Israel and the Middle East News Update
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Israel and the Middle East News Update Wednesday, June 29 Headlines: Cabinet Approves Turkey Reconciliation Deal International Community Condemns ‘Despicable’ Istanbul Attack Israel’s Security Figures Take Aim at Hard-Line Netanyahu MKs Banned from Entering Temple Mount Due to Riots MKs to Ban: Eliminate ‘Poisonous’ Anti-Israel Discrimination from UN Egypt Foreign Minister to Visit Ramallah for Peace Plan Powwow Lieberman Wants Carrot and Stick Policy in the West Bank Jordan Widens ISIS Crackdown Amid Signs of Home-Grown Extremism Commentary: Yedioth Ahronoth: “The Fantasy of Replacing Netanyahu” By Amnon Abramovich, Israeli journalist and Political Commentator, Israel Channel 2 News Al-Monitor: “Israel and Turkey Have Reconciled, Now What?” By Ben Caspit, Israel Pulse Columnist, Al-Monitor S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace 633 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20004 www.centerpeace.org ● Yoni Komorov, Editor ● David Abreu, Associate Editor News Excerpts June 29, 2016 Ynet News Cabinet Approves Turkey Reconciliation Deal Government ministers approved the Israel-Turkey reconciliation deal on Wednesday afternoon following a heated four-hour cabinet discussion on a deal which was already signed on Tuesday. As expected, Education Minister Naftali Bennett, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman opposed the agreement. Prior to the cabinet discussions, Bennett and Shaked exited their vehicles to speak to the families of IDF officer Hadar Goldin, IDF soldier Oron Shaul, and Israeli citizen Avra Mangisto directly. See also, “Despite Protests, Ministers Give Go-Ahead to Turkey Reconciliation Deal” (Times of Israel) Times of Israel International Community Condemns ‘Despicable’ Istanbul Attack The international community hastened to condemn Tuesday evening’s triple suicide bombing and gun attack at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport that killed 36 and wounded more than 140. Though there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the carnage, Turkey’s prime minister said initial signs pointed to an assault by the Islamic State jihadist group. See also, “Istanbul Airport Bombings Kill 41 People, Leave 239 Wounded” (Ha'aretz) See also, “Istanbul Ataturk Airport Reopens After Deadly Attack” (NBC News) Fox News Israel's Security Figures Take Aim at Hard-Line Netanyahu Long-serving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a potentially formidable challenge to his hardline rule — not from Israel's civilian politicians but instead from its revered security establishment. An extraordinary array of former top commanders are criticizing Netanyahu in increasingly urgent terms, accusing him of mishandling the Palestinian issue and allying with extremists bent on dismantling Israel's democracy. On Tuesday, a group representing more than 200 retired leaders in Israel's military, police, Mossad spy service and Shin Bet security agency presented a plan to help end the half-century occupation of the Palestinians through unilateral steps, including disavowing claims to over 90% of the West Bank and freezing settlement construction. See also, “Israeli Generals Offer New Peace Initiative” (The Media Line) Israel Radio News MKs Banned from Entering Temple Mount Due to Riots MKs will not be permitted to visit the Temple Mount until further notice due to the disturbances that have taken place in the compound in the past few days. This was decided last night by Prime Minister Netanyahu and Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan. Visits by MKs to the Temple Mount were barred upon the start of the wave of terrorism eight months ago, but in recent days it was planned to permit Arab MKs to visit the Mount on the occasion of Ramadan. The matter will be discussed again next week. See also, “After Days of Riots, PM Renews Ban on MKs at Temple Mount” (Times of Israel) 2 Jerusalem Post MKs: Eliminate ‘Poisonous’ Anti-Israel Discrimination from UN The UN must rid itself of anti-Israel bias and engage honestly with Israelis, Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee members Michael Oren (Kulanu) and Omer Bar-Lev (Zionist Union) wrote in a letter to visiting UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon Tuesday. The MKs asked Ban to take advantage of his trip to reach out to Israelis to regain their confidence in the UN. According to Oren and Bar- Lev, 70 percent of Israelis do not have confidence in the intergovernmental organization, though they did not cite a source for the statistic. See also, “UN Chief Calls on Bibi to Prevent One-State Reality” (Ha'aretz) See also, “Quartet to Avoid Branding Settlements as 'Illegal'” (Arutz Sheva) Times of Israel Egypt Foreign Minister to Visit Ramallah for Peace Powwow Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry will travel to Ramallah on Wednesday to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and discuss his country’s role in the Israel- Palestinian peace process. Shoukry will discuss Egypt’s part in achieving a two-state solution and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, the Palestinian news site Wattan reported. He is reportedly carrying a personal message from Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to Abbas. While in Ramallah for the rare visit, the Egyptian foreign minister will reportedly discuss the results of a Paris summit earlier this month. Jerusalem Post Lieberman Wants Carrot and Stick Policy in the West Bank The IDF should pursue a “differential” security policy, by which it would act with a “firm hand” in Palestinian areas from which many terrorist attacks originate, and ease conditions in areas that have not generated many attacks, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said Tuesday. He spoke after touring Central Command, where he received a briefing from OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Roni Numa and other senior officers. In areas that have been quiet, the military should ease conditions on a larger level and for individual Palestinian civilians, Liberman said. “This way, everyone will know that there are consequences for both directions,” the defense minister said. Ynet News Jordan Ups ISIS Crackdown Amid Signs of Home-Grown Terror Two dozen men charged with supporting ISIS are squeezed into a cage in Jordan's state security court. After brief questioning from a judge, they file back out, and guards usher in the next group of accused militants. The court's heavy load is part of a widening domestic crackdown on the extremist group. Hundreds have been sentenced to prison, are awaiting trial, or are being held for questioning about links to ISIS. Under toughened anti-terror laws, even liking or sharing the group's propaganda on social media can land someone a prison sentence. Some say the crowded court rooms - along with recent attacks - signal that the pro-Western kingdom has a more serious problem with home- grown extremism than it has acknowledged in public. See also, “Islamic State Claims Jordan Suicide Bombing” (Long War Journal) 3 Yedioth Ahronoth – June 29, 2016 The Fantasy of Replacing Netanyahu By Amnon Abramovich No one knows when elections are going to be held. But one thing that is certain it is that the Likud is going to be headed by Netanyahu once again. That is to be the case despite the fact that his fellow party members and many of his voters believe that he has run his course. It seems to me that even he is even beginning to grow tired of himself. And yet, there is no one in the Likud who will run against him, and nor is there a party that can defeat him. Unless a new party is formed. A party of that kind is going to have to organize well in advance. It is going to have to emerge from the right wing and position itself in the center, and it is going to have to be national and liberal in nature. A new Kadima. Its leadership can be filled by Moshe Yaalon, Yair Lapid, Gidon Saar, Moshe Kahlon, Gabi Ashkenazi. Yaalon embodies the values of the rule of law and of working Israel. But he is lacking in sex appeal and political skills. He moves from one insult to the next. As the director of military intelligence and OC Central Command he was exposed to Yasser Arafat’s lies and took them personally. As chief of staff he was offended by being kept out of the loop on disengagement. As defense minister he was mortally insulted by being replaced with Lieberman, which was the ultimate shaming of his career—thus far. We’ve now had an opportunity to see him soothing his sense of insult on a trip to India—playing the flute, practicing meditation—and looks more like a man who is focused on making his way to an ashram than to the national leadership; it’s as if he has sublimated his withdrawal from his political party with a spiritual withdrawal from the physical world. Lapid created a party out of thin air and stabilized its standing admirably. But his record as finance minister is thin and truncated. His experience in the realm of foreign policy and security is limited to his membership in the security cabinet. He is well-liked by the Israeli center. He is the center’s favorite. His veer to the right wing, to the traditionally-observant sector, has been deemed a success. But Lapid does not yet have the requisite experience to be a candidate for prime minister. He might have a future, but that future is probably not particularly close at hand [Yesh Atid means “there is a future”]. He is likely to be very reluctant to part ways with the party he gave birth to and to enroll it in a major secondary school—in other words, to integrate it in a larger bloc. Moshe Kahlon would do well not to run on an independent list since the results of doing so are entirely predictable.