Israel and Middle East News Update

Monday, January 25

Headlines: ● Fresh Clashes as Haredi Leaders Blame Police for Violence ● Israel’s Struggling Labor Party Chooses New Leader ● PM Pledges Cash Handouts During Election Campaign ● Cabinet Authorizes Normalization with Morocco ● UAE Gov't Approves Establishment of Embassy in Tel Aviv ● Mossad Chief to Meet with Biden on Iran Deal Revamp ● Lawmakers Call Out Israel for Not Vaccinating Palestinians ● Turkey Hopes Talks Can Calm Choppy Waters with EU

Commentary: ● Yedioth Ahronoth: “Unprepared for a Nuclear Agreement’’ - By Alex Fishman

● Yedioth Ahronoth: “The Politicians who Say Nothing’’ - By Amihai Attali

S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace 1725 I St NW Suite 300, Washington, DC 20006 The Hon. Robert Wexler, President Editor: Yousef Bashir News Excerpts January 25, 2021 Times of Israel Fresh Clashes as Haredi Leaders Blame Police for Violence Top ultra-Orthodox officials blamed police for ongoing clashes between officers and opponents of lockdown restrictions in Bnei Brak. Demonstrators pushed dumpsters into the street and lit them ablaze, with one video showing officers being targeted with fireworks. The protesters also threw rocks at a bus and commandeered it, forcing the driver to flee, according to Hebrew media reports. Clashes broke out between police and rioters opposed to coronavirus lockdown restrictions in Bnei Brak, after a mob in the city injured a police officer on patrol. Those rioters belonged to an extremist faction of the Vizhnitz hasidic sect, according to media reports. There have since been multiple additional reports of lockdown violations among the ultra-Orthodox, including a mass wedding Sunday in Beit Shemesh broken up by police, leading to clashes. Dig Deeper ‘‘Haredi Extremists Damage Train in Jerusalem’’ (Arutz Sheva)

Associated Press Israel’s Struggling Labor Party Chooses New Leader The Labor Party chose Merav Michaeli, a veteran lawmaker, as its new leader ahead of March elections. Michaeli, 54, faces a difficult task as she tries to revive the fortunes of the iconic party. Labor guided Israel to independence in 1948 and led the country for its first three decades. But it has struggled to remain relevant over the past two decades as peacemaking with the Palestinians ground to a halt and the electorate appears to have embraced Prime Minister ’s hard-line ideology. Opinion polls have forecast Labor will not receive the minimum number of votes needed to enter the . Michaeli has been a leading progressive voice, supporting women’s rights, LGBT causes and the rights of workers in addition to seeking peace with the Palestinians. Media reports said she received 77% of the vote in a party primary, trouncing a handful of rivals. Dig Deeper ‘‘Michaeli to Begin Merger Talks with Huldai’’ (Jerusalem Post)

Times of Israel PM Pledges Cash Handouts During Election Campaign Prime Minister Netanyahu unveiled a new economic stimulus plan including cash handouts to most citizens, despite the objection of Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, who says it is illegal to launch such a plan during an election campaign. Netanyahu announced the plan alongside Finance Ministry , even though it was not coordinated with Katz’s ministry or the Justice Ministry. Netanyahu said the plan — which analysts say has virtually no chance of being approved — aims to aid small and medium businesses and jobseekers during the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. Dig Deeper ‘‘Israel Shuts Down Ben Gurion Airport for All Travel Purposes for First Time in History’’ (I24 News)

2 Jerusalem Post Cabinet Authorizes Normalization with Morocco The cabinet approved Israel’s normalization agreement with Morocco in a unanimous vote. Netanyahu called the agreement “a historic moment after four peace agreements with four Muslim and Arab states in four months” and praised King Mohammed VI. “Together we are advancing direct flights between the countries,” he said. The cabinet voted on an agreement that is “mindful that the establishment of full diplomatic, peaceful and friendly relations is in the common interest of both countries and will advance the cause of peace in the region, improve regional security and unlock new opportunities for the whole region.” It grants “authorization for direct flights” and calls to “resume full official contacts between Israeli and Moroccan counterparts and establish full diplomatic, peaceful and friendly relations.” Dig Deeper ‘‘Biden NSA: US Will Work with Israel to Build on Normalization Deals’’ (Ynet News)

I24 News UAE Gov't Approves Establishment of Embassy in Tel Aviv The UAE ratified the establishment of an embassy in Tel Aviv, the government announced on its Twitter account. “The Council of Ministers approves the restructuring of the Board of Directors of the Securities and Commodities Authority headed by His Excellency Abdullah bin Touq Al-Marri, Minister of Economy, and approves the establishment of the UAE embassy in Tel Aviv in the State of Israel,” the tweet read. Jerusalem and Abu Dhabi signed a peace treaty in part of the landmark Abraham Accords, brokered by the Trump administration, which included Bahrain as well. In a landmark summit that hosted Netanyahu, former President Trump and the foreign ministers of UAE and Bahrain, a more than two-decades diplomatic deadlock between the Jewish state and the Arab world was broken. Dig Deeper ‘‘Israel Opens Embassy in UAE’’ (Jerusalem Post)

