Israel and the Middle East News Update

Monday, May 18

Headlines: ● After 508-Days, Israel’s New Gov't Finally Sworn in ● EU Members May Impose Bilateral Sanctions on Israel ● PM: Time has Come for the Annexation of WB Settlements ● Airstrikes in East Syria Kill Iran-Backed Fighters ● U.S. Lawmakers Warn Against Pulling Troops out of Sinai ● Spat Exposes Tensions Between Israel, Evangelicals ● Israeli Convicted of Murders in Duma Terror Attack ● Chinese Ambassador Death Due to Cardiac Arrest - Police

Commentary: ● Yedioth Ahronoth: “Give Women the Power” − By Merav Betito

● Yedioth Ahronoth: “Breach of Trust” − By Sima Kadmon

S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace 633 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20004 The Hon. Robert Wexler, President News Excerpts May 18, 2020 Times of Israel After 508-Days, Israel’s New Gov't Finally Sworn in Israel’s 35th government was sworn in at the on Sunday, bringing an end to a 508-day political deadlock during which lawmakers were unable to cobble together a coalition. The Knesset voted 73-46 in favor of the new government. Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu was sworn in as prime minister and will head the government for the fifth term of his political career. Blue and White chairman was sworn in as “alternate prime minister and future prime minister” as well as minister of defense. Netanyahu promised from the podium to hand over the premiership to Gantz on November 17, 2021. In addition to Netanyahu and Gantz, 32 ministers were sworn in, including the first female ultra-Orthodox minister, Omer Yankelevich (Diaspora affairs), and the first Ethiopia-born minister, Pnina Tamano-Shata (immigration and absorption), in Israel’s history. See also ‘‘Trump Officials Congratulate Netanyahu, Gantz for Forming a Gov't’’ ( Post)

Israel Hayom EU Members May Impose Bilateral Sanctions on Israel A senior official within the European Union has warned that some member states might impose bilateral sanctions on Israel over its efforts to extend sovereignty to Judea and Samaria communities. This new path to punishing Israel has been explored in recent days after a collective measure against Israel on this issue failed to pass in Brussels. This new plan essentially circumvents the normal procedures that require consensus among EU members on foreign policy. If it is implemented, the plan would see the hostile countries in the EU cancel various agreements with Israel, as well as projects and programs that are carried out in collaboration with the Jewish state. See also ‘‘Sen. Feinstein: Annexation to Lead to Consequences for Israel's Security’’ (Jerusalem Post)

I24 News PM: Time has Come for the Annexation of WB Settlements Netanyahu made the remarks just before Israel's new 35th government was set to be sworn in. "The time has come to write a new and glorious chapter in the annals of Zionism," the premier boasted, insisting that annexation "would not detract from peace, on the contrary, bring us closer to it." Netanyahu said that Israel's settlements are a reality on the ground that can't be ignored and would be a part of Israel either now or in the future, whatever the scenario. "The time has come for our Palestinian neighbors and all the Knesset parties to recognize this," he added ignoring protests from members of the Joint List, a political alliance made up of four smaller Arab-majority parties. See also ‘‘Israel's New Foreign Minister Ashkenazi: Trump Plan Is a Historic Opportunity’’ (Ha'aretz)

2 Ha’aretz Airstrikes in East Syria Kill Iran-Backed Fighters Unknown warplanes attacked Iran-backed fighters in eastern Syria near the Iraqi border, killing several of the Iraqi militiamen, Syrian opposition activists said Sunday. The strikes late Saturday targeted a base near the border town of Boukamal, killing seven fighters, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor. The strikes came days after reinforcements were brought into the area from Iraq, the Observatory and Abu Laila said. Last week, a U.S. State Department official, who joined Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in his lightning visit to Jerusalem, said that it seems that Israel has been recently intensifying its airstrikes in Syria. See also ‘‘Seven Iran-Backed Fighters Killed in Airstrike in East Syria’’ (Jerusalem Post)

Jewish Telegraphic Agency U.S. Lawmakers Warn Against Pulling Troops out of Sinai Twelve lawmakers representing key Senate and House of Representatives committees called for continued U.S. support of the international peacekeeping force in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula in a bipartisan letter last week. The chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate committees on foreign relations, armed services and appropriations wrote to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark Esper, saying that the international force, a lynchpin of the 1979 Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty, “has been vital to the peace treaty’s durability.” Esper reportedly has been pushing for the withdrawal of American troops from the U.S.-led force, despite opposition from Israel and the U.S. State Department. He has called for the withdrawal as a cost-cutting measure and because the soldiers are at increased risk. The letter’s signees include Sen. Lindsay Graham and Reps. Eliot Engel and Nita Lowey.

