News Nosh 09.16.14

by APN 09/16/14
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APN's daily news review from Israel
Tuesday September 16, 2014

Quote of the day:
"The occupation corrupts, the 8200 refuseniks say, and they are telling the truth. In the best-case scenario, the information they gather prevents a terror attack; in many other cases, it contributes to the occupation's maliciousness, arbitrariness and foolishness, or provides a decent cover to the government's false policy."
--Senior Yedioth commentator, Nahum Barnea, says the conscientious objectors from Unit 8200 are right, but their declaration won't change the policy.**

Front Page News:
Haaretz
Yedioth Ahronoth
  • Careful, Europe - Exceptional travel warning by National Security Council Counter-Terrorism Bureau
  • The crisis deepens - (Lapid's) 0% VAT law turned into a 'hostage'...Yesh Atid: If Netanyahu froze the law - we will dismantle the government
  • Parting from Hoka - Palmach fighter, IDF general, head of the Mossad, Yitzhak (Hoka) Hofi died at age 87
  • War channel - Drama on Channel 1: After stormy debate with the new director, Ayala Hasson, presenter Geula Cohen left the studio and did not anchor her program
  • The scandal of the former talent on the 'Star is Born' talent show: The father, the son and the cousin are suspected of rape
Maariv This Week (Hebrew links)
Israel Hayom
News Summary:
Today's top stories were over the freezing of Finance Minister Yair Lapid's flagship '0% VAT bill,' ostensibly by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, who wants Lapid to agree to more money for security, while Lapid opposes raising taxes, and the Counterterrorism Bureau's warning to Israeli tourists to beware of becoming targets in Europe of the Islamic State. Haaretz+ also reported that the Israel Police counterterrorism unit got a green light to operate outside of Israel in the face of security threats from the north and south.

