APN's daily news review from Israel

Sunday May 10, 2020
 

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Front Page:

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

Israel Hayom

Top News Summary:
Preschools and nurseries partially reopen today - leaving many children at home, liberated Israelis enjoyed the weekend outside - many without taking precautions, the Attorney General and the former state prosecutor are now in the crosshairs of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s loyalists as Netanyahu’s trial gets closer and tensions peak as senior members of Likud await to hear what ministries they get to lead in the government that will be sworn-in - if all goes as planned - on Wednesday - making top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers.

Elections 2020 / Netanyahu Indictment News:
A report by journalist Ayala Hasson put a spotlight on Attorney General Avichai Mendelblitt and former state prosecutor Shai Nitzan, which made front page news in Maariv, Yedioth and Israel Hayom, but with Israel Hayom having a very different take. Maariv and Yedioth saw the report as an attack meant to help Netanyahu. The report, two weeks before Netanyahu’s trial, quoted from a leaked 2010 protocol of talks between Mendelblitt and Kahol-Lavan MK Gabi Ashkenazi. A senior source in the State Prosecutor’s Office told Yedioth Hebrew’s legal affairs correspondent, Tova Tzimuki, that Netanyahu's goal was to come to trial when a stigma is attached to Mendelblitt, as if Mendelblitt were a criminal, who acted for the benefit of then-chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi, when Mendelblitt was chief military advocate at the time of the Harpaz affair. Hasson claimed in the broadcast that the quotes in the conversation prove Mendelblit's improper involvement in the affair. Over the weekend, a lot of action began on Netanyahu's social networking base, which is adopting this narrative, Tzimuki reported. For example, a Twitter post said, ”Mendelblitt is wiped out and it's time to insist on abolishing Netanyahu's scandalous trial.” Meanwhile, 'Israel Hayom' (Hebrew) quote unnamed sources in the State Prosecutor's Office who said, "this smells bad."

Hasson also reported that Shai Nitzan, who retired from being state attorney in December, appeared to be connected to the internal computer system last month, more than three months after he retired. So just days before his term ends, Justice Minister Amir Ohana said he would ask the State Comptroller to investigate the issue. Nitzan was put on a three-month leave at the end of his term, as are other civil servants. He said that he continued using his computer during that period, as he claimed is customary, Haaretz+ reported. (Also Yedioth Hebrew)

Likud and Kahol-Lavan have already decided that the swearing-in of the government will be on Wednesday, after Netanyahu got 72 recommendations to form a government last Thursday and was tapped by President Reuven Rivlin to form a government. In the meantime, Netanyahu's senior associates are vying for seats in the cabinet, which is split half and half with Kahol-Lavan.


Corona Quickees:

Other Quick Hits:

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Features:

He Laid the Foundation for Israel's Army. His Story Was Kept Secret – Until His Diary Turned Up
No streets are named for him, he’s not mentioned in textbooks and even his family didn't know about his vital role in Israel's security. Meet Yosef Hecht, who headed the pre-state Haganah for a decade, before being deposed and erased from the collective memory. (Nir Mann, Haaretz+)

