APN's daily news review from Israel

Sunday September 1, 2019

 

Quote of the day:

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Breaking News:
Missiles Fired From Lebanon at Israeli Base; Hezbollah Says Destroyed Military Vehicle
Lebanese army says Israeli drone violated its airspace and that Israel shelled southern Lebanon territory. Incident comes after Nasrallah threatened to attack. (Haaretz and Ynet)

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Front Page:

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

Israel Hayom

Top News Summary:
Celebrations, preparations and accusations were today’s top stories in the Hebrew newspapers: the celebration of the first day of school, the preparations for a possible war on the border with Lebanon and the accusations by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu against journalists.

Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said Hezbollah would retaliate against Israel for the latter’s drone attacks in Beirut, which, he said, “open the door to assassinations" if left unanswered, and Israel bolstered the northern border with more tanks and artillery, opened bomb shelters and closed off roads. Days after the drone attack that took place a week ago, the IDF said that Hezbollah has an Iranian-backed precision-guided missile project, which Hezbollah denied. The media reported that the drones hit vital equipment. Hezbollah said the drones were likely flown from Israeli gunboats.

Elections 2019 Top News and Quickees:
With the blatant exception of ‘Israel Hayom,’ the Israeli newspapers were very concerned by Netanyahu’s declaration that the media was putting him on a ‘field trial,’ by calling senior journalist Guy Peleg of Channel 12 News, who nightly had been exposing information leaked from the corruption cases against Netanyahu, a ‘puppet,’ (Peleg now has a personal bodyguard), for calling for a boycott of Channel 12 and for calling ‘Our Boys,’ the Israeli produced and directed HBO film series that is being broadcast on Channel 12, “anti-Semitic," and for lashing out at Keshet, its production company. Israel Hayom, instead, focused on Netanyahu’s concerns that the Likud party was losing strength in polls against Kahol-Lavan, which had two more mandates than Likud in a recent poll.
 

Quick Hits:

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Features:

This Place Is Only for Jews': The West Bank's Apartheid Springs (Gideon Levy, Haaretz+) Settlers have taken over dozens of springs in the West Bank, all of them on private Palestinian land, and are keeping the owners away. Rina Shnerb, a Jewish teen, was murdered last week at one of them.
 
Commentary/Analysis:
Hamas takes extraordinary step to quell Gaza's 'angry youth' (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) Rare Islamic fatwa aims to put an end to independent actions against Israel.
There is no magic solution for the Gaza Strip (Michael Milshtein, Yedioth/Ynet) Five years have passed since the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict, and it seems like another war is on the horizon; there are steps Israel can take in the short term, but its long-term strategy is far more important.
On its way to change power relations in the Gaza Strip, Islamic Jihad is also slaughtering Hamas policemen (Jacky Khougy, Maariv) Attempts to penetrate Israel and the shooting at Sderot are part of Jihad's effort to upgrade its status in Gaza. Israel and Hamas remain indifferent, together and alone.
Closer to the brink than ever (Yoav Limor, Israel Hayom) After hits on major Hezbollah targets, Israel is readying itself for a response, which Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah must calculate very carefully to avoid sliding into an all-out war, which he does not want.
First Drone War Pulls Israel's Conflict With Iran Out of the Shadows (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) A battle over optics also being waged: Nasrallah paints Beirut targets as marginal, while Israel makes effort to expose the Hezbollah precision-missile project. What happened to Israel's promise on China?
The right-wing has never had any solution to the Palestinian issue (Dr. Arnon Degani, Ynet) Almost a decade before the Six-Day War erupted, a naïve high schooler wondered what Israel would do with millions of Arabs it would potentially annex into its midst; Begin had no answer then and his political successors have no answer today.
