October 16 2018

Israel and the Middle East News Update

Tuesday, October 16

Headlines:

• Australia Considering Jerusalem Embassy Move: Netanyahu • PM: Israel Wants Peace but Abbas Makes It Impossible • Livni: ‘Hope This is the Last Knesset Netanyahu speaks as PM’ • Clashes Erupt After Israeli Forces Close Palestinian School • 32 Palestinians Reportedly Hurt in Gaza Beach Protest • Israel’s DC Envoy Refuses to Meet J Street, Lefty Jewish Groups • More Israelis Identify with Conservative, Reform Judaism: Study • Anti-Racism Rally in Berlin Calls for Destruction of Israel

Commentary:

• Yedioth Ahronoth: “An Israeli Wedding Between an Arab and a Jew” - By Daniel Friedman, former Israeli Minister of Justice • Ha’aretz: “Netanyahu Attacks Usual Suspects, but His Mind is Deep in the Next Elections” - By Yossi Verter, political commentator at Ha’aretz

S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace 633 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20004 The Hon. Robert Wexler, President ● Yoni Komorov, Editor ● Aaron Zucker, Associate Editor

News Excerpts October 16, 2018 Reuters: Australia Considering Jerusalem Embassy Move: Netanyahu Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Australia was considering recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The status of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest obstacles to a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians. Israel regards all of the city, including the eastern sector that it annexed after the 1967 Middle East war, as its capital. Last December, President Trump reversed decades of U.S. policy by recognizing Jerusalem, enraging the Palestinians and Western allies. See also, “Australian PM Tells Netanyahu: We May Recognize Jerusalem as Israel's Capital and Move Embassy” (Ha’aretz)

Ha’aretz PM: Israel Wants Peace but Abbas Makes It Impossible Prime Minister Netanyahu said Monday that Israel wants peace but Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas makes it impossible. Speaking at the Knesset winter session opening, Netanyahu said that the obstacles to peace lie with the Palestinians and not Israel. Netanyahu criticized Abbas, "who demands a Palestinian state clean of Jews," for attacking Israel's nation-state law. He added that Israel continues to act against Iran in Syria "these very days." In defending his record in the face of his critics, Netanyahu noted the close relationship between Israel and the U.S. administration. "Trump has brought cooperation between us to new heights," the PM declared, and relations with the United States were better than ever. "We have never had cooperation like that with the greatest power on earth." Netanyahu's speech was punctuated by interruptions from the ranks of the opposition parties.

Ynet News Livni: ‘Hope This is the Last Knesset Netanyahu speaks as PM’ Opposition leader Tzipi Livni took the stand following Netanyahu's speech at the Knesset’s last session opening. "I hope that this is the last Knesset session in which Benjamin Netanyahu speaks as a prime minister. It's not a personal issue, it's a national one,” she raged. Livni also condemned what she views as Netanyahu’s disregard for those who did not vote for him, saying the prime minister wants for the public to show “loyalty” to him personally and not to the state. "What disintegrates us from within is not the opposition's criticism of the government but the fact that the government has become an opposition to the democratic institutions, to the legal system, to the enforcement of the law and media," Livni asserted. See also, “Livni: PM sowing internal hatred, eroding Israel’s democracy” (TOI)

I24 News Clashes Erupt After Israeli Forces Close Palestinian School Clashes broke out in the West Bank on Monday after Israeli forces ordered the closure of a Palestinian school, AFP correspondents said. The Israeli army said the school had been the source of months of violence, with stones thrown at a nearby major road used by its forces and Israeli settlers. The school serves the Palestinian villages of As-Sawiya and Al-Lubban south of Nablus and is located on a main road through the West Bank. The Israeli army on Sunday issued an order for the school to be closed, but students tried to enter on Monday morning alongside some officials, AFP journalists said. Israeli soldiers and border police fired tear gas at protesters, including into the school premises.

