the one hand and an unrelenting peace activist on the other": Parting from Uri Avnery
He set up a newspaper that opposed the government, negotiated with the PLO when it was forbidden, was called a traitor and a "renegade" and had an assassination attempt against him. All this did not prevent the courageous journalist from declaring: “I work for the sake of my country.“ (Maariv)
Journalist and crusader for peace Uri Avnery dies at 94
Forced to leave school at 14, the journalist, editor, and later Knesset member spent decades campaigning against government corruption and for peace. As early as 1957, Avnery advocated the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. (Israel Hayom)
Israel's symbol of the hard Left, Uri Avnery, passes away at age 94
A laureate of the Israeli journalism Sokolov Award, a prolific writer, a fierce critic of Israeli policies and a prominent advocate of boycotts against Israel, Avnery, who attended Yasser Arafat's funeral and described him as a man 'with a warm heart' who demonstrated 'leadership', passes away after suffering a stroke. (Ynet)
Why peace activist Uri Avnery refused to give up – and six other must reads
Here are six must reads written by the late Avnery for Haaretz, plus an interview marking his 90th birthday. (Haaretz)

More on Uri Avnery in Commentary/Analysis below.
 

Quick Hits:

  • No Arab Leader Will Be Able to Accept Trump's Peace Plan, ex-Jordanian FM Says - Marwan Muasher warns that the White House plan will hurt Jordan, noting that Amman can block the plan by ending security coordination with Israel. Former Israeli official: Muasher's statement is 'sad but not surprising.' (Haaretz+)
  • Bolton: blocking nukes from Iran of 'highest importance' - In a second meeting in less than 24 hours, US National Security Advisor John Bolton slams ‘wretched’ Iran nuclear deal, says US working with our ‘friends in Europe to convince them to take stronger steps against the Iranian nuclear and ballistic missile program.’ (Ynet)
  • Israeli-Arab family reports violent, unprovoked police attack - Family from Jaljulia says raid on home left two members hospitalized. 'Police are are licensed criminals,' said father. Police: 'We arrested and detained two suspects involved in a violent confrontation that attempted to interfere with police procedures.' (Ynet)
  • In video - Israeli forces assault Palestinian farmers in East Jerusalem - Israeli municipality authorities stormed Old City  and downtown E. Jerusalem Salah al-Din Streets, issuing tickets to farmers and vendors and forcefully removing them from selling their crops in the street. Farmers in Jerusalem are subjected to such assaults on a daily basis.. (Maan+VIDEO)
  • Israeli forces remove tent, assault Palestinian in Hebron - Israeli soldiers and settlers raided Masafer Yatta village, where a Youssef Abu Arram had set up a tent to shelter his family until a wooden room he was building to replace the tent was ready. The forces took down the tent and confiscated his construction material and wood and assaulted another man who tried to stop them. (Maan)
  • Minister Advances Plan to Boost Number of Gun Owners in Israel - By loosening criteria for a permit, Public Security Minister hopes to enable hundreds of thousands more civilians to be eligible to carry a firearm, saying 'Skilled civilians carrying a gun in public contribute to a sense of security.’ (Haaretz+ and Ynet)
  • Israel's intention to annex the West Bank revealed - Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, warned that government’s response to petition filed to Israeli Supreme Court signals Israel's intention to proceed with annexation of occupied West Bank. Israeli government declared that "the Knesset is permitted to legislate laws everywhere in the world and it is authorized to violate the sovereignty of foreign countries via legislation that would be applied to events occurring in their territories." (Maan)
  • Israel approves new settlement units near Bethlehem - Palestinian landowners found a military order (for confiscation) on their land, activist Hassan Breijieh said. Israeli civil Administration's Higher Planning Council approved the demand of Efrat settlers to construct 106 housing units rejected a plan, after the settlers rejected a previously approved council plan to construct 40 new housing units in the settlement, Breijieh said, and the settlement expansion will be at the expense of those landowners and farmers of al-Khader and Artas villages. (Maan)
