APN's daily news review from Israel

Monday March 4, 2019

 

Quote of the day:

---

Breaking News:
Two Palestinians killed, two Israeli soldiers injured, one Palestinian injured in West Bank car incident
Soldiers shot and killed two Palestinians in car that hit and wounded two soldiers. Most of the Hebrew media took the IDF's version that it was an intentional ramming attack against soldiers. However, Maariv's Yasir Ukbi interviewed Palestinians, who said it was a night road accident and they accused the IDF of murdering in cold blood. Only Maariv noted that the incident took place in the dark and fog at a sharp bend in the road. (This can be seen in the photos the other news websites posted, but they did not mention that. -OH) IDF said that soldiers stopped and got out to help other soldiers whose vehicle had broken down. Palestinians told Maariv that the troops that were hit were standing in the middle of the road that bends in an area that does not have visiwhen the three young Palestinian men passed through.  "This is a cold-blooded murder, because we all know that no one is going out with two others to carry out a terrorist attack." They added: "Unfortunately, the Israelis journalists also did not ask the right questions and automatically believed the claims of the army and the soldiers. This is a collective execution against the passengers of a vehicle that stopped. It’s because of the soldiers' hatred of the Arabs, and afterward they come and lie to justify their crime." The mayor of Naama village, Khaldun al-Deik, told Maariv Online that "according to eyewitnesses, this is a traffic accident and not a terrorist attack. The turn where the soldiers' stood is a very sharp turn and 20 traffic accidents occurred there in just the last two years.” Al-Deik said that the youths were on their way to work, one of them worked in the bakery and was on his way to it. (Haaretz+, Ynet and Maariv)

---

Front Page:

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

Israel Hayom

Elections 2019 News:
As Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu rails against the ‘Deep State’ and the ’leftist conspiracy' to bring him down by recommending indicting him ahead of elections, State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan defends Attorney General Avichai Mendelblitt’s decision, saying no political considerations motivated him. Maariv’s top story was about the security measures taken to protect Nitzan and another top prosecutors in the corruption investigations against Netanyahu. Yedioth led with the expose that the Kahol-Lavan party platform is right-wing and Haaretz reported that political moves could escalate violence in the West Bank.

Election Quickees:

Other Top and Important News Summary:
One very important piece of news barely made headlines in Hebrew newspapers: the US is officially closing its Palestinian consulate in East Jerusalem today. The mission functioned as a de facto embassy to the Palestinians and now it will be a branch under the command of the US embassy in Jerusalem. (Also Haaretz+ and Israel Hayom)

And Yedioth’s (Hebrew) Yossi Yehoshua reported on the “The Cellular Dilemma.” The Israeli security establishment opposes the plan of Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan to block cellular phone use by security prisoners, whom are almost all Palestinian. Here’s what he wrote: About two weeks ago, cell phones were blocked in the Ramon and Ketziot prisons, as part of a technology project initiated and led by Minister Erdan, in order to prevent security prisoners from communicating using smuggled phones with terrorist organizations and from directing attacks. This move led to a tense protest by Hamas prisoners. The IDF warned of unrest that will ignite the area: “The timing is inappropriate.” Senior Prison official: “Strange and absurd resistance." In the framework of the Israel Prison Service's attempt to combat the phenomenon of smuggled telephones for security prisoners, two weeks ago, a technological method began to block the possibility of making and receiving calls from cell phones in the security wings of the Ramon and Ketziot prisons. The problem: In recent discussions within the defense establishment following the implementation of the project, the army expressed opposition to the move, for fear that it would lead to an escalation. In the assessment of the situation on Thursday at the IDF Kirya Headquarters, it was agreed that "in light of the overall explosiveness (of the issue), we recommend waiting at this stage with the expansion of the pilot and reexamining the timing of its implementation in a few months, in accordance with developments." An IDF representative explained that this was due to the explosive incidents in Gaza and the Temple Mount, the elections in Fatah, and in the reduction of aid to the Palestinian Authority. 
 

