APN's daily news review from Israel - Wednesday December 23, 2020

You Must Be Kidding: 
“The Knesset is the legislative branch and it also has the authority of the Constituent Assembly. The High Court draws its authority from the power of the Knesset, and not vice versa.”
—Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin (Likud) sparked a storm with a letter he wrote to the High Court ahead of its first hearing over whether the controversial Nation-State of the Jewish People Law is unconstitutional.*

Front Page:

Haaretz

• 2021 Elections: Citizens of Israel will go to the polls for the fourth time in two years
• Reward and punishment // Aluf Benn
• On the verge of collapsing // Chemi Shalev
• Senior officials in health system support another lockdown, government will convene today to discuss restrictions
• Members of the committee of the Submarine affair resigned following crisis between them and Attorney General Mendelblitt
• Morocco in a message to Israel: We are not interested in ceremony to mark normalization
• High Court Chief Justice Hayut: Judicial interpretation of the Jewish Nation State Law will prevent harming the right to equality
• Red lines // Sami Peretz on how party leaders Gideon Saar and Naftali Bennett want to shock the judicial system
• Correction needed // Limor Maziel writes that only after ideological right-wing is liberated from Netanyahu will there be a left-wing here
• Music world harmed by corona, yet Yasmin Muallem made a glorious breakthrough

Yedioth Ahronoth

• Elections, again (Hebrew)
• The worst of all governments // Nahum Barnea
• It will cost us our health // Nadav Eyal (Hebrew)
• And again: The weak will pay the price of the political chaos // Hadar Gil-Ad
• On the way to a third lockdown
• A letter to Esther (Horgan, woman from Tel Menashe settlement who was murdered Sunday) // Yael Shabach, whose husband was killed in an attack near Havat Gilad settlement outpost in 2018

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

• Israel goes back to the polling stations - for fourth time in two years
• The man who wanted too much // Ben Caspit
• Health Minister: We must have a lockdown
• “We will continue on our path” - Family and public officials participated in the funeral of Esther Horgen who was murdered in Samaria (West Bank)

Israel Hayom

• The rotation mutation - Back to the polls
• The main reason for the mess: High Court // Amnon Lord
• The battle that will change everything // Yehuda Schlesinger
• Iron wall against the “Right of Return” // Avi Dichter
• Gantz isn’t getting control of his friends (fellow MKs) // Mati Tuchfeld
• The right-wing dream could turn into a nightmare // Jacob Bardugo
• The ideology died, the reality lives // Haim Shine
• The rate of infection: “There is no avoiding a lockdown”
• Hamsa, Morocco - Changing history: Israeli delegation met with the King of Morocco; “Breakthrough”

1. Government approved change to budget law - the economic security net will continue
2. Right-wing criticism over High Court discussion of the Jewish Nation State Law: “The court has no authority”

Top News Summary:
As Israel considers the third corona lockdown, it became official: Israel will have its fourth election in two years, making the top two stories in today's Hebrew newspapers. Also, ‘Israel Hayom’ celebrated on its front page the landing of the ‘first historic official flight’ of an Israeli delegation in Morocco, while Haaretz+ reported on its front page that Morocco let Israel know it does not want a public ceremony celebrating the normalization agreement and that it made clear that its deal was not part of what Israel calls the ‘Abraham Accords.’ And, Tunisia rejected an NYT report that Tunisia was next in line to normalize relations with Israel.

Israelis will go back to the polling stations on March 23 because Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu refused to uphold his coalition agreement with Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz to pass the 2020 budget, essentially bringing down the government and avoiding the rotation that Netanyahu would have had to do. Netanyahu, oddly, accused Gantz of walking back on agreements and promoting a’ dictatorship of left-wing bureaucrats. Gantz openly said that Netanyahu triggered the election to avoid his corruption trial. The Likud will likely remain the biggest party (29 seats according to poll), but Netanyahu’s opponent, MK Gideon Sa'ar, will pose a challenge (with 19) and Gantz’s Kahol-Lavan may not pass the minimum threshold. Channel 13 News reported that Gantz and his Kahol-Lavan partner, Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi are considering retiring from political life. Ashkenazi denied the report. (Maariv) At least the ministers approved a 70 billion emergency allocation to ministries for crucial state services that need it to survive without a budget.

Meanwhile, a day after two settlers were killed, a woman who was stabbed to death and a youth whose car overturned while he was trying to escape police after he ambushed Palestinian vehicles and smashed their windshields with rocks, settlers made more attacks on Palestinian vehicles near Nablus, Hebron and Bethlehem. Anticipating the settler attacks on Palestinians, the Israeli army beefed up its forces in the West Bank. That said, WAFA reported that at the traffic junction east of Hebron, Israeli soldiers watched as settlers attacked passing Palestinian vehicles.

