Israel and Middle East News Update
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Israel and Middle East News Update Friday, August 6 Headlines: ● State Inquiry Into Meron Disaster Summons First Witnesses ● Likud: Those Who Leave Party Won’t Rejoin for 8 Years ● PM: Get Vaccinated if You Want Lockdown-Free Holidays ● Palestinian Banks Refuse to Be Conduit of Qatar Aid to Gaza ● Palestinian Dad Expects No Justice for Son Killed by Israel ● Israel Asks US to Push Palestinians to Accept Compromise ● Jordan to Become a Full Democracy Within a Decade ● Hezbollah Responsible for Rockets Launched at Israel Commentary: ● Ma’ariv: “Who’s the Boss?’’ - By Jacky Hugi ● Ma’ariv: “Once Again, No Quiet’’ - By Alon Ben David S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace 1725 I St NW Suite 300, Washington, DC 20006 The Hon. Robert Wexler, President News Excerpts August 6, 2021 Times of Israel State Inquiry Into Meron Disaster Summons First Witnesses The state commission of inquiry into the tragedy at Mount Meron officially summoned its first witnesses. The commission called on six officials to appear: Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, the rabbi of the Western Wall and the Holy Sites of Israel; Northern District Police Commander Shimon Lavie; former Israel Police deputy commissioner Alon Asur; Yosef Schwinger, head of the National Center for the Development of Holy Places; Yisrael Deri, the head of the northern branch of the National Center for the Development of Holy Places; and Eli Friend, manager of the gravesite of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. The committee is headed by former Supreme Court justice Miriam Naor, who is joined by former Bnei Brak mayor Rabbi Mordechai Karelitz and former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) planning chief Maj. Gen. (res.) Shlomo Yanai. The panel has been granted a budget of $1.83m to investigate how the disaster unfolded, and probe the decision-making processes that authorized the event. Arutz Sheva Likud: Those Who Leave Party Won’t Rejoin for 8 Years The Likud secretariat approved MK Yisrael Katz's proposal to amend the Likud constitution so that a member who left the party will not be able to return to it for eight years. In addition, the secretariat also approved a section aimed at members of Yamina and which says that a minister or person who headed a government that ousted the Likud from power will not be able to run on behalf of the party. During the meeting, MK Yoav Galant expressed support for the decisions made and said that the eight-year rule should apply to anyone who served as a minister or MK in another party and in his actions prevented the Likud from forming the government. MK Miki Zohar, on the other hand, said that the decision should be taken away from the Likud secretariat and transferred to the Likud Central Committee. Dig Deeper ‘‘Likud to Ban Gideon SA’AR and Ze’Ev Elkin From Returning to Party’’ (Jerusalem Post) I24 News PM: Get Vaccinated if You Want Lockdown-Free Holidays Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said that avoiding another nation-wide lockdown during the Jewish High Holidays next month critically depends on the rate of inoculation against coronavirus. "If you want happy holidays, go get vaccinated." Bennett then issued a stern reprimand to vaccine-hesitant Israelis, branding their failure to get the jab "selfish and irresponsible." "Every one of you must go out and get vaccinated right now because if not, you put yourself and those around you in danger. It is as if you are walking around with a machine gun and shooting the delta viral load at everyone," he said. The leader stressed that the delta variant, which is driving up the morbidity in Israel despite the country's record-setting vaccination rollout, is even more dangerous than the virus which forced Israel into three nationwide lockdowns last year. 2 Ynet News Palestinian Banks Refuse to Be Conduit of Qatar Aid to Gaza The Palestinian Authority's (PA) banking and humanitarian systems are refusing to take part in an outline to facilitate the transfer of Qatari aid money into the Gaza Strip, fearing such cooperation would expose them to legal actions on the grounds of supporting and funding terrorism, according to Palestinian sources. According to “the Memorandum of Understanding between the State of Palestine through the Ministry of Social Development and the Qatari Foreign Ministry through the Gaza Rehabilitation Committee,” the PA has agreed to transfer Qatari funds through banks subject to the supervision of the Palestinian Monetary Fund according to a list of names compiled by the Qatari side. The reason for the finalization of the outline being delayed, according to the sources, is that officials in the PA's banking system worry that the agreement will make them open to lawsuits. Dig Deeper ‘‘PA Official: Deal Reached to Send Qatari Cash to Gaza, but Challenges Remain’’ (Times of Israel) Associated Press Palestinian Dad ExPects No Justice for Son Killed by Israel A week