Israel and the Middle East News Update Monday, February 23 Headlines: Likud, Zionist Union Spar after Jerusalem Stabbing Attack Palestinians Threaten to End Security Ties with Israel Kerry Says Deal Not Imminent as Iran, US Energy Chiefs Join Talks Netanyahu ‘Astonished’ Over Continuing Nuclear Talks Senior U.S. Official: White House Won't Boycott AIPAC Conference Zionist Union Wins at Bellwether High School's Mock Election Likud: If Bennett Weakens Us, We’ll Form Unity Government with Herzog Comptroller Confirms Pre-Election Publication of Damning Housing Report Commentary: Ma’ariv: “Hara-Kiri” By Ben Caspit The Weekly Standard: “The Israeli Referendum” By Elliott Abrams S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace 633 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20004 www.centerpeace.org ● Yoni Komorov, Editor ● Nathaniel Sobel, Associate Editor News Excerpts February 23, 2015 Times of Israel Likud, Zionist Union Spar After Jerusalem Stabbing Attack The ruling Likud party and the Zionist Union, its main rival in the upcoming national elections, squabbled Sunday hours after a Palestinian teenager stabbed a Jewish man in Jerusalem. The incident was caught on camera and shows Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat and his security team apprehending the attacker. After the attack, the Likud party published a post on Facebook in which it charged that should the Zionist form the next coalition, Hamas would operate in the heart of the Israeli capital since Livni was willing to consider dividing Jerusalem, according to the post. The post was then shared by Prime Minister Netanyahu which prompted an outcry by Zionist Union members who accused him of participating in incitement. Ynet News Palestinians Threaten to End Security Ties with Israel The Palestinian president has threatened to stop security coordination with Israel if the country continues to withhold millions of dollars of Palestinian tax revenue, a senior Palestinian official said Sunday. Nabil Shaath said President Mahmoud Abbas warned European leaders on a trip to Europe last week that Palestinian officials would discuss the matter during a Palestinian central council meeting next week. Israel has withheld tax revenue from the Palestinians since they joined the International Criminal Court last month. Shaath said the withheld revenue amounts to $140 million per month for the last two months. Tax revenue accounts for about 70% of the Palestinians' budget. See also, “Jerusalem hits back at claims it is causing collapse of Palestinian Authority” (Jerusalem Post) Al-Monitor Kerry says deal not imminent as Iran, US energy chiefs join talks The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ali Akbar Salehi and US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz joined Iran nuclear negotiations in Geneva for the first time Feb. 21, raising expectations that talks had reached a critical point. US Secretary of State John Kerry, however, sought to tamp down expectations that Iran and six world powers were close to finalizing a preliminiary political agreement, telling reporters that there were still significant gaps. The expanded high-level Iranian delegation raised expectations for a possible outcome at the meeting, one month ahead of a March 24 deadline for reaching a political agreement on a final nuclear deal. See also, “Despite 2-hour meet, Kerry and Iran's Zarif fail to find common ground” (Reuters) Times of Israel Netanyahu ‘Astonished’ Over Continuing Nuclear Talks Prime Minister Netanyahu on Sunday criticized the international community for negotiating with Iran while taking no steps to curb its sponsorship of global terrorism, as top American and Iranian diplomats attempted to hammer out a deal in Geneva. Speaking at the cabinet meeting, the prime minister said that it was “astonishing that even after the recent IAEA report determined that Iran is continuing to hide the military components of its nuclear program, the nuclear talks are proceeding.” See also, “Netanyahu slams Herzog for saying Iran not an existential threat” (Jerusalem Post) 2 Ha’aretz U.S. Official: White House Won't Boycott AIPAC Conference Despite the rift between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Barack Obama, the U.S. administration has no intention of boycotting the upcoming convention of America's leading pro-Israel lobby, AIPAC, a senior administration official said over the weekend. However, the official refrained from divulging the name or rank of the administration representative who will speak at the conference, though many believe it will be U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. The official's statements come in the wake of an AP report claiming the Obama administration is mulling ways "to undercut Netanyahu's upcoming trip to Washington and blunt his message that a potential nuclear deal with Iran is bad for Israel and the world." See also, “Ex-envoy