Israel and Middle East News Update

Monday, June 28

Headlines: ● Bennett Announces Plan to Fight Crime in Arab Community ● Shaked to Reject Family Reunification Requests ● Mount Meron: Ex-Chief Justice to Head State Inquiry ● Israeli Ambassador to United States Resigns ● Gantz Seeks Deal to Avoid Forced WB Evyatar Evacuation ● PA Deploys Forces During Protest Against Critic's Death ● Israel to Allow Import of Fuel for Gaza Power Plant ● Egyptian, Jordanian and Iraqi leaders meet in Baghdad

Commentary: ● Yedioth Ahronoth: “Redefine Your Identity’’ - By Ari Shavit

● Ma’ariv: “Business as Usual’’ - 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 June 28, 2021 Times of Israel Bennett Announces Plan to Fight Crime in Arab Community Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced that Israel would implement a national plan to tackle crime in the country’s Arab sector. Bennett made his comments after five Arab Israeli citizens were killed in deadly shootings over the past four days. The prime minister noted that since the start of 2021, “dozens of people have been murdered in the Arab community.” The Islamist Ra’am Party, which joined Bennett’s government coalition, ran on a platform of tackling violence in Israel’s Arab communities. When Ra’am signed a coalition agreement in early June, it noted that Bennett and his coalition partner, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, agreed to provide$770,000 to fight violence and organized crime in Arab society. Dig Deeper ‘‘Bennett Promises to Address Crime in Arab Sector Following Deadly Weekend’’ ( Post)

Arutz Sheva Shaked to Reject Family Reunification Requests Interior Minister intends to reject every request for citizenship by a Palestinian Arab who married an Israeli Arab if the Family Reunification Law is not extended, Kan reported. In addition, Shaked plans to continue raising the law for approval, even if it is rejected at first. Shaked is reportedly preparing for the possibility that the Prohibition of Family Reunification Law will fall in the Knesset this week if the coalition fails to mobilize a majority to support the law. The minister plans to prevent the reunification of the families by giving a personal negative answer to each of the hundreds of applications submitted to her office each year. Every year about a thousand applications for family reunification are submitted and the Interior intends to reject each of them individually and thereby prevent the family reunifications even without the law. Dig Deeper ‘‘Vote on Palestinian Family Reunification Law Delayed Again, Amid Disagreements’’ (Times of Israel)

I24 News Mount Meron: Ex-Chief Justice to Head State Inquiry The inquiry into the April 30 Mount Meron stampede disaster, which killed 45 people and wounded a further 150, will be led by former chief justice Miriam Naor. Making up the two additional members of the commission will be Rabbi Mordechai Karelitz, a former mayor of the ultra-orthodox city of Bnei Barak, and former IDF planning chief Maj. Gen. (res.) Shlomo Yanai. The fledgling Israeli government approved the formation of the inquiry at its first official cabinet meeting, with the motion being submitted by Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman. With a mandate to examine the events of the disaster, the commission will recommend specific alterations to the Meron site and will also advise on the policing of mass events more generally, particularly those of a religious nature. The commission will have a budget of $1.83m and will investigate the timeline and the decisions that led to the fatal accident. 2 Axios Israeli Ambassador to United States Resigns Israel’s ambassador to the US resigned hours after welcoming President Reuven Rivlin to D.C., where he will meet with President Biden at the White House. Gilad Erdan's decision comes as the Biden administration and Prime Minister Bennett feel each other out, particularly on the most contentious issues like Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This is a farewell tour for Rivlin, whose seven-year term ends next month. Isaac Herzog will become Israel's next president on July 9. Rivlin met last week with Bennett and Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid to coordinate the message to the US on Iran, Axios reported. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Lapid in Rome on Sunday where they discussed regional stability, according to spokesman Ned Price. Erdan will continue to serve as ambassador to the United Nations. Dig Deeper ‘‘Aiming to Keep Disagreements Behind Closed Doors, Rivlin Heads to Washington’’ (Times of Israel)

