Israel and Middle East News Update Monday, June 28 Headlines: ● Bennett Announces Plan to Fight Crime in Arab Community ● Shaked to Reject Family Reunification Requests ● Mount Meron: Ex-Chief Justice to Head State Inquiry ● Israeli Ambassador to United States Resigns ● Gantz Seeks Deal to Avoid Forced WB Evyatar Evacuation ● PA Deploys Forces During Protest Against Critic's Death ● Israel to Allow Import of Fuel for Gaza Power Plant ● Egyptian, Jordanian and Iraqi leaders meet in Baghdad Commentary: ● Yedioth Ahronoth: “Redefine Your Identity’’ - By Ari Shavit ● Ma’ariv: “Business as Usual’’ - By Alon Ben David S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace 1725 I St NW Suite 300, Washington, DC 20006 The Hon. Robert Wexler, President News Excerpts June 28, 2021 Times of Israel Bennett Announces Plan to Fight Crime in Arab Community Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced that Israel would implement a national plan to tackle crime in the country’s Arab sector. Bennett made his comments after five Arab Israeli citizens were killed in deadly shootings over the past four days. The prime minister noted that since the start of 2021, “dozens of people have been murdered in the Arab community.” The Islamist Ra’am Party, which joined Bennett’s government coalition, ran on a platform of tackling violence in Israel’s Arab communities. When Ra’am signed a coalition agreement in early June, it noted that Bennett and his coalition partner, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, agreed to provide$770,000 to fight violence and organized crime in Arab society. Dig Deeper ‘‘Bennett Promises to Address Crime in Arab Sector Following Deadly Weekend’’ (Jerusalem Post) Arutz Sheva Shaked to Reject Family Reunification Requests Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked intends to reject every request for citizenship by a Palestinian Arab who married an Israeli Arab if the Family Reunification Law is not extended, Kan reported. In addition, Shaked plans to continue raising the law for Knesset approval, even if it is rejected at first. Shaked is reportedly preparing for the possibility that the Prohibition of Family Reunification Law will fall in the Knesset this week if the coalition fails to mobilize a majority to support the law. The minister plans to prevent the reunification of the families by giving a personal negative answer to each of the hundreds of applications submitted to her office each year. Every year about a thousand applications for family reunification are submitted and the Interior intends to reject each of them individually and thereby prevent the family reunifications even without the law. Dig Deeper ‘‘Vote on Palestinian Family Reunification Law Delayed Again, Amid Disagreements’’ (Times of Israel) I24 News Mount Meron: Ex-Chief Justice to Head State Inquiry The inquiry into the April 30 Mount Meron stampede disaster, which killed 45 people and wounded a further 150, will be led by former chief justice Miriam Naor. Making up the two additional members of the commission will be Rabbi Mordechai Karelitz, a former mayor of the ultra-orthodox city of Bnei Barak, and former IDF planning chief Maj. Gen. (res.) Shlomo Yanai. The fledgling Israeli government approved the formation of the inquiry at its first official cabinet meeting, with the motion being submitted by Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman. With a mandate to examine the events of the disaster, the commission will recommend specific alterations to the Meron site and will also advise on the policing of mass events more generally, particularly those of a religious nature. The commission will have a budget of $1.83m and will investigate the timeline and the decisions that led to the fatal accident. 2 Axios Israeli Ambassador to United States Resigns Israel’s ambassador to the US resigned hours after welcoming President Reuven Rivlin to D.C., where he will meet with President Biden at the White House. Gilad Erdan's decision comes as the Biden administration and Prime Minister Bennett feel each other out, particularly on the most contentious issues like Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This is a farewell tour for Rivlin, whose seven-year term ends next month. Isaac Herzog will become Israel's next president on July 9. Rivlin met last week with Bennett and Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid to coordinate the message to the US on Iran, Axios reported. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Lapid in Rome on Sunday where they discussed regional stability, according to spokesman Ned Price. Erdan will continue to serve as ambassador to the United Nations. Dig Deeper ‘‘Aiming to Keep Disagreements Behind Closed Doors, Rivlin Heads to Washington’’ (Times of Israel) Jerusalem Post Gantz Seeks Deal to Avoid Forced WB Evyatar Evacuation Defense Minister Gantz would prefer to persuade the residents of Evyatar to leave their West Bank outpost homes by choice rather than evict them by force. The IDF could move in to legally evacuate the hilltop community of 50 families in the Samaria region of the West Bank. The fledgling community was founded last month by the Samaria Regional Council and the Nahala Movement in the aftermath of the Tapuach junction terror attack in which 19-year-old Yehuda Guetta was killed. The IDF has said that the outpost was built illegally and must be removed. Foreign Minister Lapid and Gantz have supported that position. A government compromise could be in the works, however, by which outpost residents would voluntarily leave and in their place an IDF base would erect, KAN reported. The government would examine the legal status of the land and if possible, authorize Jewish construction on the hilltop. Once the community is authorized, the families who moved in there over the last month would be allowed to return, Kan added. Dig Deeper ‘‘Extreme-Right MK Ben Gvir Visits Temple Mount: ‘We Demand Full Sovereignty’’ (Times of Israel) Reuters PA Deploys Forces During Protest Against Critic's Death The Palestinian Authority (PA) deployed security forces to confront protesters who took to the streets of Ramallah in the West Bank after one of President Mahmoud Abbas's biggest critics died in custody. Nizar Banat had been arrested by PA forces who broke into a relative's house where he was staying in the early hours of Thursday and hit him repeatedly with a metal rod before arresting him, according to Banat's family. Banat's death has sparked three days of protests in the occupied West Bank and calls from the international community for an inquiry. Palestinian security officers lined the streets and blocked protestors by hitting them with their fists and with clubs, Reuters video showed. A spokesman for the PA security services said a committee investigating Banat’s death had begun its work and urged people to wait for the results. The Palestinian journalists' union condemned attacks by security forces against journalists covering the protest. Dig Deeper ‘‘Palestinian Labor Minister to Quit Amid Protests Over Activist’s Death’’ (Times of Israel) 3 Ynet News Israel to Allow Import of Fuel for Gaza Power Plant Israel said it would allow Qatari-funded fuel for electricity production at the Gaza Strip's sole power plant. Israel has also agreed to lift restrictions on certain imports through the Kerem Shalom Border Crossing. No agreement has yet reportedly been made regarding the transfer of Qatari money to some 100,000 families in Gaza and Hamas clerks. The seaside enclave, home to about two million Palestinians, has been under a joint Egyptian-Israeli blockade since 2007. Israel tightened its restrictions in May during an 11-day conflict with Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip. Last week Israel renewed postal service to the territory and allowed some exports of agricultural produce and clothing to resume. It also expanded the fishing zone it grants to Gaza, from six to nine nautical miles, and allowed for the importing of raw materials for "essential civilian factories". Dig Deeper ‘‘Israeli Team to Travel to Cairo, Convey New Gaza Ceasefire Position’’ (Times of Israel) Associated Press Egyptian, Jordanian and Iraqi leaders meet in Baghdad Iraq, Egypt and Jordan took a step toward deepening a regional alliance by holding tripartite talks in Baghdad, in a first visit by an Egyptian head of state to the country in 30 years. Talks ranged from trade to Mideast crises. Abdel Fattah el-Sissi was greeted by Iraq’s President Barham Salih upon arriving. It marked the first time an Egyptian president paid an official visit to Iraq since the 1990s when ties between both countries were severed after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. Jordan’s King Abdullah II arrived shortly afterwards, he and el-Sissi then met with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi for a third round of tripartite talks. The meetings are seen largely as an attempt to neutralize Iran’s influence across the region and have been welcomed by the US. Al-Kadhimi also aims to shore up regional alliances and bolster Iraq’s standing in the Middle East as a mediator capable of bringing even the staunchest of foes to the negotiating table. Baghdad recently hosted talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia focusing on the war in Yemen. The talks also covered regional issues including the Syria crisis, the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, and the conflict in Yemen. Dig Deeper ‘‘US Airstrikes Target Iran-Backed Militia in Iraq, Syria Over Drone Attacks’’ (Times of Israel) 4 Yedioth Ahronoth – June 28, 2021 Redefine Your Identity By Ari Shavit ● The convoy that advanced toward me in the opposing lane one evening last week looked familiar. The police cars with their wailing sirens, the speeding security jeeps, the identical and unmarked state cars—in one of which was seated the prime minister.