to US: White House boycott of AIPAC tantamount to boycott of alliance with Israel” (Jpost) Ynet News Zionist Union Wins at Bellwether High School's Mock Election The high school that predicted the 1977 elections upset and Yitzhak Rabin's victory in 1992, as well as Yair Lapid's big achievement in the 2013 elections, has predicted another upset in the 2015 elections. The students at Blich High School in Ramat Gan took part in a mock election on Sunday, giving the Zionist Union headed by Isaac Herzog and Tzipi Livni 32 percent of the votes. Lapid's party, Yesh Atid, got 28 percent of the votes and ruling party the Likud only got 14 percent, placing it in third place. Over a 1,000 sophomores, juniors and seniors (10th-12th grade) took part in the mock election. Students were wearing T-shirts representing the different parties and several politicians arrived at the school to talk to the students. NRG Likud: If Bennett Weakens Us, We’ll Form Unity Government The internal battle inside the right wing bloc, between the Likud and the Jewish Home, will have ramifications—or so Likud figures have recently threatened. The Likud has only made this threat in closed conversations up until now, although publicly Netanyahu has said that he will not approach Herzog-Livni to form a coalition. However, in closed conversations, Likud figures say that if the Jewish Home weakens Netanyahu’s party, this will force the Likud, against its will, to go to the Zionist Camp on the day after the elections and to propose the establishment of a unity government. See also, “Herzog: I won’t build outside settlement blocs” (Times of Israel) BICOM Comptroller Confirms Publication of Damning Housing Report Israel’s State Comptroller Joseph Shapira confirmed yesterday that there will be no delay in publishing a report on Israel’s housing sector, making it available before next month’s general election. The report is expected to sharply criticize Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s successive administrations on an issue of significant importance to the electorate. Following yesterday’s announcement, Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog commented that the housing crisis “is not a decree of fate, but rather the result of the ongoing unsuccessful policy of Netanyahu’s failed government.” See also, “Comptroller resists pressure from Likud to release report on housing” (Jerusalem Post) 3 Ma’ariv – February 23, 2015 Hara-Kiri By Ben Caspit “We’ve completely lost our grip,” whispered the whisperer, after getting his interlocutor to swear that he wouldn’t tell anyone. “Don’t quote me, but it seems to me that we’ve gone absolutely and completely mad here. It’s an insane tailspin, real vertigo. At this pace, we’re going to crash into the side of the mountain.” The person who made these remarks, a man who is at the heart of the Likud campaign, spoke (yesterday) about the new record levels of ridiculousness that the Likud campaign has reached or, more correctly, that the Netanyahu family has reached, in the past few days. Let’s start from the beginning. Until not long ago, Netanyahu was running a brilliant campaign. He did so despite the fact that he wasn’t holding particularly good cards in his hand. He dictated the agenda and was able to surprise; he proved that he knew how to be “cool” and displayed a good sense of humor. He floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee. Then came the state comptroller’s report about the Prime Minister’s residences. At that point, when the family started to panic, everything began to run awry. The first mistake was the grotesque public relations video clip with the character who goes by the name of “Moshik Galamin.” It is clear today that that video cast in an even more ridiculous light on the imperial family’s (albeit crumbling) Byzantine Court. The second colossal mistake was to pounce on Meni Naftali. The weekend polls proved that very few people, if any at all, were prepared to buy the unbelievable accusation that was aired by the prime minister (and his wife) of Israel, that their fired custodian is the one who forced them to eat expensive sushi until they burst, to order champagne as if there were no tomorrow, to fill the house with scented candles (at a cost of thousands of shekels), to spend hundreds of thousands of shekels on cleaning their empty home and so on and so forth. By the bye, they turned Meni Naftali into someone who no longer has anything to lose. Blaming Livni for the Terror Attack … Incidentally, yesterday Netanyahu blamed Tzipi Livni for the attempted terror attack in Jerusalem. If that isn’t a case of him losing his grip, I don’t know what is. Why is Livni to blame? Because “a few weeks ago she once again noted her support for dividing Jerusalem.” Ah, now it all makes sense. She said that, and along came a terrorist with a knife in order to prevent the division of the city or something like that.