Israel and Middle East News Update

Monday, March 22

Headlines: ● Thousands Protest Against Netanyahu Ahead of Election ● Rivlin: Won't Act To Form Unity Government After Election ● Rivlin Meets with New UN Mideast Peace Coordinator ● Takes PA Foreign Minister's VIP Border Pass ● Palestinians Expand Vaccination Campaign ● IDF Arrests 2 Armed Palestinians Who Crossed Gaza Border ● Iran Threatens US Army Post and Top General ● Groups Call on Kerry To Stop Trans- Gulf Oil Deal

Commentary: ● Yedioth Ahronoth: “Israel Wants a Change’’ - By Eshkol Nevo

● Ma’ariv: “Elimination Episode’’ - By Ben Caspit

S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace 1725 I St NW Suite 300, Washington, DC 20006 The Hon. Robert Wexler, President Editor: Yousef Bashir News Excerpts March 22, 2021 Israel Hayom Thousands Protest Against Netanyahu Ahead of Election More than 20,000 people demonstrated in , calling for the ouster of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a final show of force ahead of tomorrow’s election. The demonstration was organized by 25 protest groups. The so-called black-flag protest movement held other, smaller protests in numerous locations across Israel. The weekly protests against Netanyahu have taken place for nine months. But they have lost strength in recent months in part due to cold winter weather and after elections were declared in December. The grassroots protest movement believes Netanyahu cannot serve as prime minister while he is on trial for corruption charges. Many also object to his handling of the coronavirus crisis. Dig Deeper ‘‘Bennett Signs Pledge Not To Join Government with Yair Lapid as Prime Minister’’ (Times of Israel)

Ynet News Rivlin: Won't Act To Form Unity Government After Election President Reuven Rivlin said he will not act to help form a unity government after the elections unlike his efforts following the previous national vote. Rivlin pressed Netanyahu and Blue & White leader Benny Gantz to form a unity government following the election in September of 2019, which resulted in a stalemate that at the time would not allow either political bloc to form a coalition. Sources said that during behind-closed-door talks, Rivlin said the idea of forming a unity government this time is "irrelevant" due to the plethora of parties that see themselves as major players. Rivlin is also not expected to push for preliminary consultations on the identity of the Knesset member who will receive the mandate to form the government and will only do so only after receiving the official results, in contrast to recent election cycles. Dig Deeper ‘‘Israel's Election Is Heading Toward a Deadlock, Final Polls Predict’’ (Jerusalem Post)

I24 News Rivlin Meets with New UN Mideast Peace Coordinator President Rivlin met with the new UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process in Jerusalem to discuss regional matters and the COVID-19 pandemic. The two discussed the current regional challenges and the various needs raised by the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the important opportunities the Abraham Accords offer the peoples of the region, the president’s spokesperson said in a statement. The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, formerly known as UNSCO, represents the UN in all diplomatic efforts in regards to the Middle East. The international body also coordinates the humanitarian work of various UN agencies in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Dig Deeper ‘‘Poll: Americans’ Support for Israel High; Approval for PA and Palestinians Rises’’ (Times of Israel)

2 Jerusalem Post Shin Bet Takes PA Foreign Minister's VIP Border Pass The Shin Bet took Palestinian Authority (PA) Foreign Minister Riad Malki's VIP border crossing pass and canceled crossing coordination as he returned from a meeting at the International Criminal Court (ICC), Palestinian sources reported. Malki was delayed at the Allenby border crossing between Israel and Jordan after returning from a meeting in relation to the investigation of Israel. Israeli sources said, "Riad Malki is leading Palestinian efforts before the International Criminal Court. with the purpose of harming the freedom of movement of senior Israeli officials and even to endanger their safety. These kinds of confrontation actions are inconsistent with the established relations between the State of Israel and the Palestinian Authority." Dig Deeper ‘‘Israelis Retaliate Against Palestinian Minister for ICC Move’’ (Axios)