Jerusalem Post Gantz Seeks Deal to Avoid Forced WB Evyatar Evacuation Defense Minister Gantz would prefer to persuade the residents of Evyatar to leave their West Bank outpost homes by choice rather than evict them by force. The IDF could move in to legally evacuate the hilltop community of 50 families in the Samaria region of the West Bank. The fledgling community was founded last month by the Samaria Regional Council and the Nahala Movement in the aftermath of the Tapuach junction terror attack in which 19-year-old Yehuda Guetta was killed. The IDF has said that the outpost was built illegally and must be removed. Foreign Minister Lapid and Gantz have supported that position. A government compromise could be in the works, however, by which outpost residents would voluntarily leave and in their place an IDF base would erect, KAN reported. The government would examine the legal status of the land and if possible, authorize Jewish construction on the hilltop. Once the community is authorized, the families who moved in there over the last month would be allowed to return, Kan added. Dig Deeper ‘‘Extreme-Right MK Ben Gvir Visits Temple Mount: ‘We Demand Full Sovereignty’’ (Times of Israel)

Reuters PA Deploys Forces During Protest Against Critic's Death The Palestinian Authority (PA) deployed security forces to confront protesters who took to the streets of Ramallah in the West Bank after one of President Mahmoud Abbas's biggest critics died in custody. Nizar Banat had been arrested by PA forces who broke into a relative's house where he was staying in the early hours of Thursday and hit him repeatedly with a metal rod before arresting him, according to Banat's family. Banat's death has sparked three days of protests in the occupied West Bank and calls from the international community for an inquiry. Palestinian security officers lined the streets and blocked protestors by hitting them with their fists and with clubs, Reuters video showed. A spokesman for the PA security services said a committee investigating Banat’s death had begun its work and urged people to wait for the results. The Palestinian journalists' union condemned attacks by security forces against journalists covering the protest. Dig Deeper ‘‘Palestinian Labor Minister to Quit Amid Protests Over Activist’s Death’’ (Times of Israel)

3 Ynet News Israel to Allow Import of Fuel for Gaza Power Plant Israel said it would allow Qatari-funded fuel for electricity production at the Gaza Strip's sole power plant. Israel has also agreed to lift restrictions on certain imports through the Kerem Shalom Border Crossing. No agreement has yet reportedly been made regarding the transfer of Qatari money to some 100,000 families in Gaza and Hamas clerks. The seaside enclave, home to about two million Palestinians, has been under a joint Egyptian-Israeli blockade since 2007. Israel tightened its restrictions in May during an 11-day conflict with Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip. Last week Israel renewed postal service to the territory and allowed some exports of agricultural produce and clothing to resume. It also expanded the fishing zone it grants to Gaza, from six to nine nautical miles, and allowed for the importing of raw materials for "essential civilian factories". Dig Deeper ‘‘Israeli Team to Travel to Cairo, Convey New Gaza Ceasefire Position’’ (Times of Israel)

Associated Press Egyptian, Jordanian and Iraqi leaders meet in Baghdad Iraq, Egypt and Jordan took a step toward deepening a regional alliance by holding tripartite talks in Baghdad, in a first visit by an Egyptian head of state to the country in 30 years. Talks ranged from trade to Mideast crises. Abdel Fattah el-Sissi was greeted by Iraq’s President Barham Salih upon arriving. It marked the first time an Egyptian president paid an official visit to Iraq since the 1990s when ties between both countries were severed after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. Jordan’s King Abdullah II arrived shortly afterwards, he and el-Sissi then met with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi for a third round of tripartite talks. The meetings are seen largely as an attempt to neutralize Iran’s influence across the region and have been welcomed by the US. Al-Kadhimi also aims to shore up regional alliances and bolster Iraq’s standing in the Middle East as a mediator capable of bringing even the staunchest of foes to the negotiating table. Baghdad recently hosted talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia focusing on the war in Yemen. The talks also covered regional issues including the Syria crisis, the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, and the conflict in Yemen. Dig Deeper ‘‘US Airstrikes Target Iran-Backed Militia in Iraq, Syria Over Drone Attacks’’ (Times of Israel)

