October 23 2018
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Israel and the Middle East News Update Tuesday, October 23 Headlines: • Jordan FM: We’ll Not Negotiate with Israel over Leased Land • Israeli Lawmaker: Khan Al-Ahmar Tests Israeli Sovereignty • Livni: Israel’s Handling of Lara Alqasem was ‘Stupid’ & 'Damages Israel' • Trump Said to Question Netanyahu Commitment to Peace • Chinese VP Wang Qishan Lands in Israel for Official Visit • Ministers to Discuss Refugees Bill that Seeks to Sidestep Supreme Court • Israel's Mossad Chief Says High-Tech Not Always a Spy's Friend • Explosive Device Found Near George Soros' New York Home Commentary: • Ha’aretz: “Netanyahu’s Current Politics Reopen 23-year-old Wound of Rabin’s Assassination” - By Chemi Shalev, commentator at Ha’aretz • Wall Street Journal: “Saudi Journalist’s Disappearance Reshapes Mideast Power Balance” - By Yaroslav Trofimov, columnist at The Wall Street Journal 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 23, 2018 Times of Isreal Jordan FM: We’ll Not Negotiate with Israel over Leased Land Jordan will not negotiate with Israel to renew part of the 1994 peace treaty that granted the Jewish state use of two small agricultural areas along the border, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said Monday night, dashing hopes in Jerusalem that Amman could be convinced to reverse course. Speaking to a local Jordanian news channel, Safadi insisted that the Hashemite kingdom would not renege on King Abdullah II’s promise to take back control of the areas that Israel has been allowed to lease for the past 25 years. “We will not negotiate over the sovereignty of these areas,” Safadi said of Naharayim in the north and the Tzofar enclave in the southern Arava desert. See also, “ Editorial-Jordan’s Warning Message” (Ha’aretz) Jerusalem Post Israeli Lawmaker: Khan Al-Ahmar Tests Israeli Sovereignty Khan al-Ahmar should be the test case by which Israel pushes back against international pressure, including before the International Criminal Court, MK Bezalel Smotrich (Bayit Yehudi) said on Monday evening. “Those who cave to pressure only invite more pressure,” said Smotrich as he stood on a sandy hilltop above the illegal West Bank Bedouin herding village of Khan al-Ahmar. Behind him in the distance, the sun set over the hilltops of Jerusalem and the Ma’aleh Adumim settlement. “The public understands that this is a test of sovereignty and our ability to advance our interests,” Smotrich said. See also, “The Khan Al Ahmar resistance is proof of the power of peaceful protests” (The National) i24 News Livni: Handling of Lara Alqasem was ‘Stupid’ & 'Damages Israel' Israel’s handling of the case of 22-year-old Palestinian-American was “stupid” and “damages Israel”, opposition leader Tzipi Livni told i24NEWS. After initially denying entry to Lara Alqasem due to her alleged support for BDS movement, Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled on Thursday to allow Palestinian-American student to enter the country in order to begin her masters in law at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Livni said the government should let them in to the country so they can learn first-hand about Israel, given the harm they can do remotely in the digital age. “I would like all those supporters of BDS to know Israel better, so why shouldn’t they come? If they want to damage Israel, they can do it elsewhere. We are living in a world of networks, everything is open.” Livni said Times of Israel Trump Said to Question Netanyahu Commitment to Peace US President Donald Trump has said he is willing to “be tough” on Israel in peace negotiations, mirroring the administration’s combative stance toward the Palestinian Authority, according to an Israeli report Monday. Such a move would mark a significant shift in the US approach to peace talks so far, which has seen a number of concessions to Israel and punitive measures against Ramallah, stoking Palestinian anger and a boycott of efforts to jump start peace talks. According to a Channel 10 news report, which cited four Western diplomats with knowledge of the matter, Trump told French President Emmanuel Macron, he was prepared to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 2 Calcalist Chinese VP Wang Qishan Lands in Israel for Official Visit Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan will arrive in Israel Monday on an official visit to take part in the China-Israel Joint Committee on Innovation Cooperation, an initiative established in May 2014 to bolster Israel-China cooperation in several domains related to innovation. Qishan is co-heading the joint committee this year alongside Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu. He is accompanied by a delegation of representatives from 13 Chinese ministries. Israeli-Chinese ties have been tightening for the past few years as U.S.