Elections 2020/Netanyahu Indictment Commentary/Analysis:
In Netanyahu Ruling, Israel's Chief Justice Did Exactly What She Should Have Done (Ravit Hecht, Haaretz+) The court’s main claim is convincing because it is so simple – there is currently nothing in the law preventing a prime minister from serving while under indictment, and there is no legal barrier to appointing someone who has been criminally indicted to form a government.
Netanyahu is mobilizing all the means to destroy the attorney general (Ben Caspit, Maariv) When it comes to defeating rivals, creating spin or producing Fake News, the prime minister uses all the means, the tools, the power. Now, all of these are being recruited for one mission: the elimination of Avichai Mendelblitt.
Unanimously (Shimon Schiffer, Yedioth Hebrew)1. On Wednesday, if they don't surprise us again, tdozens of happy people will rise to the Knesset podium and "will pledge as members of the government to maintain allegiance to the State of Israel and its laws, to faithfully fulfill their role as members of the government and to comply with the Knesset's decisions." And when the designated Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi [Kahol-Lavan] comes up to declare allegiance, we will remember his oath of allegiance to his constituents when he declared that even if has to pass an IDF 'captivity training,' he will not sit with Netanyahu in a government. Which oath we are supposed to believe? Last weekend, when the ink was still dry on Benny Gantz's signature recommending Netanyahu as prime minister, he was already quick to share with us his reservations about the product he bought with the votes of more than a million voters - "It won't be my dream government," he declared...I suggest not using astrology to try to guess what is the future of this government. One fact, however, is indisputable: a man accused of serious public corruption offenses, and whose trial will begin in two weeks, will be the head of the executive branch of Israel...
The High Court Allowed Israel’s Most Demented Government Ever. Now It Will Get Uglier (Yossi Verter, Haaretz+) Eleven justices unanimously agreed that the explosive political issues are within the court’s jurisdiction, and Netanyahu's base is as inflamed as ever.
Judicial Activism: A Complete Collection of Conflicts of Interest by High Court Chief Justice Esther Hayut (Kalman Libskind, Maariv) Sending people in trial to mediation with her friend; promoting her former assistant to be a judge; Accepting the daughter of a friend of hers to be an intern in her office; to specialize in the bureau, of her boyfriend's daughter; Sitting in hearings on companies, which her husband represents.
Israel's High Court Spares Netanyahu, but Remains Locked and Loaded (Chemi Shalev, Haaretz+) The decision to effectively keep Netanyahu in power has the leftist minority in disarray – but at least the country's highest judicial authority lives to fight another day.
In the current political structure, it is not possible to create governmental stability (Lior Ackerman, Maariv) Today it is clear that Israel needs a revolution in its thinking and conduct. A functioning modern state must be built here, with clear policies and strategic plans in place in every area of life.
Don't Blame Israel's High Court, Blame Gantz (Carolina Landsmann, Haaretz+) In the wake of that High Court ruling, Benjamin Netanyahu repeated his tired mantra: “The ones who decide who will lead the people are the people, and no one else.” Yet not even Netanyahu dreamed in January that the “people” he would use to undermine the High Court’s right to prevent him from forming a government would include Kahol Lavan and Labor Party voters - despite the opposition of some of them. Gantz fulfilled Netanyahu’s wildest fantasy.
The High Court's intoxication of power (Jacob Bardugo, Israel Hayom) The performance put on for the wider public earlier this week was just the beginning. The next chapters will be unveiled in the very near future.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s second-rate Jews (Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz+) Netanyahu recently claimed ‘the people’ gave him a ‘massive majority.’ It’s a bald untruth, but that’s not why it’s so revealing.
Unlike Gantz, Netanyahu had and still has an alternative: fourth elections (Anna Barsky, Maariv) The chain of events seemingly took us in the opposite direction, but only ostensibly. Gantz is the one whose advantage fell once he made the move and crossed the border. The one who has no other alternative but the establishment of a unity government, at all costs, is actually Gantz. For Gantz, the choice was a rotation prime minister position, which may never happen, or to run for election as a failed, hollow politician who came to the arena with a promise to replace Netanyahu, and in the act dismantled the power he received from the public and gave him another term as prime minister. Netanyahu actually had an alternative, and it still exists: elections. It's not his preferred option, but he certainly enjoys its very existence. Netanyahu is in no hurry to make a final decision. In the meantime, he has been following what is happening in both arenas, legal and political, and is debating. Time is running out, but there is still room for maneuver. However, despite the High Court decision, the PM understands that the legal train has not yet reached the last stop and not all legal obstacles have been removed. The High Court left its foot in the door and rejected answering most of the crucial questions until a later battle, and that is exactly what Netanyahu fears.
The High Court, Resisting the Urge to Disqualify Netanyahu, Evades the Left's Trap
(Israel Harel, Haaretz+) The  law enabling a prime minister charged with bribery to remain in his lofty post, and even to form a new government, is outrageous. But since it’s a clear and unequivocal law, the High Court justices did well this time to curb their activist temperament. The High Court of Justice probably understood, albeit at a critically late stage, that it must reinstate the public’s confidence in it.
Just Like Israelis Love: The Great Week of the High Court of Emotion (Meir Uziel, Maariv) It is time to change the name of the institution to the HCE, because the judges have already made it clear: here, judges don’t judge by law, but by feelings.
The High Court Held Up a Mirror to Our Faces. This Is What We Look Like
(Yossi Klein, Haaretz+) The High Court put a mirror in front of us, which reflected the countenance of a state going through a process. Now we are prepared to install a criminal at the helm of our state. This is what we look like. The High Court isn’t responsible for improving our ugly face, only for reflecting it. We look the way the court says we look. “The voters’ will,” from its perspective, is even stronger than equality before the law, which isn’t mentioned in any law. Democracy is not on its agenda. No one ever asked us if we even wanted democracy. We don’t even know what it is exactly. As far as we’re concerned, it could be an empire here.