Quick Hits:
  • Israeli government plans to forcibly relocate 12,500 West Bank Bedouin - Plans to expel communities from land east of Jerusalem and move them to new town in Jordan Valley were drafted without consulting tribes. Concentrating the Bedouin into a few permanent towns represents the culmination of a 40-year process of limiting their pasturage, restricting their migrations and refusing to let them build permanent homes in places where they have lived for decades. (Haaretz+)
  • Six Israelis charged in November after protest against relocating Israeli Bedouin still under house arrest - Young men with no record were demonstrating against the government’s controversial Negev Bedouin resettlement plan, but they now face up to 22 months in prison for assaulting policemen and other charges. (Haaretz+)
  • PM: Gaza to be focus of New York donor conference - Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah told a local development committee preparing for a Sept. 22 donor conference in New York that supporting Gaza will be the focus of the PA's report at the conference. (Maan) 
  • Bill Clinton strays from Hillary’s Israel script and knocks Netanyahu (on peace) - In a conversation with pro-Palestinian activists in Iowa, the former president agrees: the Israeli PM won’t make peace 'unless he’s forced to.' (Haaretz+)
  • Petition to High Court: Jewish employers use help of Israel Police used to break strikes in West Bank - After (Palestinian) labor union head at a garage in Mishor Adumim (settlement) tried to better the employment conditions, his (Jewish) manager complained to police he was a security danger. The employee's work permit was taken. The petitioners: "It's part of a reign of terror." (Haaretz+)
  • Excitement at Soroka Hospital: The last injured soldier of Operation Protective Edge left - Gadi Yarkoni was seriously wounded in the legs by a mortar shell outside Gaza. Yesterday, he parted from the medical teams and transferred to rehabilitation at Tel Hashomer. (Maariv and Israel Hayom)
  • Former hunger striker in deteriorating condition - (World renown) Palestinian former hunger striker Samer al-Issawi, who was detained again by Israel and not charged, is in deteriorating condition, his family said after visiting him. Issawi, who is being held in Jalbou prison, was pale, seemed fatigued, suffered from noticeable weight loss and pain in his kidneys and difficulties in eating. (Maan) 
  • Israeli forces set up 'surveillance room' at Ibrahimi (Cave of the Patriarchs) mosque in Hebron - Director of Hebron endowment Taysir Abu Sneineh condemned the setup at the entrance to the mosque as means to pressure worshipers and mosque visitors, and to “complicate security procedures in the area.” (Maan)
  • Hatred from a young age: Molotov Cocktails on Jewish homes - Five children aged 12 from the Abu Tur neighborhood of E. Jerusalem were arrested yesterday on suspicion that they prepared and threw Molotov Cocktails on Jewish homes in the neighborhood. In their interrogations, the children admitted to the acts and explained to the Jerusalem Police: "We did it because we hate Jews." (Yedioth, p. 36)
  • Israeli forces detain 4 teenagers in East Jerusalem - Two 15-year-olds and two-18-year-olds were detained in the middle of the night in raids in Shuafat and Silwan. The 18-year-olds were assaulted during the arrest and their families have not yet been notified as to which detention center they were taken to. (Maan)
  • World Bank: Palestine private sector hostage to Israeli restrictions - “Allowing mobility and access to resources is crucial to building investor confidence and developing industry and...protect against future violence," stated the report, which blames Israel's restrictions and the Mideast conflict for holding Palestinian enterprises back. (Maan)
  • Security forces to remain in Yitzhar yeshiva for 3 months - Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon extends seizure order for Od Yosef Hai Yeshiva building in Yitzhar settlement. Border police and soldiers to remain on the premises for 10 additional weeks. Yitzhar residents decry "persecution." (Israel Hayom) 
  • Don't trash the home front: IDF yet to clean up after Gaza war - Some places used as staging grounds during Operation Protective Edge are yet to be cleared of refuse. (Haaretz+)
  • Should doctors talk politics on Facebook? Ethics board won’t say - Israel Medical Association issues position paper about controversial statements on Gaza war, but doesn’t come to any real conclusions. (Haaretz+) 
  • Revealing online pics of women troops incense feminist - What was the mayor of Ra’anana doing next to a nude woman soldier at a party for female soldiers who had fought in Israel's Gaza operation? (Haaretz+)
  • U.S. Jewish group accused of McCarthyism after publishing list of pro-boycott professors - AMCHA advises Jewish students to check names 'before registering,' accuses academics of breaking law; religious Jewish prof asks to be included. (Haaretz+)
  • Egypt sentences Muslim Brotherhood leader to life - Mohamed Badie, 71, sent to life in prison together with 14 other Muslim Brotherhood members for murder, violence during Morsi's ouster. (Agencies, Ynet)
  • Egypt court bails top 2011 revolt activist Alaa Abdel Fattah - An Egyptian court Monday ordered the release on bail of Alaa Abdel Fattah, a top activist of the revolt against ex-president Hosni Mubarak, at his retrial in a case where he had been sentenced to 15 years. (Agencies, Maan)
  • Hamas denies Mashaal being expelled from Qatar, seeking shelter elsewhere - Arab media reported that the Doha-based Mashaal was considering relocating to Tunisia, Turkey or Malaysia after seven Muslim Brotherhood leaders were expelled from the country. (Agencies, Maariv and Israel Hayom)
  • Iran rejects global strategy against extremists - Ayatollah Khamenei says Tehran privately refused American requests for cooperation against Islamic State. (Agencies, Ynet)
  • Kerry: US not coordinating with Iran - After Iran claims it rejected US offer to join fighting against Islamic State, Kerry says he won’t be drawn into 'back and forth' with country; meanwhile, UN hopes to increase pressure on Iran over nukes. (Agencies, Ynet)
  • Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemns ISIS 'terrorism' -  “The terrorism centered in Syria and Iraq is shading the whole region and the world and is known by different names: ISIS, the al-Nusra Front and others,” it said in a statement. (Maan)
  • Iraqi show portrays ISIS leader as spawn of Satan and Jewish woman - In promo for 'The Superstitious State,' Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi hatches from an egg laid by woman wearing Star of David necklace; story in Arab media claims Al-Baghdadi is actually a Mossad agent. (Ynet)
  • China's new Middle East special envoy visits Israel - Gong Xiaosheng meets in Jerusalem with Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Tzachi Hanegbi. Gong says China attaches great importance to developing friendly and cooperative relations with Israel. (Israel Hayom)
  • One of the Mossad’s greatest leaders dies - Yitzhak Hofi helped pave the way for Israel’s 1979 peace treaty with Egypt. (Haaretz+)
  • UN forces cross Syrian border into Israel - Days after release of 45 UN Fijian peacekeepers kidnapped by Islamists, hundreds of UNDOF troops evacuate Syrian posts after recent clashes with al-Qaeda-linked militants. (Agencies, Ynet)
  • Makor Rishon paper to go weekly, publish daily content online - American billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who also owns Israel Hayom, bought Makor in March. Paper will now produce one weekend edition, with daily updates online. (Haaretz+)
  • Supreme Court: Olmert to stay out of jail during appeal - Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, convicted of bribery in Holyland corruption case, will not have to serve his six-year prison term before the Supreme Court rules on his appeal. Judge: Appealing party must be heard. (Israel Hayom)
  • Passengers try to smuggle arms, drugs on to a plane at Ben Gurion Airport - Israeli man and Uzbek citizen held by police after gun magazine and drugs found in hand-stowed luggage. (Haaretz+)
  • South Africa probes Israeli, two Nigerians over suspected $9.3m arms deal - The three tried to smuggle the large cash sum into South Africa in their luggage, police say. (Haaretz)
  • 2 Palestinian boat survivors tell story -  Two Palestinians of capsized boat said around 500 Syrian, Palestinian, Egyptian, and Sudanese migrants were on vessel, which was wrecked on purpose by the human traffickers, who forced the passengers to change boats several times during the crossing towards Europe and rammed into the boat when passengers refused to cross into a vessel they feared was too small. (Maan)

