APN's daily news review from Israel
Friday December 5, 2014
Quote of the day:
"It won't help them. I will continue to employ people irrespective of religion, race and
nationality."
--Supermarket franchise owner Rami Levy responds to pressures to fire Arabs after a stabbing attack by a Palestinian at one of his stores.**
--Supermarket franchise owner Rami Levy responds to pressures to fire Arabs after a stabbing attack by a Palestinian at one of his stores.**
Front Page:
Haaretz
- Elections 2015: No deal with the ultra-Orthodox, the Israel Hayom bill is what brought the elections // Yossi Verter; Saar's dilemma, considers running against Netanyahu // Yonatan Liss; Yishai is waiting for Deri, the dispute in Shas is no-win // Yair Ettinger; Watching from the side, the Palestinian Authority prepares for the radicalization of the Israeli voter // Amira Hass
- Crude oil leak over a wide area of the Arava desert
- Shin Bet contradicts Netanyahu again: No evidence to outlaw (Israel's Northern branch of the) Islamic movement
- In opposition to the brutal image they got, Muslims were actually easy occupiers
- 1/4 page ad: "International Day for Human Rights" - MachsomWatch members invite you to attend event at Cinemateque Tel-Aviv Wednesday 10 December 19:00
Yedioth Ahronoth
- It's in our hands - This time we vote! Phenomenon that got worse over last five elections: one in three Israelis didn't vote
- Livni's choice // Nahum Barnea
- Key man // Sima Kadmon
- The party of no news // Yoaz Hendel
- Bibi against Netanyahu // Ben-Dror Yemini
- Moment before dispersal of Knesset: Budget increase for security at expense of social welfare
- The desert was painted black - Millions of liters of oil spewed out of a pipe that broke and flooded the nature reserve
- Heroism and insult - Wife of Druze policeman who was killed in synagogue terror attack is infuriated over the Jewish nation-state bill
- Maariv Weekend (Hebrew links only)
- Poll for Maariv: Kahlon and Saar beat Netanyahu
- 17-year-old, who claimed she was raped, admitted: "I made up the story"
- Black in the eyes - Millions of liters of crude oil from Eilat pipeline caused severe ecological damage. Environment Ministry: "One of the worst pollution disasters of the country"
- When Rabbi Steinman cried: Who is the Torah sage who sent Israel to the polls
- The Israeli and the Iranians who are supervising exercises to locate nuclear tests
- Negotiating cards: The full story on the cemeteries for terrorists
- Moshe Arens is not at all afraid of a bi-national state
- The chief commander: The real face of Gadi Eisenkot
Israel Hayom
- Poll: Right-wing leads, can form government
- Lieberman's mother died; the (Foreign) Minister returned to Israel
- Test balloon? "Saar considering running against Netanyahu"
- Ecological disaster in Arava desert: "Incomprehensible damage"
- Anger in State Prosecution: "Olmert is not really sharing with the court"
News Summary:
Can Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu be defeated in the next elections was the question of the day in the reports and polls in Friday's Hebrew newspapers. Meanwhile, Yedioth reported on a number of Jewish-Arab co-existence stories.
A Maariv poll shows that both popular former Likud minister Moshe Kahlon, who may set up his own party, and former Likud strongman and ex-minister Gideon Saar, who may try to oust Netanyahu at the top of Likud, would both beat Netanyahu if voters had to choose between Kahlon and Netanyahu (46%-36%) or between Saar and Netanyahu (43%-38%). Maariv's Ben Caspit writes that the fact that either of these two are more popular than Netanyahu "is a sort of earthquake that illustrates how vulnerable Netanyahu is" and that this shows that he can be ousted. Netanyahu would come almost tied with Opposition leader Labor party chief Isaac Herzog (45%-44%). Some 60% of Israelis polled said they did not want Netanyahu to serve as Prime Minister after the coming elections; only 34% said they wanted him. Israel Hayom, the pro-Netanyahu tabloid, had very different results. It's poll asked who was best suited to be prime minister and Netanyahu got 24%, Herzog got 11%, Livni got 9%, Lieberman got 6%, Lapid 5% and Kahlon only 5%. The poll was taken just prior to the dispersal of the Knesset.
According to the Maariv poll the parties would get the following mandates:
Likud: 21, down from 31 (with Yisrael Beiteinu)
Labor: 14, down from 15
Habayit H`ayehudi: 18, up from 12
new Kahlon party: 11
Yisrael Beitenu: 9
Yesh Atid: 11, down from 19
Yehadut Hatorah: 8, up from 7
Meretz: 8, up from 6
Shas: 7, down from 11
Hatnuah: 4, down from 6
Hadash: 5, up from 4
Balad: 0, down from 3
Raam-Taal: 4, same
According to Israel Hayom poll:
Likud: 22
Labor: 12
Habayit Hayehudi: 16
Kahlon party: 13
Yisrael Beiteinu: 10
Yesh Atid: 10
Yehadut Hatora: 8
Meretz: 6
Shas: 8
Hatnuah: 4
Hadash: 5
Raam-Taal: 4
Balad: 2 - doesn't cross new threshold of 4
There were some stories of democracy and co-existence in today's papers. Maariv reported that Attorney General praised fired Justice Minister Tzipi Livni yesterday, calling her "the gatekeeper of democracy," which angered right-wingers, who called he be dismissed. (Also in Times of Israel)
**Yedioth ran a page with two articles of Israeli-Palestinian Jewish-Arab co-existence. 'Brothers-in-heart" told of two boys, one from a village near Ramallah, the other from Mevasseret Tzion near Jerusalem, who are hospitalized with the same rare heart defect and lay side by side at Hadassah Ein Karem Hospital and have become best of friends.