Other Top Commentary/Analysis:
In Coronavirus' Shadow, Israel and Iran Wage a Diplomatic Battle Over Sanctions (Noa Landau, Haaretz+) Not only strikes in Syria: Israeli diplomats are pushing the message that Tehran is exploiting the pandemic to get sanctions against it lifted.
Is Israel asking for trouble with annexation plan? (Jonathan S. Tobin, Israel Hayom) A leading pro-Israel scholar sees danger ahead, yet his worries are unpersuasive.
Let Israel Annex the West Bank. It's the Least Worst Option for Palestinians (Gideon Levy, Haaretz+) Annexation is indeed an intolerable prize for the occupier and an outrageous punishment for the occupied. It legitimizes the most serious crimes and severs the most just of dreams – but the alternative is even worse. It would eternalize the criminal situation – this situation has long been perpetuated; it would establish a reality of apartheid – a reality that has existed for quite some time.
The 'legal' landmine on the road to sovereignty (Caroline B. Glick, Israel Hayom) The incoming government must instruct the State Prosecution and the IDF Military Advocate Unit to properly represent Israel's longstanding position: As the holder of sovereign rights to Judea and Samaria in accordance with international law. A lawyer in an official position who presents otherwise does not represent the State of Israel.
The Two U.S. Politicians Who Would Gain the Most From Israeli Annexation (Amir Tibon, Haaretz+) Democratic lawmakers are split into three camps when it comes to Israel and annexation. Some believe Bernie Sanders’ wing would be the biggest beneficiary if Israel follows through on its West Bank plans this summer.
The ICC has become a tool of Palestinian lawfare (Arsen Ostrovsky and Maurice Hirsch, Israel Hayom) By becoming a willing pawn of the Palestinians, International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has politicized the court and brought its very legitimacy into question. [Note: Author Maurice Hirsch is the former IDF JAG.-OH]
Hezbollah permits Lebanon to be rescued by the West (Clifford D. May, Israel Hayom) In Lebanon, Hezbollah is so powerful that the Lebanese Armed Forces refrain from challenging it in any meaningful way. Not just coincidentally, Hezbollah and its political allies effectively control the Lebanese government.
Russia Wants a Lucrative Diplomatic Victory in Syria. Iran and Assad Are in Its Way (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) President Assad is squeezing his billionaire cousin to pay for Russia's expenses. Kremlin needs Iran out of Syria to reap the rewards of its strategic investment.
Watching Hezbollah entrench itself in Lebanon (Sarah N. Stern, Israel Hayom) Israel is careful to avoid a direct conflict with the Shiite terrorist group in southern Lebanon, and Hezbollah is well aware of Israel's massive artillery power. They therefore now play a "cat and mouse game."
Religion Can No Longer Claim Moral Superiority, and Six Other Lessons From the Coronavirus Crisis (Eva Illouz, Haaretz+) The global coronavirus crisis is unprecedented in many ways – with the power of states unchecked, freedoms crushed and values distorted – but it's already possible to draw a few lessons from it.
 

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