Israel and the Middle East News Update

Wednesday, July 29

Headlines: ● TLV Protest Turns into Violence Between Demonstrators ● Netanyahu Stops Initiative to Oust Coalition Chairman ● PM at Northern Border: I Wouldn't Advise Anyone to Test Us ● An IDF Balancing Act on the -Lebanon Border ● Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Makes Unannounced Visit ● Netanyahu, Pompeo Put Peace Plan Back on the Table ● World Bank Grants Palestinians $30m in Welfare Aid ● Armenian FM: Demands Halt to Weapon Sales to Azerbaijan

Commentary: ● Yedioth Ahronoth: “This Time It’s You, Netanyahu” - By Ben-Dror Yemini

● Ma’ariv: “Suddenly It’s All of Us Together” - By Ben Caspit

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 29, 2020 Jerusalem Post TLV Protest Turns into Violence Between Demonstrators Hundreds of people gathered in Tel Aviv to protest police brutality and Public Security Minister 's attempts to prevent protests from taking place outside of the Prime Minister's Official Residence. The protest was organized by the Black Flag movement, whose members chose Ohana's residence in Tel Aviv as the location for the protest. At some stage, according to the protestors, Far-right activists from "La Familia" infiltrated the crowd with the alleged intention of harassing the demonstrators, which later turned violent. Oz, an eyewitness at the scene, said to N12 that "I was there, and I saw the group slowly approaching us. They wore black bandanas, and I knew something was about to happen. We were subjected to violence. I ran after them, yelled at them and asked police for help, but they did not budge. It's dangerous to be a protester in Israel." See also ‘‘Should Netanyahu Worry Over Violent Protests Against Him?’’ (Al-Monitor)

Arutz Sheva Netanyahu Stops Initiative to Oust Coalition Chairman A number of MKs agreed to join an unprecedented initiative to remove MK as head of the Likud faction and as coalition chairman. The move caused an uproar, following which Netanyahu spoke with MK Shlomo Karhi, who led the initiative, and asked him to stop the move. The initiative to remove Zohar came together in the wake of Zohar's decision to remove MK Yifat Shasha-Biton as chairwoman of the Coronavirus Committee and to impose sanctions on other members of the faction. Earlier, Netanyahu gave full backing to Zohar in the face of attacks by Likud MKs. "Without discipline, the Likud cannot govern, and especially not during the coronavirus crisis," He tweeted following the move. After Netanyahu stopped the process to oust him, MK Zohar claimed that the media publications regarding the initiative to remove him were “Fake News”.

Ynet News PM at Northern Border: I Wouldn't Advise Anyone to Test Us Prime Minister Netanyahu toured Israel's border with Lebanon in the wake of a failed, alleged Hezbollah attack and said he wouldn't "advise anyone to test us." "I do not suggest anyone try testing the IDF or the State of Israel, we are determined to defend ourselves" he said from the Northern Command's headquarters. "Yesterday's operation was important and prevented an infiltration into our territory Everything that is happening right now is the result of an Iranian attempt to establish itself in our region." He added that Hassan Nasrallah is serving the Iranian interests at the expense of the Lebanese people, who have been staging protests over the past few months over the dire financial situation in the country. See also ‘‘Jerusalem Asses Hezbollah to Launch New Attack in Next 48 Hours’’ (I24 News) 2 Ynet News An IDF Balancing Act on the Israel-Lebanon Border IDF troops along the Lebanon border remained on high alert for the fifth day in a row and one day after an attempted infiltration across the frontier by militants from the Hezbollah terror group. Increased deployment of troops to the area has continued, but forces are positioning themselves further away from the border to avoid being targeted by Hezbollah fighters believed to still be in the Har Dov area, where Monday's infiltration occurred. In one incident observed from the Israeli side of the border, two Lebanese cars drove up to the security fence - which appeared deserted by IDF soldiers. The IDF’s current strategy is to avoid confrontation. If there had been any threat from the occupants of the cars, who were under constant observation by forces, they would have been answered with fire. See also ‘‘Israel, Hezbollah Playing War Game, but Avoid Real Conflagration’’ (Al-Monitor)