Worthy of noting, Israeli security forces mistakenly opened fire on a Jewish Israeli’s vehicle at an Israel military checkpoint in the West Bank. The troops saw the vehicle speeding towards them and believed the driver was a Palestinian attempting to carry out car-ramming attack. They opened fire and but missed the driver. The driver exited the car and shouted that he is Jewish, which made them stop shooting, Haaretz+ reported. A spokesman for the settler Binyamin Regional Council called it “a minor car accident” and said that “Miraculously, the driver was not injured." (Maariv)
NOTE: This can only make one think about the numerous instances where Palestinian family members insisted that their loved had no intention of harming soldiers on the side of the road and that the incident, which ended in the Palestinian being shot dead, was a car accident.
 

Quick Hits:

• Settler attempts running over Palestinian kids near Hebron - A female Israeli settler today attempted running over three Palestinian children to the east Hebron, according to a witness. Rashid Tamimi said the settler tried to run over the three siblings, aged between 3 and 11 years old, as they were crossing the street, in Jabal Jales area, adjacent to a colonial settlement. (WAFA)
• Settlers escalate attacks on Palestinian vehicles across West Bank - A group of settlers threw rocks at Palestinian vehicles near the entrance of Awarta town, south of Nablus, causing damages to some of them. In Hebron district, settlers with protection of Israel soldiers rampaged at the junction of Beit Einun town, east of Hebron, attacking passing vehicles. (WAFA)
• Settlers set up caravan near Jenin - Israeli settlers today set up a mobile home on the lands of Umm Ar-Rihan village, southwest of Jenin. (WAFA)
• Israeli forces demolishes structures east of Jerusalem - Israeli forces today demolished a number of Palestinian structures in several areas to the east of the occupied West Bank city of Jerusalem, witnesses said. (WAFA)
• Golani Brigade Commander said about the dismissal of the combat soldier who did not shoot the Palestinian who threw a firebomb at him: "Striving for contact and killing the enemy is a basic value in the brigade" - In a letter to brigade's soliders and officers following incident of Palestinian throwing a Molotov cocktail, Col. Barak Hiram said: "The fighter (from the elite commando unit) failed by not opening fire on the terrorist.” (Maariv and VIDEO of incident)
• Israel to punitively demolish house of alleged attacker south of Jenin - Israeli forces summoned Omar Kmail, whose son, Mahmoud, was killed by Israeli police following an attempted attack in Jerusalem, to Salem detention and interrogation facility, where they threatened him to punitively demolish his house in the town. (WAFA)
• *In first, High Court mulls voiding quasi-constitutional nationality law - Stoking political storm, Knesset speaker Yariv Levin (Likud) insists in letter to justices that he considers any judicial decision against the 2018 Basic Law ‘invalid.’ (Times of Israel and Haaretz+)
• Joint List (Arab-Israeli) MK kicked out of Knesset committee after harsh comments towards UAE guests - Committee Chairman Avi Dichter (Likud) had Joint List MK Sami Abu Shehadeh removed after he questioned in Arabic the Emirati guests taking part in the meeting (by video stream) over their country's agreement to normalize relations with Israel when Israel is still occupying Palestine. "Aren't you ashamed?" he asked them. "I say this to you. Maybe some kind of shame will come out of you. You might be ashamed. I understand there is no morality in all this dialogue. If there is little morality in the world, you should be ashamed of yourself with such things."  (JPost and Maariv and VIDEO)
• Tech giants join Facebook legal fight against Israel's NSO - Google, Microsoft, Dell and Cisco seek to challenge controversial Israel-based spytech firm's claim of immunity from lawsuits, say its 'powerful and dangerous' technology can fall into the wrong hands. (i24News/Ynet)
• Ultra-Orthodox demonstrated and blocked Jerusalem roads to protest draft doger’s arrest; IDF general brandished handgun - Maj. Gen. Yoel Strick pulled out his sidearm after his vehicle was surrounded by members of the Jerusalem Faction, extremist ultra-Orthodox group protesting arrest of draft-dodging yeshiva student. Demonstrators blocked traffic and the light rail. Police used controversial ‘skunk water’ to disperse demonstrations. [NOTE: Skunk water was developed by Israel for use against Palestinians - OH] (Haaretz+, Maariv and Israel Hayom)
• 'We Never Had Anything Like This': COVID Dampens Christmas Spirit in Nazareth - With no tourists and few customers, some restaurants that predate the State of Israel may not make it through the pandemic. (Haaretz+)
• Gaza's parkour athletes jump for joy over new training facility - New space offers enthusiasts of niche high-risk sport a safe environment, equipped with wooden boxes over which youngsters can soar in twists and flips and padded mattresses to land on, potentially preventing serious injuries. (Agencies, Ynet)
• UN Says Middle East Envoy, Mladenov, Won't Take Up Libya Envoy Role Due to 'Personal and Family Reasons' - The UN Middle East envoy since 2015 was set to become the special envoy for Libya, but will instead resign. (Agencies, Haaretz)
• Adviser to the President of Turkey: “We are expecting to normalize relations with Israel" - A source close to Turkish President Erdogan provided a rather surprising statement on relations with Israel: "We bought a lot of weapons from Israel in the past, and we can do so in the future." (Maariv and al-Arabiya English)
• European Court Rules Turkey Must Free Prominent Kurdish Politician Demirtas - Former HDP chairman could be sentenced to up to 142 years in prison if convicted of being the leader of a terrorist organization over his actions during Turkey's 2014 protests. (Agencies, Haaretz)
• U.S. regrets Lebanon-Israel border talks stalemate, offers mediation - Israel accuses northern neighbor of inconsistency after hiking territorial claims; Pompeo says, 'U.S. remains ready to mediate constructive discussions' between both parties. (Agencies, Ynet)
• EU Contributes EUR 4.6 Million in Support of Palestine Refugees - The European Union (EU) has signed an additional contribution of EUR 4.6 million to the 2020 Budget of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) to help address the needs of Palestine refugees during the COVID-19 pandemic through its health and relief programs, said UNRWA. (WAFA)
• Trump Appoints Controversial Loyalist Grenell to Holocaust Memorial Council - Richard Grenell, who served as U.S. ambassador to Germany, has been criticized for endangering German Jews by praising the 'resurgence' of Europe's 'anti-establishment' populists. (Haaretz+)