4 Yedioth Ahronoth – June 28, 2021 Redefine Your Identity By Ari Shavit ● The convoy that advanced toward me in the opposing lane one evening last week looked familiar. The police cars with their wailing sirens, the speeding security jeeps, the identical and unmarked state cars—in one of which was seated the prime minister. The first thought that crossed my mind was the one that we had all become accustomed to in the last 12 years: there goes Bibi. But suddenly I realized that it wasn’t him. Not anymore. It isn’t Netanyahu who is now sitting in secured official cars surrounded by flashing lights—it is Naftali Bennett. Citizen Bennett. Start-up man Bennett. Brother Bennett. Because as of June 2021, one of our own is ruling. There are quite a few disadvantages to having a prime minister who is not exalted and is not condescending but, rather, is a man of the people. There is none of what the French call the mystique of the president. There is no halo of gravitas gracing his head. He is still not polished and refined, still not confident of himself. Enemies are liable to challenge him. Friends are liable to exploit the fact that he is unknown in the international arena. The unruly kindergarten of Israeli politics is liable not to accept his authority as super-nanny. ● But there are also several major advantages to the fact that the prime minister is simply a human being. He is young, personable, gets to the point, and professional. He suffers from neither megalomania nor from paranoia. He is neither obsessive nor haunted. His new leadership is human-sized. The very fact that he is the prime minister and is therefore now transported in a convoy turns that convoy into a royal convoy and gives us a golden opportunity to stop being (Bibi’s) society of girls and boys and start being a society of sisters and brothers (of Bennett, Lapid and the Israeli-ness of all of us). But the new, national leader has a problem. ● It’s true that he has performed fairly well in the last two weeks. It’s true, he appointed good candidates to positions of power in the civil service and set in motion processes of good governance, allowing us to start feeling that we have been freed from two years of paralysis and ten years of corruption. There is a summer-like hope in the air, a cautious hope. But the prime minister is still a man who received a mere 6.2% of the votes that were cast in the last elections. If Bennett wishes to cement his government and extend its life expectancy, he must reinvent himself. From his position as prime minister, he must establish a ruling party and shape the identity of the regime that he heads. ● Bennett, as the leader of Yamina, does not have to base to go home to. He burned the bridges that connected him to the deep right-wing. He sunk the ships that could have sailed him to the top of the . The majority of his current supporters (in the center- left) will never vote for him. For them, he is nothing more than a useful right-winger who enabled them to expel Netanyahu. On the day that Bibi vanishes from the arena, they will revert to treating Bennett like an ideological rival and a tribal enemy. ● The brief grace that he enjoyed will turn overnight into hostility, hatred and an outpouring of wrath. What the serving prime minister must do now is to remold his

5 identity. He must capitalize on the unique assets at his disposal to clarify that he is a new Bennett. And who is this new Bennett? Israel’s Jewish-democratic leader. The most Jewish of all the democrats. The most democratic of all the Jews. He represents a kind of enlightened conservatism. And moderate patriotism. And compassionate capitalism. Together, these form a new and conciliatory worldview whose roots are steeped in tradition, which has come to heal the wounds of Israeli society and mend the rifts that tear us to pieces. ● The Netanyahu era provided us with economic strength, social polarization and ideological crisis. If Bennett wishes to shape a different era, he must define himself as a Jewish-democratic leader who is leading a Jewish- democratic party that will bring about national conciliation. That is his historic mission. That is our hope.

