Israel and Middle East News Update
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Israel and Middle East News Update Wednesday, July 28 Headlines: ● Knesset Puts Rotation Deal Between Lapid, Bennett Into Law ● Gantz to Talk NSO With French Counterpart ● Israel Launches Pressure Campaign Against Ben & Jerry’s ● Bennett Gov’t Weighing Delay for Verdict on Sheikh Jarrah ● Abbas Fires PA Official Who Criticized Journalist’s Death ● HRW: Israeli War Crimes Apparent in Gaza Conflict ● Israel Sides Against Turkey in Cyprus Dispute ● US Lawmakers Ask EU to List Hezbollah a Terrorist Group Commentary: ● Ma’ariv: “Varosha as a Test Case’’ - By Yitzhak Levanon ● Ha’aretz: “With Israeli-Palestinian Peace Fund, Congress Signals US Hasn’t Given Up Yet’’ - By Ben Samuels S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace 1725 I St NW Suite 300, Washington, DC 20006 The Hon. Robert Wexler, President News Excerpts July 28, 2021 I24 News Knesset Puts Rotation Deal Between Lapid, Bennett Into Law The Knesset passed an amendment to the Basic Law guaranteeing the premiership rotation agreement between Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett that will see the position of prime minister change hands on August 27, 2023. Bennett is currently prime minister and Lapid serves as foreign minister and alternate prime minister. The term is set to end on November 11, 2025. The governing coalition finally passed the bill into law after a 27-hour filibuster. 61 lawmakers voted in favor and 2 opposed. Most of the opposition legislators boycotted the vote. Last month the Knesset approved the new "change bloc" government by a razor-thin 60-59 majority removing Benjamin Netanyahu from power. The diverse anti-Netanyahu bloc was cobbled together by Bennett and his right-wing Yamina party together with Lapid and his centrist Yesh Atid party and includes right-wing and left-wing groups as well as Arab-Israeli lawmakers. Dig Deeper ‘‘‘Elkin Law’ Passes in Knesset’’ (Jerusalem Post) Associated Press Gantz to Talk NSO With French Counterpart Defense minister Benny Gantz will meet with his French counterpart in Paris this week and the two will discuss the Israeli spyware company NSO, a government statement said. The defense ministers will discuss the crisis in Lebanon and nuclear talks between world powers and Iran, the ministry also said. Last week, a French newspaper reported that a Moroccan security agency had possibly targeted the cellphones of French President Emmanuel Macron and other members of the French government, following reports that Israel’s NSO Group may have been used to target politicians, activists and journalists in several countries. Morocco’s government has denied wrongdoing and NSO has denied that Macron was targeted. Dig Deeper ‘‘France’s Macron Called Bennett to Ensure Israel Dealing With NSO so Claims’’ (Times of Israel) Axios Israel Launches Pressure Campaign Against Ben & Jerry’s Israel has formed a special task force to pressure Ben & Jerry's ice cream and its parent company Unilever to reverse their decision to boycott Israeli settlements in the West Bank, according to Israeli officials. The government is concerned the move by Ben & Jerry's will encourage other international companies to take similar steps to differentiate between Israel and the West Bank settlements. A classified Foreign Ministry cable makes clear the government wants to send a message. Ben & Jerry's announced that from January 2023 they will no longer allow their Israeli franchisee to market their ice cream in the settlements but will continue to sell it within Israel’s pre-1967 borders. That decision from the company, which has taken political positions on a range of issues, came after almost a decade of pressure from pro-Palestinian activists. In the past, the Israeli government managed to convince Ben & Jerry's not to take such steps. But after the recent fighting in Gaza, the pressure on the company increased. 2 Times of Israel Bennett Gov’t Weighing Delay for Verdict on Sheikh Jarrah The Israeli government may seek to postpone a verdict in the controversial Sheikh Jarrah eviction cases, according to a coalition source close to Prime Minister Bennett. Four Palestinian families are set to be evicted by Israeli authorities in the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, pending a final Supreme Court hearing next Monday. The source did not specify how the government would go about ensuring such a delay, but said that it could well freeze the proceedings for another six months. Discussions on the matter come as Bennett readies for his first trip to the White House as premier. A decision to move forward with the evictions could cause problems for the trip to the US, given Washington’s firm opposition to the move. The evictions have become a rallying cry for Palestinians and sparked violent clashes in East Jerusalem that spread far beyond the contested city and were partly responsible for the flare-up between Israel and Gaza terror groups in May. Dig Deeper ‘‘Palestinian Killed by Security Forces’’ (Jerusalem Post) Associated