Ynet News Mossad Chief to Meet with Biden on Iran Deal Revamp Channel 12 reported that the head of the Mossad intelligence agency Yossi Cohen is set to meet with President Joe Biden next month, in order to present Israel's position on any new version of the Iran nuclear deal. According to the report, Cohen is also expected to present Biden and senior US defense officials, including the newly appointed CIA chief David Cohen, updated information on Iran's secretive nuclear program. He will reportedly be accompanied by officials from the defense and foreign ministries. He was also reportedly expected to ask that the new administration compel Iran to heavily restrict their nuclear program, in light of Tehran's ongoing breaches of the 2015 deal. Channel 12 said, Jerusalem wants Washington to incorporate a number of core components into the agreement to ensure Israel's national security. These terms purportedly include a commitment from Iran that it immediately halt uranium enrichment and production of centrifuges, cease support for proxy terror groups in the region, primarily Hezbollah in Lebanon, and for terror attacks worldwide on Israeli targets. Dig Deeper ‘‘Biden Will Not Wait for Israel to Make Moves on Iran’’ (Ynet News)

3 Times of Israel Lawmakers Call Out Israel for Not Vaccinating Palestinians A growing number of Democrats have been speaking out against Israel for not vaccinating Palestinians in the West Bank. Newly elected New York Congressman Jamaal Bowman joined senior House Rep. Joaquin Castro, freshman Rep. Marie Newman, former vice-presidential candidate Sen. Tim Kaine, and Rep. Rashida Tlaib in voicing his concern over the matter. Israel is vaccinating its own Arab citizens and Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem, and says it is not responsible for inoculating the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Health Minister has said that Israel will consider helping, once it has taken care of its own citizens. Under the terms of the 1995 Oslo Accords, the Palestinian Authority is responsible for Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza, while both sides are to work together to combat epidemics. According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, Israel, if it is considered an occupying power, is required to provide vaccines to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Dig Deeper ‘‘Israeli Immunity Hinges on Palestinians Getting COVID Shots Too, Doctors Say’’ (Times of Israel)

Reuters Turkey Hopes Talks Can Calm Choppy Waters with EU After a five-year hiatus marked by grievances over their rival claims to Mediterranean waters, Turkey resumes talks with Greece in the first test of its hopes to reverse deteriorating relations with the EU. While diplomats say that rebuilding trust will be a hard slog, the talks follow Turkey’s decision to stop its search for gas in disputed waters which angered Greece and Cyprus and a cooling of rhetoric around Ankara’s wider disputes with the EU. They could also pave the way for an imminent visit to Turkey by EU leaders. Both sides say there is political will to improve relations, but after years of rancor over refugees, human rights, maritime claims, Turkey’s military interventions and the divided island of Cyprus, rapprochement appears a distant prospect. Expressing guarded optimism, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he saw a “window of opportunity” but that Ankara needed to “abandon this line of confrontation” and seek dialogue. President Tayyip Erdogan, who has accused the bloc of “strategic blindness” towards Turkey, told EU ambassadors in Ankara this month he was ready to improve ties. Erdogan’s effort to build bridges with Turkey’s main trading partner comes as his government struggles with an economic slowdown. While the COVID-19 pandemic has been the main brake on growth, international tensions have also weighed on the economy.

