APN's daily news review from Israel - Wednesday October 21, 2020

Quote of the day:

"The Palestinians - and the Jews as well - are not required to erase the memory of their past, but to “reframe" it: from aiming to turn the wheel backward, towards agreeing upon a memory that won’t return. A collective memory of this model makes it possible to long for the historic homeland districts that you no longer own, without enslaving the day-to-day for the purpose of restoring the past world in its entirety."
--Head of the Palestinian Studies Forum at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, Dr. Michael Milstein, suggests a way the Palestinians to come to a compromise over their past and future.*

Front Page:

Haaretz

• Police preparing for an economic-driven spoke in crime amid the corona crisis
• Trump abandoned the elderly and discovers he lost their support // Netanel Slymovics
• The cabinet meeting was postponed due to lack of agreement over opening 1st-4th grades
• The barrier against the tunnels (from Gaza) has started to pay off, and in the Gaza Strip they are looking for alternatives // Amos Harel
• IDF reveals tunnel that crossed dozens of meter from Gaza into Israel
• Senior officials in State Prosecutors office reprimanded the police for lack of enforcement of corona restrictions
• “Environmentally friendly” disposable plastic harms animals
• The law as a recommendation // Zvi Bar’el
• The lost decade // Yaron Zalika
• From the heights of his age and experience, David Attenborough stopped being nice and became a prophet of rage over environmental destruction
• The government claims to have lowered the cost of living through marine commerce, but the red tape at Haifa Port will cost hundreds of millions (Hebrew)

Yedioth Ahronoth

• The wall that defeated the tunnel - Last night: rockets launched from Gaza Strip towards south (Hebrew)
• Exclusive - The first volunteers for the vaccine
• Cry of the rental bungalow owners - Thousands traveling to Greece and local tourism is desperate
• The red tape kills: This is how the state abandoned abused women

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

• The underground barrier revealed: terror tunnel in Israeli territory
• They aren’t learning - Discussions in the corona cabinet postponed after fights over when to return to school
• Economic peace - A row of agreements were signed with the Emirates
• Arrest of two suspects in the murders of their wives in Beersheva and Kiryat Haim were extended

Israel Hayom

• “First and second graders won’t learn for weeks” - The plan: Alternately learning in pods; The fear: There won’t be anyone to teach the distance learning
• (‘Israel Hayom’ Forum of the Abraham Accords begins
• Achievement of exposing the terror tunnel from Gaza signals that Hamas is preparing for war // Yoav Limor
• Without “stars” and a 100-day plan: This is how (Yamina party chairman) Bennett aims to be prime minister

Top News Summary:
The Israeli army said it exposed a tunnel that entered dozens of meters into Israel from the Gaza Strip, the announcement was followed by a rocket from Gaza, after which Israel retaliated by firing on Hamas infrastructure from the air), the government’s corona cabinet postponed a debate over whether to open elementary schools because the parties couldn’t agree in advance (a report warned that kids are superspreaders and, on the other hand, professionals warn of the negative psychological effects of children not going back - but meanwhile, the ultra-Orthodox continue to send their kids anyway) and Israel and the United Arab Emirates signed numerous agreements upon the arrival of a delegation at Ben-Gurion Airport - making the top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers.

There were also another threat by Kahol-Lavan of going to elections if Likud does not agree to pass the state budget by the end of October. Coalition Whip MK Miki Zohar (Likud) suggested that is what his party wants, as well, saying, “In my opinion, the Knesset will be dissolved on December 23, there is no other way.” December 23rd is the official last day to pass a budget after which the country must go to elections if not passed. (Maariv)

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu greeted the Emirati delegation with much fanfare and declarations about a “glorious day of peace.” The delegation stayed for five hours, which was enough to sign numerous agreements, including a visa waiver agreement, and a preliminary deal to transport UAE oil to Europe via Israel by shipping it to Eilat then going overland to Ashkelon port. The UAE Foreign Minister wrote his Israeli counterpart that he wanted to open an embassy - in Tel-Aviv and that he expected an Israeli diplomatic mission to open soon in Abu Dhabi.