The IDF Is the World’s Biggest Jewish Organization — but Should Be for Israelis Only (Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz+) Allowing the Israeli army to be a draw for young foreign Jews is building the connection between Israel and the Diaspora on very problematic and narrow foundations.
A new existential challenge (Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen, Israel Hayom) The growing threat posed by the "war of attrition" that Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas are now fighting against Israel is aimed at curbing Israel's prosperity. This growing threat is gnawing at the Jewish people's hopes for a safe and thriving homeland.
Germany is no place for Jews (Zeev Avrahami, Ynet) In their desire to free themselves from inherited guilt over the Holocaust and the mass slaughter of the Jewish communities in Europe, Germans have adopted a vicious anti-Israel stance that Israelis in the country must adopt if they want to fit in.
Israel's Ethnic Cleansing Continues (Ilana Hammerman, Haaretz+) No more occupation? No, that slogan has become hollow. Write it in your opinion pieces, scream it at demonstrations. Apartheid? Yes, that’s the right term to define the situation in the West Bank. But quashing this apartheid is a far cry because the military and political-power balance binds the hands of those who want to destroy it, both here and around the world.
Puncturing the big lie of Palestinian identity (Melanie Phillips, Israel Hayom) The Palestinians' claim that they are the rightful inheritors of the land represents one of the most successful, if fiendish, propaganda achievements ever to have been pulled off – to have persuaded millions of people that this ludicrous falsehood is an unchallengeable truth.
I embrace my Israeli Arab identity (Ali Adi, Israel Hayom) I would like to feel the same pride in my Arab culture and traditions that I feel as an Israeli.
It's time for Arabs to hold governmental posts in Israel (Riad Kabha, Yedioth/Ynet) Ayman Odeh voices a growing Arab desire to be a part of a center-left government, and with power will come great responsibility and sense belonging; but will Jewish leaders dare to be as courageous and strive for real co-existence?
Iran, Yemen and Two More Bleeding Fronts Awaiting Trump's Next Tweet (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) Washington has become the most threatening front for Israel amid reports the United States is prepared to negotiate with Iran.
EU's product labeling is skewed (Yisrael Medad, Israel Hayom) Why would “Judea and Samaria” on a label not suffice? After all, those names are the historical terms. “Judea” is in the New Testament so it’s not just a Jewish thing.
Israel's Jews should meet Arab outreach with an open hand (Ben-Dror Yemini, Yedioth/Ynet) Ayman Odeh's comments on the possibility of the Joint List joining a center-left coalition have stirred some controversy among his political allies, but they actually make more sense than it seems at first glance, as 87% of Arabs would like the party to be in the coalition.
Is Pakistan Preparing to Recognize Israel? (Kunwar Khuldune Shahid, Haaretz+) Prime Minister Imran Khan and his military backers are giving unprecedented freedom to a highly-censored media to talk about establishing relations with Israel. 14 years to the day since the countries' only public bilateral meeting, are conditions now ripe for a formal move?
DNA Testing to 'Prove' Jewishness Is Spine-chilling (Haaretz Editorial) Over the past year the rabbinical courts began proposing that individuals in the process of “clarifying their Jewish states” undergo genetic testing: specifically of mitochondrial DNA, which is inherited from the mother. Dozens of Israelis have undergone the test in the past year, and it has helped about two-thirds of those whose Judaism had been in doubt. In Israel, which grants citizenship according to bloodlines only; where a person’s Jewishness has legal significance that affects the right to immigrate and to obtain citizenship, as well as affecting personal status and even the right to buy property, the thought of making DNA testing part of the process of determining Jewishness according to religious law is spine-chilling. No door should be opened for Israel to become a country where entry and citizenship will someday depend on a genetic test.