-China tensions continued to mount. Israeli exports to China reached $2.8 billion in the first half of 2018—8.7% of Israeli exports during the period—according to data from Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics. See also, “Chinese VP kicks off visit to Israel” (Washington Post) Ynet News Ministers to Discuss Refugees Bill that Seeks to Sidestep HCJ Ministerial Committee for Legislation announced Monday that next week it will hold a discussion on a bill, promoted by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, which seeks to solve a dispute over the expulsion of African asylum seekers by sidestepping the High Court of Justice (HCJ). The bill is expected to have a special safe passage provision that would allow the legislators to formulate an outline that would be impossible for the HCJ to dismiss, as has already happened in the past. MK Shuli Mualem from Bayit Yehudi, who also promoted the bill, presented it with Shaked’s support, after Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, who had previously opposed similar legislations, announced that he would agree to the provision. "The safe passage provision will restore the proper balance between the three government branches. The most appropriate thing would have been to adapt a similar legislation as part of the broader” the justice minister stressed. Reuters Israel's Mossad Chief Says High-Tech Not Always a Spy's Friend Spying is getting harder because the same technologies that catch terrorists can sometimes uncover foreign intelligence operations, the director of Israel’s Mossad said on Monday. Joseph (Yossi) Cohen delivered rare public remarks at a budget conference held by Israel’s Finance Ministry. That suggested he may have emerged from the shadows to safeguard the funds and personnel allotment that, according to Israeli daily Haaretz, have made Mossad “the second largest spy organization in the West” after the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Cohen described Mossad as the tip of Israel’s spear against threats like Iranian nuclear and missile projects and Iranian backing for Palestinian Islamist Hamas militants. See also, “ Mossad chief wary of high-tech intelligence” (JPost) Ha’aretz Explosive Device Found Near George Soros' New York Home An explosive device was found on Monday in a mailbox at the New York home of Jewish Hungarian- American philanthropist George Soros, the authorities said. The New York Times reports that federal and state law enforcement officials responded to the scene in Katonah, N.Y., a hamlet in the upscale town of Bedford in northern Westchester, after local police received a call about a suspicious package Monday. Bomb squad technicians “proactively detonated” the device, the official said. The police said they turned the case over to the FBI, which did not immediately respond to requests for comment, The Times reported. See also, “Explosive device found in mailbox at George Soros’s New York home” (Times of Israel) 3 Ha’aretz – October 23, 2018 Netanyahu’s Current Politics Reopen 23-year-old Wound of Rabin’s Assassination By Chemi Shalev, commentator at Ha’aretz • Anniversaries of Yitzhak Rabin’s assassinations traditionally create tension between left and right, but this year’s commemoration was different. The ceremonies and speeches that mark the day an Israeli prime minister was murdered for political reasons showed that, despite the 23 years that have passed, the feelings of bitterness and resentment in both camps are, if anything, stronger than ever. Rather than healing with time, the wound is as gaping, festering and venomous today as it was in the days following November 4, 1995. • Rabin’s grandchildren, Noa Rothman and Yonatan Ben Artzi, usually address the annual memorial ceremony, but their words have never been harsher. Leaders of the Labor opposition routinely allude to the right-wing incitement that preceded the assassination, but not in the blunt and damning terms used by Opposition Leader Tzipi Livni and former Labor chair Shelly Yechimovich in the Knesset on Sunday. • Benjamin Netanyahu and other right wing politicians always rebuff the claim that they inflamed and incited and created the atmosphere that inspired Rabin’s assassin Yigal Amir, but Culture Minister Miri Regev declared this year that right wing incitement simply never happened and her colleague, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, asserted that the left is just as dangerous. The tension stems, first and foremost, from the very fact that Benjamin Netanyahu is still prime minister. He’s been prime minister, in fact, for more than half the time that has gone by since Rabin’s killing. • The left hates him all year, but on the day of Rabin’s assassination, he is especially despised. The left has never absolved Netanyahu of his sinful fanning of right wing fury after the 1993 signing of the Oslo Accords, or of exploiting the ensuing wave of Palestinian terror attacks for political gain. Netanyahu, needless to say, hasn’t apologized, either.