Features:

Another disease that worsened with the corona crisis: Violence is flooding Israeli society, even at home
More and more young people are resorting to verbal violence, threats and even physical harm to parents, and this is not happening in a vacuum: a new survey finds that almost half of citizens feel that using verbal violence helps them achieve goals, and 40% educate children to respond in the same currency to aggression. How the Israeli reality has become a battlefield. (Anat Lev-Adler, Yedioth Hebrew)
The Conservative U.S. Group Trying to Transform Israel's Justice System
With inspiration and cooperation from the Federalist Society, the organization that’s behind the appointment of most of the U.S. Supreme Court justices, the Law and Liberty Forum has the money, connections and clout to spur a similar process in Israel. (Nettanel Slyomovics, Haaretz+)

Top Commentary/Analysis:
Gantz Betrayed the Israeli Public, and His Downfall Is Nothing Less Than He Deserves (Aluf Benn, Haaretz+) Gantz knew what he was getting into, and with whom he was dealing with, yet he traded his mandate for honorary titles and empty perks.
The Left's treatment of Gantz is shameful (Col. (res.) Ronen Itsik, Israel Hayom) As an Israeli and a former IDF commander, I am ashamed of the way the leftist camp treats the people who have sacrificed so much for the state. When I see how they treat these people, with whom I have deep differences of opinion, I realize they never deserved to have them as their leaders in the first place.
To Save Its Ailing Democracy, Israel Must First Rid Itself of the Tyrant (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) When the young people involved in the Arab Spring revolution in Egypt were asked how they could support the Muslim Brotherhood, a radical religious movement that persecutes the LGBT community and represents the exact opposite of the slogans the liberal protest movement were touting, they answered that “first of all, let’s establish a democracy, then we can deal with its character.”
It will cost us our health (Nadav Eyal, Yedioth Hebrew) Binyamin Netanyahu never intended to implement the prime minister rotation agreement. This is obvious, but on this crazy morning where Israel is once again going to unnecessary, dangerous and wasteful elections, it is also necessary to say what is clear to everyone. Shortly after the formation of the government, the Likud began delaying and thwarting the passing of a budget, realizing that this was Netanyahu's only exit from the rotation (agreed upon with Benny Gantz). It was also an exit point for a government built under the idea of division and partnership between two major parties, an issue that Netanyahu never experienced as a politician and the Likud party, which he built, did not know how to digest it. In order to destroy the government from within, there was no need for the bureaucratic "dictators" from the Ministry of Justice, or malfunctions in the coalition. Because Bibi’s goal was already achieved, even before the establishment of the coalition government. Long before the ministers were sworn-in, Netanyahu destroyed his opponent. The rift in Kahol-Lavan tore it apart, bringing down the principled position against sitting with a politician who was indicted on corruption charges while Prime Minister. From that moment, Gantz was a captive, a walking dead politician, and now Netanyahu only needed to choose how to end him, to give the death blow and to redeem the government from its intended torment. This was a slightly complicated problem. How does a prime minister not be exposed for what he is? Meaning, a man who signs on a rotation and does not plan to implement it. A man who swore to uphold the agreement and plans to violate it immediately. A man like this. The answer was a mix of exchanges of accusations, pushing for the violation of the agreement, cries against Kahol-Lavan’s violations. The public heard budget, rotation, legislation and lost interest. In the meantime, the public legitimacy of the (Kahol-Lavan) party, which for a moment was though in the eyes of a large part of the public to be an orderly alternative, was eliminated. Benny Gantz walked into the trap with the proud values of a scouts leader. He preferred that his party faction breakup just before entering the government rather than another elections; He listened to political and media advice of those who forgot that Netanyahu does not like to uphold his part of agreements and certainly not to commit political suicide and to leave the Balfour residence. Someone who prefers to dismantle his party faction so as not to go to elections is not a politician; someone who thinks that he was right to do so forgets that politics is