APN's daily news review from Israel

Sunday February 16, 2014

Quote of the day:

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Front Page News:

Haaretz

• Government acting to limit terms of hospital directors
• Third (criminal) assassination in two weeks: One killed on Tel-Aviv promenade
• Probe committee to investigate collapse of Hadassah Hospitals
• In wake of corruption affair: Erdogan increasing control over appointment of judges and prosecutors
• Second round of talks on Syria ended in failure
• Palestinians: Settlers claim they bought land, but the owner has been dead for years
• Japanese Internet giant buys Viber for $900 million
• Young mayor of Firenze on way to becoming prime minister
• 1/4 page ad: Edwin Black, author of "Funding the flames" in the Middle East on how the human rights organizations in Israel, which are funded by foreign sources, ignite a culture of clashes and terror in Israel and make peace inaccessible. Ad by Bar-Ilan University School of Communications and Center for International Communication

• Citizens in the line of fire - It's already normal: While the police promise to stop the assassination wars of the crime underworld, masked men pulled out guns in the heart of Tel-Aviv and shot dozens of bullets at a criminal
• Who's the boss? Yedioth photographer tells how criminals threatened him in front of police officers
• Deal with the terror - Alex Lautin whose wife was murdered by criminals
• Visiting the sick - Empty halls, screaming patients: Yedioth Ahronoth reporters spent the weekend with medical teams at the collapsing Hadassah hospital
• Viber's exit - The Israelis behind the app that sold for $900 million

• Hamas changes strategy: Stopped preventing rocket attacks on Israel
• (When Hamas suffers from economic siege,there is a Quiet escalation // Amir Rappaport (Hebrew)
• In the heart of Tel-Aviv: Masked men got close to a criminal's car and assassinated him with shots from an automatic weapon (Hebrew)
• The police is not guilty // Buki Neah
• Israeli ambassador to Belarus gave an interview (saying that while Poland is imposing economic sanctions on Belarus it continues to do business with it), causing a diplomatic incident with Poland - Warsaw demanded an apology (Hebrew)
• Following the (left-wing teacher) Adam Verete affair: Who will sit on the Piron Committee for the limits to political discussion in the education system? A dismissed (left-wing) supervisor dismissed (Hebrew)
• Revealed: List of targets of the Shin Bet's Jewish (terror) unit, which was distributed to police and Border Police officers in Judea and Samaria (Hebrew)
• Event instead of mourning ceremony: This is how the residents of the southern Tel-Aviv neighborhood of Shapira 're-conquered' the public park of the (African) asylum seekers (Hebrew)
• Israeli internet calls app, Viber, sold for $900 million to Japanese company

• Assassination in front of parents and children - Assassination next to an area filled with people in Tel-Aviv on a Saturday afternoon
• Bring back the deterrence // Dan Margalit
• Hadassah staff: "We will abandon the departments"
• The Israelis who achieved the dream of an 'exit' - More pride for blue-and-white hi-tech: Viber sold to Japanese company for $900 million
• "Prime Minister and Obama will agree to extend the negotiations by a year"
• Enormous embezzlement? Yes satellite company employee suspected of stealing 24 million shekels
• Unhappy Valentine's Day: Got engaged at a B&B in the north, then injured by a (hunter's) stray bullet

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Peace Talk Highlights:
The top stories were the criminal assassination in Tel-Aviv and more on the collapse of Hadassah hospitals in Jerusalem. Meanwhile, Israel Hayom reported that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama will agree to extend peace talks during Netanyahu's visit to Washington as Israel wanted and Hamas said it would consider any international presence in the West Bank an 'occupation' force and called on US Secretary of State John Kerry to reconsider his position. Spokesman Sami Abu Zohari spoke at a rally against the negotiations, saying to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas: "Noone has authorized you to speak on behalf of the Palestinian people, or on behalf of Hamas or any other faction." [Note, this is very interesting because it reveals that Hamas is interested in the participating in the negotiation process. - OH] Also, Abbas is hosting 170 young Israeli students at his offices in Ramallah today as part of his outreach efforts toward Israeli society. And Housing Minister Uri Ariel said Friday that the mass right-wing protest march, at which right-wing politicians said the Jewish state would be from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, was actually a march to show support for Netanyahu in peace talks. 

Quick Hits:

Features:

IDF facing high-tech brain drain
New data reveals that the number of technology officers to leave the IDF has doubled over the last two years. (Yedioth/Ynet) 
In photos: 'One Billion Rising' march for women's rights in Ramallah -
Dozens of Palestinians took to the streets of Ramallah on Saturday to take part in a rally for women's rights and in protest against violence against women as part of a global day of action. (Maan)
To eat co-existence: The trend which is healthy for relations between the two peoples
Hummus has long become a national icon. The original recipe came from the Arab sector, but today no fridge in Israel is complete without one of the version that has been developed. But some Israeli chefs still argue that hummous is Israeli. One university professor does research on what foods Israelis call their that are actually Arab. (This is another article in a series on Israeli Arabs in 2014.) (Maariv, p. 12-13/NRG Hebrew) 
Flight attendants at Israel's service (Yaniv Halily, Yedioth/Ynet) El Al stewards, including a Druze and an Arab, take an active role in Israeli PR as part of voluntary project aimed at improving country's image around the world.