6 Ma’ariv – June 28, 2021 Business as Usual By Alon Ben David ● The attack last week on the plant that manufactures the centrifuge blades in Iran was the latest in the sabotage of three critical links in the Iranian nuclear program: the production of centrifuges, their assembly and the actual uranium enrichment. The elected Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi, will inherit a battered nuclear program with limited ability to manufacture large quantities of enriched uranium. Raisi, incidentally, is shaping up to be the person who will spare us a return to the nuclear agreement and be the cause of the failure of the negotiations with the US. If Israel was behind the drone attack on the installation in Karaj, it was the first against Iran under Naftali Bennett as prime minister, together with the new Mossad director, David Barnea. Naturally, the planning for such an operation takes many months, in other words, it was planned before they assumed office, but it signifies the continuation of the previous policy vis-à-vis Iran. If we add the two explosions last year in Natanz, a picture emerges of systematic attacks on Iran’s nuclear capabilities. ● The explosion last summer was in the plant for assembling centrifuges that was in the above ground part of the Natanz installation. The explosion destroyed the huge assembly area where the delicate work was done of assembling the advanced model of centrifuges. Iran announced after the explosion that it would reestablish the plant, this time underground. In April, there was an explosion in the underground installation in Natanz. The bomb was placed in such a way that it stopped the electricity supply to the centrifuges, including the backups. The damage far surpassed expectations: about 90% of the centrifuges in Natanz became inoperable. Last week’s attack on the plant that manufactures the aluminum blades also caused damage to a plant that at the moment is irreplaceable, meaning that the ability to produce new centrifuges has been badly damaged. For now, the Iranians are taking the centrifuges that they produced in the past out of storage, most of them older models, to replace the damaged ones. The string of attacks has slowed the pace of uranium enrichment, but has not stopped it. Iran has accumulated more than three tons of enriched uranium, ten times the quantity permitted in the nuclear agreement, but the sabotage will make it difficult for it in the coming year to break out quickly to producing fissionable material for a first bomb. ● The At the same time, the Iranians have begun to mount difficulties in the negotiations being conducted in Vienna on a return to the nuclear agreement, and have not allowed for renewed inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency over their sites. Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who until now had sought to return to the nuclear agreement, has decided to take a hard stance in the negotiations and Iran is demanding that all the sanctions be completely lifted, including on organizations that support terrorism, on people and on agencies that are involved in development, as a condition for returning to the agreement. Even the Biden administration will find it hard to grant this to the Iranians.

7 ● Biden now has four options: 1 – Continue the policy of maximum pressure of sanctions, essentially the current policy, which he inherited from Trump. 2 – Reach an improved nuclear agreement in exchange for lifting all the sanctions. 3 –Return to the previous agreement in exchange for partially lifting the sanctions while continuing to negotiate for an improved agreement. 4 –Return to the previous agreement and waive all the sanctions. For the time being, the Iranians have ruled out options 2 and 3, and what is left for Biden is to choose between the first—continuing the sanctions and the fourth— complete capitulation. ● The Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, who met— quite unusually—with the entire top tier of the American intelligence and defense establishment last week, made it clear to all of them the dangers inherent in complete capitulation. He also tried to persuade them that Iran could be led to an improved agreement, with farther-away expiry dates and tougher enforcement mechanisms. President Reuven Rivlin will arrive in Washington after him and continue the persuasion efforts, and afterwards, Prime Minister Bennett will also arrive, most likely before Raisi begins his term as president. The Americans intend to give Bennett the royal treatment at the White House, of the kind that can overwhelm even prime ministers who are older and more experienced than him. Bennett will have to remind himself that he is there to represent Israel’s interests, and not be blown over by all the pomp that will be heaped on him. ● On his route to the premiership, Bennett showed himself to be a quick learner and as not someone who does not presume to know everything. But for now, instead of surrounding himself with mature and experienced people, he has filled his inner circle with young people of limited experience. He has to realize that he is no longer in the Education Ministry or the Defense Ministry, where he had the well-oiled IDF machine by his side with all its capabilities. He has three critical appointments to make, which will greatly affect his ability to maneuver on the Iranian issue: the chairperson of the National Security Council, the ambassador to Washington and a project manager for the Iranian issue. All three must be statesman with political and security experience, and there is no shortage of such people who will be happy to enlist to the task. The next few months will be fascinating. Iran is upping the ante in the poker game that it is playing with the US, and Bennett needs to buy himself a seat at the table near the American player. Behind the scenes, the Mossad and the IDF will continue to contribute their quiet part to the effort to delay Iran, but Bennett has to be there to ensure that the American player doesn’t fold.

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