Arutz Sheva Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Makes Unannounced Visit The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff met with senior defense officials in Israel during a short and unannounced visit there amid rising tensions in the region. Army Gen. Mark Milley discussed “regional security challenges” with Israeli military’s chief of staff, Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi, and Defense Minister , among others, The Associated Press reported. Milley also spoke by videoconference from the base with Prime Minister Netanyahu. His visit came at a time of Israel’s escalating tension with Iran, cross-border incidents with Lebanon and airstrikes on Syria blamed on Israel. Gantz said in a statement released after the meeting that he emphasized to Milley “the need to continue the pressure on Iran and its proxies that threaten regional and global stability,” according to AP. Israel reportedly was Milley’s only stop on the overseas trip. The meeting took place at an Air Force base in southern Israel. See also ‘‘Iran Holds Annual Gulf Drill Amid Rising Tensions with US’’ (Jerusalem Post)

Jerusalem Post Netanyahu, Pompeo Put Peace Plan Back on the Table After weeks of silence on President Trump’s peace plan, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Secretary of State Pompeo put it back on the agenda in their remarks at an event hosted to launch of a new caucus, led by Likud MK . The caucus works with 42 caucuses in legislatures on six continents. MKs from seven parties joined the caucus that emphasizes the importance of strengthening Christian support for Israel. However, they notably did not mention any timeline for Israel to apply sovereignty to parts of Judea and Samaria as the plan allows. Listing the Trump administration’s accomplishments in the US-Israel relationship, Pompeo said: “We championed the President’s vision for peace. It’s the best and most realistic path forward to end the bloodshed between Israel and the Palestinian people and achieve enduring security, freedom and prosperity for both sides.” Netanyahu said in a letter read at the event that the Trump plan “has the potential to overcome past failures by offering the Palestinians the path of peace and reconciliation.”

3 Israel Hayom World Bank Grants Palestinians $30m in Welfare Aid The World Bank approved a $30 million grant to the Palestinian Authority in an effort to help the cash-strapped government stay afloat. The funds have been earmarked for the creation of jobs and other welfare projects seeking to help the Palestinian population in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.The Palestinian economy in both territories has been crippled by the coronavirus pandemic. Kanthan Shankar, the World Bank's regional director for the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, said that the global pandemic poses "an unprecedented challenge with grave implications for the already struggling Palestinian economy. "Fighting poverty and unemployment is a top priority for the World Bank," he added. "This grant seeks to mitigate the [pandemic's] impact on [Palestinian] households by creating employment alternatives." See also ‘‘$30 Million Grant to Protect Palestinian Livelihoods in the West Bank’’ (The World Bank)

Jerusalem Post Armenian FM: Demands Halt to Weapon Sales to Azerbaijan Israeli weapons sold to Azerbaijan are used to target Armenian civilian infrastructure and arms sales between the country should be stopped immediately, Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan said in an interview in the midst of the ongoing conflict with Azerbaijan, that while Israeli-Armenian relations have improved in recent years – the Armenian president was in Israel in January – Israel’s continued supply of advanced weaponry to Azerbaijan remains an outstanding issue for the countries. Azerbaijan and Armenia - neighboring countries and former Soviet republics - have long been at odds over Azerbaijan’s breakaway, mainly ethnic Armenian region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Russia, which has a military base in Armenia, has urged the two sides to cease fire and show restraint. Turning to Israel’s persistent refusal to recognize the Armenian genocide, Mnatsakanyan said: “Recognition of the Armenian Genocide by a nation who survived the horrors of the Holocaust is a moral issue. It’s on your conscience. I know that many Jews - public personalities, intellectuals and ordinary people - strongly share this point of view. However, it is up to the authorities of Israel to recognize the Armenian Genocide or refrain from doing it. It’s not only about Armenia but Israel as well.”