Associated Press Palestinians Expand Vaccination Campaign The Palestinian Health Ministry began administering the first doses of coronavirus vaccines it received from the global COVAX initiative to health care workers and older residents in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The World Health Organization and its partners running the UN COVAX program delivered 61,400 vaccines to the PA, whereas 21,300 were shipped to the blockaded, Hamas- controlled Gaza Strip. The vaccine shipment is a boost to the West Bank, where the PA has struggled to obtain vaccines as the infection rate surged in recent weeks. Until now it had only secured 10,000 doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine and 2,000 shots from Israel for the roughly 3 million Palestinians living in the West Bank. Even with the arrival of the vaccines, the Palestinian areas lag far behind Israel, which has vaccinated some 80% of its adult population. The disparity has drawn attention to the inequities in the global distribution of vaccines between rich and poor countries. The Pfizer/BioNTech and AstraZeneca vaccines are the first distributed by COVAX in the Palestinian territories. Dig Deeper ‘‘Abbas Receives First Vaccine Dose as Palestinian Inoculation Drive Set To Begin’’ (Times of Israel)

I24 News IDF Arrests 2 Armed Palestinians Who Crossed Gaza Border Israeli troops arrested two Palestinians who crossed the security fence separating the Gaza Strip from Israel, an IDF spokesman said in a statement. The individuals were armed with knives. Security forces took them in for further questioning. In a separate incident on the northern front, IDF troops arrested three suspects who encroached into Israel from Lebanon. In a statement, the IDF said that "A short while ago, IDF troops spotted three suspects who crossed the Blue Line from Lebanon into Israeli territory adjacent to the community of Yiftah. The troops apprehended the suspects and they are being questioned at the scene." Last week, the IDF arrested an armed Palestinian who entered Israel from the Palestinian enclave. An initial interrogation revealed that the suspect was in possession of three grenades, which he had left behind in a field adjacent to the border fence prior to his arrest. Dig Deeper ‘‘Palestinian Authority Attempting To Conceal Terrorist Stipends’’ (Jerusalem Post)

3 Times of Israel Iran Threatens US Army Post and Top General Iran has made threats against Fort McNair, an Army base in Washington DC, and against the Army’s vice chief of staff, two senior US intelligence officials said. They said communications intercepted by the National Security Agency in January showed that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard discussed mounting “USS Cole-style attacks” against the base, referring to the October 2000 suicide attack in which a small boat pulled up alongside the Navy destroyer in the Yemeni port of Aden and exploded, killing 17 sailors. The intelligence also revealed threats to kill Gen. Joseph M. Martin and plans to infiltrate and surveil the base, according to the officials, who were not authorized to publicly discuss national security matters and spoke on condition of anonymity. The base, one of the oldest in the country, is Martin’s official residence. The intercepted chatter was among members of the elite Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and centered on potential military options to avenge the US killing of the former Quds leader, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, in Baghdad in January 2020, the two intelligence officials said. Dig Deeper ‘‘US, Belgium, France, Japan Hold Middle East Naval Drills Amid Iran Tensions’’ (I24 News)

Times of Israel Groups Call on Kerry To Stop Trans-Israel Gulf Oil Deal Environmental organizations and activists have written to the US special presidential envoy for climate change, John Kerry, charging that an agreement between companies in Israel and the UAE to use Israel as a land bridge for the transport of crude oil from the Persian Gulf to European markets is “contrary to the new spirit of Israeli-US climate cooperation.” “We have specific environmental concerns relating to the likelihood of oil spills in the Gulf of Aqaba [that could endanger] the unique coral reefs of Eilat in Israel, the Sinai Peninsula [in] Egypt and Aqaba in Jordan,” read the letter, which also warned “of the pipeline potentially polluting the unique ecosystems of the Arava and Negev deserts” and of “oil spills occurring off the Mediterranean coast of Israel.” It continued, “No less significant, we believe that the project is contrary to the new spirit of Israeli-US climate cooperation that we were so pleased to learn about following conversations [that] we understand have been held with Israeli Ambassador to the US Gilad Erdan.” The letter was signed by the heads of Zalul, EcoOcean and The Coast Patrol, all marine environmental organizations, as well as the chairpeople or directors of the Eilat Conservation Society, EcoPeace ME, the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, Home Guardians and Green Course. The CEOs of the Eilat Eilot Renewable Energy Initiative and the solar power company Energiya Global Capital also signed.

