APN's daily news review from Israel
Friday September 05, 2014
Quote of the day:
“(It) drove the Americans nuts.”
--A senior Israeli official speaks of the US reaction to Israel's announcement to expropriate 4000 dunams
of West Bank land.**
Front Page News:
Haaretz
- Intelligence War - Did Hamas intend on making war? How was the cabinet surprised by the tunnels? And why wasn't a plan prepared to deal with them? Haaretz probe reveals the worrying questions of Operation Protective Edge that have sparked the battle between Military Intel and the Shin Bet // Amos Harel
- US examining additional steps in response to expropriation of land in West Bank
- Netanyahu goes back to his (political) base, and infuriates the world // Yossi Verter
- Hamas and Fatah adhere to reconciliation, but tension between them rises // Amira Hass
- The Islamic State of Africa - Boku Haram declared it's own state in Nigeria
- Mortar fell in Golan, IDF attacked in Syria in response
- Without supervision: Ultra-Orthodox schoolbooks are anti-Arab and anti-left-wing
- Attorney General won't open criminal case in 'Bibitours' affair
- Arad torn between residents who will leave if mine opened adjacent and those who will leave if it won't
- Emmy-award winning comedian Joan Rivers died at age 81
Yedioth Ahronoth
- This is how the Islamic State recruits terrorists in the world - Special look inside at the brutal terror organization
- Iraq: Senior IS figure eliminated in precision bombing from the air
- Financial aid to each resident in the periphery - Mt. Hebron (settlers): 1,418 shekels; Ashkelon coast: 12 shekels
- The smile returned - Sgt. Ohad Ben-Yishai, 18, who was critically wounded in Gaza campaign, began smiling two weeks after he began to communicate using his hands.
- Divorce till death - Husband of Avital Rokach, 45, suspected of murdering her and leaving three children as orphans
- Joan Rivers died
- 'Bibitours' file closed
- Why politics for me? David Grossman tells why he wrote a book about up a stand-up comedian
Maariv Weekend (Hebrew links)
- Weinstein closed 'Bibitours' case
- Steven Sotloff reports from Syria - the article published in The Jerusalem Post by Sotloff who was executed this week: "This war is killing us slowly"
- This is how the Islamic State turned into the most significant threat to the West // Alon Ben-David joins the Maariv Weekend columnists
- The new brothers - Netanyahu and Bennett's strategic axis ahead of the coming elections // Ben Caspit
- Price of brutality - Murderers of three yeshiva teens raised 220,000 shekels ($62,000) from Hamas Gaza for the kidnapping
- Will leave - Associates of Rabbi Amar examining establishing new religiously traditional party, Eli Yishai expected to leave Shas and lead it
- Beit Shemesh: Ultra-Orthodox students return to school - Court rejected Education Ministry request to close the part of secular school allocated to ultra-Orthodox pupils
Israel Hayom
- Shin Bet: At least 10 Arab Israelis are members of Islamic State
- Deputy head of IS in Iraq eliminated
- This is how the kidnapping (of three yeshiva youth) was planned
- Prosecution: "To jail before an appeal" - Convicted in Holyland case, including former PM Olmert, asked to postpone imprisonment till after ruling in appeal
- Murdered his ex-wife and was caught with the knife
- Attorney General closed the file on Netanyahu's trips abroad: Not enough evidence
- Historic agreement: Germany to pay one-time compensation of 2500 Euros to survivors that were children during the Holocaust
- Joan Rivers 1933-2014
- Beit Shemesh (school): The (dividing) wall was removed, but the ultra-Orthodox girls will remain in the dispute school
- KISS band to perform in Israel next summer
- Ukrainian President: Likely that today a ceasefire plan will be signed
News Summary:
The executed Israeli-American journalist Steven Sotloff and the Islamic State continued to be a top story in the Hebrew newspapers, with Maariv translating an article Sotloff wrote for The Jerusalem Post, Yedioth reporting on contacts made by one of its reporters with IS recruiters and Israel Hayom reporting that 10 Arab Israelis have joined its ranks. Another top story in the Friday newspapers was the indictment against Hussam Qawasmeh, the alleged planner of the three Jewish teens, who were kidnapped and murdered in the West Bank in June: "We messed up. We wanted to kidnap one and we killed three," he said. Also a top story was the decision by the Attorney General to scrap the 'Bibtours' case and not to launch a criminal investigation against Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
Also, Haaretz's Amos Harel writes about the information war between Israel's two intelligence agencies: The Shin Bet security service thinks Hamas’ military wing intentionally started the war, while Military Intelligence thinks the war was an unplanned escalation that Hamas’ leadership in Gaza would rather have ended earlier. They are also arguing over what Israel really knew about Hamas’ tunnels and whether Israel misjudged Hamas’ willingness to continue fighting a war that ultimately lasted 50 days.
