APN's daily news review from Israel

Monday September 2, 2019
 

Quote of the day:

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

Israel Hayom

Top News Summary:
The ’90-minute battle’ between Israel and Hezbollah, which included a fake evacuation of soldiers, was today’s top story in the Hebrew newspapers. Other top stories were Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s reaffirmation of his pledge to annex parts of the West Bank and what was perceived as Israeli President Reuven Rivlin’s call on citizens to ignore Netanyahu’s accusations against the media.

The various Israeli military commentators agreed that the dispute with Hezbollah was not over despite the anti-tank missiles Hezbollah shot at an Israeli military base and military jeep Sunday. (See Commentary/Analysis below.) Yet, according to Maariv’s Yossi Melman, the two sides are both pleased with the results: Hezbollah hit the Israelis - and didn’t cause a war - and Israel pulled a fast one and pretended soldiers were injured and then - after Hezbollah announced they were - it revealed that it was fake news. However, the fear among Israeli citizens on the northern border was real and Yedioth wrote about it in detail.

In what was perceived by some as an election campaign gimmick, Netanyahu reaffirmed his pledge to annex parts of the West Bank. “With God's help we will extend Jewish sovereignty to all the settlements as part of the [biblical] land of Israel, as part of the State of Israel,” he said during a visit to Elkana settlement. Yedioth’s diplomatic affairs correspondent started his article, writing: “Fifteen days before elections and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu decided to open yesterday the school year at Elkana school in Samaria (West Bank) of all places." (Ynet Hebrew) Politicians were quick to react to Prime Minister promise. Kahol-Lavan co-leader, Yair Lapid wrote on Twitter sarcastically: ” "Netanyahu opened the school year with a statement that he wants to annex 2.9 million Palestinians, give them Social Security and next year fund their children's education. All in all, it reasonable." Yamina member, Naftali Bennett, noted: “Eight years ago I said the same thing and he called me delusional.” Joint List Chairman, Ayman Odeh said: "Netanyahu is a serial offender who pushes the state to crime.” (Maariv)

*After calling Israeli TV Channel 12 'anti-Semitic' and asking Israelis to boycott it, Netanyahu was under fire. President Rivlin appeared to rap the prime minister for his comments, calling on Israelis to ignore “radical discourse” and to show unity. Netanyahu had attacked Channel 12 for airing an Israeli-made series about the events of summer 2014, when three Jewish Israeli teens were kidnapped and murdered by Palestinians and three Jewish Israelis kidnapped, tortured and murdered a Palestinian teen in retaliation. (Also Maariv)


Elections 2019 Quickees:

Quick Hits:

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Elections 2019 Commentary/Analysis:
This Election, It's Good Guys vs. Bad Guys (Uzi Baram, Haaretz+) After Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s shocking attack on Channel 12 television, it’s clearer than ever who the good guys and the bad guys are, and the current election revolves around this choice. True, not all the good guys are very good and not all the bad guys are very bad, but you can distinguish one from the other clearly and comprehensively if you ditch the purism and look reality square in the face rather than at an angle.
It’s not persecution (Shimon Shiffer, Yedioth Hebrew) Netanyahu asks us to stop watching news broadcasts, calls Keshet (Channel 12) a "propaganda channel" and rejects its right to enrich our world with information about the contents of the indictments against him. Our job is to say to Netanyahu: That’s enough. Moreover, Netanyahu's followers accuse the media of "obsessive persecution,” although there is no basis for that claim. This is something very simple and fundamental: fulfillment of the role of the media in every country that adheres to the rules of democracy - sharing the reality without fear and bias. And to this we will add: It has already been said that words can kill, but it is no less serious to misrepresent facts and ignore information about improper activities by state authorities.
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.'
Our smog (Merav Betito, Yedioth Hebrew) For two years and four months, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu held the Holy Grail of democracy: the Ministry of Communications portfolio. He was not quick to relinquish the supreme pleasure of the control over it - even if imagined - despite the background noise that bothered him to work. Only after two petitions filed against him in court, plus one order from the High Court to remove his hands from the ministry, he did a favor and parted from it. During this period, he walked confidently in its offices, roughly kicked its soft stomach, dragged it by its hair to places it had never been….Like an experienced sailor, he took advantage of the winds blowing in his direction until he reached the day he became the person in charge of the free media on behalf of the State of Israel…He did not want any mediator between him and the people. From the moment he moved his predecessor aside, Netanyahu did what he knew best how to do: govern. The psychological smog that the prime minister has been circulating around us since he touched the golden heart flower of democracy has continued today, with it climaxing now with incitement against journalists, who are forced to walk around with a bodyguard. Where he sees interchanges, you see traffic jams. Where you see distress in a front emergency room, he sees boredom. Where you see journalists, he sees regime enemies. On his good day, Netanyahu believes the press is an job. He refuses to see what journalists really are: a necessary conduit for freely transmitting information, public servants whose duty is to criticize the government, keep it free from any defamation, improve and purify it for citizens, make it difficult for the elected official through sharp questions lacking any fear, and to share with him the pain of the citizens. In the United Kingdom, it took the government four years until it collapsed in the face of public pressure and accepted the "Clean Air Act." Only in 1956 did British politics recognize the link between air pollution, civilian death and national responsibility. It remains to be hoped that here in Israel it will happen faster, before the infection spreads.
Fed Up With the Chaos of Netanyahu (Tzvia Greenfield, Haaretz+) If you ask why Likud MKs remain loyal to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu even though he gets hysterical and abuses them at every opportunity, the answer is simple: Until now Netanyahu has managed to give them jobs in government and provide them with social status and a livelihood, and until he starts failing at this there’s no point in abandoning him. That’s also the case with most of the Labor MKs, who have generally remained silently behind Amir Peretz, even though his decisions pose a real threat to the party’s continued existence…the motives of those who support Likud or Kahol Lavan are a lot more interesting. Likud voters, who for more than 40 years were members of the lower-middle class, improved their situation under the Likud regime and turned into a middle class capable of buying homes and cars and traveling abroad. Kahol Lavan voters, on the other hand, who were and remain middle class, have already passed the stage of being enthralled by the purchase of consumer goods considered basic in any democratic society; the Likud government only burdens them by leaving the Palestinian problem unresolved and by funneling huge budgets to the settlements and the ultra-Orthodox.
The Secret of Gantz’s Popularity (Iris Leal, Haaretz+) First it was Yisrael Beitenu chairman Avigdor Lieberman, who used Kahol Lavan as a threat and declared he wouldn’t rule out the option of recommending party leader Benny Gantz to form the government, on condition that they agreed to form a national unity government with Likud (spoiler, they agreed). Now it turns out that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s son Yair threatened Ayelet Shaked’s emissary – who was working to secure a slot for her on the Likud slate, until the day she announced she would head the Yamina party – and told him, “We will form a government with Gantz.” Gantz is Everyman. It’s easy to attack him for that, but when he chose the slogan “Israel before everything,” he didn’t roam far from the truth to present the essence of his party’s image…The fact is that for Gantz, the purpose is somewhat loftier than personal interest, not only as a slogan but as a psychological condition.
Incitement, the Best Defense (Haaretz Editorial) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s frontal assault on Channel 12 television was in line with his permanent strategy: If you can’t silence them, incite against them. Plan A failed when the acting chairman of the Central Elections Committee rejected Likud’s request for an injunction that would bar Channel 12’s legal correspondent, Guy Peleg, from continuing to publish statements made by key prosecution witnesses in the cases against Netanyahu prior to the election. o Netanyahu turned to Plan B – libeling Channel 12 as anti-Semitic and urging the public to boycott the station.

Commentary/Analysis:
Hezbollah can't beat us (Giora Zeltz, Israel Hayom) Residents of northern Israel can very easily transition from their routine to a state of emergency and back again.
Israel, Hezbollah find way out of escalation, but a critical dilemma remains (Amos Harel, Haaretz+)  Should Israel strike Lebanese soil and risk a deadly flare-up?
Israel is pleased, and so is Nasrallah: both sides have come to terms with the rules of the game (Yossi Melman, Maariv) Like a tender and complex dance, Israel and Hezbollah adapted their steps to each other. In the end - both sides came out with their lust in their hands and they can both boast that they have achieved their goals.
Far from over and done with (Oded Granot, Israel Hayom) Even if both sides aspire to avoid an all-out war, additional rounds of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah are sure to follow.
It's too early to breathe a sigh of relief (Alex Fishman, Yedioth/Ynet Hebrew) Nasrallah had one chance - and he suffered a dismal failure. He had wall-to-wall legitimacy in Lebanon for the firing of one cartridge, but that did not cause Israel the same pain that was intended to deter it from the continued attacks it was attributed to it in Lebanon. Hezbollah's failure is so dismal that it may even force it to make the next mistake.
Egypt’s arrest of Ramy Shaath (Col. (ret.) Dr. Jacques Neriah, Israel Hayom) As relations between Cairo and Ramallah continue to deteriorate, Egypt’s arrest of senior Palestinian official Nabil Shaath’s son on terrorism charges may be a sign of things to come.
 

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