APN's daily news review from Israel

 Sunday June 29, 2014

Quote of the day:

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Front Page News:

Haaretz

• IDF attacked in Gaza Strip: Rocket shot on factory in Sderot
• Senior US officials: Jordan likely to request help from Israel against ISIS
• Hundreds of asylum seekers escaped from Holot detention facility and tried to reach Egypt
• UN: The weapons from the Klos C ship came from Iran, but there is no proof that it was meant for Gaza
• Five largest EU states warn their citizens against doing business in settlements
• Time to examine Shai district (W. Bank) Police // Chaim Levinson on bungled kidnap call
• The riveting victory that took Brazil to quarterfinals

• "Ball of fire shot 200 meters from the burning factory into Sderot. It was horrible" - said one of the injured from a rocket that caused an enormous fire and destroyed a paint factory; Israel Air Force attacked last night in response to the rocket launch
• Lieberman promoting his diplomatic plan around the world: Temporary peace agreement with Arab states and Palestinians
• Tonight: The rally for the (kidnapped) boys
• Saved Brazil

• European pressure against Israel  - Italy and Spain joined Germany, Britain, and France in call to avoid business contacts with settlements...[Main Photo: Construction worker building homes in settlement]
• Siege is getting tighter // Ron Kaufman on European anti-settlement move
• Hundreds of demonstrators blocked Wadi Ara; Calls heard to kidnap soldiers
• Rocket hurt factory in Sderot - Employees rescued selves from flames; Barrage of rockets at south followed assassination of two terror activists in Gaza Strip; Defense Minister met again with families of kidnapped teens
• Too much dust // Ran Adelist
• Fear from conflict with ISIS - US website reported that if Jordan or Egypt asks, IDF will attack targets of the radical Sunni organization; Amman: We are capable of standing up against the Shiite organization
• Strategic threats // Aviram Zeno
• UN report confirms: Iran sent the Klos C weapons ship that was caught by Israeli navy

• Escalation in south - IDF assassinated rocket shooters in Gaza - and the response was quick to arrive. Qassam rocket hit factory in Sderot and caused enormous fire
• Tonight in Tel-Aviv: Rally for the kidnapped
• Passed, barely - Brazil at Mundial
• 50 degrees Celsius in Eilat!
• Report: "Israel could be drawn into war against Iraqi ISIS"
• End to the injections: FDA approved use of insulin inhaler for diabetes
  
  

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News Summary:
A rocket launched from Gaza explodes in a paint factory in Sderot, more European states warn their citizens not to invest in Israeli settlements and a US report says Israel could help Jordan and Egypt attack Iraqi ISIS targets making top stories in today's Hebrew papers. Also high up in the news was the announcement that the US special envoy to the peace talks quit and that Arab Israelis demonstrated in Wadi Ara against the aggressive Israeli military campaign in the West Bank to find the kidnapped teens.
 
GAZA ESCALATION:
Millions of Palestinians welcomed the beginning of the month-long Ramadan last night as the IDF prepared for a possible Gaza offensive, reports Ynet, after the tit-for-tat between Israel and the Gaza Strip escalated again. But this time, the papers wrote  was because Israel assassinated two Palestinian militants allegedly involved in rocket shooting. A barrage of rockets from Gaza hit the Sderot area Saturday and one sparked a fire in a paints factory. The papers noted the rocket barrage was a response to the Friday IDF assassination of two Palestinians, members of the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees. The Palestinians reported that four civilians were wounded by IDF fire, including an 11-year-old boy who was in serious condition, Ynet noted. Israeli websites showed a video of the assassination by the Israeli Air Force.
 
BOYCOTT
Spain and Italy joined France, the U.K. and Germany in advising their citizens against investing in settlements in the West Bank, E. Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, saying they would be taking legal and financial risks and could lead to their involvement in breaking international law and violating human rights. Speaking at a seminar organized by the Geneva Initiative, the EU envoy to Israel, Ambassador Lars Faaborg-Andersen, said this should come as no surprise and that it points towards the fact that EU member states "are losing their patience with concerns that are not being treated" by Israel. The Palestinian Authority applauded the warnings saying they reflected a commitment to the universality of human rights, Maan reported. The PA Foreign Ministry stressed that the settlements are "detrimental to the two state solution on the basis of the pre-1967 borders." 
 