Corona-related News:

• 1,165 new COVID cases confirmed with 3% of tests positive - Cabinet to discuss sending children in first to fourth grades back to school, based on the numbers of new cases. Health Ministry report warns childen, usually asymptomatic, can be super-spreaders. Number of serious virus cases drops below 600 for first time in weeks. (Israel Hayom and Ynet)
• Israel Police Brace for Economic-driven Spike in Crime Amid COVID Crisis - Rise in property crime predicted after end of coronavirus crisis, internal documents say. (Haaretz+)
• Treasury bigwigs jump ship amid budget chaos - Two more senior ministry officials are set to vacate their positions at the Budget Department in the coming days. The departures are the latest of a large exodus of prominent ministry figures, many of them blaming Finance Minister Katz for his mismanagement of the state coffer during the economic crisis induced by the COVID-19 outbreak. (Ynet)
• No change in the health condition of Saeb Erekat, says his family - Hadassah hospital in West Jerusalem, where Erekat is being hospitalized since Sunday, said Erekat was connected to an ECMO machine to support his lung function without damaging his transplanted lungs. (WAFA)

Quick Hits:

• Trial of Israeli Minor Accused of Killing of Palestinian Woman Begins - The teenager, a resident of Kokhav Hashahar settlement, whose identity is classified by a gag order, is accused of manslaughter for hurling a 2 kilogram rock at vehicle of Aisha Rabi, a mother of nine, in 2018 after DNA and far-right material linked him to the killing. Hearing taking place behind closed doors. Rabi's husband, Yaqub, and their daughter, both who were in the car during the incident, also arrived in court. (Haaretz+)
• Violence Against Palestinians Spikes During Annual Olive Harvest - 'It seems that as a result of the lockdowns the settlers are simply bored. They come in large numbers to the groves and attack,' says organizer of Faza’a, a group formed to escort Palestinian farmers. The Yesh Din human rights organization reported 25 incidents linked to the annual harvest since it began earlier this October, including assaults, the destruction of trees, and thefts. (Haaretz+)
• Dozens of stop-work orders issued to Palestinians in a village north of Jerusalem - Israeli occupation authorities raided Qalandia village and handed residents stop-work orders for three buildings, dozens of structures, and retaining walls under the pretext they were being built without a permit, like more than half of the village buildings. [NOTE: Qalandia is part of E. Jerusalem, which Israel annexed, and the municipality rarely gives Palestinians construction permits. - OH] (WAFA)
• Rights Groups: Hunger Striking Detainee Al-Akhras in Serious Condition - Maher Al-Akhras, 49, from Jenin, is a husband and father of six, who was detained by the Israeli forces without charges, and held without trial. He began his hunger strike immediately after he was detained. He has been hunger striking for 86 days in protest of his administrative detention - no charges, no trial - and he is currently confined to a hospital bed in Israel’s Kaplan hospital. (IMEMC and WAFA)
• Euro-Med Monitor calls on EU lawmakers to stand up to Israel's demolition of EU-funded Palestinian structures - Memo explained the magnitude of damage, especially on structures funded by EU and its member states. Between January and August 2020 Israel demolished 89 houses in East Jerusalem compared to 104 for all of 2019 and 72 in 2018, which is putting Israel’s government on track for a record year. (WAFA)
• Settlers set up cattle shed in northern Jordan Valley - Israeli settlers last night set up a cattle shed to the west of Maskiyot settlement in the northern Jordan Valley. (WAFA)
