Israel and the Middle East News Update Wednesday, June 3 Headlines: Obama: World Doesn’t Believe Israel Serious about Solution Obama raises Possibility of Allowing U.N. Vote on Palestine Deputy FM Orders Action against IDF Whistle-Blowing Group British students boycotting Israel Israeli Academics Report Signs of Undeclared Boycott Knesset Will Convene for an Emergency Boycott Discussion Palestinian NGO Denies Hamas Ties, Threatens IL with Lawsuit UN chief: UNRWA still exists because of ‘political failure’ Commentary: Wall Street Journal: “How Bureaucracy Bogs Down Israel’s Economy” By William Galston Jerusalem Post: “It’s Time for the Sunni World to Come to Terms with Israel” By Eric Mandel S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace 633 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20004 www.centerpeace.org ● Yoni Komorov, Editor News Excerpts June 3, 2015 Jerusalem Post Obama: World Doesn’t Believe Israel Serious about Solution The international community does not believe that Israel is serious about a two state solution, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has placed so many conditions to its establishment that it is unrealistic to think it could come into existence in the near future, US President Barack Obama said on Tuesday. Obama, in an interview with Channel 2, said that Netanyahu was “fairly unequivocal” in his statement the day before the election that a Palestinian state would not emerge on his watch. Since then, Obama said, Netanyahu has made comments indicating that there is a possibility of a Palestinian state, but added so many caveats that it is not realistic anyone would agree to those conditions. See also, “Obama: We can't maintain Iran sanctions forever” (Ynet News) LA Times Obama raises Possibility of Allowing U.N. Vote on Palestine President Obama took a step toward a tougher line with Israel in an interview released Tuesday, raising the possibility that the U.S. will allow a United Nations vote on issues related to the Palestinians if the two sides make no meaningful movement toward peace. In an interview with an Israeli television station, Obama noted that his administration has “up until this point” quashed such efforts at the U.N. while insisting that the Israelis and Palestinians must negotiate a resolution. But he said it is a challenge for the U.S. to keep demanding that the Palestinians negotiate in good faith if no one believes the Israelis are doing the same. Times of Israel Deputy FM Orders Action against IDF Whistle-Blowing Group Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely told the Israeli embassy in Switzerland to take action against an upcoming exhibition by an Israeli organization that gathers testimonies by IDF soldiers alleging abuse of Palestinians and war crimes by Israeli forces in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. “I sent an instruction to the Israeli embassy in Switzerland to immediately review ways to act against the exhibition by Breaking the Silence,” Hotovely said, according to a report by the Hebrew-language news site NRG. “We will not be complacent when an organization whose whole purpose is to tarnish IDF soldiers acts in the international arena in order to cause serious damage to Israel’s image.” Channel 2 News British students boycotting Israel The National Student Union in the UK announced on Tuesday that it was joining the BDS Movement aiming to impose financial, cultural and academic sanctions on Israel due to the country's activity in the West Bank. A majority of 19 union council members voted in favor of the motion while 14 members voted against it. The motion was proposed by representatives of the School of Oriental and African Studies in the University of London. In February, 700 artists and musicians from around the world signed a petition calling to boycott Israel, including Pink Floyd's member Roger Waters. 2 Ha’artez Israeli Academics Report Signs of Undeclared Boycott Israeli university leaders say they are concerned about growing signs of an unofficial boycott of the country’s academics by their peers abroad. These signs include turning down invitations to attend conferences held in Israel, ignoring requests to write recommendation letters for Israeli scholars seeking promotions, and rejecting submissions from Israeli scholars in peer-reviewed journals. Hostility toward Israel is not typically cited as the reason, but Israeli university leaders say the growing incidence of such cases has them worried. Speaking with Ha’aretz, the heads of leading Israeli academic institutions said the phenomenon was hardly widespread, but considering that it was almost nonexistent until a few years ago, the change is evident. “This is a slippery slope,” warns Peretz Lavie, president of the Technion. “We can find ourselves in 10 years cut off from the academic world, but the impact is not just on the academic world. It’s on the economy, and it’s on high-tech.” Ma’ariv