APN's daily news review from Israel

Tuesday September 3, 2019
 

Quote of the day:

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

Israel Hayom

Top News Summary:
Two weeks to elections and even the latest news about the recent flare up on the Israel-Lebanon had an election campaign twist. Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah declared there were ‘no more red lines’ and Israeli opposition politicians slammed the political boasting over Israel’s deception exercise against Hezbollah. Meanwhile, an embarrassing recording of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu shouting at then-communications minister and close associate, Ayoub Kara, for not doing his bidding in the telecommunications market and Netanyahu's plan for US President Donald Trump to make him a great gesture ahead of the Israeli elections were other top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers.

In a televised speech, Hassan Nasrallah said there were no more ‘red lines,’ that if Israel attacks “your soldiers and the home front will be under fire”and that Hezbollah’s new goal was to target Israeli drones entering Lebanese airspace. (Also Maariv) Netanyahu responded saying that “Nasrallah knows exactly why he's in the bunker.” But what actually happened in the Sunday incident and afterward was in dispute. Israel said that it was holding a diversionary maneuver that included evacuating bandaged soldiers to a hospital and that Hezbollah hit a military base and a military vehicle, but missed hitting the ambulance and that the ‘wounded’ soldiers were not actually wounded. Hezbollah said that’s a lie and aired footage from the missile strike on the IDF base. Either way, opposition politicians said Israel should not be boasting about the deception exercise. Former deputy chief of staff and Democratic Camp member strongly criticized the conduct after the exchange of fire on the Lebanese border: "Any exploitation of a security incident for politics is unacceptable.” He also called the political boasting “childish,” Maariv reported. Even Israel Hayom (Hebrew) quoted Golan saying, “When doing such exercises, they must be held in such a way that they are not exposed." Israeli officials say that Nasrallah asked Israel to halt fire after the Hezbollah missile attack.

Hezbollah’s attack was largely believed to be in response to the alleged Israeli drone attack on precision-missile-making equipment in Beirut. A senior Israeli security source all but confirmed that the drone attack was Israeli. In a conversation with military reporters, he said, "In recent days, we have attacked on several fronts. We also carried out simultaneous attacks in Syria and other arenas.” But a media report yesterday said that the Hezbollah missile launches were in retaliation to the Israeli strike in Syria that killed two Hezbollah militants and that the response for the drone attacks is still to come.

Meanwhile, all is still not well on Israel’s northern border. Yedioth reported that some Israeli farmers are prohibited from going to their orchards, some parents preferred not to send their children to school and local leaders in the north met and demanded the government implement a stalled program to bolster fortifications for border.

The other big story were the recordings released by Channel 13, which reveal Netanyahu, who was ordered to relinquish the job of Minister of Communications at the order of the High Court, asking the minister he appointed, Ayoub Kara, to abolish a council that barred the right-wing Channel 20 from becoming a broadcast TV channel.  “Have You Gone Mad?” Netanyahu rebuked him. (Also Maariv) Kara, who is loyalist of Netanyahu, said he would contact the police to find out who leaked the recording, to which Netanyahu’s son, Yair, said: “Didn’t you record it?” (Maariv) Maariv’s Ben Caspit has a very interesting takes on this recording. (See Commentary/Analysis below.) The Democratic Camp said it would turn to the Attorney General to order an immediate inquiry into the Prime Minister. (Maariv) Yedioth’s Ben-Dror Yemini asked in an Op-Ed why Attorney General Mendelblitt hasn’t opened an investigation into any of the leaks until now and explains why these seemingly negative leaks for Netanyahu actually help him.

Meanwhile, with just two weeks before Election Day, “The diplomatic arena has also been mobilized for campaign efforts,” as Yedioth’s (Hebrew) diplomatic affairs correspondent, Itamar Eichner, put it. Yedioth called it the “Two-week offensive.” Netanyahu and Trump are in intensive talks for Trump to make another dramatic pre-election diplomatic gesture in the coming days, ostensibly to help Netanyahu in the elections. The plan is to create a US-Israel ‘defense pact.” At the same time, discussions are being held with Moscow to coordinate a last-minute meeting with President Vladimir Putin, Yedioth reported.