4 Yedioth Ahronoth – March 22, 2021 Israel Wants a Change By Eshkol Nevo ● Israel wants a change. That isn’t merely [my own personal] heartfelt wish. In polls in which people are asked whether they want to see Netanyahu replaced, the absolute and unequivocal majority of people respond in the affirmative. The new and unprecedented political map that has been emerged ahead of these elections is a cry for change. Ever since I can remember myself—as a teenager, as a soldier voting for the first time, as a father taking his daughters to the polling station—the seamline of Israeli society has always been between the right and the left, the left and the right. But now, in the current election, leaders and public figures from the so-called “national” camp have mustered the impressive courage to speak out against Binyamin Netanyahu and to say to him: No more. ● You must not stay on. Gideon Saar, Yifat Shasha-Biton, Zeev Elkin, Avigdor Liberman, Eli Avidar and in many senses Naftali Bennett too—all of whom are expressly right wingers - have come to recognize that the danger posed by Netanyahu’s continued tenure is so severe as to justify new political alliances. All of them, without exception, feel that something deep down inside Netanyahu has gone awry in all that pertains to the balance between his personal interests and the public’s interests. And that we, as a society, mustn’t leave the helm in the hands of a man who has forgotten what it means to be an Israeli. ● Despite the fact that Netanyahu has enlisted the full gamut of his skills over the years to undermine them, the fundamental values of this country have proved to be alive and well, in a way that inspires hope. They are drawn from the Jewish tradition; they appear in the Declaration of Independence; they were crystalized and honed under the influence of Israel’s wars and, to no less a degree, under the influence of Israel’s culture. Those values are simple, clear and are accepted by a majority in our society: democracy, mutual responsibility, respect for the rule of law, integrity and personal example. Netanyahu has challenged all of them since his earliest days in office. But this past year he seems to have crossed every red line. ● That man, who is facing prosecution on criminal charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust and who nevertheless has taken the liberty to attack and malign the courts and the police incessantly—has forgotten what it means to be Israeli. That man, who sought to secure hundreds of thousands of shekels’ worth of tax breaks for himself while hundreds of thousands of families were struggling to keep their heads above water—has forgotten what it means to be Israeli. That man, who prevented the state budget from being approved in the midst of an economic crisis only to leave himself an escape route from [honoring] the alternating premiership arrangement he signed—has forgotten what it means to be Israeli. That man, who allowed one sector of Israeli society to violate the coronavirus regulations while enforcing them on other sectors—has forgotten what it means to be Israeli. That man, who described the 6,000 people who have died of the coronavirus as “paka-paka”—has forgotten what it means to be Israeli. 5 ● And that man, who has tried to deny his opponents their right to protest and describes them as “spreaders of disease” and “anarchists”—has forgotten what it means to be Israeli. A straight line connects between the Balfour Street protests, which reached their peak last night, and the courage that has been shown by right wingers who have spoken out against Netanyahu. Both are impressive and moving Israeli reactions to a prime minister who has been trying—thus far unsuccessfully—to corrupt the Israeli essence. We can only hope that after this election an Israeli coalition without Netanyahu will be formed. A coalition of change that creates an alliance of stately right-wing parties and the parties in the center and on the left. A coalition that will be founded on the basis of a broad consensus that is underpinned by the fundamental values of this beloved country of ours. Go to vote on Tuesday so that that happens.

