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Israel and the Middle East News Update

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Israel and the Middle East News Update Israel and the Middle East News Update Friday, May 27 Headlines: Poll: Party Headlined by Ya’alon, Sa’ar, Kahlon Could Beat Likud Outgoing Minister Accuses Gov’t of Leading Israel to destruction Ya'alon Praises Environmental Protection Minister's Resignation Lieberman Soothes IDF Top Brass's Concerns In First, ADL Urges Clampdown on Extremist Israeli Group Netanyahu Apologizes for Condemning 'Nationalistic Rape' UN Atomic Watchdog: Iran Sticking to Nuclear Deal Commentary: Yedioth Ahronoth: “Winter is Coming” By Nachum Barnea The Economist: “He’s Back” By The Economist 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 May 27, 2016 Times of Israel Poll: Party Headlined by Ya’alon, Sa’ar, Kahlon Could Beat Likud A new political party with former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon, Kulanu leader Moshe Kahlon and former Likud minister Gideon Sa’ar would get the largest number of seats in Israel’s 120-seat parliament — 25 — if elections were held today, according to a poll published on Friday. The survey by Israel Radio indicated that a new center-right party would beat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud by four seats, with Israel’s ruling party dropping from its current 30 seats to 21. With the new Ya’alon-Kahlon-Sa’ar party in the running, the Zionist Union would fall dramatically — from 24 seats to 11 — and the center-left Yesh Atid, right-wing Jewish Home and right-wing Yisrael Beytenu would all snatch up two more seats than they currently have (Yesh Atid would rise from 11 to 13, Jewish Home from 8 to 10, and Yisrael Beytenu from 6 to 8). See also, “Poll: Party led by Kahlon, Ya'alon, and Sa'ar could topple Netanyahu” (Jerusalem Post) Ha’aretz Outgoing Minister Accuses Gov’t of leading Israel to destruction Israel's environmental protection minister delivered a searing indictment of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government on Friday as he resigned from the cabinet. In a press conference on Friday morning, Avi Gabbay said he found it difficult to remain part of a government that undermined the ties with the U.S., broadened the rift within Israeli society and tried to silence critical voices. Gabbay also slammed the natural gas deal that was approved by the government earlier this week, saying that it was driven by "lack of knowledge and fundamental understanding in finance and managing negotiations," as well as "weakness and pandering to the interests of powerful individuals." The straw that broke the camel's back and finally led him to resign, he said, was the dismissal of Moshe Ya'alon as defense minister and his replacement with Avigdor Lieberman. "The public wanted a rightist government, but the establishment of an extremist government isn't right," he said. He called on Netanyahu "to wake up before it's too late. See also, “Kulanu minister resigns because of Lieberman” (Ynet News) Israel National News Ya'alon Praises Environmental Protection Minister's Resignation "In our politics, standing firm on principles has become subject to ridicule, whereas flip-flopping and deceit are considered 'sophisticated,'" Ya'alon tweeted Friday. "The full assessment of Avi Gabay shows there's another way. We cannot give up." Ya'alon also quit politics last Friday, in protest over Netanyahu adding Yisrael Beytenu to the government and appointing former Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman as Ya'alon's replacement. Both politicians - as well as Yisrael Beytenu MK Orly Levi-Abekasis, who resigned from her party over the coalition deal - have received support from leftist MKs, most vocally from the Zionist Union. The Environmental Protection Ministry, meanwhile, is expected to stay in the hands of Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon's Kulanu party. Kahlon addressed Gabay's resignation earlier Friday, thanking him for his service and emphasizing his role in the party's founding. 2 Ynet News Lieberman Soothes IDF Top Brass's Concerns Newly-appointed Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman has recently met with several reserve major generals, sending the soothing message to the IDF leadership that he will be a stately, responsible minister. Security officials, however, are waiting to see if he will indeed keep his promises and are saying "time will tell". Lieberman, who will take office next Tuesday, needs to quickly put together a professional team. Next week, after he officially takes on the position, he will begin a series of meetings with senior IDF members, among them the chief of staff, senior generals and the new Director General of the Defense Ministry. Ha’aretz In First, ADL Urges Clampdown on Extremist Israeli Group Citing concerns for the future of Israeli democracy and society, the Anti-Defamation League has urged the government to clamp down on Lehava, a radical anti-assimilation organization, and its leader Bentzi Gopstein. In a letter sent this week to Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit and obtained by Haaretz, the U.S.