Elections 2019 Quickees:

Quick Hits:

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Features:

To avoid settlers, the Israeli army escorts these Palestinian schoolchildren
For the past 15 years, soldiers have escorted the children of A-Tuba in the South Hebron Hills to their school in order to protect them from settler violence. This is what their daily journey looks like. (Yuval Abraham, +972mag)
 
Commentary/Analysis:
Israel Pats Itself on Back, but Almost Got Dragged Into War Due to Operational Failure (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) Had the Israeli military ambulance with five soldiers inside on the Lebanese border taken a direct, lethal hit by a Hezbollah missile, there would have been funerals, not victory celebrations.
Between Tehran and Washington, Hezbollah is limited in its response to Israel (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) Nasrallah may have issued a very direct threat during this round of hostilities, but Iranian interests and domestic Lebanese pressure are holding him back.
Hezbollah's missile misstep could ignite the Israel-Lebanon border (Alex Fishman, Yedioth/Ynet) The Iranian-backed terror group's failed attempt to strike Israeli soldiers is such a great blow to its ego that it might force it and its leader to make a regrettable error.
What Are the Boundaries of Criticism for a Dispossessed Society? (Amira Hass, Haaretz+) Is it permissible to criticize a social group that has suffered prolonged oppression and exploitation? Does someone who belongs to the oppressors’ group have a right to participate in such criticism? These are questions that trouble me every day, as a reporter on the Israeli occupation. These are also two of the vital questions that weren’t asked in the recent storm du jour over the unleashed language of television journalist Yaron London, but they emerge from between the lines of his statements about Arab culture. The storm has died down, and we’re already being promised a new and chilling series by Ron Cahlili about Israelis’ unvarnished hatred for Arabs. And people are already predicting that it won’t create any fissures in our arrogant attitude. Because Israeli culture has been shaped by decades of rule over another people, by its expulsion and dispossession of that people, and by its need to conceal and justify these deeds and its intent to continue committing and perfecting them.
Exclusion of John Bolton - proof that Trump is seriously considering a summit with Rouhani (Shlomo Shamir, Maariv) Bolton is undesirable in the president's vicinity, and has been almost ostracized from the internal circle of President Trump's advisers for several months. Leaving the White House will be further proof of the reconciliation process with Tehran.
Recent Attacks on Iranian Targets Are Good for the Israeli Soul – and Not Much Else (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) Though Israel's Military Intelligence has outstanding ability to gather information ahead of an operation, it can't say what diplomatic and strategic outcomes would follow.
Should Israel Scrap Its 'People’s Army' Model? (Meirav Arlosoroff, Haaretz+) 'Half those of draft age don’t serve, and the wealthy and those with connections get elite positions,' advocate for professional army argues.
Sacha Baron Cohen, the Mossad and Netflix. What Could Possibly Go Wrong? (Adrian Hennigan, Haaretz+) Bibi may approve the new Netflix series about Israel’s most famous spy, but it’s too conventional and takes too many liberties with the truth.
Why HBO's 'Our Boys' is a victory for Israeli hasbara (Haggai Matar, +972mag) By calling to boycott HBO’s ‘Our Boys,’ Prime Minister Netanyahu misses the fact that the series ends up erasing the occupation’s greatest iniquities while supporting the dominant Israeli narrative.
Abbas is right: It's time to phase out the PA ( Gary Schiff, Israel Hayom) The next time Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas proposes canceling security cooperation with Israel, and hence the Oslo Accords, we should take him up on it.
In the 2020 Elections, American Jews Must Decide: Will We Become White, or Not? (Samuel G. Freedman, Haaretz+) Donald Trump has made crude, strident attempts to guilt-trip U.S. Jews into the white political camp. Does the long, proud tradition of American Jewish liberalism guarantee it will fail?