6 Ma’ariv – March 22, 2021 Elimination Episode By Ben Caspit ● On June 1, 1986 the cabinet was convened for a regular meeting. The agenda was mundane—approving ministers’ travels overseas and other minor matters of that kind. All of a sudden, Prime Minister announced that another motion, one that had not been on the agenda, would be put to a vote: the election of a new attorney general. The ministers were stunned. Attorney General was present in the room. Why was he being replaced so suddenly, without any prior warning? And to hold an election of a new AG immediately, without any preparation? While the ministers were trying to figure out what was going on, Justice Minister Yitzhak Modai introduced the new attorney general who would replace Zamir: , a District Court judge. The ministers were given a sheet of paper with Harish’s CV. ● Who is in favor of appointing Harish as the new attorney general? They all voted, and Harish was appointed unanimously. When will Harish assume his duties? Prime Minister Peres and the deputy prime minister, Yitzhak Shamir, proposed that the appointment be made effective immediately, today. Some of the ministers muttered that that would be unseemly. “It’ll look like a sacking,” they said. A compromise was ultimately reached that Harish assumed his duties within 48 hours. Harish’s appointment was confirmed on June 1, and he assumed his duties on June 3. Professor Yitzhak Zamir was stunned, but did not cling. He had been an independent, powerful attorney general with strong opinions and then, just like that, he wasn’t anymore. Yes, he was sacked. He was executed in the city square. ● The decision to replace Zamir stemmed from the bus number 300 affair. Two years after four terrorists attacked bus number 300, it turned out that two of the terrorists had been captured alive and killed while they were being held for interrogation. Everything was sewn up so as get Brig. Gen. Yitzhak Mordechai, who was the chief infantry and paratroopers officer at the time, to take the fall. But three senior GSS officials refused to hold their tongue and contacted the attorney general to share the truth with him: the terrorists had been killed by GSS officials on orders from high up. As high up as possible. Zamir understood the implications. He decided not to sweep the affair under the rug. The seeds of that affair were planted while Shamir was prime minister in 1984 and broke ground during Peres’s tenure as prime minister (1986). Peres and Shamir were in agreement with one another: the GSS had to be protected. Zamir refused to go along with them. So they got rid of Zamir and then reached out to President Herzog, who granted clemency to everyone involved. The GSS director, Avraham Shalom, stepped down and that was the end of the story. ● That was the only time in Israeli history that an attorney general who had acted ethically and legally was given a drumhead court-martial. New protocols have been established since then for appointing attorneys general. In the aftermath of the Baron-Hebron affair, a decision was made to have candidates for attorney general be presented by a special selection committee that is to be chaired by a retired Supreme Court justice. 7 ● Not anything that the next Netanyahu government will consider as being any sort of obstacle. Ohana-Amsalem-Levin aren’t going to let a pesky committee stand in their way. If Netanyahu does win the election tomorrow and has a right-wing-Haredi majority, the sky will be the limit. Benny Gantz’s term as justice minister is due to expire a few days after the election. He won’t be able to continue to serve as the acting justice minister. Netanyahu has refused to allow a permanent justice minister to be appointed instead of him, and for good reason. Everything is primed and ready for sacking Mandelblit. Amir Ohana will introduce the motion, the cabinet ministers will receive a sheet of paper citing the candidate’s CV, and Mandelblit’s metaphorical body will wash up a few days later on a distant beach. ● Does that strike you as being unimaginable? It really isn’t. This past year we have seen every red line get crossed on a daily basis and we have seen all of the checks and balances that this country was built on get violated. When the coalition agreement was drafted for the last government, Gantz and Avi Nissenkorn were warned that there was a lacuna in the section about the state budget, but they didn’t take that problem seriously. “It was unbelievable,” said Gantz subsequently, “that Netanyahu might ignore the coronavirus and the economic situation and the agreement and would not approve the budget that he personally insisted had to be approved with the utmost speed. That seemed utterly unimaginable.” Reality ultimately exceeded Gantz’s imagination. Anyone who is considering taking the day off tomorrow to go hiking or vacationing; anyone who has despaired of the situation and thinks that it’s all a lost cause anyway; anyone who isn’t sure—they all need to look around and understand what the alternative is. ● Yesterday the National Security Council released a summary of the issues that were discussed by the council members about what Israel can expect in terms of the International Criminal Court in The Hague in early April. Israel is supposed to respond to the questions that were put to it by the International Criminal Court regarding the decision to allow a criminal investigation to be begun into allegations against Israel. The National Security Council’s recommendation were: do not remove Khan al-Ahmar at present; be very cautious in all that pertains to construction in Judea and Samaria; and try to persuade the world that peace negotiations can be renewed with the Palestinians. Good luck to Netanyahu with all that. A Smotrich-Ben Gvir government is going to stop the International Criminal Court investigation. If it runs into any trouble, it can always ask the new attorney general, Yaakov Bardugo, for help.

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