Israel and the Middle East News Update Friday, January 19 Headlines: • Jordan Embassy to Resume Full Operations After Apology • Pence heads to Jerusalem, Epicenter of Rift with Palestinians • Macron Dispatched Adviser to Sway Palestinians on Trump's Plan • Report: U.S. Ambassador Will Work in Jerusalem by 2019 • Israel Puts Tunnel Dug Under Gaza Border on Display • Israeli Lawmakers Decry Deportation of Asylum Seekers • Labor MK Questioned in “Yedioth Ahronoth Affair” • Minister to Disabled: 'Netanyahu Doesn't Care About You' Commentary: • Forward: “Trump Has Handed the Israel Lobby To Evangelicals. That’s Terrifying” - By Jane Eisner, editor-in-chief of the Forward • Al Monitor: “Israeli Nationalists' Messiah Complex” - By Akiva Eldar, Columnist at Al Monitor S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace 633 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20004 The Hon. Robert Wexler, President ● Yoni Komorov, Editor ● Aaron Zucker, Associate Editor News Excerpts January 19, 2018 Ynet News Jordan Embassy to Resume Full Operations After Apology Jordan said on Thursday that Israel had formally apologized for the deaths of two of its citizens killed by an Israeli security guard last July in an incident that has soured ties and led to the closure of the Israeli embassy in Amman, state media said. Government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani was quoted by state news agency Petra as saying the Israeli Foreign Ministry had sent a memorandum in which it sent its "deep regrets and apologies" over the incident at the embassy and said Israel pledged to take legal steps in the case. Al-Momani added that Israel also apologized over the killing of Jordanian citizen Raed Zeiter at the Allenby crossing in March of 2014. See also, “Jordan says Israel apologizes for deaths of two Jordanians at embassy” (Reuters) Times of Israel Pence heads to Jerusalem, Epicenter of Rift with Palestinians US Vice President Mike Pence is set to arrive at Ben Gurion Airport Sunday evening, marking the first visit to Israel of a senior American official since the Trump administration recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital last month. In light of the Palestinians’ decision to boycott the US administration after President Donald Trump’s December 6 decision to recognize Jerusalem, Pence’s delegation, which consist of more than 150 people, will not go to Ramallah or meet with Palestinian Authority officials. See also, “ Analysis: Pence's Middle East trip meant to highlight evangelical roots” (CBS) The Hill Macron Dispatched Adviser to Sway Pal’ on Trump's Plan French President Emmanuel Macron dispatched his deputy national security adviser, Aurélien Lechevallier, to the Palestinian city of Ramallah this week to convince Palestinian leaders to give President Trump's peace plan for the region a chance, Axios reported on Thursday. French and Palestinian officials told the news outlet that Lechevallier met with various senior Palestinian officials, including the head of the general intelligence service, Majed Faraj, and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Secretary General Saeb Erekat. "You might be right and the plan might turn out to be bad but don't blow it up right now. The plan might have things you don't like but maybe it will also contain interesting and positive things for you," Lechevallier told officials, according to Axios. See also, “Macron said to tell Abbas not to rule out Trump peace plan” (TOI) Ha’aretz Report: U.S. Ambassador Will Work in Jerusalem by 2019 The Trump administration is working to find a temporary solution that would allow its ambassador in Israel, David Friedman, to move his office to an existing building in Jerusalem in 2019, before the construction of a new embassy building in the city. The administration's intention was first reported this week by Israel's main television news company, and was confirmed on Thursday by the New York Times. The Times report stated that until a new embassy will be built, Friedman will work out of a building in the Arnona neighborhood of Jerusalem, which currently serves as an American consular office. See also,”U.S. Presses to Relocate Embassy to Jerusalem by 2019” (New York Times) 2 Reuters Israel Puts Tunnel Dug Under Gaza Border on Display The Israeli military brought journalists on Thursday to film a 2 km (1.25 mile) tunnel dug by militants from the Gaza Strip to Israel, saying it was putting the construction on display to show the continuing threat it faces from the territory. The Islamic Jihad militant group has claimed responsibility for building the tunnel, saying its aim was to use it to attack Israel in the next armed confrontation. Twelve Gaza militants, most of them from Islamic Jihad, were killed in the destruction of the tunnel and in rescue efforts when Israel destroyed the underground passage on October 30. The tunnel, around the height and width of an upright person, was lined with concrete slabs. It was discovered about 120 meters inside Israel