4 Yedioth Ahronoth – July 29, 2020 This Time It’s You, Netanyahu By Ben-Dror Yemini ● Dear Mr. Prime Minister. I’ve become a frightened citizen these past few weeks. It’s an unpleasant sensation. For years I’ve written that even though I didn’t vote for you, you nevertheless had several achievements to your credit. I also wrote that some of your arguments [against your detractors] were justified. Actually, I wrote some of those very same arguments myself, regardless of you. I supported an override clause, and I supported the French bill [postponing prosecution of a prime minister until after his term in office is over]. You were against. We spoke from time to time. Now that it suits your needs, you’re in favor of that legislation. Now that it’s personal and now that it serves only your needs, I’m opposed. ● No camp can claim ownership of absolute truth. Some of the arguments that were made by your camp on the issue of corruption and persecution were right and some were wrong. The same is true of the camp that is protesting against you. The problem is that this is no longer about a legitimate disagreement. That’s over. The problem is with you, Mr. Netanyahu, because you aren’t party to any legitimate disagreement. Now it’s you, and the only thing that you care about is you. There isn’t any need for a large group of violent people to destroy a democracy. There’s no need to burn down parliament. There’s only a need for the right atmosphere. And there is also a need for a small but violent minority. ● They’re already here. The first knife was pulled on Saturday evening. Someone was injured, and people have already been sprayed with gas [sic: it was actually pepper spray on Saturday evening]. It’s you whom they adore, and you haven’t disavowed them. They’ve already marched to an anthem praising the murderer, Yigal Amir. Once upon a time you could have said: I played no role. Not anymore. This time it’s you. They don’t need instructions. They need to intuit the commander’s wishes. You’re the commander. You’re setting the tone. ● Lies, as we all know, are the weapon of the anti-Semites. Now it’s you. The demonstrators aren’t spreading diseases, but instead of reining in your son’s lies about that, you’ve echoed the message. The public security minister is also fully enlisted. We heard his orders to the police commanders. With God as my witness, I share some of Ohana’s criticisms of the law enforcement agencies, but he has crossed a red line. He wants to challenge the High Court of Justice. And by challenge, I mean trample underfoot. Silencing efforts are being made within your own camp as well; yesterday you [plural] announced that Yifat Shasha-Biton had been moved out of the way. It isn’t at all clear that she was in the right in the disagreements about the actual issues, but it is absolutely clear that silencing her is designed to set the desired tone. It’s only a matter of time before the hooligans from La Familia or some other similar group attack her as well. ● Most of your voters, including the people who are part of your “base,” aren’t blind members of a herd. One of your supporters, Yair Aloni, a combat pilot, wrote a critical

5 post about you. He isn’t alone. There are many other right-wingers who agree with him. Many others. The problem there is a small but very dangerous minority among your supporters. A minority that wants to intimidate and to silence dissent. That minority is eager to start a civil war. You can stop that. If you still care even the slightest about Israel’s national interests, you need to take action. You’ve got the ball.

