APN's daily news review from Israel

Thursday February 14, 2019
 

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

Israel Hayom

Elections 2019 News Quickees:

Other Top News Summary:

According to the IDF Military Intel assessment for 2019, Hamas will try to draw Israel into a full-out Gaza war and Iran may resume uranium enrichment and could have a bomb in two years, were top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers. (Maariv’s intel analyst, Yossi Melman, said Israel was far from having any existential threat.)

Also making headlines was the meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Oman’s foreign minister at the Middle East security summit in Warsaw - which doesn’t include the Iranians or the Palestinians. Netanyahu hinted there were other Arab countries interested in formal relations with Israel when he said that “Many are following in your footsteps, including among those here today at the conference.”

*Nevertheless, Saudi Prince Turki Al-Faisal, former head of the Saudi intelligence agency and ambassador to the United States and Britain, gave an interview to the Israeli Channel 13 and said that without a solution to the Palestinian issue, Saudi Arabia would not be one of them. Interestingly, the fascinating interview only made the online edition of Maariv and translated below:
"Netanyahu cheats when he claims that it is possible to warm relations with Saudi Arabia without making progress in peace" - Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal, who served in many senior positions in the administration, said in an interview that "our position on peace in the Middle East takes into account what Israel is doing and says"
Saudi Prince Turki Al-Faisal, former head of the Saudi intelligence agency and ambassador to the United States and Britain, said in a conversation broadcast on News 13 that "Netanyahu is deceiving the Israeli public by claiming that relations between the two countries can be warmed without progress in the peace process with the Palestinians. He says that for his own purposes, he is running for elections on a platform of 'Look what I did for you.'" Al-Faisal, a senior member of the Saudi royal family, explained that "the Israelis must not allow themselves to be deceived and to think that the Palestinian issue is an unresolved issue." According to King Salman's nephew, Netanyahu would have wanted Israel first of all to have a relationship with Saudi Arabia and only then would we solve the Palestinian issue. From the Saudi point of view, this is the opposite. Prince Al-Faisal noted that he had never met with Israelis while serving in official positions. According to him, the reason for this is the lack of cooperation on the part of the Israelis. Al-Faisal told of his meeting with President Shimon Peres at an official dinner in Davos. "We sat at the same table and Peres suggested that we meet in a secret place," he said. "I told him that nothing in Israel was secret." "Our position on peace in the Middle East takes into account what Israel is doing and says: In 2002 Crown Prince Abdullah presented his peace plan - Israel withdraws from the occupied territories in return for recognition of Israel and normalization," he said. "From the first day Israel did not respond to our peace initiative,” he said. "With Israeli money and a Saudi brain, it is possible to go far - yes - if there will be peace. But, unfortunately, Israel ignores all Saudi efforts to make peace and expects Saudi Arabia to reach out and advance together with it on technology and water issues," he said. "I think that the perception of Netanyahu in the Saudi public is very negative because of what is happening on the ground and because of his arrogant approach and self-praise, and that does not go down well with Saudi citizens.” Although the Iranian issue has an absolute partnership of interests between Saudi Arabia and Israel, Prince Turki al-Faisal also presented a tough line here. "We do not need Netanyahu to tell us about the Iranian danger," he said. "We see their operations in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Bahrain, and even Saudi Arabia. Why should we need Netanyahu to emphasize these points for us? We do not need that.” The Prince had a recommendation to President Trump's peace team for presenting his peace plan. "The Arab Peace Initiative: adopt it, make it yours," said the prince. He is pessimistic about the warming of Israel's relations with Saudi Arabia. "I do not think I will see a public meeting between an Israeli prime minister and the king or the heir to the throne of Saudi Arabia, and not before the Palestinian issue is resolved," he said, "I am waiting for an Israeli peace initiative, (for) what Israel thinks should be done to achieve peace…I am waiting for the day that there will be peace so that I can come to visit a place that I see not only as a holy place but also as a place of my history and heritage.   Abraham is not only the father of the Jews but also the father of the Arabs…Jerusalem is something I want to see before I die and unfortunately I'm not optimistic that it will happen. Jerusalem has King Faisal Street. This is one place I will visit immediately if I come to Jerusalem one day.”