Ynet News Spat Exposes Tensions Between Israel, Evangelicals An evangelical broadcaster who boasted of miraculously securing a TV license in Israel now risks being taken off the air over suspicions of trying to convert Jews to Christianity. The controversy over “GOD TV” has put both Israel and its evangelical Christian supporters in an awkward position, exposing tensions the two sides have long papered over. Evangelical Christians, particularly in the United States, are among the strongest supporters of Israel, viewing it as the fulfillment of biblical prophecy, with some seeing it as the harbinger of a second coming of Jesus Christ and the end of days. Israel has long welcomed evangelicals’ political and financial support, especially as their influence over the White House has risen during the Trump era, and it has largely shrugged off concerns about any hidden religious agenda. But most Jews view any effort to convert them to Christianity as deeply offensive, a legacy of centuries of persecution and forced conversion at the hands of Christian rulers. In part because of those sensitivities, evangelical Christians, who generally believe salvation can only come through Jesus and preach the Gospel worldwide, rarely target Jews.

3 Jerusalem Post Israeli Convicted of Murders in Duma Terror Attack The Lod District Court on Monday convicted Amiram Ben Uliel in the 2015 Jewish terror arson murders of three Palestinians in Duma. The arson attack on the Palestinian Dawabshe family home killed 18-month-old Ali and his parents, Sa’ad and Riham and destabilized Israeli-Arab relations throughout the region. The court also acquitted Ben Uliel of membership in a terror group. Asher Ohayon, the lead lawyer for Ben Uliel, vowed to appeal to the Supreme Court, saying that the court had wrongfully accepted confessions given post-torture. The court said that even though it disqualified confessions Ben Uliel gave when the Shin Bet used enhanced interrogation on him, his confessions given 36-hours later were given freely and compelling. The sentencing hearing was set for June 9.

Ynet News Chinese Ambassador Death Due to Cardiac Arrest - Police Du Wei, the Chinese ambassador to Israel who was found dead in his apartment in Herzliya on Sunday, has died due to cardiac arrest the police confirmed. Police forensics investigators arrived at the scene to begin their investigation and transfer the body for an autopsy at the National Center of Forensic Medicine in . Ambassador Du began his tenure in Israel in February in the midst of the coronavirus epidemic and remained in home isolation for two weeks in accordance with the Health Ministry's regulations. On Friday the ambassador posted a message via the Chinese Embassy's website, rejecting claims made by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a brief visit to Israel last week, of a Chinese government cover-up of the coronavirus spread. According to Foreign Ministry’s procedures when an ambassador dies at his post, the ministry's chief of protocol along with the relevant division head contact the embassy to offer assistance in coordination with local authorities, and in transporting the deceased remains back home. See also ‘‘China to Send Team to Investigate Death of Ambassador to Israel’’ (Ha’aretz)