not a logical, just world. Politics deal with power and getting it. He had good intentions, at least part of the time. Even those disappeared in the end. Gantz did not want elections and chose the shame of negotiations [with Netanyahu for a coalition government - OH] at the last moment [in April 2020]. He got shame and elections. Israel at the end of December 2020 needs to deal with one central issue: that it have millions of vaccines here in the next week and a half and that it has a significant corona breakout. With an excellent health system and a small centralized country, the national challenge should have been to vaccinate 100,000 people a day. To vaccinate as if there was no tomorrow. To open Ben-Gurion Airport to mass vaccinations, to create mobile vaccine vehicles to reach the elderly and high risk people, to vaccinate at the stadiums. At the same time, to stop the fast rise of infection. Instead of this it is dealing now with a fourth election, with all the populism that goes with that. We will discover how much this will cost us in human life.
Israeli politics: A game of survival over ideology (Dr. Haim Shine, Israel Hayom) Members of Knesset don't have a problem jumping from party to party, like songbirds migrating from nest to nest, bereft of any forethought or refinement, and lacking even a basic ethical sense of commitment.
The Enemy of Democracy (Haaretz Editorial) From his lofty perch as head of the legislative branch, Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin presumes to teach the head of the judicial branch about democracy. Levin chose to do this at the very moment that the High Court of Justice is being asked to save democracy from the disciples of Jewish supremacy, those who issued Israel with a new identity card devoid of any mention of it as a democratic state that grants equality to all its citizens…If President Hayut wants to put herself above the Knesset, she is welcome to come to the building with the court’s guards,” he said. Terrifying as it is, thuggishness pays under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The assault on Hayut merely raised Levin’s value in Netanyahu’s eyes, and the prime minister deemed him worthy of the job of Knesset speaker…
Who Will Prevent the Next War in Gaza, Now That Mladenov's Gone? (Lior Lehrs and Nimrod Goren, Haaretz+) Nickolay Mladenov, one of the most successful UN envoys to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, was a key mediator between Israel and Hamas. Can his successor leverage a post-Trump Mideast towards a negotiated peace?
Trump administration officials will disappear in a month, but they continue to intervene in Israeli affairs (Shlomo Shamir, Maariv) Pompeo, Kushner, Friedman and Pence - in less than a month they will be ordinary American citizens, without any status, but they will not stop interfering in the affairs of Trump's sponsor state, Israel…Pompeo is unable to come to terms with the fact that he will remain without influence, without intervention and without presence as a factor in Israel's problems. Negotiations between Israel and Lebanon stalled. A situation that Pompeo is unwilling to come to terms with. So he offered his service as a mediator between Israel and Lebanon. Pompeo has no doubt that before Trump leaves the White House he will be able to find a solution for Israel. There is no situation in which Israel will reject a solution he offers. Jared Kushner is the head of the delegation to Morocco. He deserves it. In a short time he too, like Pompeo, will be an ordinary citizen, an ordinary American, without any authority or influence. But how can one give up and not document attendance at an event that he, Kushner, gave to Israel, his protectorate? The good old days are over, for Kushner, for David Friedman, for Mike Pompeo. Wait, according to reports, Vice President Mike Pence is still going to visit Jerusalem. He, too, will not give up a photo-op with Prime Minister Netanyahu until he disappears from the stage. Kushner and Pompeo achieved something. More than something. What did Mike Pence achieve for Israel during his four years as vice president? Less than nothing. But even he cannot part, to tear himself, to abandon the connection to the patron state of his patron Trump, Israel. There is no intention to underestimate the importance of the normalization agreements reached with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco. Agreements reached through the active mediation of Jared Kushner. Nevertheless, it is permissible and desirable to mention and note that these are agreements with countries with which Israel had covert ties, quiet contacts and relations-not-relations….
 

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