Quick Hits:

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Features:

Ilhan Omar said AIPAC pays lawmakers to be pro-Israel. Here’s how the lobbying group really operates
No, AIPAC doesn't fund campaigns. (JTA, Haaretz)
American effectiveness and precedent: Will the death penalty deter terrorists?
The shocking murder of Ori Ansbacher again raised the demand to impose the most severe punishment on terrorists, what lesson can be learned from the Americans, and what does Israeli society think? "The death penalty for terrorists does not deter. Anyone who leaves his house with a knife or a weapon to carry out a heinous murder will not be afraid if we help him become a martyr. On the contrary, he wants to be a martyr and would like to be seen as a victim whom Israel raises at the stake. "Studies in the United States have shown that this punishment is not effective, it is populist revenge," says Prof. Gad Barzilai, former rector of the University of Haifa, formerly Dean of the Faculty of Law. "The debates on the death penalty are global. In the United States, most countries have already officially abolished it or not actually carry it out," says Prof. Barzilai. "Such discussions have also taken place in Japan, and in Asia in general, because there, there is the death penalty, for example, for drug offenses. In most countries of the world, the death penalty does not exist or is not implemented today." Studies show that there is nothing to it but revenge. Politicians, and I respect them, say: 'Let us use the death penalty,' but this punishment has no deterrent capability." (Ilana Stutland, Maariv)
 
Elections 2019 Commentary/Analysis:
One Thing Netanyahu Said This Week May Have Killed Trump's Peace Plan (Amir Tibon, Haaretz+) The ‘ultimate deal’ won’t be between Israel and the Arab world but between Netanyahu and his right-wing coalition partners; he will protect their settlements, and they will protect him as he fights possible indictments.
To extract the state from Netanyahu? Not if this includes giving up personal interests (Avraham Tiros, Maariv) It is clear that in order to defeat the Likud it is necessary to unite the forces of several parties. Gantz and Lapid have to settle things together and run together, like Bennett and Shaked.
Boxed in on Left and Right, Meretz Heads to Primary Election (Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz+) The left-wing party should have been doing well in the April election, but polls show differently - can Thursday's vote save it from years of decline and an unpopular leader?
Prepare for the last minute: What will the Likud pull out this time before the elections? (Ran Adelist, Maariv) After the 'droves of Arabs,' the right will invent a new enemy to frighten the public and get a few more seats. Netanyahu, in the best of tradition, will reveal it at the very end.
Israel Labor Party's Shmuli and Shaffir, the Merciful Ones (Gideon Levy, Haaretz+) How is it possible to be so compassionate and so conscientious, and ignore absolute evil?
On election battlefield, Netanyahu blurs line between security and propaganda (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) Netanyahu's confirmation that Israel struck Syria was in keeping with the hysteria that has taken hold of Likud's election campaign.
Netanyahu Promotes Propaganda at Security’s Expense (Haaretz Editorial) On the battle for the Israeli electorate, Netanyahu assumes that Israel’s military ambiguity serves his political rivals, while headlines that glorify Israel’s offensive capabilities constitute effective election propaganda.
Bibistan vs. Israel (Uri Misgav, Haaretz+) In Netanyahu's eyes, the media, the military and the courts are all in on the plot against him.

Commentary/Analysis:
A crisis of trust between the Shin Bet and settlers (Tamar Asraf, Yedioth/Ynet) Faith in the security service has eroded to the point that West Bank settlers no longer believe the agency that is supposed to be protecting them. This needs to be addressed, to stop this crisis from further undermining national security.
The Palestinians incite to rape, too (Dr. Reuven Berko, Israel Hayom) The horrifying rape and assault of Ori Ansbacher is nothing new in Palestinian society, which sees non-Muslims as expendable. But an Arab MK is trying to brush it off as another crime against a woman, regardless of the fact that she was a Jew.
Warsaw Summit Won't Create Alliance Against Iran, but May Embolden Israeli-Arab Relations (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) The drift between the U.S. and European countries over the nuclear deal may not be resolved, but a photo-op for Netanyahu alongside Arab leaders could bolster diplomatic ties.
The likelihood of a confrontation with Hamas escalates (Tal Lev Ram, Maariv) Under current conditions, a military confrontation is much closer than any other series. Israel refuses to make decisions, neither on the diplomatic nor military level, and buys quiet from week to week.
A watershed moment (Meir Indor, Israel Hayom) Time and time again, the justice system's excessive pseudo-humane purism takes precedence over the security of Israel's citizens and we pay with our lives.
Hezbollah has plans for Israel on the Golan (Yossi Yehoshua, Yedioth/Ynet) Israel had better pay attention to the emerging reality on its Syria border in the Golan Heights, where the Lebanese terror group is attempting to get a foothold; the Iranian-backed organization is up to its neck in problems at home and finds the Syrian frontier to be a more comfortable location from which to take on the Jewish state.
Al-Sissi is fighting terror – let him win (Itzhak Levanon, Israel Hayom) The Egyptian president is cooperating with Israel, waging all-out war against Islamic terror and trying to improve the lives of his people. His bid to extend his presidency should be welcomed.
In contrast to the New Israel Fund, the right wing organizations must establish the Zionist fund (Gabi Siboni and Erez Weiner, Maariv) The right-wing organizations that are trying to advance an agenda that strengthens the Zionist character of the country lack the umbrella organization that can synchronize, direct and fund activities to promote an agenda against post-Zionism.

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