6 Ma’ariv – July 29, 2020 Suddenly It’s All of Us Together By Ben Caspit ● The better scenario is that it took Professor Ronni Gamzu four days to understand what Binyamin Netanyahu failed to understand in four months. The worse scenario is that Netanyahu actually did understand but didn’t take the necessary measures because he didn’t want to delegate the requisite powers, didn’t want to let score any points and because he was thinking about himself instead of thinking about the country. There is no avoiding the conclusion that Bennett was right (once again) when he said yesterday that this is a failure on a scale similar to the Yom Kippur War failure. Most of what happened here could have been averted had the right measures been taken in time. ● This isn’t a case of knowing things in hindsight; everything was said, shouted and verified in real time, but Netanyahu was taken captive by a band of civil servants in the Health Ministry and refused to relent under any circumstances. The Bibi-ists convinced him that he is the only one who knows; he is the only one who is capable; that there’s no one else but him [a play on a phrase that usually refers to God]. Yesterday he found himself forced to listen sullenly to the truth that was told to him unsparingly by Professor Ronni Gamzu, who spoke to the nation at length yesterday. ● The good news is that Gamzu is the right man in the right place, even though he’s arrived long after the right time. His public appearance yesterday was persuasive, compelling and professional. When he spoke, Binyamin Netanyahu squirmed in his seat, looking as if he had found himself trapped in the midst of a group of people with COVID-19 who were spitting viruses on him. Is it any wonder that he brought Benny Gantz and along with him and stressed the word “together?” Naturally you’re all together. Back when he still believed that he was going to emerge victorious from his encounter with the coronavirus, he did everything in his power to oversee things all by himself. Now that he has to pick up the pieces following his reverberating failure and is trying to figure out how to move forward from here, all of us are there right alongside him. ● The peak moment arrived when Gamzu dropped his gloves and explained to his audience, including Netanyahu and Edelstein, that the time has come to turn responsibility over to the security establishment. Up until half an hour ago the two of them had continued to hunker down in their unbelievable opposition to the self-evident. “Sorry, healthcare system; sorry, Health Ministry,” Gamzu said as he looked in Edelstein’s direction, “that isn’t our [job]. Severing the chain of infection is a job that doesn’t belong to us, and I’m pleased that the IDF has agreed to take that job. It has the capability, it has the technologies, it has the tools, it can do that. We’ll get it done well. That’s the heart of stopping the pandemic.” How many times has that been said in the past several months? Naftali Bennett begged to have the powers turned over to the Defense Ministry. Netanyahu waved him off like a nettlesome mosquito. Health Ministry civil servants smirked at him dismissively.

7 ● They and they alone [would get the job done]. So much was written here [i.e. by Caspit] and by others about the criminal negligence inherent in the refusal to utilize the most powerful emergency systems in the world that were established in this country precisely with a situation such as this in mind, so as to take immediate and full-scale action. How they castrated the National Emergency Management Authority and hung it out to dry. How they declined to use the Home Front Command, which is an irreplaceably powerful array that knows how to work effectively and swiftly with all of the local authorities and with every mobile telephone in every language and under all conditions. How they refused to task the army with doing what it knows how to do best, with the best-trained, most-available and most elite personnel in Israel. ● So, we all wrote and said and preached and proved and gave examples; and Naftali Bennett was forced to spin like an Iranian centrifuge without any powers to try to make a difference and to try to draw water from a rock. But the rock was immovable. Netanyahu continued to hunker down, to insist and to dismiss. If he truly believed that there was no need for any of that, he needs to pack up and go now. If he knew that that was necessary but preferred to keep the reins in his own hands because of political or personal calculations, then he should have been sent packing long ago. ● When Gamzu was asked about that yesterday, he stepped out of the minefield by using a simple tactic: I prefer to look forward and not back, he said. He’s right. If he were to look back, he would be turned into a pillar of salt [an allusion to the biblical tale of Lot’s wife]. He would find there a series of failures and the people who precipitated them, failures that caused the Israeli economy to collapse and devastated the lives of hundreds of thousands of families. There’s no arguing with the numbers. The unemployment rate in Israel in the aftermath of the coronavirus is among the highest in the world, and that is no coincidence. Even today, five months after everything began, Israel still doesn’t have a mechanism to sever the chains of infection; it still doesn’t have an orderly testing mechanism; it is still incapable of quickly nipping the chains of infection in the bud; it still doesn’t have a unified and orderly public information mechanism; and it still has zero transparency. ● And what is the proof that everything that you’ve read in this column up until today is actually what happened on the ground? The fact that even as Professor Gamzu was talking about transparency and professionalism, Miki Zohar fired MK Yifat Shasha-Biton as chairwoman of the Knesset’s Coronavirus Committee. Without any shame, without any reason, without any connection to the reality that we are all mired in, the only woman who has done her job well up until now had her skull crushed. The important thing is that the hangman is pleased and the person who sent him is happy. A million out-of-work Israelis are somewhat less happy. But they shouldn’t complain. After all, we’re all in this catastrophe together.

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