near Kissufim, about six meters below ground, as tunnelers burrowed towards the surface looking to build an exit, the Israeli military said. i24 News Israeli Lawmakers Decry Deportation of Asylum Seekers Lawmakers, rabbis, students, Holocaust survivors and asylum-seekers united on Wednesday at the Israeli parliament under the banner “not in our name”, in opposition to Netanyahu’s recently announced and highly controversial scheme to deport African migrants from the country. “We are here today to convey a clear message to the government: Not in our name! We must stop this government from...expelling refugees and asylum seekers to the unknown,” declared Meretz MK Michal Rozin who convened the Knesset conference, alongside Dov Khenin from the Joint List and Kulanu member Eli Alaluf. Outside the Knesset, meanwhile, ten asylum seekers stood on crate boxes bound by thick silver chains with masking taped-mouths in a dramatic mock ‘slave auction’. See also, “Inspired by Anne Frank, Rabbis in Israel Plan to Hide African Asylum Seekers Facing Deportation” (Ha’aretz) Jerusalem Post Labor MK Questioned in “Yedioth Ahronoth Affair” MK Eitan Cabel (Labor) was questioned under caution on Thursday over his involvement in Case 2000, the “Yediot Aharonot affair.” Cabel was the initiator of the “Israel Hayom bill” that would have banned the free distribution of the daily paper. Police suspect that Cabel worked with Yediot Aharonot publisher Arnon Mozes to create legislation that would weaken the paper’s biggest competition, Israel Hayom, in return for favorable coverage in Yediot. Channel 2 reported Thursday that police interrogators had received information that Cabel had exchanged more than 60 text messages and phone calls with Mozes in the year prior to the bill, and more than 50 with the paper’s editor-in-chief. See also, “Opposition MK, newspaper publisher grilled in Netanyahu corruption probe” (TOI) Ynet News Minister to Disabled: 'Netanyahu Doesn't Care About You' Exclusive recordings obtained by Ynet taken during a Wednesday meeting with disabled protest representatives at the Government Quarter revealed extremely harsh language used by Welfare Minister Haim Katz (Likud) to refer to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Finance Ministry. Comment from the minister had not yet been received. During the meeting, Katz commented on the disability benefit freeze in 2003, when Netanyahu was in the Treasury: "In 2003 (Netanyahu) didn't care about you. Even if you went on a struggle, he wouldn't care about you. Because in 2003 he nationalized pension funds, stopped bonds, there was an intifada, industry sucked and civilians weren't coming in here.” 3 Forward– January 15, 2018 Trump Has Handed The Israel Lobby To Evangelicals. That’s Terrifying By Jane Eisner, editor-in-chief of the Forward • Vice President Mike Pence’s on again, off again visit to Israel is apparently on again for next week, but the actual timing was never the real thing. Pence and other deeply conservative white Christian evangelicals now driving American policy toward Israel and the Palestinians are playing a very long game that extends far beyond one news cycle. They are turning public support for Israel — which largely had been bipartisan and religiously pluralistic — into an effort propelled by members of one political party and one religious worldview. • Their belief that Jews, and only Jews, must rule over Jerusalem to herald the return of Jesus Christ influenced President Trump’s decision last December to reverse nearly seven decades of American foreign policy and recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Their absolute fealty toward Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and their antipathy toward the Palestinians are reflected in the itinerary for next week’s trip: Pence is not scheduled to meet with any Palestinian leader, the first time in decades for a top American official. • Some may welcome the way that the Trump administration has tilted the scales toward Israel and its current hard-line government. But there is real reason to worry when foreign policy is in the grip of fundamentalist ideology, when political issues become biblical ones. And this shift is not confined to America. The president of Guatemala, one of the few leaders to so far follow suit and recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, also relies on the support of his country’s influential Christian evangelical community. • The American Israel Public Affairs Committee remains the largest, richest and dominant Israel lobby in Washington, and its “big tent” approach still defines support for Israel in Congress and beyond. AIPAC prides itself on being bipartisan, and its annual convention attracts scores and scores of lawmakers from both sides of the aisle. While the number of yarmulke-wearing Orthodox Jews attending that convention has increased over the years, AIPAC still finds support in all Jewish religious denominations, and has actively courted other faith groups into its fold.