after the death of his eldest son, Moayed al-Alami sat on the sofa on his ground floor patio, protectively hugging and kissing two of his remaining children. The Israeli military has opened an investigation into the killing of 12-year-old Mohammed al-Alami who was shot by Israeli soldiers as he rode in the family car. But that is no comfort to his father, who is devastated by his son’s death and has little faith that he will see justice. “I have no confidence in the investigation until I see the soldiers in court,” he said. The rear of Moayed’s car is riddled with bullet holes and the back seats are still covered in bloodstains. Mohammed was shot and killed by Israeli forces as he traveled with his father and two siblings in their hometown of Beit Ummar in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. His death sparked two days of violent clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli troops, resulting in the death of one protester. Dig Deeper ‘‘Israeli Soldiers, Don’t Agree to Destroy Lives, Including Your Own’’ (Ha’aretz) Ha’aretz Israel Asks US to Push Palestinians to AccePt ComPromise Israeli officials have asked the Biden administration to put pressure on the Palestinians to have the families in East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood agree to the compromise suggested by Israel’s Supreme Court in a high-profile eviction case. The court suggested that the families be allowed to remain in their homes under “protected residents” status; the locals would have to pay a small rental fee to a settler group that acquired the rights to the land that once belonged to Jewish families. The Israeli approach to the White House in recent days came on the expectation that the compromise might also reduce international pressure over the possible eviction. An Israeli source said following the request to the Biden administration. Another source said the White House was concerned about the eviction issue but was not applying pressure because it realizes that the decision is not in the hands of Israeli politicians but rather the judiciary, which he said is “independent, serious” and not likely to be unduly influenced. 3 Jerusalem Post Jordan to Become a Full Democracy Within a Decade The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is set to become a fully constitutional democracy where the parliamentary parties choose the government within the next 10 years. A 92-person royal commission charged to reform Jordan’s election and party laws has been preparing a decade-long road map for democratization. Under the current system, the monarch appoints and can dismiss the government, the lower chamber of the legislature is limited to approving, rejecting or amending legislation, with little power to initiate laws, and the king appoints the members of the upper house. The plans being discussed behind closed doors call for three phases to reach the kind of constitutional monarchy that the United Kingdom or Sweden enjoy, according to a senior member of the commission. Ironically the current commission was established in part as a result of the allegations of sedition against high-ranking figures who included the king’s half-brother the former Crown Prince Hamzeh along with a former confidant of the king, Bassem Awadallah, now an adviser to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The members of the royal commission appear to have adopted the gradual approach. I24 News Hezbollah ResPonsible for Rockets Launched at Israel Hezbollah took responsibility for launching rockets at Israeli territory that the Lebanese-based terrorist organization said was in response to the Israeli air strikes on open areas in the al-Jarmaq and al-Shawakir areas. Rocket alert sirens sounded in Israeli communities in the Golan Heights and Galilee near the Lebanese and Syrian borders, including Neve Ativ, Ein Qiniyye and Kibbutz Snir, according to the IDF. According to the IDF, over 10 rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory with the majority intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system and the rest landing in open areas adjacent to Har Dov. The rockets were reportedly launched from the Shebaa Farms area located at the Lebanese-Syrian border and the Golan Heights. Israel is reportedly responding to the rocket attack with artillery fire and fighter jets entering Lebanese airspace. Prime Minister Bennett and Defense Minister Benny Gantz are heading to IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv for security consultations. Lebanese media reported that the rockets targeted the Israeli army’s outpost in Har Dov and Hezbollah said it targeted open areas near Israeli military outposts. Dig Deeper ‘‘Hezbollah Fires Rocket Barrage at Israel; IDF Responds With Artillery Fire’’ (Times of Israel) 4 Ma’ariv – August 6, 2021 Who’s the Boss? By Jacky Hugi ● While we were preoccupied with the Iranian threat, along came another quiet and polite fellow from a distant land, who set our agenda for the next few years—and then flew back from whence he came.