  • **Study: Since the Nation-State law was passed, there has been a spike in online attacks against the community - No less than 9,120 curses and calls for violence against the Druze have been located on the Internet between the approval of the law that sparked a storm on 18 July till the 8 August. "The findings should turn on a red light," say the Berl Katznelson Foundation that published ‘Israel’s National Index on Hate and Incitement.’ (Maariv)
  • An Israeli organization was chosen to advise the UN on conflict resolution - Givat Haviva, the Center for a Shared Society in Israel, was chosen to serve as an advisory organization, enabling the center to carry out direct activities with all UN organizations. (Maariv)
  • 60% of Muslims in Israel graduate high school, only 43% employed - According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, the Muslim population in Israel continues to grow at a rate of 2.5% a year, reaching 1.5 million in 2017; Muslims marry younger and fertility rates also remain high in comparison to other countries in the region; In employment, 72% of Israeli Muslims work in the same five fields. (Ynet and Israel Hayom)
  • In victory for Israel, ICC says call for 'Palestinian victims' not binding - In response to Israel Hayom query, International Criminal Court says judges' call to actively seek Palestinian victims of "Israeli war crimes" will not affect Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda's decision on jurisdiction in Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (Israel Hayom)
  • "The plan to stop the investigations against Netanyahu: Appoint Bitan as Public Security minister and dismiss Police Commissioner Alsheikh" - Bitan recordings: "Netanyahu closed with me on appointment of Minister of Internal Security instead of Erdan" - Was there a plan to oust the police commissioner through the appointment of Bitan? According to a report by the News, former coalition chairman [and Netanyahu loyalist - OH] MK David Bitan was recorded telling  state witness Moshe Yosef: "If (Public Security Minister) Erdan speaks too much he'll be dismissed." (Maariv)
  • Israel Sees Drastic Rise in Asylum Request From Russians in 2018 - Officials attribute the development mainly to economic incentives and not due to any true need for asylum. (Haaretz)
  • Israeli handball coach accused of pedophilia also harmed girls abroad, police say - Law enforcement officials believe handball coach Beno Reinhorn, 35, committed offenses involving 140 girls between the age of 9 and 15 in Israel. (Haaretz+)
  • Singer Lana Del Rey says performing in Israel 'is not a political statement' - The American singer and songwriter is coming in September to perform at the Meteor Festival in the north, despite pressure from the BDS movement. (Haaretz)
  • Mysterious 6,500-year-old Culture in Israel Was Brought by Migrants, Researchers Say - Genetic analysis shows ancient Galilean farmers warmly embraced blue-eyed, fair-skinned immigrants from Iran and Turkey in the late Copper Age. (Haaretz and Israel Hayom)
  • Israeli prison to join Armageddon's list of ancient ruins -  Armageddon is a popular site for the coach loads of tourists visiting the sites of the Holy Land; after years of legal and bureaucratic delays, the old Megiddo Prison, close to Nazareth, is to be relocated, freeing up the site for further exploration. (Agencies, Ynet)
  • Jewish Cemetery in Poland Being Restored by Anonymous Entrepreneur - The neglected cemetery had fallen into ruin following World War II and is expected to be fully restored by September, according to the anonymous philanthropist. (JTA, Haaretz)
  • Shots fired at U.S. embassy in Turkey amid deepening row - The shots, fired from a moving vehicle, hit a security guard booth. Nobody was injured, U.S. official say. (Agencies, Haaretz)
  • Iran says EU must speed up efforts to save nuclear deal = The progress on saving the 2015 deal has been slow, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Bahram Qasemi says. (Agencies, Haaretz)
  • China Defies U.S. Pressure on Iranian Oil Amid Trade War With Washington - Buyers from China, Iran’s biggest oil customer, are beginning to shift their cargoes to vessels owned by National Iranian Tanker Co (NITC) for nearly all their imports. (Agencies, Haaretz)