• "His legacy remains with us": The Knesset marks 19 years since the assassination of the late former Minister (and alleged rapist - OH) Rehavam Zeevi  - The Knesset plenum held a special meeting in memory of the former minister who was assassinated 19 years ago. Among the speakers: the Speaker of the Knesset and the Prime Minister. [Only]  about 30 MKs and ministers attended. The members of Meretz and the Joint List, who announced the boycott of the session, were absent from the discussion. In addition, opposition leader MK Yair Lapid decided not to take part in the session. The Speaker of the Opposition announced that he would not take part in the debate. [NOTE: Oddly the article does not say why the MKS chose to boycott the session.  Numerous women who served as soldiers under Gandi accused him of raping them and Gandi opposed a Palestinian state. - OH] (Maariv and News1)
• Israeli Man Indicted for Pepper Spray Attack on anti-Netanyahu Protesters - The accused says he was influenced by incitement, angered by 'damage to state symbols,' and admitted to spraying the demonstrators, but with window cleaner. (Haaretz+)
• Israeli Man Charged With Sabotaging Haaretz Office, Threatening Journalist - 41-year-old man suffering from mental issues threatened Haaretz reporter, turned off circuit breakers, causing servers to lose power and flooding. (Haaretz+)
• In Israel, some animals are thriving in climate change - While rising temperatures and intensifying droughts caused by the global climate crisis threaten ecosystems and wildlife in the country, there are a few rare habitats that might actually prosper in the new reality. (Ynet)
• Journalist Amit Segal filed a libel suit against Meretz MK Yair Golan’s spokesperson - Channel 12 News reporter filed a lawsuit in the amount of 400,000 shekels against Omer Nachmani, following posts in which he called him a "racist" who "is trying to shut people up." Segal: "Defamation is a civil tort.” (Maariv and News1)
• Palestinian woman appointed ‘Save our Future’ Global Ambassador to defend right of children to education - The global movement "Save our Future" - which defends the right of children to education - appointed Palestinian young woman, Mai al-Qaisi, as a global ambassador to defend rights of refugee children to education. (WAFA)
• Al-Quds Open University student develops an electronic glove system that converts signals into text, audio - The glove, a project adopted by the Palestinian Higher Council for Creativity and Excellence, is a device composed of flex sensors installed at location of finger joints, and when the user moves his fingers, the sensors expand and emit an electrical signal picked up and changed into text by a special Android application. (WAFA)
• Israeli CEOs eager to do business in the Emirates, survey shows  - Fields of particular interest to heads of companies in Israel include agriculture and industry. Surprisingly, 22% of 230 CEOs surveyed said they already had business dealings in the UAE, directly or through third parties. (Israel Hayom)
• Sudanese strains surface as U.S. pressure triggers debate on Israel - Khartoum's caution reflects concerns that such a major foreign policy move at a time of deep economic crisis could upset the delicate balance between military and civilian factions and trigger a backlash from Islamist factions. (Agencies, Ynet)
• Under Attack and Losing Hope, Iraqi Activists Flee Abroad - An independent rights organization says at least 44 kidnappings and 74 attempted killings of activists have taken place this year. Some blame powerful militias, including those backed by Iran, for the crackdown. (Agencies, Haaretz)

Features:

Is Israel’s Forbidden Affair With Cluster Bombs Making Another Round?
Amnesty International claims that a cluster bomb made in Israel, apparently fired by Azerbaijan, has been found on the battlefields of Nagorno-Karabakh. In Israel, everyone is keeping mum. (Yossi Melman, Haaretz+)
Black Cube, a Late Mossad Chief, and a Rogue Op Against a Top Romanian Official
Black Cube’s CEO was investigated for spying on Laura Codruta Kovesi, who was heading a war on corruption, to find damaging evidence against her. Kovesi was investigating senior state officials, including people close to the president. Black Cube’s CEO told police that former Mossad chief Meir Dagan suggested Black Cube work ‘as an arm of’ Romania's Intelligence. Dagan is no longer around to give his version. (Gur Megiddo, Haaretz+)