Quick Hits:

---

Features:

Bedouin father, Jewish mother, and Golani heart
On Thursday, Golani company commander Shaker Kozly awarded the brown beret of the elite infantry brigade to his little brother, Adam; the family may be of mixed ethnicity, but love of the IDF is in their blood. (Korin Elbaz Alush, Yedioth/Ynet)
 
Elections 2019 Commentary/Analysis:
Netanyahu Is Going Down, but What About His Powerful Accomplice? (Eytan Avriel, Haaretz+) Yedioth Ahronoth publisher Arnon Mozes is so powerful that even after the attorney general announced his intention to indict him, nobody’s so much as mentioning his name.
The tower collapses on Netanyahu's head and the cards are made of cast concrete (Ben Caspit, Maariv) The prime minister continued to believe the story he had created for himself, and instead of striving for a dignified and quick exit, he now strives at top speed into the wall after rotting in his role and rotting his surroundings…They have not yet invented the superlative that is capable of describing the power of the almost biblical political drama we are in. This is the perfect storm, and its clouds have gathered over the past three years, followed by a hesitant drip that turned into pouring rain, which has transformed into a thunderstorm. Now we are inside Hurricane Bibi. Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit sits on a mountain of evidence, recordings, documents, text messages, witnesses and state witnesses. Near this mountain, another hill, not a small one, of the materials that have been plundered is hoisted up. Only from this hill can you produce a grand package of indictments. Mendelblitt gave Binyamin Netanyahu a long list of significant celebrity discounts and hair-raising end-of-season sales. After we have said all this, it is already possible to say with certainty that at the bottom line, the attorney general has met the simple task at hand: to enforce the law and serve justice…Netanyahu got off easy. State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan's "minority opinion" actually reflects the opinion of the majority in the State Prosecutor's Office. According to this view, all three cases are bribery cases against Netanyahu. Case 1000 is a clear bribery case, lowering it to fraud and breach of trust was made for tactical reasons: to go to trial with Arnon Milchan, and not against him. Case 4000 is a clear bribe case, unanimously. In Case 2000, 21 out of the 23 attorneys in the legal advisor's team thought that it was also a bribe case against Netanyahu. Mendelblitt played the role of Netanyahu's attorney in this game. That’s a relatively good situation, because the former attorney general really was Netanyahu's attorney. Mendelblitt rescued Netanyahu from a few troubles in the current cases, but the troubles that remain are enough.
Israel's Ruling Party Is Anti-nationalist, anti-Zionist and anti-Jewish (Yechiam Weitz, Haaretz+) What a mindless campaign video misusing a national tragedy tells us about Netanyahu's Likud.
Netanyahu should resign for the good of the country (Ben-Dror Yemini, Yedioth/Ynet) Some might think it's unacceptable for a Yedioth Ahronoth writer to call on the prime minister to quit his post over corruption charges that directly involve my publisher; the differences, however, between the soon-to-be indicted Arnon Mozes and Netanyahu are immense.
Netanyahu’s Dilemma: If He Pulls Even With Gantz, He May Not Be the Next Prime Minister (Amnon Harari, Haaretz+) Tying Knesset seats with Gantz’s Kahol Lavan could come at the expense of Netanyahu's natural coalition partners on the right.
Attorney General Mendelblitt acted with ugly legal acrobatics that humiliates him (Dr. Chaim Misgav, Maariv) It seems that the attorney general did not withstand the pressures that were applied on him. The unreliable way he chose the issues in Cases 1000 and 2000 does not lead to the exploration of the truth.
B. Netanyahu and his war against Deep State's windmills (Tzur Sheizaf, Ynet Hebrew) Even after 42 years of gross Likud, our beloved prime minister was forced to contend with the dark scheme of rule that dominates the country with his evil octopus arms…The Deep State is the invention of the 21st century. It goes well with the Internet and the DarkNet - the dark web of information and trafficking in weapons, people, drugs and everything you don’t want to know about. Netanyahu and his ilk are digging in the ground, searching for and finding - on the left, in the State Attorney's Office and in the courts - the Deep State telescopes. They turn over every stone. After all, since 1977, the revolution that toppled the Labor Party from power and raised Begin's Likud. And that same Likud, with the exception of several (good) years, is the king of Israeli politics even if it was called Kadima when headed by Ariel Sharon. So how do you get rid of this dreadful Deep State that came to destroy us? The Deep State is Bibi's alter ego. We dismiss one, the other will disappear as well. It's that simple. And a redeemer came to Zion.
The Collaborators (Haaretz Editorial) Not one member of the current governing coalition voiced disgust over the attorney general’s decision or the suspicions against Netanyahu who could very well change the law to avoid standing trial.
Netanyahu's test: Saving the right-wing bloc (Yehuda Shlezinger, Israel Hayom) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's main concern is not the rise of the Left but the potential defection of Likud supporters to small right-wing parties that may not cross the electoral threshold.