Features:

Low income, high prices and wars: So why is Israel one of the happiest countries in the world?
Israel consistently ranks among the top countries on the World Happiness Report – well ahead of the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany. How is that possible? (Amir Mandel, Haaretz+)
"I allow Christians in the world to recognize sides of Israel that they did not know before"
Amit Barak works to integrate Israeli Christian Arabs into the IDF, national service and Israeli society, and is convinced that the Nation-State law will not stand in his way: "It does not violate the rights of the individual.” (Ilana Stutland, Maariv)

Commentary/Analysis:
Jews, Arabs: It’s time we decided who we are (Uri Avnery, Haaretz+) Uri Avnery, the renowned Israeli peace activist, passed away Monday at the age of 94. This is his final opinion piece, originally published in Haaretz's Hebrew edition on August 7, 2018.
Uri Avnery left no descendants behind, but we were all his sons (Doron Cohen, Maariv) The secret of the power of the greatest writer in the Israeli press was also revealed as the secret of his weakness: His articles, which were an example of rationality on paper, failed to withstand the chaotic reality of the Middle East…From the day I learned to read, I did not miss a single column in Ha'olam Hazeh (the newspaper Avnery published and edited). He was a master of writing and a beacon of intelligence in the archaic and unimaginative press of my childhood and adolescence. In recent years, I have discovered his amazing website and I have not missed his weekly column on Fridays. I have no doubt that if there were a device to measure who was the person who spent the most time on his blog, it was me. There I also read all his books that I did not manage to buy and read on paper: "The Other Side of the Coin" about the War of Independence, "The Seventh Day War" on the Six Day War, "Lenin does not live here anymore" on the fall of the Soviet Union and “The Swastika," an analysis warning of the circumstances that led to the rise of Nazi Germany. It was pure pleasure from a top intellectual, who had clear and fluent writing. Even when he was writing on the Magna Carta, or the People’s Spring in Europe or World War I, he did so in a way that was much clearer than reporters and columnists who write today about many current events here and now. He was the great history teacher I never had, who provided countless connections and creative and intelligent links between current events and past events, from the view that there is nothing new under the sun. So different from the teachers who pushed us to just memorize trivial details and render them like puppets at matriculation exams. And he was, of course, a peace activist. Left-wing and proud. And in his days, leftist was no derogatory word, for he was a real intellectual and not a pseudo-intellectual. Because his leftism was not expressed in automatic and horrifyingly predictable tweets on Twitter…Because his left-wingness was to go all the way with his worldview, to cross the lines and meet the bitter enemy Yasser Arafat (11 years before Rabin and Peres), in order to try to advance the peace in which he so believed. You could disagree with him, you could even be angry with him, but you could not help but appreciate him. Avnery did not leave any descendants, but many of us who chose to work in the press - whether thanks to him or due to his inspiration, whether on the left or on the right - we were all his sons.
Uri Avnery, Shaper of the Israeli Consciousness (Aluf Benn, Haaretz+) He offered to enshrine the Declaration of Independence in law back in the 1960s, was one of the first Israelis to extend a hand to the Arab minority and helped make Arafat a partner in peace. Saying goodbye to Uri Avnery.
*Uri Avnery raised the gauntlet that simple morality had thrown in front of him (Ran Edelist, Maariv) The absence of someone who was in the front row of those standing at the foot of the stageatin the protest demonstration of the Arab sector [against the Nation-State law] was particularly striking. The one who was not there - was a slender man, with gray hair and beard, and probably would come with a T-shirt with the word “Peace” on it. His 94 years were not visible on his face with a soft Teutonic nose, in complete contrast to the gravelly roughness of native-born Israelis. He would have been standing there, leaning against the fence separating the audience from the stage and saying to himself, “They were all my sons,” including the bastards among them who did not know they were. Uri Avnery is the journalist who lived the Israeli media since the establishment of the state as a politician and an ideologist. Even though he was a superb professional, the press for him was not a profession, it was a tool. The man has influenced generations of journalists and editors, his political and social-political assessments have been proven right again and again, he has fought institutional corruption even before there was a "media" and before it became a norm and he preferred morality and fighting ethics over victorious victories and territorial achievements…Avnery is also the man who has never won the Israel Prize in the media, which means everything both about him and about the media and about Israeli society. Wherever an Israeli journalist thinks that he is the one who discovered America or Europe, or revealed, wrote and interpreted corruption or any national interest, Avnery was there before him. From religionization to corruption, from one political arrangement to another, from the identification of semi-fascist or quasi-apartheid diplomacy - it was Avnery who lifted the gauntlet that simple morality had thrown before him...Most of his life he was assigned to shame by the camp he went ahead of, usually alone, and as such he is one of the few who can sing all the way to the grave ‘I Did It My Way.’ I suppose everyone applauded his marketing genius by having gossip and tits on the pages alongside the political wars. A great marketing exercise in the days when sex in the public context was a rigid framework of puritanical conventions, or a poetic storm of souls, or a taboo between a scandal and a festival of lewd stories alluded to bursting with laughter. In fact, these two, sex and gossip, were for Avnery part of the worldview. Sex is not only familiar, it is also legitimate for public debate, and gossip has a purifying effect of transparency, both personal and political. Somewhere in the ’80’s I edited “Monitin.” Nahum Barnea was the editor of Koteret Rashit, and Avneru edited "Ha'olam Hazeh." After a few problematic quarters, I sniffed a bit about what was going on with the neighbors and found that the three of us, weekly and monthly magazines, were in terminal trouble. I called Avnery and said, "Maybe we'll unite.” (I said) Nothing more, because I was afraid that the idea would be immediately torpedoed over who would be the chief editor. Avnery was amused and polite. "Your landlords and Barnea’s will not agree," he said, "and the owners of Ha'olam Hazeh will not agree."