-based ADL warned that Israel’s continued tolerance of Lehava’s “hateful discourse,” while detrimental to Israeli society, was also “used as a weapon by Israel’s enemies, who use it as a basis for their rushed conclusions and generalizations about Israeli society.” The ADL, which has been active in Israel for 40 years, has never before sent a direct appeal to the Israeli attorney general. Jerusalem Post Netanyahu Apologizes for Condemning 'Nationalistic Rape' Prime Minister Netanyahu expressed regret on Friday over a Facebook post in which he lashed out at the media and the Left for failing to condemn an alleged rape of a mentally disabled Jewish woman by three Palestinian men. Earlier this week, police said that they had arrested two Palestinian men for allegedly raping and urinating on a mentally disabled woman in south Tel Aviv in what police say was a nationalistically motivated crime. The news of the arrests and allegations prompted Netanyahu to write an angry Facebook post denouncing the press and the opposition for not loudly condemning the incident. Netanyahu's post elicited harsh reaction from lawmakers who accused the premier of failing to speak up on behalf of rape victims prior to the alleged incident. On Friday, Netanyahu retracted his statement. See also, “Netanyahu's Condemnation of Alleged Rape by Palestinians Sparks Backlash” (Ha’aretz) AFP UN Atomic Watchdog: Iran Sticking to Nuclear Deal Iran is still complying with the July 2015 landmark nuclear deal with major powers, a report from the UN atomic watchdog seen by AFP showed on Friday. The International Atomic Energy Agency’s second quarterly assessment since the accord came into force on January 16 showed that Iran was meeting its main commitments. Verification by the IAEA has continued as agreed. The steps taken by Iran under the 2015 deal extend to at least a year the length of time Tehran would need to make one nuclear bomb’s worth of fissile material — up from a few months before the accord. See also, “Mighty Iran forced world to strike nuke deal, supreme leader says” (Times of Israel) 3 Yedioth Ahronoth – May 27, 2016 Winter is Coming By Nahum Barnea I met four concerned Israelis this week in a Tel Aviv café: Maj. Gen. (res.) Amnon Reshef was commander of the armored divisions and commander of the 14th Brigade in the Yom Kippur War; Maj. Gen. (res.) Danny Rothschild was director of the IDF Intelligence Research Department and coordinator of government activities in the territories; Aryeh Felman was the deputy director of the GSS; and Roland Giron was a senior Mossad official (Giron let his friends speak on his behalf). The four of them are members of an NGO called Commanders for Israel’s Security, which is due to issue a new political-security plan to the public on Monday. The plan is entitled “Security First.” They are not alone. While we are preoccupied with the Netanyahu family’s airline tickets, many parties, both around the world and in Israel, are searching for a plan to break the stalemate. “Winter is coming,” the protagonists of the series Game of Thrones warn repeatedly. The diplomatic winter is expected to begin in November, on the day after the US presidential elections, with a last initiative of the Obama administration; the next stage will come with a Security Council resolution, perhaps also a regional initiative. The world will discover with astonishment that it is the 50th anniversary of the occupation. People are concerned, both in Jerusalem and in Ramallah. My four interlocutors are close to their eighties or their seventies. They are orderly people, who retired years ago, made a second career in the business world and discovered that they still harbor the public [service] bug. The old elite, Twitter users will say mockingly. Old soldiers never die, they come back with futile plans for promoting peace in the Middle East. The plan does not talk about an arrangement. It proposes a series of proactive security, diplomatic and economic measures, which in the opinion of the plan’s sponsors will improve our situation vis-à-vis the West Bank and Gaza. In terms of security, the construction of the security fence will be completed, in such a way that will turn it into a border for all intents and purposes; the IDF will continue to control the West Bank; law and order will be enforced in the Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem. In diplomatic terms, Israel will announce that it accepts the Arab peace initiative as a basis for negotiations; it is willing to hand over the Palestinian neighborhoods and villages annexed to Jerusalem to the future Palestinian state, and it has no claims of sovereignty in the territories east of the fence; construction in the settlements east of the fence will be frozen.
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