Commentary/Analysis:

Boycott law boycotts freedom of speech (Haaretz Editorial) A prohibition against a call for a boycott bans a legitimate means of protest, so it is unacceptable. 
Dangerous shutting of mouths (Boaz Okun, Yedioth) It's permissible for Israelis to think they don't want to buy products from the West Bank, it's admissible for them to think that a boycott is a legitimate method of influence. It is admissible for other people to oppose that and even call as individuals to boycott the boycotters. But the state itself cannot intervene. It can prohibit boycotts on the basis of race, religion, sexual orientation, for example against Arabs or against Jews for being Arabs or Jews. But it cannot take steps against a boycott or anti-boycott when it is over a political dispute...
Kerry Plan shakes up Jordanian-Palestinian relations (Daoud Kuttab, Maan) The seriousness of US-initiated framework for a possible solution to the Israeli-Palestinian problem appears to have shaken dormant relations in the region, including in Jordan. The Palestinian-Jordanian relationship, which is experiencing its highest degree of cooperation and mutual trust, is being put to the test.
My brother, John Kerry, is a passionate and consistent supporter of Israel (Cameron Kerry, Friday Yedioth/Ynet) Exclusive to Yedioth Ahronoth: Secretary of state's brother explains in a special op-ed that John Kerry's determined work on Middle East peace is informed by an abiding sense of the need to secure Israel as a home for the Jewish people.
Immoral laws turn Israel into Sodom (Aner Shalev, Haaretz+) The latest example: the bill that defers ultra-Orthodox Jews from army service. Secular politicians like Yair Lapid had better fight against it. 
Indoctrination in the Israeli school system (Israeli school teacher, Tal G., Maan) We Israelis are told on a daily basis about the everyday propaganda spewed forth by the Palestinian Authority. Yet every year, thousands of Israeli students are taken on a journey to visit Jewish settlements in the West Bank and no questions are reaised about their legitimacy, they are simply depicted as a part of Israel. This is a disgraceful use of the education system in Israel to indoctrinate students to think that the settlements in the West Bank are legitimate, thus encouraging ignorance about the reality of the region. (Teacher's full name withheld.)
The cost of the 'peace process' (Elliot Abrams, Israel Hayom) Does the U.S. care about what goes on within the borders of the Palestinian state it is trying to establish?
Eradicate the Jewish state (Gideon Levy, Haaretz+) Nearly every right-wing leader in Israel cynically exploits the fear of the country's 'eradication' for his or her own political needs. 
Martin Schulz's harmful ignorance (Yoaz Hendel, Yedioth/Ynet) Israel has been supplying the Palestinians with almost double the amount of water it committed to in 1995. The European Parliament president's unfamiliarity with the facts raises questions.  
Say a big 'thank you' to Martin Schulz (Avraham Burg, Haaretz+) Why are we debating the exact disparity in access to water between Israelis and Palestinians, if Netanyahu admitted his belief that Jews deserve more of it? 
The obstinancy of Abbas (Shlomo Cesana, Israel Hayom) To most people, it is clear that Abbas will never sign a final-status peace deal with Israel. Since returning to office in 2009, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has worked to undo the damage caused by his predecessors.
The visit of the EU President: a boycott only on paper (Ariel Kahane, Maariv/NRG Hebrew) Martin Schulz joins senior officials from around the world, who come to visit the country. They, like thousands of businesspeople and millions of tourists, prove that there is no boycott against Israel. 
Triumph of the shrill: On the roots of Israel's 'national dignity' problem (Uri Misgav, Haaretz+) Despite Bennett's clowning, if there is such a thing as national dignity, Israel waived it a few years after the Holocaust. 
Bennett's great settlement bluff will be exposed (Shaul Arieli, Yedioth/Ynet) The Israeli settlement enterprise is overwhelmingly based on economic considerations. The Habayit Hayehudi party represents a loud handful of people with messianic beliefs who are harming the State of Israel's vital interests. 
A rally of unsound governance (Dan Margalit, Israel Hayom) It is unacceptable that ministers and their deputies participate in a rally that leaves the prime minister in a bind and raises question marks about Israel's credibility.
An act of constitutional sabotage (Haaretz Editorial) New referendum bill (that would require a national referendum to approve a peace agreement) undermines the Knesset’s sovereignty and subverts the foundations of Israeli democracy.
The best show in town (Mati Tuchfeld, Israel Hayom) The Right and the Left are now spoiled for choice between presidential candidates, and Israel's political system promises a close and riveting race.
Naftali Bennett's West Bank reality check (Noa Osterreicher, Haaretz+) Palestinian water shortage? Gaza blockade? Anti-Semitic preaching, says minister. 
Israel plays incitement card (Yossi Sarid, Haaretz+) In rejecting U.S.- Palestinian anti-incitement proposal, Steinitz defends Israel's strategic asset. 
Did someone say boycott? (David M. Weinberg, Israel Hayom) Israel should be given the freedom to make security decisions free of false threats and without having to mollify feverish forecasters.
We’ve gotta get out of this place: Spain offers citizenship and Israelis freak out (Asher Schechter, Haaretz+) What do you know: Under the right circumstances, even Israelis support the right of return.
The mixed legacy of IDF chief Benny Gantz (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) As he enters his final year, Gantz can take pride in the moderation and realism he brought to the post. But major social trends are exposing the army to unprecedented pressures. 
On wisdom and caution (Yoav Limor, Israel Hayom) Three years into his term as Israel Defense Forces chief of staff and one year before he retires, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz discusses how his army has operated in a combustible Middle East.

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