APN's daily news review from Israel

Tuesday September 23, 2014

NOTE: Wednesday is Rosh Hashana Eve, consequently News Nosh will come in its shortened Friday-style form. Thursday there will be no News Nosh and Friday News Nosh will resume.

Excerpt of the day:

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Front Page News:

Haaretz

• "Denying the freedom of a human being, any human being, is a last resort" - High Court orders Holot migrant detention center closed within 90 days
• Happy, but with caution // Mutasim Ali
• An end to the deception // Aeyal Gross
• The alternative to incitement // Or Kashti
• Hope is in despair: Opponents of ruling gather in south Tel-Aviv to express anger - and racism
• (Public Security Minister) Aharonovitch offered next police commissioner position to General (res.) Gadi Shamni
• Netanyahu and Obama to meet next week, for first time since March
• Following Haaretz report: State Comptroller probing Lieberman's secret visit (to Vienna)

• The ruling and the protest - High Court rejects for second time Knesset's infiltrators bill and also ordered closure of Holot detention facility. In south Tel-Aviv they are furious
• Liberal, humane // Tovah Tzimuki
• Verdict with a bad taste // Ben-Dror Yemini
• Buried in screens - Poll reveals children addicted to cellular phones: 94% of 12-year-olds have one
• Family Intelligence - General Hertzi Halevy began position as head of IDF military intel yesterday.
• Governor of Bank of Israel warns, slams Lapid's budget proposal and says taxes must rise

• "Verdict disconnected from reality" - High Court cancelled law that allowed imprisonment without a trial of foreigners and ordered closure of Holot detention facility. Angry responses from political establishment
• They allowed the blood of our borders (to flow) // Ben Caspit
• Increase in budget of defense establishment delegations abroad - despite promise of streamlining
• These are our lives - Annual CBS report: Israelis live longer, don't rush to get married and work hard to survive. Yet, 86% of them say they are satisfied
• Deadly bite: 35-year-old laborer died from allergic reaction to bee stings

• Storm after disqualification of law against infiltrators
• Correct decision, and thank you to the fence // Dan Margalit
• Your own poor come first // Haim Shine
• Radical Islam - the problem of the whole world" - PM in special interview for holiday
• Sweet year, also in the cockpit [Photo of IAF pilots eating apples and honey with technicians)
•  Remembering, on the way to Haifa port
• The budget crisis still not solved; Lapid threatens, security establishment: We need more
• Today: Negotiations to renew in Cairo over long-term arrangement in Gaza
• Present for the holiday: After 22 years, she received the ring she lost 

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News Summary:
The High Court rulings canceling the Knesset approved law allowing the imprisonment without trial of foreigners and ordering the closure of the Holot 'infiltrators' detention facility was the top story in today's Hebrew newspapers. Meanwhile, the talks begin in Cairo today over a long-term arrangement regarding Gaza and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is in New York promoting his General Assembly resolution for an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu won't be there till after Rosh Hashana, next week, but will get one-on-one time with US President Barack Obama.

Ahead of the indirect talks with Israel in Cairo, Fatah and Hamas supposedly met yesterday to iron out their differences to avoid Israel taking advantage of them, Maan reported. And in a conference in Tel-Aviv on behalf of the Geneva Initiative, former Palestinian minister Hisham Abdel Razek said he believed an agreement could be reached in Cairo, "but as long as we do not reach a political and solution to end the occupation, we will continue to live from one war to the next war," Maariv reported. However, Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz said there were low hopes for an agreement because until Hamas agrees to disarmament, there is no real long-term solution to the Gaza situation. That said, disarmament is not on the negotiating table, but Israel hopes that with by raising the issue repeatedly it will eventually get international support. The upcoming meeting is meant to set the timetable for the talks that will begin after Yom Kippur and Eid al Adha.
 
The high-level meetings of the world leaders at the UN General Assembly began Monday and Abbas addressed an audience of students at Cooper Union telling them he will present the UN with a new timetable for peace talk: “The key is to agree on a map to delineate the borders of each country. I say today to Prime Minister Netanyahu: End the occupation, make peace.” Abbas is promoting the resolution, which he will discuss in a speech Friday to the General Assembly. The resolution to be presented to the UN Security Council states that the borders of the future Palestinian state will be based on the 1967 lines and that the timetable for an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank should be no longer than three years, Haaretz wrote. The US and Israel oppose the move and the US would veto the motion at the UNSC. Today Abbas meets US Secretary of State John Kerry.
   
