APN's daily news review from Israel

Tuesday December 10, 2019

 

Quote of the day:

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

Israel Hayom

Elections 2019/Netanyahu Indictment News:
Two declarations came out of two Kahol-Lavan leaders’ mouths yesterday, which Maariv and Haaretz political analysts considered game-changing, and which made the top story in the Hebrew newspapers, alongside the date chosen for elections, if no dramatic turn takes place before Wednesday night, midnight: 2nd of March.

Kahol-Lavan chairman Benny Gantz, who until now refused to discuss any unity government where Netanyahu was the leader, announced he would be willing to negotiate to form a joint government with Netanyahu as leader in rotation if Netanyahu would say he is willing to give up on asking for immunity from standing trial in three corruption cases. Then Kahol-Lavan co-leader, Yair Lapid, said he was giving up the rotation of leading the party with Gantz. (While Maariv wrote that Lapid made a mature political move, Yedioth Hebrew wrote that Lapipd declared the move after internal criticism against him and political pressure exerted on him in Kahol-Lavan.)

Haaretz+’s Yossi Verter wrote that “Gantz achieved two goals: he hits Netanyahu in his soft underbelly, the issue which the accused from Balfour Street does not have the support of the majority of voters, namely, continuing to rule with an indictment over his head; and he also gains points in the blame game. Maariv’s Yoav Karkovsky wrote that “for the first time in the last months, the Kahol-Lavan people are determining the political agenda…Gantz threw the ball at Netanyahu and said to him - if you clarify once and for all what you want, leave of absence or immunity, we can talk…The likelihood that Netanyahu will announce that he will give up on his right (of immunity) as an elected official - is zero…If Netanyahu now rejects the offer, Gantz will win one important thing: points in the mutual accusation game, the blame-game. If until now Netanyahu could accuse Gantz mainly that Lapid is thwarting a unity government, now it’s his refusal to talk about the new formula - giving up on immunity - that reveals his real intentions. Not an ideological battle, not a right-wing rule, but rather a personal battle for protection from standing trial - and that’s the only reason for which a government is not being established.” Even the pro-Netanyahu paper, ‘Israel Hayom, (Hebrew)’ acknowledged that Kahol-Lavan “led two major moves.The first was a call for Netanyahu to give up his immunity with the intention of making him refuse, exposing him to his refusal and using it [against him - OH] during the election. The second move is Yair Lapid's announcement that he is giving up rotation with Benny Gantz - a move that, according to internal party assessments, is expected to add two to three seats and even more. Read the full analyses in Election/Indictment Commentary section below.

The reaction of Netanyahu and the Likud was to label Gantz’s call for clarification on the immunity issue ‘spin.’ Netanyahu then turned to Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Lieberman with a last-minute attempt to convince him to join Likud and the right-wing bloc in a narrow right-wing government. Lieberman repeated his mantra that a narrow government won’t work.