How Uri Avnery, the first champion of the two-state solution, laid the foundations for political dissent in Israel (Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz+) Uri Avnery may have failed as a politician and a newspaper owner, but he laid the foundations for combative journalism in Israel and was vital to the country's fragile and circumscribed democracy
Sharp, deep and uncompromising: Uri Avnery always knew how to tear the mask of hypocrisy from the politicians (Nathan Zehavi, Maariv) The man prophecied diplomatic moves decades before they took place, and even though he was considered  the number enemy of the establishment, the people at the head of the establishment knew how to appreciate him, even though they did not say so publicly.
Uri Avnery: Peace activist, pioneering journalist and inconvenient patriot (Chemi Shalev, Haaretz+) It’s hard to convey the full scope of Avnery’s omnipresence on the Israeli scene.
A Prophet in His City (Haaretz Editorial) More than anything, Uri Avnery is worthy of being called a prophet. Like the biblical prophets of Israel, he saw beyond the immediate; like them, he was persecuted and like them, few listened to him.
The UN's Insanity on Gaza (Peter Lerner, Haaretz+) When the UN chief ignores Hamas and highlights another one-sided mandate focused only on Palestinian civilians, he once again makes the body he represents irrelevant for Israel and dangerous for Palestinians,
Only the Likud Party can do it (Nahum Barnea, Yedioth/Ynet) A right-wing government has more room to maneuver than a center-left one does when it comes to agreements with enemies. As long as the hate-filled rhetoric remains the same, Netanyahu's base will stay loyal to him.
Hamas Has Proven Israel Only Understand Force (Raviv Drucker, Haaretz+) We treat Abbas, who for 14 years has been making major efforts to prevent terrorism, with disdain and even contempt. Yet Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Saleh al-Arouri, who have Israeli blood on their hands, win our respect.
Silence of civil rights warriors (Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel Hayom) The Shin Bet security agency oversteps its mandate in its handling of right-wing and left-wing activists alike, but human rights campaigners and the media are angered only when left-wingers are mistreated.
It’s a Good Thing You Didn’t Attend the Nation-state Rally in Tel Aviv, Tzipi Livni (Odeh Bisharat, Haaretz+) There’s no doubt that Livni’s DNA can be found in every paragraph of the nation-state law. And if anyone in the Arab community is working to forge an alliance with Livni, it’s because there are people even worse than she is.
Undermining Israel's existence (Amnon Lord, Israel Hayom) The Palestinian and Israeli Arab decision to declare a day of protest against "Israeli apartheid" is another example of deep-seated, ideological anti-Semitism that we simply tolerate.
What We Can Learn From the Nation-state Law (Moshe Arens, Haaretz+) There was a world of difference between the very impressive Druze demonstration and that held by Arab political extremists, waving Palestinian flags, one week later.
I would not have watched the Ofira and Berkovic TV program, not because of Berkovic’s remarks (against Arab MKs), but because he apologized (Aryeh Eldad, Maariv) Anyone who calls for a million shaheeds to march to Jerusalem is a supporter of terrorism and hopes for the destruction of Israel. I did not hear anyone decide not to interview Amos Oz, who called people of the Gush Emunim (religious settler movement) “a messianic sect, closed and cruel, a gang of armed gangsters, criminals against humanity, sadists, pogromists and murderers who emerged ... out of a dark corner of Judaism ... out of basements of bestiality and filth,  in order to impose a bloodthirsty and crazed cult." I do not recall that someone decided not to interview Professor Zeev Sternhell, after he wrote: "Fascism can not be stopped on rational grounds. It can only be stopped with force. And when we are willing to risk a civil war. There will be time when we will have to confront the settlers in Ofra or Elon Moreh with force. Only those who are prepared to go up to Ofra with tanks will be able to block the fascist threshold that threatens to sink Israeli democracy." Have we forgotten Yeshayahu Leibowitz, who called the IDF soldiers “Judenazis”? They all committed a sin of deep hatred, incitement to violence and generalizing. The President of Israel (Reuven Rivlin) also "generalized" when he said after the murder in Duma [when settlers set fire to a Palestinian home with the family sleeping inside, killing three of them -OH): "My people chose the path of terror and lost their humanity."But Berkovic, who said factual facts about some of the Arab MKs, was suspended because he “generalized.” If generalizing was a criminal offense, most Israelis would be in jail. As I said, I don’t watch Ofira and Berkovic’s TV program, but if I had watched it I would have stopped. Not because of what Berkovic said, but because he apologized. Really about nothing.
Leave the Holocaust Alone, Mr. Netanyahu (Prof. Yehuda Bauer, Haaretz+) Whenever you speak of the Holocaust, you talk about Iran and not about the Holocaust. The comparisons between Iran of today and the Holocaust are baseless.
We weren't thinking about Nobel peace prize (Yossi Beilin, Israel Hayom) I don't know who told Eyal Zisser that then-Foreign Minister Shimon Peres chose Oslo as the site of the peace talks in order to improve his chances of winning the Nobel Peace Prize, but I do know they are wrong.
Sissi's Crackdown on the Arts in Egypt Captured in One Satirical Pop Song (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) Egypt's artistic community can only recall with longing the time of Mubarak, when the boundaries of freedom of artistic expression were much broader than those instituted in 2013.

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

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