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Ynet News 32 Palestinians Reportedly Hurt in Gaza Beach Protest Gaza's Health Ministry says 32 Palestinians have been wounded by Israeli fire on Monday during a mass protest along the beach near the Israeli frontier. Protesters threw flaming tires over the fence, while fishing boats hoisted Palestinian flags. Israeli forces responded with tear gas and live fire. Earlier, an IAF aircraft fired at a Hamas position in the southern Gaza Strip after two terrorists planted an explosive device near the border fence. The explosive device went off inside the strip and caused damage to the fence. No IDF soldiers were hurt. The ruling Hamas terror group has been staging violent border protests for the past six months in hopes of breaking the blockade over Gaza. See also, “ Israeli fire wounds 32 Palestinians in Gaza beach protes” (AP)

Times of Israel Israel’s DC Envoy Refuses to Meet J Street, Lefty Jewish Groups Since taking his post as Israel’s ambassador to the United States in 2013, Ron Dermer has refused to meet with J Street, a liberal Middle East advocacy group. He has likewise not engaged with other left- leaning Jewish groups often critical of the Netanyahu government. Liberal Jewish activists told The Times of Israel that the envoy’s unwillingness to speak with them is further evidence of the splintering relations between Jerusalem and the American Diaspora, and the growing partisan divide over Israel in the United States. “He may deeply disagree with our views, but they are representative of the majority of American Jews on Israel and a viable solution to the conflict,” Jessica Rosenblum, J Street’s spokesperson, told the TOI. “And it’s not just a majority of American Jews, but a growing majority.”

Times of Israel More Israelis Identify with Conservative, Reform Judaism: Study A new survey has shown a significant rise in support for Conservative and Reform Judaism in Israel, as well as a growing number of people who identify as Conservative and Reform Jews. The study by the Jewish People Policy Institute showed that 12-13 percent of Jewish Israelis (around 800,000 people) identify as being members of the more liberal streams of Judaism, a number that stood at around 7% only five years ago. The Reform and Conservative streams have traditionally been seen as niche movements in Israel, with many members coming from English-speaking backgrounds. However, the study showed that while only about 12,000 are registered members of the liberal streams, hundreds of thousands more identify with them, reflecting growing frustration with Israel’s Orthodox hegemony. See also, “Rising Streams: Conservative and Reform Judaism in Israel” (JPPI)

Jerusalem Post Anti-Racism Rally in Berlin Calls for Destruction of Israel A massive march, with an estimated turnout of over 200,000 people held in the heart of Germany's capital city on Saturday to protest right-wing extremism, featured speakers who urged the obliteration of the Jewish state and support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel. The German Middle East expert Thomas von der Osten-Sacken wrote an article on the website of the Austrian-based think tank Mena-Watch, with the headline "Speaker at indivisible demonstration calls for Israel's destruction." The protest was called #unteilbar (indivisible) by its organizers. Demonstrators at the march hoisted symbols in support of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), according to German media reports. The European Union and the US designated the PFLP a terrorist group. In 2014, PFLP terrorists murdered four rabbis in a synagogue in Jerusalem. 3

Yedioth Ahronoth – October 15, 2018 An Israeli Wedding Between an Arab and a Jew

The marriage between Lucy Aharish and Tsahi Halevi, an Arab-Israeli Muslim and a Jew, is a joyous occasion. The state may not recognize interfaith marriages, but the liberal public does, and we must hope that liberals in Israel remain strong to protect mixed families from facing the challenges lying ahead.