Elections 2019 Commentary/Analysis:
It's Now Clear: Netanyahu Won't Rest Until a Journalist's Blood Is Spilled (Yossi Verter, Haaretz+) Netanyahu and his family see before them the danger of forced separation from the official residence on Balfour Street, from immunity and power, and they are losing it.
September 17: The importance of voting is reminiscent of the UN partition proposal (Ben Caspit, Maariv) Messianic extremists spread their teachings on Netanyahu's watch. Also: Bugie Ya'alon connects the dots, Amir Peretz talks to everyone, and what did Ayelet Shaked know?
This is what a chaotic spin-based discourse looks like (Lilalch Sagan, Maariv) The HBO TV series “Our Boys" is not really anti-Israeli, and Yaron London did not fail in his description. But why dwell on it? There is no room for complex characters in the wildly predatory culture.
The hot potatoes of the election (Yossi Beilin, Israel Hayom) A possible meeting between US President Donald Trump and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani would be a headache for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is also hoping that the Trump administration keeps its "deal of the century" under wraps until after the election.
Netanyahu Seeks to Silence Critical Media by Hitting Their Revenues (Hagai Amit, Haaretz+) After failing to prevent channel from publishing leaked materials from his corruption probes, PM tells Israelis they should boycott it for producing show that 'slanders Israel.’
*Free media is under attack (Nahum Barnea, Yedioth Hebrew) Journalist Guy Peleg is the current victim of the incitement campaign of Benjamin Netanyahu and his supporters. The objective is to silence the journalist and paint Peleg's and his colleagues revelations (about the Netanyahu corruption cases) in a political color...There is no escape from seeing things as they are: the Israeli free press is under a dangerous attack. It includes not only the delegitimization of journalistic work, but also threats to the lives of journalists and calls for a boycott of media institutions. The media in Israel is very competitive. The competition is impassioned. It involves business and personal fights and it makes mistakes. It would not harm us if we were to study this issue as it is in the United States: there free media institutions, newspapers, and TV channels, are also under a wild attack by an unrestrained political system. And they are not afraid to return fire. In the face of the attacks they are sharing a solidarity that is so lacking today in the Israeli media.
He was warned in 1995: Only one man dared to act with such violence against the media (Ben Caspit, Maariv) Netanyahu’s purpose in walking on (journalist Guy) Peleg's head was not to hurt him. It is to hurt his and the media's legitimacy, a violation of the basic idea of a press that exposes and critiques.
Gantz is human. Israel desperately needs him (Carolina Landsmann, Haaretz+) If I had to come up with a headline that captures my impression of the opposition’s candidate for prime minister, it would be this: Benny Gantz is a human. Not like a mensch, not as a synonym for a person with a good heart, but rather, simply, a person who has a heart. A human being. Benny Gantz is a human being. The fact that Benny Gantz is human contrasts with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who I see as more like Agent Smith in the film, ‘The Matrix.’ When I studied Gantz while he was speaking, I discovered that the sun’s rays left a mark on his skin. The temperature outside was evident on his face. His movements were imperfect; his attire was messy, like the average Israeli.
Benny Gantz Is Just Like Us, and That's Not Good Enough
(Gideon Levy, Haaretz+) Carolina Landsmann describes Benny Gantz wonderfully on this page today, as does Iris Leal (in the Hebrew edition). They both saw a human being, which is rare, even sensational, in Israeli politics. But like both of them, I too saw a “human being” at that meeting, in the best sense of the word. Humble, genuine. Not puffed up with self-importance. Nice, decent, schlumpy. But that’s not enough. Far from it. The enthusiasm of non-right-wing Israelis for Gantz says more about them than it does about their candidate. Gantz’s watch comes to life every few minutes with a blueish light. When it glows for a second, one can believe that its wearer is the best answer today to the critical problems of this country. But then it stops glowing, darkness falls and once again it becomes clear that it’s not enough to be “as good as it gets.” It’s not by chance that there isn’t another option, because Gantz is good for his voters. He’s just what they want, the imprint of his native landscape as they imagine it. He’ll promise them what they want above all: quiet. These Israelis want a respite from the noise Benjamin Netanyahu heaped on them. They want to go about their business, to send their children to oppress others, as long as they come home in one piece; to go on a cruise, to buy an SUV and feel good about themselves. Netanyahu has disrupted their quiet, Gantz will restore it.
Gantz also knows: In today's Israel, racism is an almost necessary bonus (Ran Edelist, Maariv) If we realized that "the Arabs are flocking in droves“ sentence (that Netanyahu said in) the 2015 elections was an exercise designed to scare the Jews, so now in the September election Likud is going for intimidating Arabs.
Israel's Democratic Union Fails to Take Off (Ravit Hecht, Haaretz+) Many Kahol Lavan voters were expected to throng to the Democratic Union, after seeing their leftist vote go to waste on eccentrics, spineless incompetents and just plain right wingers. Many Labor voters, who were disappointed with Amir Peretz’s association with Orli Levi-Abekasis, were expected to follow suit. But they didn’t. The first reason for this is indeed the split between the Democratic Union and Labor. This split doesn’t stem from ideological differences, but from the most fundamental issue in Israel, the one that shapes opinions, life style and cultural viewpoints, as well as voting patterns: the ethnic rift.
The left is considered condescending by the public, and condescension is a certain type of racism (Prof. Arieh Eldad, Maariv) The Yaron London Storm, the faux pas by Ram Ben-Barak, and democracy as per Prof. Zeev Sternhell: Three instances this last week have again demonstrated the link between racism, condescension and left-wing enlightenment.
A looming war lifts Netanyahu's spirits (Yossi Verter, Haaretz+) Although the attacks in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq added some fuel to Bibi's campaign fire, he is coming around to the idea of a unity government with Kahol Lavan's leaders – at least, some of them.
Scaring Arab Voters Away in Droves (Friday Haaretz Editorial) the presence of the cameras scared off many Arab voters and lowered the turnout rate in the Arab community. In advance of September’s do-over election, Likud once again sought to put cameras in the polling stations. Now the governing coalition is trying to ram a law through the Knesset that would also allow party representatives serving as polling booth officials or observers to use cameras. The bill that Likud is trying to pass is unacceptable.
Let Israeli Political Parties Film in Polling Stations (Nehemia Shtrasler, Haaretz+) Election transparency. The Central Elections Committee’s barring of party representatives from filming in polling stations is a problem. And its proposed inspectors aren’t a good substitute. After all, everyone knows there’s massive fraud at the polls, especially in ultra-Orthodox and Arab precincts.  The system is simple: Party representatives put envelopes into the ballot boxes on behalf of the people who don’t bother showing up to vote at all. In the last election, in April, it was harder to commit fraud, thanks to the cameras brought in by Likud party members. Consequently, it shouldn’t just be Likud. Yisrael Beiteinu, too, should bring cameras into ultra-Orthodox polling stations. And other parties should do the same. This would contribute to the integrity of the election. It’s nothing more than an expansion of the principle of mutual supervision.

 

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