The other article was about the stabbing attack by a Palestinian youth that wounded two Israelis at a Rami Levy supermarket in Mishor Adumim settlement. The supermarket owner, Rami Levy, said publicly that despite the attack he had no intention of firing the Arabs who work at the store or preventing Arabs from shopping at it, for which Israeli President Reuven Rivlin called Levy commending him for his attitude. Levy said that he had been under pressure and had received threats to fire Arabs and that the far-right-wing organization Lehava wants to demonstrate in front of his supermarket. "It won't help them. I will continue to employ people irrespective of religion, race and nationality." Ynet further reported that a cousin of Mohammed Abu Khdeir, the young Palestinian from E. Jerusalem who was kidnapped by three Jewish Israelis and burned alive till he died, helped the wounded at the supermarket attack. "I helped him, stopped his bleeding with toilet paper, and took him to the upstairs offices for treatment. That's how I was taught to behave by my family. When someone is wounded, you help them. It doesn't matter where they're from." Ynet has video of the supermarket attack and also of dramatic photos taken from the synagogue attack that were published yesterday in Yedioth. Also on Thursday, a young Palestinian woman was arrested carrying a knife at Qalandiya military checkpoint in E. Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, Yedioth's Jerusalem supplement cover story reported that co-existence is not taking place on Egged public buses in Jerusalem. "The Egged branch in Jerusalem has gone through two Intifadas, terror attacks, but nothing has come close to what is happening there today: Following the debate over the death of the (Palestinian) driver Yusuf al-Rumani, 60 drivers from E. Jerusalem quit. Those who remained suffer frequently from threats and curses by (Jewish) passengers, and now tension has risen between them and their Jewish colleagues (who are angry that they now have to work 12 hour shifts to make up for the drivers who are gone)...But there are also solutions: bringing back the Arab drivers who quit and preparing closed cells for the drivers." The article quoted one Arab driver who said, "Two weeks ago a soldier entered the bus and I asked him to show me his ID [for free ride - OH]. He answered me, "I don't want to, you as**ole Arab." I called the police. The policeman asked him to show me his ID. The soldier showed me his ID and then said, "We will meet again."
Arab taxi drivers in the capital also suffer from attacks by far right-wing Jewish activists and Yedioth reported that a group of Jewish civilians decided to protect the Arab taxi drivers by setting up a civil guard they call "Municipal Guard" and walking around the city and also helping the drivers file complaints to the police. "The battle against racism and incitement is everyone's, and you don't need to be a left-wing activist to identify. There are many right-wing people who support us," said Aviv Tatrasky, an activist in the organization.
And a Palestinian taxi driver from E. Jerusalem has served as the 'goy Shabbat' in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Kiryat Balza for 10 years, helping the local residents, taking pregnant women to the hospital, keeping thieves out during Jewish holidays. But now he feels the tension between Arabs and Jews, reports, Yedioth's Jerusalem supplement. That tension is apparent also in the some Jewish neighborhoods of the capital, where a number of cars with Israeli flags were set on fire, writes the paper.
The paper also reported that children from the E. Jerusalem neighborhood of Abu Tor have to walk kilometers to get to school because of cement blocks Israel placed at the entrance to the Arab neighborhood after a resident of the neighborhood, Muitaz Hijazi, tried to assassinate far right-wing Temple Mount activist, Yehuda Glick. Hijazi was killed by Israeli security forces later at his home.
Can Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu be defeated in the next elections was the question of the day in the reports and polls in Friday's Hebrew newspapers. Meanwhile, Yedioth reported on a number of Jewish-Arab co-existence stories.
A Maariv poll shows that both popular former Likud minister Moshe Kahlon, who may set up his own party, and former Likud strongman and ex-minister Gideon Saar, who may try to oust Netanyahu at the top of Likud, would both beat Netanyahu if voters had to choose between Kahlon and Netanyahu (46%-36%) or between Saar and Netanyahu (43%-38%). Maariv's Ben Caspit writes that the fact that either of these two are more popular than Netanyahu "is a sort of earthquake that illustrates how vulnerable Netanyahu is" and that this shows that he can be ousted. Netanyahu would come almost tied with Opposition leader Labor party chief Isaac Herzog (45%-44%). Some 60% of Israelis polled said they did not want Netanyahu to serve as Prime Minister after the coming elections; only 34% said they wanted him. Israel Hayom, the pro-Netanyahu tabloid, had very different results. It's poll asked who was best suited to be prime minister and Netanyahu got 24%, Herzog got 11%, Livni got 9%, Lieberman got 6%, Lapid 5% and Kahlon only 5%. The poll was taken just prior to the dispersal of the Knesset.