Top Commentary/Analysis:
You Really Believe Netanyahu Wants the Coronavirus Pandemic to Last?' (Nehemia Shtrasler, Haaretz+) Some good friends of mine were indignant: “You really believe that Bibi wants the coronavirus pandemic to last, so he can use it for his personal needs? That’s inhuman. It doesn’t make sense. You shouldn’t think that.” They were referring to my September 18 article (in Haaretz’s Hebrew edition) that argued exactly that. I thought it over and realized that these friends are people who are too good and too moral to conceive of a prime minister who was elected to do good knowingly sacrificing public health and writing off a million unemployed, just to evade trial. So maybe this will convince them: All day and all night Netanyahu is in the grip of a tremendous panic that never leaves him – the thought that he could end his career in the same small cell with the same narrow bed in Ma’asiyahu prison where Ehud Olmert spent a year and a half. And in order to escape that outcome, he will rule out nothing.
Israel's majority must rise up against radical Haredi minority (Ben Dror-Yemini, Yedioth/Ynet) The leaders of the Haredi community have rewritten the rules of the game, pretending to be the persecuted when they are the persecutors, a radical minority that will continue to ravage Israel's majority until the state is no more.
If the State Grants the Haredim a License to Kill, Why Denounce Them? (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) A Jewish state can’t complain about an ultra-Orthodox civil revolt that is erupting in the name of a supreme rabbinical authority. That’s because after the government granted the “sector” the authority to dictate the laws of the state, to rob its budget and to operate an education system that undermines all the principles of the democratic state, and also released it from the obligation to serve in the army, gave it the power to bring down governments and now has even signed a license for it to kill in the name of heaven – exactly which law is it violating?
Drop your horns: Nothing is stopping Bibi's successes (Meir Uziel, Maariv) When you are called "Bibists," say, "I am in favor of justice and democracy, that’s why you call me a Bibist, but it’s not a derogatory name, just as the being called a Ben-Gurionist or Dreyfussist was not a derogatory name."
Here again "superficial secularism" vs. ultra-Orthodox values (Dr. Meir Margalit, Maariv) The tension that arose during the corona epidemic revives the arrogant and paternalistic parable of the full cart and the empty cart Ish Hazon (ultra-Orthodox leader). They are making people angry, they are condescending and they exude a paternalistic scent: the secular, because of being egocentric, take care only of themselves. while the ultra-Orthodox, by their very culture, are exemplary of social solidarity and take care of the general public and not just their little kiosk. This approach is not only condescending but also - and perhaps most importantly - wrong…Perhaps because of this, it is time to change paradigms and not just models within the paradigm. Perhaps it is time to dismantle the package, and instead of one state imposing itself on the ultra-Orthodox and Arabs or any distinct sector, it is time to say goodbye and create an Israeli confederation of autonomous communities that will run their lives without forceful government intervention.
Israel’s Anti-tunnel Barrier Pays Off, but Gaza Groups Are Working on Alternatives (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) As in most struggles between guerrilla organizations and regular armies, Gaza militants identify Israel's weak points and Israel in turn corrects them.
New terror tunnel shows Hamas is preparing for war (Yoav Limor, Israel Hayom) When Hamas digs tunnels, it is essentially signaling to its people and the public in the Gaza Strip that although it has perhaps altered its tactics, its strategy and end goal remain the same.
*100 years of glorious missed opportunities (Michael Milstein, Yedioth/Ynet Hebrew) …There will not be many Palestinians who will positively sum up the last century since the 1920-1921 riots (that ended with 47 Jews and 48 Arabs killed), during which Palestinian nationalism was formed. And the last few years have even exacerbated the feeling of national depression among them: alongside the vision of an independent state getting farther, less regional and international interest in their issue and especially - the narratives that supported their actions, chief among them the demand that normalization between Israel and the Arab world or a change in the status of Jerusalem be realized only after the an arrangement between them and Israel. The deterioration is of course not just a result of Palestinian conduct. Israel, too, has contributed to a deep complication of reality - whether through long-standing disregard for the Palestinian problem or by taking positions that have created a deep stalemate in contacts with them. The dismal present necessitates a sharp inquiry among Palestinians about the historical path of their national movement. The past century has contained recurring patterns that prevented the Palestinians from achieving their goals, chief among them limited political flexibility and the inability or unwillingness