According to most of the political analysts, the Gantz and Lapid announcements were connected - they were quid pro quo. Lapid gave up on a rotation government with Gantz and let him hold the party reins alone if Gantz gave up on forming a national unity government with Netanyahu. it was clear to all that Netanyahu would not give up on immunity, so there would be no negotiations. So what exactly was Gantz giving up on. It was Maariv’s Ben Caspit who revealed what Gantz was actually giving up. According to Caspit, a very detailed proposal for a national unity government was drawn up by Kahol-Lavan experts in negotiations with Likud and approved by Netanyahu, which would allow Netanyahu to be prime minister first in a rotation and then go into leave of absence and be replaced by Gantz on May 4, after Independence Day. Netanyahu wanted to remain as PM on Independence Day. Caspit wrote that “a glimpse of the detailed draft, which spans many pages, sparks wonder and astonishment: It does not leave Netanyahu even a narrow crevice to escape from his leave of absence, the rotation or both.” Sources told Caspit that “Netanyahu really is looking for a way to end with dignity and he believes he can extract significant benefits from President Trump in the coming six months. In addition, he believes his position as prime minister after the elections will help him get a good plea bargain with the state prosecution and prevent not only Israeli elections, but also a tedious, long and expensive trial of the Netanyahu family. Caspit, who wrote a book about Netanyahu and is known for his derision for the Netanyahu family, wrote that he thinks that if he were in Gantz’s place, he would have agreed to the proposal. “In the end, only history will judge the Kahol-Lavan leaders in general and Benny Gantz in particular," he wrote. "Will their refusal of the fantastic Likud proposal turn out to be a fatal mistake or an historic achievement? Are they smart, or right? Do they drag their party and state to a crash and miss an irreparable opportunity to end the Netanyahu era peacefully, or are they demonstrating principled resilience and showing a strong political spine while erecting an iron wall against a defendant in three indictments including bribery?” And while Lapid declared that he decided a week ago in a meeting with Gantz to relinquish the rotation, Caspit wrote that until yesterday, Gantz was still undecided about whether to form a government with Netanyahu based on the latest draft. “Yair Lapid's dramatic relinquishment of the rotation is apparently what ended the possibility of forming a unity government with the Likud, with Netanyahu serving first. As far as we know, this is a package deal between Gantz and Lapid: I give up Bibi, you give up on the rotation.”

Not surprisingly, ‘Israel Hayom’ (Hebrew) chose to use a quote from MK Amir Peretz blaming Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Lieberman for another election. "The hatred and racism that (Lieberman) injected into the political system, rejecting the Arabs and rejecting the ultra-Orthodox under the guise of 'unity,’ is one of the biggest lies ever in the Israeli political system," Peretz accused. "He has no other plan. If we do not reject these words, we will find ourselves being dragged after Bibi and Lieberman into a fourth elections.”


Elections 2019/Netanyahu Indictment Quickees:
High Court: The Attorney General must address of the forming of a government by Netanyahu
The judges sent the decision back to Mendelblit's door. Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has so far refrained from deciding on the ability of a member of Knesset accused of crimies - namely Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu - to accept the mandate to form a government, stating that this is a "theoretical issue.” But the High Court has now ordered him to submit a response to the petition within nine days. (Yedioth Hebrew)
Netanyahu: If a general election is held, there will be primaries for leader of Likud
The announcement was made on behalf of the PM, in response to reports that he is behind MK David Biton’s initiative to abolish the primaries. Gideon Sa'ar welcomed the announcement. (Maariv)
Poll: Kahol-Lavan is the largest party, there is a tie between the blocs
In the shadow of the Knesset's preparations for elections, a poll conducted KAN 11 Broadcasting predicts that the political deadlock will continue even after another elections, with Yisrael Beiteinu remaining in the balance. (Maariv)

 

Quick Hits:

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Features:

"We will vote Corbyn and nothing will convince us that he is anti-Semitic"
"There is no evidence that Corbyn is a racist or anti-Semitic. He is actually from the  anti-racism stronghold. Just because he supports peace in the Middle East, then the Israeli government is not happy, and his accusation of anti-Semitism is one of the tools to attack him." It doesn't matter to them that the Wiesenthal Center declared him the "worst anti-Semite in the world," nor the fact that he took part in a memorial ceremony for the Palestinian terrorists from the Munich Olympics. For hundreds of Israelis living in the UK, Jeremy Corbyn is the ultimate prime ministerial candidate. In the interview, they tell how they fell in love with him and why despite all the warnings they will vote in two days for the Labor Party. (Yaniv Khalili in London, Yedioth’s ’24 Hours’ supplement)