By Daniel Friedman, former Israeli Minister of Justice

• The marriage of Lucy Aharish and Tsahi Halevi is a joyous occasion, and the couple deserve blessings. Aharish is a prominent media personality. She is pleasant, intelligent, and her cultural style is the opposite of the vulgar style often heard in public discourse. • Aharish is a Muslim-Israeli who married an Israeli Jew. Unfortunately, the state does not regulate such marriages. It is not Aharish's fault that Israel does regulate the right to marriage in a series of cases, including interfaith marriages. But at least, in this matter, liberal ideas can be expressed which recognize a private wedding ceremony, such as the wedding of Aharish and Halevi, even though the state's recognition of this marriage is limited and partial at best. • In addition to the fact that Israel violates the human rights of interfaith spouses by refraining from regulating such marriage, a number of questions arise that deserve our attention. The traditional Jewish approach opposed intermarriage and responded by rejecting these couples. The Jewish religion has an exclusive nature, which cannot tolerate members of another religion. • From here we wish to conclude that the Jewish nation also denies the possibility of including members of other religions in its midst. Those who wish to join the Jewish people can do so only through proper religious channel (i.e., it is impossible to join our people through secular- civilian channels). This approach may have been justified in the past. Today I believe that it has no place, certainly not in the State of Israel. • It is worth recognizing that Judaism is not only a religion or nationality, but also a rich culture based on language and literature thousands of years old. There is no reason to prevent non- Jews from belonging to Judaism and taking part in it. The Germans were talking about "Weimar culture," the circle of German arts and sciences. The French are currently engaged in their Francophone culture, which includes all those who speak the French language, even members of different nationalities who practice various religions. • In my opinion, the State of Israel and the Jewish people in general have an interest in accepting new members without examining the Kippahs of those aspiring members—whether they are secular Jews, practice another religion, or belong to a different culture. Not to mention the question, which has yet to be answered, of whether an Israeli nation has been established in Israel. • Back to the matter at hand: there is no need to elaborate on the issue of nationality, since I believe it is impossible to dispute the fact that Israel has a flourishing Jewish-Israeli culture in literature, cinema, theater, science and the media. It is only fitting that those who wish to join our culture will be able to do so. Aharish is part of this culture. She even contributes to it, despite the fact that she belongs to a different one. Her right to marry should be recognized, without having to convert or practice the laws of a religion she does not believe in. 4

• A warning was heard about the problems facing the children of interfaith spouses. The role of the state is to ensure that such problems are avoided, and that a child born to a mixed couple will not be harmed because his parents do not practice the same religion. But even if the state does not act, we must hope that the liberal public in Israel remains strong enough to protect these families from facing such problems. • Finally, the wedding of Aharish and Halevi, like many other examples, shows the fact that Israel does not uphold the right to marry—and lets the religious-Orthodox stream have the final say in this matter—does not achieve its goal. The state does not prevent marriages between members of different religions, just as it does not prevent spouses, even when they are both Jews, from marrying outside the jurisdiction of the rabbinate.

SUMMARY: There is no need to elaborate on the issue of nationality, since I believe it is impossible to dispute the fact that Israel has a flourishing Jewish-Israeli culture in

literature, cinema, theater, science and the media. It is only fitting that those who wish to join our culture will be able to do so. Aharish is part of this culture. She even contributes to it, despite the fact that she belongs to a different one. Her right to marry should be recognized, without having to convert or practice the laws of a religion she does not believe in. the wedding of Aharish and Halevi, like many other examples, shows the fact that Israel

does not uphold the right to marry—and lets the religious-Orthodox stream have the final say in this matter—does not achieve its goal. The state does not prevent marriages between members of different religions, just as it does not prevent spouses, even when they are both Jews, from marrying outside the jurisdiction of the rabbinate.

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Ha’aretz, October 16, 2018 Netanyahu Attacks Usual Suspects, but his Mind is Deep in the Next Elections