4 Yedioth Ahronoth – January 25, 2021 Unprepared for a Nuclear Agreement By Alex Fishman ● White House officials have begun informally to cite Rob Malley as the person who will head the talks to renew the nuclear agreement with Iran. Malley, the son of an Egyptian man of Jewish extraction, served under Clinton in the Camp David talks and he was a senior official in the Obama administration. But the Jewish right wing marked him as being problematic and applied pressure to keep him out of any position that was connected to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with the argument that he was too balanced. That is a small example of the manipulations by the Netanyahu administration that was prompted by and which itself prompted the Jewish American right wing to stir the pot of American political appointments. That created hard feelings and hostility, and all of the efforts by cabinet ministers to say that things would continue to work the way they had under the Trump administration have failed to allay concerns. ● Malley has spent the past several years at the head of a think tank that analyzes crises around the world. One need only take a glance at some of the polls that that think tank conducted about the Iranian nuclear agreement to understand where the Biden administration is headed: initially it will freeze the situation until June, when presidential elections are scheduled to be held in Iran, after which it will begin negotiations on a permanent arrangement. The American plans have already been drafted. They are talking about holding two separate negotiations: one about the Iranian nuclear program and the other about the Iranian ballistic missile program and Iran’s subversive activity in the Middle East. Israeli officials understand perfectly well which way the wind is blowing. ● The consensus among Israeli security officials that was expressed at recent situation assessment meetings is that the first stage will be begun quickly, within weeks or a matter of months. American officials have pledged to consult with their allies in the Middle East before beginning the negotiations. But with whom exactly will an American delegation meet? The prime minister? The defense minister? The National Security Council director? The director of the Political-Security Staff in the Defense Ministry? The project manager? Who exactly is coordinating the Israeli efforts? Who is dictating policy? ● A month ago, National Security Council Director Meir Ben-Shabbat sent a letter to the defense minister informing him that the prime minister alone would formulate the State of Israel’s position on the matter, and he would do so based on the work of the National Security Council. Defense Minister Gantz replied that the Iranian issue was not any single individual’s private matter. He said that the security establishment would play an active role, decisions would be made by the security cabinet and would be summed up by the prime minister. Ever since then, the two sides have not been in contact with one another and both have been writing their own position papers. National Security Council officials have held meetings among themselves and with the prime minister, and they have seen no need to include the IDF’s Strategic Branch, which is in possession of most of the knowledge in Israel about developments in Iran and ways of fighting it. 5 ● The Prime Minister’s Office has kept the Defense Ministry’s Political-Security Staff, which routinely holds talks with US administration officials on strategic issues, in the dark. The prime minister has decided to deal with Iran the way he has dealt with the coronavirus. On his own with the National Security Council. And the results will be in kind. The Americans aren’t going to wait for a new Israeli government to be formed. They are going to press forward even without us.

6 Yedioth Ahronoth – January 25, 2021 The Politicians who Say Nothing By Amihai Attali ● A team of police detectives was almost slaughtered in Bnei Brak, but it took the prime minister three and a half hours to decide whose side he was on. The footage was clear. It documented several dozen lawbreakers pounding a car, smashing the windows and stealing the police officers’ personal equipment, but the prime minister had to run every possible scenario through his super- computer first before he was prepared to denounce those animals. First, he had to guarantee that none of them attend the yeshiva of the Vizhnitzer Rebbe, to whom he gave a royal welcome at the Prime Minister’s Residence not long ago. Then he had to make sure that none of the window-smashers was related by any chance to Yanki Kanievsky—the man dictates to all of us in his phone calls with Netanyahu how the lockdown is to proceed. ● Netanyahu then had to make sure that none of the people who robbed the police officers were friends with , who holds Netanyahu’s “go to jail” card in his hands. Only at half-past midnight, after all the cross-referencing had been completed and after all the intersecting interests had been analyzed, could the prime minister breathe a sigh of relief and finally condemn this savage behavior. We are living in ugly and difficult times, but there is no leadership. We can only dream of a leadership that takes charge, a leadership that might have the wherewithal to lead millions of lost citizens with a steady hand. Citizens who have been living for almost a year in a state of uncertainty; citizens who time and time again have to pin their hopes on the next escape plan. But not only does Israel suffer from a lack of management, it has no authoritative and calming voice either. It has no one to light the path ahead, which is something that the leadership is supposed to do. A pillar of fire leading the camp [reference to how the Children of Israel were led out of Egypt] that might praise the good and condemn the bad. ● But that is not our situation. Everything here is political. The crazy loop in which we have found ourselves stuck—with four elections in two years, with no state budget in a year and a half—this loop has sullied all aspects of life in Israel and has submerged us beneath a tsunami in which everything is political. Netanyahu is not alone on that count. Many of our politicians have swallowed their tongues and haven’t uttered a peep while this crazy disintegration has unfolded before us. The situation in Bnei Brak and in other Haredi cities are reminiscent of the start of the first Intifada. The radio news editions began yesterday with reports about “disturbances” in Bnei Brak. ● There is no Israeli who was alive in the 1980s who doesn’t remember the same reports from Jabalya, Ramallah and Tulkarm. An enraged mob surrounds security forces who still don’t comprehend the situation, who still don’t know how to behave when facing fellow Jews. Should they run? Should they fight? Perhaps they should shoot in the air? There are a lot of bad options. And when you look up, regardless of whether you are a policeman who is surrounded by an enraged mob or whether you are an ordinary citizen who has been imprisoned at home for two weeks and for who knows how much longer— you haven’t anyone to pin your hopes on. 7 ● You see no role model anywhere—no one who might speak out in support of the good and condemn the bad. You see no one whom you can trust, no one to encourage you. No. He [Netanyahu] has no time for that. He has to decide what to do about an entire country that is stuck in lockdown and he has made sure that Yanki agrees.

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