Because of Rosh Hashanah, Netanyahu will not be attending the leadership gatherings taking place later this week alongside the UN General Assembly in New York, explained Barak Ravid. Instead, he will fly to New York Sunday and give his speech, after most world leaders will have left the city. Afterward, Netanyahu will travel to D.C. to meet Obama and discuss Abbas' UNSC resolution, US action against ISIS and negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.

Quick Hits:

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Features:

Palestinian youth build skills, character at Qalqiliya skate ramp 
It takes place every afternoon in Qalqiliya, a city almost completely surrounded by the Israeli separation wall. On a tiny plot of concrete tucked away behind the West Bank's only zoo, youths gather to skate, rap, breakdance, and practice parkour. The ramp has become an escape from the prying eyes of relatives and neighbors who are quick to criticize any deviation from the mainstream. One boy opened up the city's first club, X-Games, and the team has since performed at events across the West Bank, most recently in April at a festival commemorating Palestinian Prisoner's Day in Nablus. Their story has also been featured on Palestinian TV stations and even Al-Jazeera English. (Graham Liddell, Maan+ PHOTOS)

Commentary/Analysis:

Israel's list of popular names reveals institutionalized racism (Haaretz Editorial) List published by population authority failed to mention most popular name was in fact Mohammed, exposing once again how Israel doesn't take into account 20 percent of its citizens. 
Israelis after Gaza: Resilient ... or in denial? (Allison Kaplan Sommer, Haaretz+) The average Israeli at the water cooler or on the street corner wants to discuss anything - except this summer's conflict.
What cabinet's military discussions should actually look like (Giora Eiland, Yedioth/Ynet) Instead of delving into details of plan presented by IDF, ministers should discuss different alternatives and select best option.
Camp David: The agreement that ripped up the rule book (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) The anniversary of the Camp David Accords, which shattered the consensus and served as a basis to the agreements that followed, passed without mention by the Israeli and Egyptian authorities. 
The technological revolution in IDF military intelligence: Cyber ​​attacks instead of the human factor (Yossi Melman, Maariv) Cyber warfare as an attack method (as opposed to protection against enemy attempts to harm computer systems) is a particularly sensitive issue, even though there is seemingly no big difference between that and listening in and intercepting telephone calls. In both cases, it is an aggressive espionage operation. And yet, perhaps because it is a relatively new field, there is a fear of talking about it. And so it was especially interesting to hear this week a senior military source referring to the subject. He talked about the changes - more specifically, about the revolution taking place in recent years in Military Intelligence (MI) of the IDF, and at its center is cyber warfare and advanced communications...This is an ongoing process that began during the time of Amos Yadlin, who was appointed chief of MI in 2006, but received a real boost when Gen. Aviv Kochavi, who will soon be appointed GOC Northern Command, replaced him in early 2011. The phrase "empowering the cyber dimension, as said by the senior officer, shows that this is the only part of MI which received extra manpower. 
Shame Israel wasn't invited to the Islamic State party (Yitzhak Laor, Haaretz+) Okay, so Israel wasn't invited to join the war on Islamic State. That's all right, we know we’re the real spearhead in this struggle.
Peace and introspection (Dr. Haim Shine, Israel Hayom) As Israel confronts complex threats on all fronts, we can expect that even people on the Left will pause to think about things and realize that there is no peace without security.
Iran-Saudi flirtation may change coalition against Islamic State (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) Rapprochement may change U.S. objection to Iran's participation in campaign against militants in Iraq and Syria.
Israeli army's gay soldiers must stop persecuting gay Palestinians (Charles A. James, Haaretz+) IDF's 8200 is one of the army's most gay-friendly units – but recent refusenik letter revealed the unit does not shy from aiding Shin Bet to blackmail gay Palestinians.
The shofar: To hear and to listen (Dr. Aviad Hacohen, Israel Hayom) One of the major lessons of the Jewish New Year is revolution.
American rabbis, these High Holidays, talk about Jewish texts, not the Jewish State (Peter Beinart, Haaretz) The Israeli-Palestinian conflict isn't the biggest crisis in American Jewish life. Illiteracy about Judaism is.
Don't wait for 'the day after' (MK Faina Kirshenbaum, Israel Hayom) Israel must encourage Diaspora Jews to make a new life here.
The unrequited love affair between liberal Jews and an illiberal Israel (Carlo Strenger, Haaretz+) We have the right to voice our displeasure about what other Jews - Israeli or not - do, as much as the Americans and French can dislike some of their fellow countrymen.
The top opinion articles from Haaretz in 5774 As the Jewish year comes to a close, Haaretz presents a selection of the outstanding writers and op-eds of the last 12 months, addressing issues from the Gaza conflict to debates within the Jewish world, from Israel to the future of Zionism. (Note, many are behind paywall)
 

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