According to the Maariv poll the parties would get the following mandates:
Likud: 21, down from 31 (with Yisrael Beiteinu)
Labor: 14, down from 15
Habayit H`ayehudi: 18, up from 12
new Kahlon party: 11
Yisrael Beitenu: 9
Yesh Atid: 11, down from 19
Yehadut Hatorah: 8, up from 7
Meretz: 8, up from 6
Shas: 7, down from 11
Hatnuah: 4, down from 6
Hadash: 5, up from 4
Balad: 0, down from 3
Raam-Taal: 4, same
According to Israel Hayom poll:
Likud: 22
Labor: 12
Habayit Hayehudi: 16
Kahlon party: 13
Yisrael Beiteinu: 10
Yesh Atid: 10
Yehadut Hatora: 8
Meretz: 6
Shas: 8
Hatnuah: 4
Hadash: 5
Raam-Taal: 4
Balad: 2 - doesn't cross new threshold of 4
There were some stories of democracy and co-existence in today's papers. Maariv reported that Attorney General praised fired Justice Minister Tzipi Livni yesterday, calling her "the gatekeeper of democracy," which angered right-wingers, who called he be dismissed. (Also in Times of Israel)
**Yedioth ran a page with two articles of Israeli-Palestinian Jewish-Arab co-existence. 'Brothers-in-heart" told of two boys, one from a village near Ramallah, the other from Mevasseret Tzion near Jerusalem, who are hospitalized with the same rare heart defect and lay side by side at Hadassah Ein Karem Hospital and have become best of friends.
The other article was about the stabbing attack by a Palestinian youth that wounded two Israelis at a Rami Levy supermarket in Mishor Adumim settlement. The supermarket owner, Rami Levy, said publicly that despite the attack he had no intention of firing the Arabs who work at the store or preventing Arabs from shopping at it, for which Israeli President Reuven Rivlin called Levy commending him for his attitude. Levy said that he had been under pressure and had received threats to fire Arabs and that the far-right-wing organization Lehava wants to demonstrate in front of his supermarket. "It won't help them. I will continue to employ people irrespective of religion, race and nationality." Ynet further reported that a cousin of Mohammed Abu Khdeir, the young Palestinian from E. Jerusalem who was kidnapped by three Jewish Israelis and burned alive till he died, helped the wounded at the supermarket attack. "I helped him, stopped his bleeding with toilet paper, and took him to the upstairs offices for treatment. That's how I was taught to behave by my family. When someone is wounded, you help them. It doesn't matter where they're from." Ynet has video of the supermarket attack and also of dramatic photos taken from the synagogue attack that were published yesterday in Yedioth. Also on Thursday, a young Palestinian woman was arrested carrying a knife at Qalandiya military checkpoint in E. Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, Yedioth's Jerusalem supplement cover story reported that co-existence is not taking place on Egged public buses in Jerusalem. "The Egged branch in Jerusalem has gone through two Intifadas, terror attacks, but nothing has come close to what is happening there today: Following the debate over the death of the (Palestinian) driver Yusuf al-Rumani, 60 drivers from E. Jerusalem quit. Those who remained suffer frequently from threats and curses by (Jewish) passengers, and now tension has risen between them and their Jewish colleagues (who are angry that they now have to work 12 hour shifts to make up for the drivers who are gone)...But there are also solutions: bringing back the Arab drivers who quit and preparing closed cells for the drivers." The article quoted one Arab driver who said, "Two weeks ago a soldier entered the bus and I asked him to show me his ID [for free ride - OH]. He answered me, "I don't want to, you as**ole Arab." I called the police. The policeman asked him to show me his ID. The soldier showed me his ID and then said, "We will meet again."
Arab taxi drivers in the capital also suffer from attacks by far right-wing Jewish activists and Yedioth reported that a group of Jewish civilians decided to protect the Arab taxi drivers by setting up a civil guard they call "Municipal Guard" and walking around the city and also helping the drivers file complaints to the police. "The battle against racism and incitement is everyone's, and you don't need to be a left-wing activist to identify. There are many right-wing people who support us," said Aviv Tatrasky, an activist in the organization.
And a Palestinian taxi driver from E. Jerusalem has served as the 'goy Shabbat' in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Kiryat Balza for 10 years, helping the local residents, taking pregnant women to the hospital, keeping thieves out during Jewish holidays. But now he feels the tension between Arabs and Jews, reports, Yedioth's Jerusalem supplement. That tension is apparent also in the some Jewish neighborhoods of the capital, where a number of cars with Israeli flags were set on fire, writes the paper.
The paper also reported that children from the E. Jerusalem neighborhood of Abu Tor have to walk kilometers to get to school because of cement blocks Israel placed at the entrance to the Arab neighborhood after a resident of the neighborhood, Muitaz Hijazi, tried to assassinate far right-wing Temple Mount activist, Yehuda Glick. Hijazi was killed by Israeli security forces later at his home.
Prepared for APN by Orly Halpern, independent freelance journalist based in Jerusalem.