of the national leadership to advance decisions that would oblige all Palestinians. Instead, many Palestinians preferred to hang on to illusions for many years. One hundred years after its birth, the Palestinian national movement is one of the most stable in the Arab world. It was precisely around the loss of the homeland and the lack of sovereignty that one of the crystallized identities in the Middle East emerged. However, this is a national movement that, instead of practical success, still boasts of preserving “Saber and Sumood,” i.e. patience and steadfastness, despite all the disasters that befall it, and without the ability to provide a real response to the present plight of the Palestinians. Palestinian history can therefore be summed up as a "continuum of glorious misses": from the rejection of partition plans, through the bitter clashes with the Arab brothers, the fierce domestic struggles, wrong choices in regional allies, to the rejection of policy initiatives that could address Palestinian sovereignty. The agreements between Israel and the Emirates and Bahrain present the Palestinians with a dilemma: whether to stay in the 20th century, crammed into the shadow of the slogans of the struggle and the demand for historical justice, or to enter the 21st century gates, focusing on achieving state goals and making painful historic decisions. The Palestinians - and the Jews as well - are not required to erase the memory of their past, but to “reframe" it: from the basis of the aim to turn the wheel back, towards a memory that is agreed upon won’t return. A collective memory of this model makes it possible to long for historic homeland districts that you no longer own, without enslaving the day-to-day for the purpose of restoring the past world in its entirety. The aggravating strategic distress of the Palestinians cannot evoke satisfaction in Israel. On the contrary. The last century has shown that the two national movements that are struggling with each other are also linked to each other, and when one falls into the abyss, the other is handcuffed to it. Today the two national movements are marching even without planning and awareness of the reality of "one state,” which is not a creative idea for resolving the conflict, but a format for a powerful clash. The two peoples must be aware of this dynamic, understand its implications and decide whether they are willing to step towards such a future, before they reach the point of no return where separation between them will not be possible.
Why the ‘Pallywood’ myth endures (Natasha Roth-Rowland, 972mag) A lasting legacy of the Second Intifada is the pernicious idea that Palestinians cannot be trusted to narrate their experience of Israeli oppression. On Sept. 30, 2000, at the start of the Second Intifada, a Palestinian camera operator working for a French news outlet filmed what would become a notorious shooting incident in Gaza. During a protracted gun battle at Netzarim Junction, 12-year-old Muhammad al-Durrah and his father, Jamal, were caught in Israeli-Palestinian crossfire. The camera operator, Talal Abu Rahma, filmed the pair taking shelter, and, after a few bursts of gunfire during which the filming is disrupted, the footage shows Muhammad collapsed in his father’s lap. Hit by a fatal shot to the abdomen, Muhammad succumbed to his wound shortly after. The incident — often referred to as “the al-Durrah affair” — became ground zero for the hasbara term “Pallywood.” A portmanteau of “Palestinian” and “Hollywood,” it proposes that Palestinians stage dramatic scenes showing Israeli army shootings of civilians in order to serve as anti-Israel propaganda.  The “Pallywood” charge is now a bustling industry in itself, having been liberally applied to incidents from Israeli airstrikes in Gaza to the fatal shooting of two Palestinian teenagers during Nakba Day protests in 2014.
Settler Violence Against Palestinian Farmers Only Grows During Harvest Time (Haaretz Editorial) ..Ohad Hemo of Channel 12 Television News reported on settler violence during the harvest last week. A moment before he and his crew were attacked by criminals from the settlements, he filmed a masked settler telling a landowner from the Palestinian village of Burqa, “God gave us this land. I’m the son of Allah and you are his slave.” This ugly arrogance captures perfectly the sick mood that has been spreading through the settlements. The Jews are the lords of the land and the Palestinians are slaves, even when the Palestinians are the legal owners of that land. But the settlers would not be so successful in their oppression and theft were it not for the inaction of Israeli law enforcement agencies, which do almost nothing to bring criminals from the hilltop outposts to justice. According to Yesh Din’s figures, only nine percent of investigations into cases in which Israelis assaulted Palestinians or damaged their property in the West Bank from 2005 to 2019 ended in charges being filed against the suspects. Fully 82 percent of these cases were closed for reasons that attest to the police’s failure to investigate…
The day after: Only Israelis are busy thinking about a replacement for Abu Mazen (Egyptian commentator, Dr. Hassan Abu Taleb, Ynet Hebrew)
https://www.ynet.co.il/news/article/r1Gu5Oswv