Elections 2019/Netanyahu Indictment Commentary/Analysis:
Collective Insanity Gives Netanyahu’s Right Wing a Crushing Advantage Over Center-left Rivals (Chemi Shalev, Haaretz+) As with Trump’s GOP, the Likud is no longer constrained by laws, conventions, traditions or values.
Political farce is one man's handiwork (Mati Tuchfeld, Israel Hayom) Since April's elections, Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman has become a one-man political stumbling block. The more power he wins in the March 2 elections, the more likely we are to head toward fourth consecutive elections.
Four Ways Netanyahu Protected Himself and Survived for Three More Months (Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz+) A third consecutive election may seem like a hollow victory, but considering the PM's situation, the bottom-line result is a win.
What does Lieberman want? To be the Defense Minister or the Prime Minister? (Dror Raphael, Maariv) It was likely that he would use the power given to him to decide with whom a government would be formed, but the chairman of Yisrael Beiteinu is not a reasonable person. He enjoys watching others respond helpless to his whims.
Gantz Took Netanyahu's Favorite Trick — and Used It Against Him (Yossi Verter, Haaretz+) Gantz’s offer to Netanyahu – that the latter give up his quest for immunity in exchange for “opening a dialogue” – was one of those quips the addressee has turned into an art form. Its whole purpose was to put Kahol Lavan's rival on the defensive, while in practice being a non-starter. Gantz, after several discussions with Netanyahu, understood that the latter has no intention of relinquishing his quest for immunity, just as he has no intention of giving up his current post. Thus, Gantz achieved two goals: he hits Netanyahu in his soft underbelly, the issue on which the accused from Balfour Street does not have the support of the majority of voters, namely, continuing to rule with an indictment over his head; and he also gains points in the blame game regarding the identity of the person most responsible for Israel sliding into a third election in one year.
The ball was thrown in Netanyahu’s hands (Yoav Karkovsky, Maariv) It’s rare that it happens to them, but for the first time in the last months, the Kahol-Lavan people are determining the political agenda. Less than three days before the dissolution of the Knesset, Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid are making headlines. Until this moment, Gantz stopped and pushed away every offer that came from Netanyahu about him staying as the leader of the government. In the last three days, Gantz threw the ball at Netanyahu and said to him - if you clarify once and for all what you want, leave of absence or immunity, we can talk. The meaning is that Gantz, for the first time, did not reject establishing a government with Netanyahu, if the latter promises not to do any parliamentary tricks to stop the judicial process. The likelihood that Netanyahu will announce that he will give up on his right (of immunity) as an elected official - is zero. Netanyahu not only cannot accept Gantz’s call, he also gives up on the idea of the unity government that he spoke about so much and returns to the well-known plan - a strong right-wing government. Netanyahu’s strength as we go to elections is his ability to play for time. He believes that he will be able to stop the wheels of indictment. If Netanyahu now rejects the offer, Gantz will win one important thing: points in the mutual accusation game, the blame-game. If until now Netanyahu could accuse Gantz mainly that Lapid is thwarting a unity government, now its his refusal to talk about the new formula - giving up on immunity - that reveals his real intentions. Not an ideological battle, not a right-wing rule, but rather a personal battle for protection from standing trial - and that’s the only reason for which a government is not being established. Lapid proves again how much he matured politically, and his official announcement of giving up a rotation proves how much he is focused on the goal. His dream to be prime minister did not disappear, it only went into waiting. After he gave up on the rotation in the case of a national unity government, now Lapid removes the title of the Likud campaign against Kahol-Lavan and against him personally. While Netanyahu is concerned about his personal issues, Lapid stores away his ego only in order to replace the government. The ones who pay the price, alongside Lapid, are (fellow Kahol-Lavan leaders) Gabi Ashkenazi and Moshe Yaalon. The decision to give up on the rotation will be accompanied by a much wider freedom of action for Gantz as chairman of the party and its candidate for prime minister. No more four-way joint decisions. Now the leadership is in the hands of Gantz, who earned it honestly. The one who gave him his trust was Lapid, the responsible adult made from Kahol-Lavan. Maybe this way there will be a political future for this move in the third round (of elections).