By Yossi Verter, political commentator at Ha’aretz

• Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu built great expectations when he tweeted, an hour before the Knesset’s winter session opened, that he was about to deliver an “interesting speech.” The media and political elites waited expectantly. But what we saw from the Knesset podium were the same old tricks from the same old Bibi, which were even staler than usual. • The punch lines (“Not a stolen country, a golden country!”) were weak. The self-glorification (“What a wonderful decade!”) was hackneyed. The whining about the media, which undermines freedom of expression, was warmed-over hash reheated for the thousandth time. • The speech was also a spectacular display of effrontery from the man suspected of bribery in two cases, 2000 and 4000, that revolve around allegedly criminal intervention in the media market. And it hit the peak of chutzpah when delivered by a man who tried in the past (and may still be trying) to destroy two media outlets, Channel 10 television and the public broadcasting corporation. • The inevitable sparring with the opposition also never got off the ground. Netanyahu once again termed his rivals “sourpusses.” And the pauper from the villa in Caesarea, which is maintained with great largesse by the state, even complained about “people who dwell in luxurious living rooms and lofty towers.” That was apparently a reference to former Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s luxury apartment in the Akirov Towers. Netanyahu never mentioned the word “elections.” But that doesn’t mean that in mid-November, once the runoff elections for mayoral races are over, he won’t dissolve the Knesset on some pretext or another. • What’s really sour here is the stench given off by this government. But in any event, it will complete almost a full four-year term, a great political achievement for the man who heads it. Barring a war, heaven forbid, it no longer has anything to do. • There’s no doubt that Netanyahu’s mind is already focused on his Likud party’s next campaign, but also on the day after the election. One name he did mention in his speech was Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, chairman of the Kulanu party, whom he credited with the “major achievement” of lowering both housing prices and unemployment. Netanyahu isn’t usually generous in handing out credit, except when doing so serves his needs. • In contrast, the name of his Likud colleague, Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz, somehow escaped him, even though he bestowed lavish praise on the “unprecedented revolution in transportation” that occurred during the past wonderful decade, his decade (“trains, tunnels, roads, tunnels”).This praise proved a jinx. He had only just finished speaking when the train on the brand-new line between Ben-Gurion Airport and Jerusalem got stuck in one of those vaunted tunnels. • Tzipi Livni, delivering her first speech as opposition leader during the current Knesset, was very downbeat. Like Netanyahu, she was appealing to her base, the center-left. She called the prime minister a “criminal suspect” and declared that “corruption is a way of life” for the state’s

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current leadership. She didn’t hesitate to bring Netanyahu’s family into the mix. (“The state doesn’t belong only to you or your family.”) It’s about time. Netanyahu’s family is fair game. His wife is accused of aggravated fraud in a case that involved stealing public funds. His son Yair, whose bodyguards and drivers are government workers, regularly spews hate speech against half the country. • Livni’s speech included all the requisite elements: The Declaration of Independence, support for the media and a defense of state institutions like the State Prosecutor’s Office and the army, which are under attack from Netanyahu’s flunkies – MKs David Amsalem, David Bitan and Co. But that was also more of the same, nothing we haven’t heard before. • Perhaps Livni and her colleagues in the opposition should have tried a different tack – mocking a government which, on matters of national security, looks like a helpless government, one with no answer but empty bluster to the incendiary kites and balloons from the Gaza Strip. Instead of fighting Hamas, Likud is fighting the army chief of staff. Instead of finding a solution for the communities near Gaza, the education minister, a member of the security cabinet, is abusing the defense minister. • “That debate which is a source of pride and strength for a democracy sometimes becomes a parody of democracy,” President Reuven Rivlin said in his speech. He was referring to Israeli society as a whole, but he could just as well have been referring to Israel’s government in the run-up to the 2019 elections.

SUMMARY: There’s no doubt that Netanyahu’s mind is already focused on his Likud party’s next campaign, but also on the day after the election. One name he did mention in his speech was Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, chairman of the Kulanu party, whom he credited with the “major achievement” of lowering both housing prices and unemployment. Netanyahu isn’t usually generous in handing out credit, except when doing so serves his needs. In contrast, the name of his Likud colleague, Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz, somehow escaped him, even though he bestowed lavish praise on the “unprecedented revolution in transportation” that occurred during the past wonderful decade, his decade (“trains, tunnels, roads, tunnels”).This praise proved a jinx. He had only just finished speaking when the train on the brand-new line between Ben-Gurion Airport and Jerusalem got stuck in one of those vaunted tunnels. Unless what the State Attorney’s Office is actually worried about is that a single judge will not be able to withstand the pressure when hearing the case. In their speeches at legal conferences, top State Attorney’s Office officials praise the professionalism of the judges, but in practice, they have doubts. This says something about the status of the judges; this says something about the State Attorney’s Office.

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