In Jerusalem, the question of who is better for Israel as the next chairman of the Palestinian Authority is being discussed publicly, and it is the Palestinians who are behaving as if it does not concern them…The US Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, recently stated that a new Palestinian leadership was needed. Although it is a blatant intervention in Palestinian affairs, his statement rekindles the debate over who will succeed Mahmoud Abbas, Abu Mazen, in the PA leadership. The PA’s procedures define the steps in selecting a new leader when the need arises. The main point is the appointment of the head of the legislature as interim president for a period of two months, during which the election for the position of chairman of the presidency will be held. Fatah has mechanisms that determine how the new PA chairman will be elected, and the PLO requires the approval of the Palestinian National Council. Although the process seems regulated, in practice the reality is complex: since 2018, the Palestinian Legislative Council has not functioned. As a result, it does not have a chairman who can serve as the temporary chairman of the Authority during the transition period. The situation is therefore complex, and it is not clear what the mechanism will be that will allow Abu Mazen to be replaced. But the problem is not just bureaucratic. If among the Palestinians the discussions about Abu Mazen's political successor are taking place secretly and behind closed doors, then in Israel the situation is different and public figures are discussing it publicly. They are considering key figures and examining their closeness to Israel and their impact in its favor: Will Abu Mazen's successor be the head of the General Intelligence Agency, Majed Faraj, or the Minister of Civil Affairs, Hussein a-Sheikh? Will it be former head of the security apparatus Jibril Rajoub, or perhaps former chairman of the Fatah movement, Muhammad Dahlan, who is abroad? Or the deputy chairman of Fatah, Mahmoud al-'Alul, or Nasser al-Kidwa, who has held several senior positions at the UN? Maybe the current Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh, and maybe Salam Fayyad, the former Prime Minister? Israel has interests, so it should be understood that its leadership intends to intervene in any future scenario. The Israelis will seek their own good - that is, to ensure that the Palestinian Authority does not collapse and that the situation in the West Bank and Gaza does not deteriorate into chaos. After all, the collapse of the PA will cause the PLO to return to its previous role, revolutionary and radical in nature, which will force Israel to directly control the occupied territories, and this scenario deprives it of sleep. It is clear to everyone that despite Israeli and American criticism of Abu Mazen, especially due to his opposition to the Trump’s Deal of the Century, there is a tacit agreement in Israel that his presence at the top of the Palestinian leadership was important and prevented escalation and damage to current relative stability. Therefore, there is no reason to think that Israel will give up trying to dictate the tone when the Palestinians look for a replacement.
Another challenge concerns internal Palestinian dynamics. Conflicts between executives can create chaos as a result of which the leadership vacuum will not be filled. As a result, and also of the expected confusion and pressure in times of emergency, we may see some senior Palestinian officials decide to divide key positions in the PA, Fatah and the PLO, and what begins as temporary leadership may become the rule of some individuals. Very limited. Such a leadership will not enjoy broad popular support, and its contacts with Israel will be very limited. A lot is at stake, and it must be said openly. Without going into the personal question of the identity of the heir, one must compare the open Israeli discussion of the complicated issue with the silence among the Palestinians, who refrain from speaking openly about it. The Palestinians do not care to establish clear mechanisms for the transfer of power, and the split between Hamas and Fatah, and even within Fatah itself, requires a change in attitude. While Israel discusses the issue in public based on its interests, Palestinian decision-makers unfortunately show great indifference. We face the danger of an internal-Palestinian conflict that will harm us all, and we must wake up and remember that the fate of the Palestinian people is more important than narrow political interests.