Other Commentary/Analysis:
In B'Tselem, We Believed the Israeli Public Needs to Know (Zehava Galon, Haaretz+) I was one of the founders and the first executive director of B’Tselem, when it was founded thirty years ago. We weren’t thinking 30 years ahead. We believed that the Israeli public just had to know what was being done in its name. How wrong we were. B’Tselem was established as a response to a question that is still tearing the Israeli public apart: What should you do when your country commits an injustice. Not a random injustice, not a mistake, not a blind bureaucratic decision, but an ongoing, deliberate policy that treats human beings like something to be trampled. The answer that people give to this question shows a lot about them. There are some who remain silent, there are some who convince themselves that everything is all right, there are some who explain that we have to fight, but not now and certainly not abroad. And then there is B’Tselem. It’s thankless work, because many Israelis believe that their security comes before the human rights of the Palestinians. But most Israelis also know that security doesn’t justify everything, because otherwise they wouldn’t make such an effort to deny the facts that B’Tselem exposes.
Israel fights for justice at the UNHRC (Vladimir Sloutsker, Israel Hayom) Not only has the UN Human Rights Council failed to improve the UN’s reputation or ceased its Israel derangement syndrome, it has entrenched both.
When the Settlement Bloc Expands (Amira Hass, Haaretz+) If, seven years from now, settlers declare that the Palestinian village of Atara, north of Ramallah, endangers them because of its high location and proximity to the road, and demand that its homes be emptied, what will the army’s district brigade commander and Central Command chief do? What will they do if the declaration is accompanied by violence and vandalism targeting the villagers, and later mass prayers at the entrance to the village? Judging by previous experience, it’s likely that the senior officers will send soldiers to protect the Israeli citizens during their assaults and their prayers, and might even shoot at Palestinians who dare to protest. But we cannot rule out the possibility that the commanders will also find or invent an appropriate order allowing them to permanently expel the villagers from their homes, because that’s what the settlers demand. Go to Ramallah, there are lots of vacant apartments there, the Civil Administration officers will say as they come to deliver the expulsion orders. We hope the residents of Atara will forgive us for using them as an example in such a horrifying script.
Israel Is Not a City of Refuge (Haaretz Editorial) On Tuesday morning, the Jerusalem District Court will hold a decisive hearing in a case that has cast a heavy shadow over Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman (United Torah Judaism), while bringing to an unprecedented nadir Israel’s relations with Australia’s government and its Jewish community. Senior psychiatrists are expected to testify as to whether Malka Leifer — who fled Australia for Israel after being charged with the rape and sexual assault of students at the ultra-Orthodox school in Melbourne where she was the principal — is mentally fit for extradition to Australia in order to stand trial.
Anti-Semitism, born in the U.S.A. (Orly Azoulay, Yedioth/Ynet) The plethora of Jews are involved in Trump's impeachment process greases the wheels of anti-Semitism, with some on the far-right calling it a 'Jewish coup'; but the president isn't anti-Semitic himself, he does not have the intellect.
Why Would Israel Reportedly Have Missiles That Reach Beyond Iran (Yossi Melman, Haaretz+) Last week, Israel tested what foreign reports said was a nuclear-capable Jericho missile amid reports that Iran has deployed its own missiles in Iraq, 400 kilometers from Israel.
It’s time for Europe to stand with the Iranian people (Eric R. Mandel, Israel Hayom) What will it take for the international community to realize that no amount of money, accommodation or deference will change the DNA of Iran’s leaders, who are bent on eradicating Israel, and the ascendance of Shi’ism over Sunnis and minority populations living in the Mideast?
Trump’s Pitch to Israelis and Evangelicals: Make America Hate (Jews) Again (Bradley Burston, Haaretz+) Donald Trump is a genius. Setting Jew against Jew, and Evangelical against Jew, he's reshaping the U.S.-Israel bond to his own electoral advantage.

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