Features:
The battle after the war
Operation Protective Edge did not yet end for them. Residents of the south, whose homes were hit, complain that the state is not participating in all the costs of the repairs and is leaving them with bills of hundreds of thousands of shekels. In contrast, there are claims according to which some of the residents are exaggerating the costs and trying to gain a luxury renovation at the state's expense. (Ofer Petersburg, Yedioth's '24 Hours' supplement.)
Link to yesterday's Maariv Magazine feature: We hereby refuse - The revolt by the members of Unit 8200 is another climax in the continuing chronicle of refusing to serve of both the right-wing and left-wing.  

Commentary/Analysis:
**Unit 8200 refuseniks are telling the truth (Nahum Barnea, Yedioth/Ynet) In best-case scenario, information gathered by elite intelligence unit's soldiers prevents a terror attack; in many other cases, it contributes to occupation's maliciousness and foolishness. 
The Unit 8200 letter is all politics (Dr. Haim Shine, Israel Hayom) The latest round of insubordination is rooted in the loss of values in certain groups of the Israeli elite.
No reason to get excited over the refuseniks' letter (Ran Adelist, Maariv) Similar cases of people in uniform did not move the government policy by a millimeter. They also did not harm state security. They just left a quivering candle flame of normative sanity in this darkness.
The asymmetry of insubordination (Dr. Gabi Avital, Israel Hayom) The majority of the public is disgusted by wartime insubordination, and it is time for the media to change its approach accordingly.
The dissenters are Israel's citizen heroes (Avraham Burg, Haaretz+) The debate over disobedience and its boundaries, and about democracy and its limits, is reduced, among us, to the military sphere exclusively. That is a mistake.
IDF’s Hezbollah warning may not be spin maneuver (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) Cynics may question the timing of the Israel Defense Forces' warnings about Hezbollah's ambitions, but the truth is more prosaic.
We have to talk about cruelty (Naomi Benbassat, Haaretz+) Who is more aware than those who live a few kilometers from the Gaza Strip of the ongoing hell on the other side of the border fence?
The right-wing is having trouble with the facts (Liat Schlesinger, Maariv) Since the publication of the report on disparities in (government) investment in the settlements, not a single person from the right-wing spoke out against the findings, explained or defended them. Instead, they prefer to recycle slurs. A response to the Op-Ed by Avishai Ivri.
Cracks forming in Israel's defensive shield (Efraim Halevy, Yedioth/Ynet) As the security situation in Jerusalem worsens, we must deeply analyze the meaning of the growing support for Hamas in the West Bank.
Is 'Birthright' really a great success story? Not certain (Shmuel Rosner, Maariv) It is considered the crown jewel in the battle over Jewish identity in the Diaspora, and it reduces the chances that its graduates will choose a mixed marriage and it turns into fans of Israel. But in the US, views about 'Birthright' program are divided.
Between democracy and anarchy (Moshe Arens, Haaretz+) What would the state of the Palestinians be if the aim of a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria and Gaza were to become reality?
When Netanyahu smell weakness: the 0% VAT bill has become a hostage (Ben Caspit, Maariv) Netanyahu is not willing to increase the deficit. Lapid will not raise taxes. This is the stage where personal passions may disrupt the cold considerations of national interests. This can lead to elections that none of them want.
Ted Cruz’s truth-telling: Haters of Christians and Jews also hate Israel (Seth Lipsky , Haaretz+) The U.S. senator deserves to be congratulated for his straight talk to a conference of Middle East Christians at a time when politicians and pundits are loathe to name our enemies’ ideology.
ISIS is not the greatest threat (Amos Gilboa, Maariv) With only 50 thousand combatants, the of the Islamic State organization has miniscule military power. So why is there a global coalition of 40 countries? All because of Obama's poor image.
 
 
 
Should Jews fear an independent Scotland? (Y Y Rubinstein, Haaretz+) Proud of centuries of tolerance, Scottish Jews are anxious that a 'yes' vote gives free rein to Scotland's fierce anti-Israel rhetoric that this summer spilled into anti-Semitic threats and vandalism.


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

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