Elections 2019 Commentary/Analysis:
A Referendum on Netanyahu's Immunity (Haaretz Editorial) It’s now official. The Yamina party is in Benjamin Netanyahu’s pocket. “You’d need something really extreme to make me oppose giving him immunity,” said Naftali Bennett, one of Yamina’s leaders, in a TV interview on Saturday night. In doing so, Bennett abandoned the policy of vagueness he and his partner, former justice minister Ayelet Shaked, had pursued with regard to the prime minister’s criminal cases. After last April’s election, there is no longer any doubt that voting for a right-wing party is tantamount to granting immunity to Netanyahu. The choice facing the Israeli public is between maintaining the rule of law or the rule of Netanyahu, which amounts to savaging the law.
Netanyahu's trap (Ben-Dror Yemini, Yedioth Hebrew) Netanyahu was able to make an excellent turn on the election campaign. He wanted "incitement against the media" to open up the news programs. He wanted the condemnation. He wanted to become the talk of the day. Two weeks before the election - and he achieved exactly what he wanted. Again, we won’t discuss the important issues. We won’t discuss that a particularly dangerous version of the right-wing ultra-Orthodox government led by Leitzman-Smotrich-Feiglin could rise. And we won’t discuss that such a government will grant personal immunity to the suspects, and at their head Netanyahu himself. And we won’t discuss that such a government will deepen the rift with US Jewry, which is a strategic asset. And we won’t discuss that the burden of equality (draft of ultra-Orthdox men) will go away. And we won’t discuss that the known-in-advance surrender to the ultra-Orthodox will reduce labor market participation and increase the damage to the economy. Everything is paralyzed. Because Netanyahu said something about the (Channel 12) News company and Keshet (production company), and dictated an agenda that was all about Netanyahu. Netanyahu's trick was also successful because he was right. Not in his call for a boycott (of Channel 12 News), nor in his incitement against (journalist) Guy Peleg. Definitely not. Peleg obtains materials that every journalist would like to obtain and every journalist would publish. The leaks are constitutional bread of the press…Netanyahu is right because on the other side of the press is the prosecutor's office. For years, Netanyahu has been claiming that he’s not being put on trial, but that he is being persecuted. The leaks reinforce the argument. Someone is trying to get a conviction without trial, through the media. It is a ritual that is held every evening, in which we read selected quotes from the transcripts (of the testimonies in the corruption cases). Are there other sections that work in Netanyahu's favor? We have no idea. True, it is easier to attack the media, but that does not mean that Netanyahu's attacks don’t have any truth to their claims. Because it doesn't matter if the newest leaks came to  journalist Peleg recently or if someone decided to publish them at the current time. In both cases - both the leaks that have been going on for two years, and the current timing - the persecution claim is reinforced. Does anyone want to seriously argue that there is no political motivation here? Even assuming that ninety-five percent of what was published during the latest storm was against Netanyahu - that only serves him. His (political) “base” will become much more enthusiastic. That's what Netanyahu wanted. That's what he gets. We were already in this situation. On the eve of the 2003 election, Attorney Liora Galt-Berkowitz leaked the Cyril Kern affair (the secret investigation into a loan granted to Arik Sharon). She admitted it happened out of political motivation. She wanted to avoid Sharon being elected. She did not help the rule of law - she hurt it. She didn't hurt Sharon, she strengthened him. It may happen again. Boomerang. The leaks do not make Netanyahu more corrupt. No one is falling out of their chair (in shock). But they compromise the prosecutor's credibility, and the allegations of political motivation are reinforced. And what about the Likud petition against continuing the broadcast of leaks? It's a show. After all, it was clear from the outset that no judge would have prevented the publication. Now there is more "proof" that everyone is against the Likud. The difference between then and now is that in those days, Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein ordered an investigation to locate the leak. He even wanted the Shin Bet to be involved. And today? Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit retains the right of silence. This is happening in his ‘home,’ in the prosecutor's office. Someone there is committing a criminal offense. And according to the AG’s silence, this could be happening in Honolulu, not in Israel. Hello, Mr. Attorney General, this is happening here Don’t you have anything to say? And if in two weeks Netanyahu gets a majority (in the elections), it won't be because that majority wants the Leitzman-Smotrich government or the annexation government or another surrender to the ultra-Orthodox. This will have happened also because the mainstream media, at the worst timing, managed to fall into the trap Netanyahu prepared for it.
Netanyahu Has Been Warned Over Media Intervention, but Leaked Audio Reveals He's Possessed (Yossi Verter, Haaretz+) No issue has elicited as much passion from the Israeli leader as the media, and even after being forced to drop the title of communications minister, he returns to the crime scene like an addict. But will it affect his support base?