US ENVOY RESIGNS:
It may also not come as a surprise that Martin Indyk resigned as U.S. special Mideast envoy to the peace talks [Indyk spoke out against the settlements and believed they were a major block to peace and is believed to be the senior US source who told Yedioth's Nahum Barnea as much. -OH] Indyk posted on Twitter that he feels 'battered' after nine months of peace talks. When asked why he responded with an additional tweet: “thanks for warm welcome from all my friends and critics. Battered? If you’d been in 9 months of I-P negotiations you wouldn’t have to ask." Indyk will return to his previous position at the Brookings Institution think tank. One Israeli official told Haaretz he would return to his post as envoy if talks resumed, but Ynet wrote that deputy Frank Lowenstein would fill his position on an interim base.
 
Kidnapping Quick Hits:

Quick Hits:

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Features:

Between Istanbul and Auschwitz
For years in Turkey, they ignored the Holocaust, which was barely mentioned in a paragraph in schoolbooks. An innovative seminar that brought to Yad VaShem a group of Turkish academics is trying to change the situation. Reporter Eyal Levy joined the moving journey. (Eyal Levy, Maariv)
The Palestinian teen whose death went unnoticed by Israel
Mohammed Dudin, 15, was shot to death by IDF troops using live fire during Operation Brother’s Keeper. No one took responsibility for the killing and no one called his killers terrorists. (Gideon Levy and Alex Levac, Haaretz+) 
The ambassadorial Passover dinner that turned into a state secret
Israel's envoy to the U.S. Ron Dermer claims that revealing the guest list, which included Secretary of State John Kerry, could undermine Israel's foreign relations. So why were U.S. journalists invited? (Haaretz+)

Commentary/Analysis:

Boycott in the air (Haaretz Editorial) The European boycott of the settlements is gaining momentum, and Israel better take heed.
Siege tightens EU closes on Israel (Ron Kaufman, Maariv) Europeans consider the West Bank occupied territory since 1967 and it is just a matter of time until the cessation of all cooperation in all fields with this region in Israel. And the government? It lives in euphoria.
Identifying kidnapping suspects is vindication for Netanyahu (Ron Ben-Yishai, Ynet) Shin Bet is hoping Palestinians seeking better conditions for themselves will give up two men, while prime minister is keen to show that perpetrators were indeed Hamas members.
Congress shouldn’t cut aid to the Palestinian Authority (Brian Reeves, Haaretz+) By voting to reduce aid to the PA, Congressional representatives short-sightedly jeopardize Abbas’ legitimacy, Israeli security and future prospects for peace. 
Searching in deceptive quiet (Yoav Limor, Israel Hayom) Activity in the first week after the three teens were abducted sought to punish Hamas, but the army and Shin Bet are now focused on finding the youths and their kidnappers. In the meantime, things are heating up in Gaza and on the northern border. 
Has Riki Cohen emerged from poverty? (Yossi Sarid, Haaretz+) The government has stolen the futures of one-and-a-half million children; who will pray for the salvation of these kidnapping victims? 
Israel arresting killers, but letting instigators be (Elyakim Haetzni, Yedioth/Ynet) It's time to deal with Nazi-like propaganda and education systems maintained by Palestinian Authority.
The price of refusal: The things Israeli ears do not want to hear (Shlomo Shamir, Maariv) The ignoring by the international community of the kidnapping of the boys is a testament to the hypocrisy and cynicism of the UN and the West, but no less important - it is a testament to Israel's deteriorating political status.
Fiddling while the Middle East burns (Yoel Marcus, Haaretz+) Everybody knows that our problem is neither Abbas nor Sara Netanyahu’s new garden furniture, but rather the government’s inability to see one step ahead. 
The cost of 'at any cost' (Dr. Haim Shine, Israel Hayom) Israelis should know that their government will do everything possible to free them, and terrorists should know that they will never receive more than a minimal price -- one for one -- for their captives.
Israel's addiction to military force, its only response in times of crisis (Emily L. Hauser, Haaretz+) Amnesia, or even insanity, must lie behind Israel’s constantly repeated, but spectacularly ineffective, reliance on massive military force when its citizens are abducted. 
Not all Israeli Arabs are like Hanin Zoabi (Jalal Safadi, Yedioth/Ynet) Arab educator promises kidnapped teens' parents that most of State of Israel's Arab citizens oppose any type of terrorism.
Who's benefiting from a never-ending Mideast peace 'process?' (Guy Rolnik, Haaretz+) The time has come to ask ourselves who the true stakeholders are in the Middle East peace 'process,' where their true interests lie and who the current status quo serves.
The Arab street is boiling (Yoram Ettinger, Israel Hayom) Connecting the dots of the turbulent Arab street reveals a bleak reality for the Middle East.
Israel mustn’t negotiate with terrorists - even for the kidnapped boys (Gabriel Sassoon, Haaretz+) The Shalit saga shows us that paying any price for the return of 'everyone’s son' isn’t endearingly and warmly 'Israeli’, it is simplistic, irrational and only ensures further kidnappings. 
Could Israel be drawn into the ISIS crisis? (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) Jordan could turn to Israel for help if the situation on the Iraqi border escalates. 
Indulging the public could cost the IDF and Israel dearly (Ron Ben-Yishai, Ynet) The army has been pandering to soldiers’ worried mothers, and the politicians to popular sensibilities; neither is a sensible strategy. 
The arrest of the "Al Jazeera" journalists: It appears Cairo has gone one step too far (Haim Isrovitz, Maariv) The war between Al-Sissi's Egypt and Qatar, the biggest supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, went up a level following the outrageous punishment imposed on three journalists from the network owned by Qatar. 
It’s time to be proactive against ISIS (Amiel Ungar, Haaretz+) Israel's 'plague on both your houses' strategy prevents the building of alliances with partners such as the Kurds and the non-jihadist Syrian opposition. 
The unprecedented search campaign: A glimpse of Hebron after the abduction of boys (Ben Caspit, Maariv) The city, which was once completely free, is under siege. Almost all the exits and entrances are blocked. And all this is happening before Ramadan. The Palestinians are beginning to understand that everything happens at their expense. Meanwhile, IDF soldiers are battle-charged, but beneath the surface they are also talking about the big elephant in the middle of the room: the erosion of the IDF's status, the assault on the budget for IDF pensions and on the exaggeratedly good conditions that the commanders in charge of our security allegedly receive, lays in the middle of the room like a big rhino.
How Israel can resolve its multi-dimensional conflict (Moshe Arens, Haaretz+) If Israel achieved peace with Egypt and Jordan, does that necessarily mean it can achieve peace with the Palestinians? And what should be its first step? 
The weak link (Dror Eydar, Israel Hayom) The enemy has realized by now that abductions are Israel's true Achilles' heel.
Seven years on, the EU can’t give up its Gaza million-dollar sleeping beauty (Matthew Kalman, Haaretz+) The EU's Gaza Strip farce abides: EUBAM mission is on standby, but its funds are flowing.
Boycotting Israel in the name of Jesus (Yitzhak Santis, Ynet) Presbyterian Church's divestment decision has far-reaching implications for Jewish state as other churches may follow suit. 
A risk management perspective on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Meirav Arlosoroff, Haaretz+) It's time to replace the sterile debate on the conflict with an approach that analyzes the options facing us; If worse comes to worst, will the State of Israel survive, and how? 
Israel needs massive fence on eastern border (Guy Bechor, Yedioth/Ynet) As ISIS fighters approach Jordan, breached border poses an imminent threat to Israel.
In a bind, Netanyahu turns to easiest solution: Lash out at Obama and U.S. (Yossi Verter, Haaretz+) PM is losing his hold over his coalition, is stressed over the abducted youths and can’t risk attacking Hamas or Iran. So what does he do? 
Peres was wrong; you can make eggs from omelets (Aluf Benn, Haaretz+) Israel needs permanent borders as the basis for the normalization of its status in the Middle East. Recognized borders ensure stability and security more than any other solution.
Peres' nauseating performance (Ruthie Blum, Israel Hayom) Whenever Peres and his ilk express their dreams of peace, the rest of us in Israel should grab our kids and run for cover.
America’s bye-bye bash for President Peres was both bittersweet and over-the-top (Chemi Shalev, Haaretz+) The yawning gap between Obama’s mutual admiration society with Peres and his reciprocal antipathy association with Netanyahu was the leitmotif of Peres’ grand farewell in Washington.
Shimon Peres and the struggle for freedom? Let’s not get carried away (Gideon Levy, Haaretz+) The U.S. Congress has lauded the outgoing president - an Israeli with no superior in perpetuating the settlement enterprise.
 

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