The war for freedom of speech has already begun (Gilad Zwick, Israel Hayom) Once the unelected elites, such as clerks, jurists, legacy media and Silicon Valley executives, are in perfect synergy with the White House and Congress, members of the Right will be persecuted not on the basis of their actions, but their views.
Today's great achievements are the fruit of important work by Israeli diplomacy (Alon Ushpiz, Maariv) For more than two decades we have acted quietly and modestly in the Gulf states, with the aim of preparing the ground for this day. We have established political and economic ties and built bridges with the Gulf states.
A culture of peace for all (Houda Nonoo, Israel Hayom) By investing in building our economic resilience, we are stronger together. No doubt – peace and  prosperity do go hand in hand.
The State of Israel is astonished to discover that Biden may win (Dr. Nachman Shai, Yediot/Ynet Hebrew) A closer look shows that Israel has abandoned the Democratic Party. The combination of holding hands with Trump, with the Republicans and with the evangelists, their absolute supporters (note the absurd ceremony of the inauguration of the US Embassy in Jerusalem), comes at the expense of losing close connection with the Democratic Party, with its diverse forces, including the academic elite, the labor organizations, the minority population - and, finally, of course the Jewish community. All the cards were stacked on one side. The desire to see immediate, rewarding accomplishments comes at the expense of long-term vision. In quiet and even open conversations, the leaders of the Jewish community pointed to the deviation from the traditional policy of bipartisan support. The Israeli government ignored them. An abyss was crossed between Israel and the largest, most established and influential Jewish community in the world. Our ears were closed to their requests and pleas to consider them. Once in the matter of the Western Wall or conversion - nowadays it is no longer necessary to explain to them how decisions are made in Israel and who determines them - and once against the background of Israel's moves in the US arena. The sheer closeness to Republicans and evangelicals frightened them. These are not their values, these are not their thoughts and these are not their elected ones. The Jewish community has always been for the most part democratic and so it will be in these elections. It laid the bridge over Israel-US relations. With the two parties, by the way. There were always associates and close relatives who were able to weave the important connections, and the friendship and closeness was maintained with the White House and the legislature. Now, at the beginning of the great change that is emerging in America, Israel will look to the Jewish community. “It will already know how to arrange things,” it is commonly said. But I'm not so sure anymore. To paraphrase the Hebrew song, ‘the whole world is a very narrow bridge,’ but the bridge between Israel and the Jewish community in the United States, my friends, is too narrow.
Arab-Israeli politicians against peace (Ruthie Blum, Israel Hayom) The Joint Arab List – the third-largest faction in the Knesset – is more hostile to Zionists than the sheikhs of Abu Dhabi and Manama.
Historic Correction Needed (Tuesday Haaretz Editorial) The sight of masses of young ultra-Orthodox students returning to class this week, in defiant violation of lockdown provisions, while Israel’s other pupils remain at home, where they have been for a month, symbolizes more than anything the disconnected existence of an autonomous Haredi population that lives according to its own laws, ignoring the state’s decisions. This sight also exemplifies the helplessness of the government and most of the Israeli public in the face of extremist rabbis whose authority is accepted by a minority constituting about 13 percent of the population. On Saturday evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged that the police do not have the means to enforce the closure of ultra-Orthodox elementary schools. What Netanyahu did not say was that even if the police did have the means, he would not have ordered them deployed. The support of United Torah Judaism and Shas parties are the last branch on which his government rests.
The Truth About the Submarine Affair (Yaakov Amidror, Haaretz+) “The submarines question” is really three different questions: 1. Does Israel need a sixth submarine? 2. The matter of Israel’s agreement to sell a submarine to Egypt. 3. Who needs nine submarines?
 

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