4 Yedioth Ahronoth– May 18, 2020 Give Women the Power By Merav Betito ● To understand why women are murdered, one must first ask why they did not dare to speak up. To explain to our daughters how it happens that a loved one strangles or shoots or stabs his beloved, one must first admit to them that there was no-one to hear her silent cries. To prevent the next murder of a woman by her partner, women in Israel must be taught to say out loud what they are not willing to have done to them under any circumstances. There is a reason why women are silent, why they refuse to read the writing on the wall, why they ignore the warning lights that are continuously flickering, why they are ashamed to relate how they made such a mistake in choosing a partner, navigate so effectively between rocketing bullets of toxic relationships, deny the painful thorn that gets stuck in their foot and continue to stride forward with a smiling face, and flee into an unknown economic fate of a maze of relationships. ● From a young age, women learn for themselves that it’s better to just shut up. They co- opt the deficiency, absorb a reality in which no women’s voice is ever heard: not in the Knesset, not in the government, not in the security services, not on the coronavirus battlefront, not in the upper echelons of the army, not in the Cabinet, and not in any place where national decisions are made. Not in the synagogue, in divorce and marriage law, at a funeral, in the classroom, at the head of the university, at the head of the government or party, at the Electric Corporation, in the Ministries of Defense and Finance—women in Israel are still below the average for OECD countries, and they do not manage to attain the uppermost ranks and lead. Yes, we’ve made progress. ● The new government is the most bloated ever, but—whoop-de-do—there are a record- breaking eight women, double the number in the previous government. Even the swearing in of att. Pnina Tamano-Shata a bright light in the Knesset’s gender gloom, who rated an enthusiastic BBC headline, “Israel Gets First Ethiopian-Born Minister in Pnina Tamano-Shata” is not enough. Without belittling the value of the ministries they head, and with great appreciation for the relative achievement in Israeli politics’ craving for former IDF generals, it must be said boldly: most of them were sent to the rear of the aircraft carrier. ● Just one of them—not coincidentally the one who had a career as an army general—will be in the Cabinet, take part in decisions that determine the fate of our children, and will try to hold on tight as the only woman in the room. The rest will remain outside the decision-making, somewhere out in the women’s section, forced to continue in silence. Some women will be forced to remain silent in their Knesset office, and some women will be forced to shut up on their way to the grave; those are the sides of the hanging rope. Instead of demanding the establishment of emergency authorities or anti-violence committees, the time has come to demand—just like in France, Germany, Canada, Austria, and Sweden—absolute gender equality, or at least something close to it. In the name of Tatiana, Mastwell, and Maya who were murdered this week, we are allowed to shout, “Don’t protect us from male violence, give us the stage—we’ll do it ourselves.” 5 Yedioth Ahronoth– May 18, 2020 Breach of Trust By Sima Kadmon ● It’s hard to believe that anyone aside from the ministers who were sworn in for the first time yesterday, feels the sense of festivity that one is meant to feel when a new government is sworn in. Even those who have followed political affairs for many years don’t remember a less festive swearing-in ceremony. And this was not just because of the coronavirus instructions. To summarize the sense among the public in a few words, and I believe that this sense spans all the camps and views and sectors and ideologies— there was a sense of disgust, abhorrence, shame, even by the standards of the politicians themselves. The meaningless parade of ministers who approached the podium to swear allegiance to the State of Israel was long and embarrassing. Anyone with eyes in their head realizes that their oath is the greatest breach of trust toward the state. Everyone realizes the senselessness, the irresponsibility and the immorality of swearing in so many ministers, 53 ministers and deputy ministers to be precise, at a time like this. And we haven’t even begun to count their entourages. ● The explanations and the excuses of the prime minister and of the alternate prime minister, to wit, that they are saving us NIS two billion by averting a fourth election—are as groundless as the government. Who says that it had to be one or the other, either the largest government ever or elections? All that needed to be done was for someone to put an end to this swinishness. Two people could have done this, Netanyahu and Gantz, both of whom in the past have fiercely criticized the establishment of large governments—it’s just that they weren’t a part of them at the time. What happened yesterday was not because there was no other alternative. What we saw yesterday was cynicism, greed, disregard and contempt for the public that is now suffering from the economic situation, who are now watching as its elected representatives not only did not volunteer to cut their salaries as a gesture of solidarity—but who are even increasing public spending on their own unnecessary jobs. ● It is very sad that the ministers collaborated with this swinishness, and that very few, fewer than can be counted on the fingers of one hand, refused to accept a job on the simple and perfectly correct grounds that doing so would be fraud. But it’s not just the size, the waste and the mass breach of trust. The parade of senior Likud figures to the house on Balfour Street to receive bits of positions, split jobs, slivers of authority, ministries that they know nothing about, don’t care about and don’t have the skills to handle—that is the picture that will be etched and recorded in infamy. The only creativity was the division between loyal and less loyal, between those willing to speak out against the justice system and those who preferred to be silent, between those who constitute a threat to the standing of the prime minister and those who have no specific weight. There is not enough space to detail the absurdities in the portfolio allocation—from Galant, who knows and cares about security, certainly not education, to Miri Regev, who is as well- suited for the diplomatic suit tailored for her as for a prima ballerina’s tutu, to Edelstein— who only wanted a stately position and received a complex portfolio requiring action, to Elkin, who was once minister for environment protection, and wanted to continue, but 6 despite his loyalty to Netanyahu, had this taken from him and given to Gila Gamliel in exchange for higher education, which other senior people refused. ● Their place on the Likud list, their interests, their experience and their abilities were not the criteria. Nobody received what they wanted. Not even what they thought that they would get. Three ministers wanted education, all of whom viewed it as their dream: Elkin, Gamliel and Hotovely. Another senior person who wanted it was designated finance minister Nir Barkat. And one other person, who was education minister in the past and would no doubt be happy to return: Gideon Saar. And Maj. Gen. (res.) Yoav Galant of all people was the one who got it. After all, what prepares you better for education than a military career? But the example that best illustrates Netanyahu’s hidden motivations is the way he dealt with the number four person on the Likud list. At the end of last week, a proposal was conveyed to Saar by one of Netanyahu’s close associates that was identical to the proposal that Erdan was given a few days later. This was a proposal to serve as ambassador to Washington starting in January and ending when Netanyahu switches with Gantz, as well as the position of ambassador to the UN for four years. Saar immediately said no. After all, he did not return to politics after five years in order to move to New York. ● He returned in order to be here. To be an alternative to Netanyahu. The attempt to exile him was so transparent that Saar did not even think twice. On Saturday evening, Saar was again called to Balfour Street. We don’t know what was said, but no new proposals for a position here in Israel were raised at this meeting. Saar, Erdan, Barkat and Dichter, in the first group of ten on the Likud list—found themselves outside of the government, each for different reasons, none of which were the right reason. It would be interesting to learn if any of the ministers who were sworn in yesterday, even one, is proud of the government in which they are a member. If there is one who believes that the good of the public was uppermost in the minds of the people who formed it.

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