Knesset Will Convene for an Emergency Boycott Discussion The Knesset plenum will convene today for an emergency discussion about Israel’s international standing in light of the increased calls in the world to impose a boycott on Israel and undermine its standing. The session, entitled “boycott and delegitimization of Israel in international organizations” is the initiative of three MKs from three factions: Michael Oren of Kulanu, Michal Rozin of Meretz, and Nahman Shai of the Zionist Union. “We have to think about how we extricate ourselves from the pit that Israel is in,” said Nahman Shai last night. “We cannot evade discussing these issues. We firmly reject the idea of punishing Israel by means of a boycott or sanctions, but that said, we must come up with a diplomatic solution since an impasse will cause further deterioration.” Ynet News Palestinian NGO Denies Hamas Ties, Threatens IL with Lawsuit The British-based Palestinian Return Center on Tuesday threatened Israel's UN mission with legal action after the Israel accused it of having ties to the Palestinian militant group Hamas, an allegation the group said was false. The Israeli accusations came after a United Nations committee that oversees non-governmental organizations voted to approve UN accreditation for the PRC, which Israel's mission said was not only linked to Hamas but promoted "anti-Israel propaganda in Europe." "We announce that PRC is considering legal action against the Israeli delegation at the UN," the group said in a statement circulated to the 19-member UN Committee on NGOs. Times of Israel UN chief: UNRWA still exists because of ‘political failure’ Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon used the 65th anniversary of the UN agency that helps Palestinian refugees to appeal Tuesday for an immediate resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations and an end to unilateral actions “that erode trust.” Ban told a UN conference marking the anniversary of the UN Relief and World Agency that UNRWA was never meant to exist for 65 years, but “it exists because of political failure.” UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl said there are over 5 million registered Palestinian refugees in the region today, which “equates to the population of Norway or Singapore.” “Their isolation and dispossession represent a time bomb for the region.” 3 Wall Street Journal– June 2, 2015 How Bureaucracy Bogs Down Israel’s Economy By William Galston Israel is a remarkable country with big problems. The existential threats it faces from abroad are well known; only slightly less so, the troubled relations between the Jewish majority and the (mostly) Arab minority within its own population. By contrast, most Americans know little about Israel’s economy, and most of what they think they know is shaped by the country’s vibrant high-tech sector. But Israel’s economy is more varied—and its overall performance more troubled—than glowing reports about the latest IT breakthroughs convey. Put simply, the Israeli economy is an island of innovation in a sea of bureaucracy. “Start Up Nation” faces off against “Can’t Get Started Nation.” The result: The economy is functioning well below developed-world standards, and average families are paying the price. The most fundamental problem is that productivity—a key precondition for growth in output and wages—has been growing much too slowly, and Israel is falling behind. Four decades ago, gross domestic product in the G-7 stood at $20 per work hour while Israel’s was around $17—or 15% lower. By 2012, GDP per work hour in the G-7 had risen to $45, Israel’s to just $34—almost 25% lower. Of the 34 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Israel’s labor productivity ranks 26th, behind Italy, Portugal and even Greece. This poor performance extends virtually across the board. Measured against the OECD, Israel looks mediocre in manufacturing and finance, and woeful in construction, trade and services. Agriculture is the only sector in which Israel approaches the average for developed economies. In part, this is the result of inadequate investment. Israel’s gross domestic investment has fallen from 28% of GDP in the early 1970s, and 25% in the early 1990s, to under 20% during the past decade. But as any Israeli will tell you, the most pervasive hindrance to economic vitality is a somnolent and often obstructionist bureaucracy. For example, it takes on average six working days in the U.S. to start a new business. The OECD average is 13 days. In Israel, this task takes 34 days. According to the World Bank’s latest “Doing Business” index, Israel ranks 109th for speed of getting electrical connections, 111th for enforcing contracts, and 121st for dealing with construction permits. In Israel, according to the nonpartisan Taub Center, completing the construction-permit process takes on average 11 years, including three years at the local level and five at the district level.