Press Abbas Fires PA Official Who Criticized Journalist’s Death President Mahmoud Abbas has fired the director of the Palestinian national library after he criticized the government over the death of an activist in the custody of Palestinian security forces. In a letter, Ehab Bessaiso was removed from the post, as well as from the library’s board of directors. The letter, dated June 27 and signed by Abbas, did not give a reason for the dismissal. But it came three days after Bessaiso wrote a long Facebook post that criticized the death of Nizar Banat, an outspoken critic of the Palestinian Authority (PA). “Nothing justifies committing a crime,” wrote Bessaiso, a former Cabinet minister and government spokesman. Banat died in custody shortly after he was arrested by Palestinian security forces. Banat’s death has prompted weeks of protests. The PA is widely viewed as corrupt and authoritarian, with a recent poll showing that support for Abbas, who took power for what was supposed to be a four-year term in 2005, has plummeted. Dig Deeper ‘‘EU ‘Appalled’ by Alleged Killing of 2 Gazans by Hamas Security Forces’’ (Times of Israel) Ynet News HRW: Israeli War Crimes Apparent in Gaza Conflict The Human Rights Watch NGO accused the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of carrying out attacks that "apparently amount to war crimes" during its 11-day war in May against the Hamas terror group that rules Gaza. The international human rights organization issued its conclusions after investigating three Israeli airstrikes that it said killed 62 Palestinian civilians. It said "there were no evident military targets in the vicinity" of the attacks. The report also accused Palestinian factions of apparent war crimes by launching over 4,000 unguided rockets and mortars at Israeli population centers. Such attacks, it said, violate "the prohibition against deliberate or indiscriminate attacks against civilians." The report, however, focused on Israeli actions during the fighting, and the group said it would issue a separate report on the actions of Hamas and other Palestinian groups in August. The IDF has repeatedly said its attacks were aimed at military targets in Gaza. Dig Deeper ‘‘Human Rights Watch Accuses IDF, Palestinians of War Crimes in May Gaza Conflict’’ (Times of Israel) 3 Al-Monitor Israel Sides Against Turkey in Cyprus Dispute Prime Minister Bennett met with Cypriot Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides, who is in Israel for a two-day-visit. The Cypriot minister met with Foreign Minister Lapid and later with President Isaac Herzog. According to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Lapid expressed in the meeting "deep concern regarding the provocative Turkish actions in Cyprus." The ministry stated that the two foreign ministers also discussed bilateral cooperation, including trade, water and energy. Lapid was reacting to the announcement by the authorities in the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus on a partial reopening of the abandoned town of Varosha for potential resettlement. The decision by Turkey and Turkish Cypriot leaders was slammed by Greece, Cyprus and by several other world leaders, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The United Nations Security Council demanded the immediate reversal of the unilateral decision. The head-of-state reception offered by Jerusalem to the Cypriot foreign minister, combined with the statements delivered at the meetings in Jerusalem, were certainly not banal. They sent a clear signal to Ankara, that Jerusalem is taking side with Cyprus and with Greece in the dispute over Northern Cyprus. Dig Deeper ‘‘Defying World, Erdogan Presses for Two-State Solution in Cyprus’’ (Ha’aretz) I24 News US Lawmakers Ask EU to List Hezbollah a Terrorist Group US House of Representatives from both sides of the aisle initiated a resolution calling on the European Union (EU) to drop its division of the Hezbollah terrorist group into political and military wings - only the latter of which is outlawed. The resolution was introduced by Rep. Ted Deutch (D- Fla.), along with Reps. Kathy Manning (D-N.C.), Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.) and Peter Meijer (R-Mich.). It was co-introduced by Reps. French Hill (R-Ark.), Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), Ritchie Torres (D-NY), Ann Wagner (R-Mo.) and ranking member of the Middle East, North Africa and Global Counterterrorism Subcommittee Joe Wilson (R-SC). While the US considers the whole of Iran's Lebanese Shi'ite proxy a terrorist entity, only its military wing is on the EU's list of sanctioned terrorist organizations. The lack of clear definition regarding the political wing, allows it to spread its influence throughout Europe, creating an extensive terrorist network relatively unencumbered. While the supranational EU differentiates between Hezbollah's two arms, individual member-states within the body - such as Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany and the Netherlands - do not, and have outlawed it in its entirety.