*In the rooms of the madness: this is the male version of (Sara Netanyahu screaming into the phone) (Ben Caspit, Maariv) I suppose the message today from the Likud campaign will be something like “Ayoub Kara is a leftist who collaborates with the enemies of Israel, the New Israel Fund, the cable and satellite council and George Soros, with the aim of ousting an incumbent prime minister, establishing a Hamas state capital whose capital is at Channel 13 in Givatayim and appointing Azmi Bishara as Minister of Defense.” Yes, this is the same Ayoub who has acted in recent years as a combination between a carpet and a foot stool at the foot of the prime minister and his associates. Ayoub Kara, whom there is no one more right-wing than he, Ayoub Kara, for whom no task in the service of the supreme ruler and/or his lofty wife was too small in size. Yes, it turns out that our Ayoub Kara was, all this time, planning a revolution against someone who was chosen (to serve) for his entire life. Who would believe it. The recordings that journalist Sefi Ovadia brought on Channel 13 yesterday are a ground shaking document. It is unclear if they have a criminal element. The public, moral, behavioral and psychotic revelation is at least as important as the criminal aspect. This is a rare curtain-raising on what's going on in the rooms of obsessive madness of Netanyahu and his family with regard to what is connected to the media. This is the masculine version of that furious “I’M A PSY-CHO-LO-GIST“ (recording of Sara Netanyahu screaming over the phone). Then and now, the reason for the volcanic eruption is over minimal things. In her case, something was posted that didn't compliment her enough. For him, he continues a fierce battle that he has declared against the media, even after it was already weakened by half and he controls it as prime minister, term after term. Reminder: Netanyahu ceased to be Minister of Communications after the Attorney General Mendelblit, who was fashionably very late, imposed restrictions on him. He wanted to appoint a Communications minister of his own choice, but senior Likud officials escaped this task in panic. They knew exactly what things were supposed to do. Poor Ayoub Kara was apparently unaware. The recordings reveal that Kara was lower than a rag doll. Netanyahu continued to manage everything remotely and closely. Incidentally, journalist Sefi Ovadia also published yesterday's news on March 5 this year, shortly before the previous election. The only thing he didn't have was the recordings. What was the Likud's reaction to the news that Netanyahu continues to be involved in the Ministry of Communications, and is pressuring to save [right-wing] Channel 20 and shut down the Cable and Satellite Council? The response, in all its glory, was, “Nonsense. This is another attempt to make a false headline about nothing, in order to hide the central question in this election…” The office of the Ministry of Communications said that "we do not know of such an event.” We haven't talked yet about the fact that we have a prime minister whose ministers record him.. over his outbursts of rage, when he found out that Ayelet Shaked also got credit for saving Channel 20.  Over his hatred of the press and the free media and jihad he proclaimed against them. This is the first time you can't blame "a state witness trying to save your skin" or some disillusioned associate who was distanced (from Netanyahu) or the mythical Deep State. This is Ayoub Kara, our Ayoub, our flesh of flesh, may he rest of paradise. The recordings reveal the real Netanyahu: impetuous, scowling and snorting. Netanyahu who, even after being questioned in Case 2000, learned no lesson and continued his toxic involvement in the communications market and even after he was removed as Minister of Communications - did not flinch and continued to manage it remotely.
Voter turnout will tip the scales (Prof. Abraham Diskin, Israel Hayom) A number of factors can influence the results of the election, but the Likud is especially vulnerable to low voter turn-out by its supporters.
How Netanyahu Is Channeling Nixon in Controlling the Media (Guy Rolnik, Haaretz+) Politicians everywhere have always groveled to Big Business and have always resorted to using legislation as a shield. What's changed? It's become worse than we could even imagine, that's what changed.
Battle at the top will hurt the little parties (Mati Tuchfeld, Israel Hayom) Labor, the Democratic Union, and Yamina will all lose votes to either Blue and White or the Likud, and there's nothing they can do about it, barring a miracle.
Israel Needs an Old-fashioned Leader (Nehemia Shtrasler, Haaretz+) There is nothing the left likes better than eliminating its leaders. The moment that Benny Gantz managed to win 35 Knesset seats and became the only person endangering the rule of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the left began to make him look ridiculous: He sleeps standing up, he’s boring, he has no knife between his teeth, he doesn’t know how to make a speech, he isn’t a copywriter like Ehud Barak, nor is he charismatic like Bibi Netanyahu. At a recent meeting with him Gantz was asked about this insulting criticism. He replied that that’s his style, and that he doesn’t intend to change. He said that he isn’t the type to speak harshly and become more extreme in his opinions, and in fact he wants to change this aggressive style that prevails here in politics and in public life, and to bring about a reconciliation between parts of the nation. Just the opposite of Netanyahu.
It must be reported to Trump: on the eve of elections - no one talks about peace in Israel (Shlomo Shamir, Maariv) Someone around the president should tell him that peace has not been discussed at all in our party's campaigns, and at the top of PM's concerns is how to secure a 61-seat majority.
Lebanon crisis provides brief respite from Netanyahu’s increasingly deranged election campaign (Chemi Shalev, Haaretz+) The prime minister’s delusional tirade against concocted enemies is scary if contrived - and terrifying if genuine.
Comparing Netanyahu and Ben-Gurion (Prof. Shmuel Sandler, Israel Hayom) A comparison of the two leader reveals both similarities and differences, but one thing is for sure: Both had a major impact on the country and the society.

 

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