Top Yedioth's political commentator Nahum Barnea reports on an extensive investigation by the 'Molad' organization that revealed that the national policy that gives additional budgets to communities in the periphery of the country discriminates in favor of settlers. Hence, Beit El settlement, a conclave of Habayit Hayehudi supporters, received 51.5 million shekels this year - two million shekels more than what was given to all the communities in the north and south. The name of the Molad report is: "The secret cashbox of the settler right-wing." Barnea writes that the statistics provided "are worrying on three levels: 1. The extreme generosity given to settlements compared to communities living in the north and south of the country, 2. The secrecy and lack of transparency, 3. The suspicion of conflict of interests, 'protektsia' and political corruption." Barnea also wrote about Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is approaching age 80 and is now fearless, not caring what the US, Israel, Hamas, or the Palestinian street thinks of his decisions.
**Haaretz reported that the US is mulling more steps in response to Israel’s land grab in the West Bank, quoting an Israeli official who said the expropriation announcement "drove the Americans nuts."
The executed Israeli-American journalist Steven Sotloff and the Islamic State continued to be a top story in the Hebrew newspapers, with Maariv translating an article Sotloff wrote for The Jerusalem Post, Yedioth reporting on contacts made by one of its reporters with IS recruiters and Israel Hayom reporting that 10 Arab Israelis have joined its ranks. Another top story in the Friday newspapers was the indictment against Hussam Qawasmeh, the alleged planner of the three Jewish teens, who were kidnapped and murdered in the West Bank in June: "We messed up. We wanted to kidnap one and we killed three," he said. Also a top story was the decision by the Attorney General to scrap the 'Bibtours' case and not to launch a criminal investigation against Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
Also, Haaretz's Amos Harel writes about the information war between Israel's two intelligence agencies: The Shin Bet security service thinks Hamas’ military wing intentionally started the war, while Military Intelligence thinks the war was an unplanned escalation that Hamas’ leadership in Gaza would rather have ended earlier. They are also arguing over what Israel really knew about Hamas’ tunnels and whether Israel misjudged Hamas’ willingness to continue fighting a war that ultimately lasted 50 days.
Top Yedioth's political commentator Nahum Barnea reports on an extensive investigation by the 'Molad' organization that revealed that the national policy that gives additional budgets to communities in the periphery of the country discriminates in favor of settlers. Hence, Beit El settlement, a conclave of Habayit Hayehudi supporters, received 51.5 million shekels this year - two million shekels more than what was given to all the communities in the north and south. The name of the Molad report is: "The secret cashbox of the settler right-wing." Barnea writes that the statistics provided "are worrying on three levels: 1. The extreme generosity given to settlements compared to communities living in the north and south of the country, 2. The secrecy and lack of transparency, 3. The suspicion of conflict of interests, 'protektsia' and political corruption." Barnea also wrote about Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is approaching age 80 and is now fearless, not caring what the US, Israel, Hamas, or the Palestinian street thinks of his decisions.
**Haaretz reported that the US is mulling more steps in response to Israel’s land grab in the West Bank, quoting an Israeli official who said the expropriation announcement "drove the Americans nuts."
Prepared for APN by Orly Halpern, independent freelance journalist based in Jerusalem.