Commentary/Analysis:
What Israel Does to the Palestinian Authority Is Daylight Robbery (Amira Hass, Haaretz+) Israeli media is a vital partner in the crimes of the occupation, encouraging Israelis' ignorance. Recent 'activity' to arrest former militant in the heart of Ramallah, right next to a school and a kindergarten, proves just that.
There's a Different Kind of Escalation Brewing in the West Bank (Amira Hass, Haaretz+) The rise settler violence against Palestinians is likely to continue as the army, the police and Israeli society stand by passively – or even encourage attacks.
The idea of two states is an illusion, and the purpose of the talks is one - to prevent war (Ran Edelist, Maariv) Jews and Arabs in the space between the Jordan River and the sea are like piano keys (without distinguishing who the whites are and the black ones), and in order for the piano to play, it needs all the keys…The purpose of the immediate talks about two states is to dismantle existing crises and prevent unnecessary wars in the short term. When we talk under the auspices and pressure of the entire world, we do not shoot (except for the need to deal stiffly with extremists at home), and all this happens during the talks on a two-state agreement between Israel and Palestine until it turns out that these two countries are actually one geo-strategic unit. There is no problem establishing two entities here, and even marking borders and enacting internal laws, as is the case in the United States. It will not happen tomorrow. In the meantime, the procedure needs to be shortened. Or through the victory of the left or a Blue-White and Black government, sorry, the Likud. In both cases, there should be a commitment to an Israeli-Palestinian dialogue that will open once and for all the blockage that will has the whole country stuck.
With Iceland's Hatari Staging anti-Israel Protest, Eurovision 2019 Is Especially Political (Yigal Ravid, Haaretz+) Iceland's Eurovision pick Hatari threatens to turn its Tel Aviv performance into a protest and challenges Netanyahu to a fight.
The Plot Against Zarif – and How Iran's Hardliners Failed (Zvi Bar’el, Haaretz+) A foreign minister's resignation doesn't usually create shock waves. But the dichotomy through which the West views Iran meant Zarif's was perceived as an earthquake.
My Late Uncle Was Part of a Generation of Palestinian Giants (Odeh Bisharat, Haaretz+) This generation didn’t despair, even though its surroundings radiated nothing but despair: in the words of the poet Mahmoud Darwish, they never stopped 'fighting and sowing hope.’
The Temple Mount is in their hands: The Arabs spit in the face of Israel, and the Prime Minister lets them (Prof. Arieh Eldad, Maariv) All the governments of Israel and their leaders, from right and left, committed crimes against the Temple Mount, but Netanyahu, who spoke high up about the "rock of our existence," he is the worst of all.
For Arab Regimes, Palestine Is Old News. Now, It's All About Iran (Muhammad Shehada, Haaretz+) The Arab regimes' exploitation and betrayal of Palestine has a long history. Now, they're framing the Palestinian cause as a burden, and a dangerous distraction from Iran.
Under Modi, the 'new' India prioritizes aggression – and prizes Israel's example (Khinvraj Jangid, Haaretz+) Modi has radically changed India's security doctrine to better reflect his angry, aggressive nationalism. Further escalation with Pakistan is not a matter of if, but when.
In Sissi's Egypt, a tweet can make you public enemy number one (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) Egyptian activists are trying to invigorate the public in the face of the president's sweeping constitutional changes, but he doesn't intend to allow this to threaten his rule.
 

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