person:benjamin netanyahu

With Bannon banished from Trump World, pro-Israel hard-liners pin their hopes on Pence

Far-right U.S. Jewish Republicans believed the one-time Breitbart supremo had their back, but his fall from grace shifts their focus to the vice president and a very unlikely blast from the recent past

Allison Kaplan Sommer Jan 16, 2018

Few American Jews shed tears at the downfall of Steve Bannon, whose humiliation was made complete Tuesday when he stepped down from Breitbart News following his ugly estrangement from President Donald Trump – confirmed by the insulting new nickname of Sloppy Steve.
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The catalyst for his fate were his uncensored remarks in Michael Wolffs White House tell-all book, Fire and Fury, alienating Trump and then, fatally, the Mercers (Bannons arch-conservative financial backers who bankrolled both Breitbart and his endeavors to become a renegade Republican kingmaker.)
The vast majority of Americas overwhelmingly liberal and Democratic Jews viewed Bannon as either an anti-Semite or an anti-Semite enabler whose conspiratorial references to demonic global financiers awakened and emboldened white supremacists. His oft-quoted description of Breitbart as the platform for the alt-right white nationalist movement confirmed such views.
But for the minority of staunchly hard-line, pro-Israel Jews (and evangelical Christians) who support Israels settlement enterprise, oppose a Palestinian state and any form of territorial compromise, Bannon was an important force in the White House.
For this group, his out-of-the-box positions on Israel far outweighed any threats the views of the Trump-voting, alt-right fan base from which he drew his influence might pose.
Notably, it was Morton Klein of the Zionist Organization of America – who invited Bannon to address his organizations annual gala last November – who was the sole loyalist quoted as willing to speak up for Bannon in a lengthy Politico piece on Sunday. Klein said: If there is anyone, like Bannon, who is a strong supporter of Israel and a strong fighter against anti-Semitism and that person ends up having less influence on the administration, that is something that would sadden me.

In Fire and Fury, the extent to which Bannons position on Israel matched hard-liners like Klein was described in detail. The book not only revealed that Trumps then-strategic adviser planned to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on Day One after entering the White House, but, moreover, had an extreme and highly unorthodox approach to solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Let Jordan take the West Bank, let Egypt take Gaza, says Bannon in the book. Let them deal with it. Or sink trying.
He then claimed that both GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were all in on his plans.
Taken as a whole, it is a depiction of an extreme right-wing cabal, one that could find its place on the right fringes of Likud, that has been guiding if not running [President Donald] Trumps Middle East policies, Haaretzs Chemi Shalev wrote. Shalev described it as an axis that dominated Trumps Middle East policies during his first year in office. It is an alliance that Netanyahu appears to have cultivated, with the assistance, or at the direction, of his Las Vegas benefactor, Adelson. All three operate under the premise ascribed to Bannon that the further right you were, the more correct you were on Israel.
This hard-line trio of influence presumably acted as a counterweight against the more pragmatic former military men in the White House – most prominently National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, but also former Secretary of Homeland Security and current Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly and Defense Secretary James Mattis – whom, along with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the far right privately scorn as Arabists who are soft on Israel. It was also a bulwark against Trumps fantasies of making the ultimate deal, which they believed were being cultivated by Bannons nemesis – Trumps son-in-law and aide, Jared Kushner.
Bannons banishment from the White House, and now his political self-immolation and disappearance from Trumps circle of influence, comes as a deep disappointment to those who embraced and celebrated his outlook and that of satellite foreign policy Bannonites like Sebastian Gorka.
Sad, tragic and disappointing, one pro-Trump Republican on the Jewish far right told me, asking not to be identified by name. Israels lost a really important voice.
With that sadness comes concern over the increased influence of the generals, as well as Javanka (Kushner and his wife Ivanka Trump), on Middle East policy. The Jewish Trump supporter said he believes the presidents son-in-law has got his head in a very dark place when it comes to this peace thing. I think Jared is really wrong on this whole peace plan and can only do damage, he noted.
But the hard-liners are still hopeful, attributing their optimism that the Trump administration will avoid any Kushner-fueled peace attempts to three factors.
First, and most prominently, their hopes are pinned on Vice President Mike Pence – who will visit Israel on January 22-23 – and the evangelical Christian base he represents. Rejecting the portrayal of a sidelined Pence in Wolffs book, they call him a powerful player, particularly on Israel.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, January 9, 2018. JOSHUA ROBERTS/REUTERS
Clear evidence for this, they argue, lies in the fact that last months declaration of recognizing Jerusalem as Israels capital and the plan for an embassy move came after Bannon left the White House. It was Pence and the evangelicals – not Adelson, Netanyahu and Bannon – who ultimately got something done, and they are the ones who will have Israels back in the post-Bannon era.
Secondly, there are the Palestinians themselves, who called the Jerusalem declaration a kiss of death to the two-state solution.
Third, there is Trump himself. Much as the president is portrayed as an utterly transactional empty vessel, his Jewish supporters dont believe his views were artificially foisted on him by Bannon, but instead come from his own core beliefs. It was the president himself who wanted to move the embassy at the very beginning of his administration, they say, and it was Netanyahu himself who told Trump it would be better to wait.
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Return of the Mooch?
If there is now a vacuum in the conduit between the far-right Klein/Adelson crowd and the Trump White House, one figure is clearly eager to fill it. Former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci is not only different from Bannon – as slick and public as Bannon is unkempt and secretive – but he is also Bannons nemesis.

In this July 2017 file photo, Anthony Scaramucci blows a kiss after answering questions during the press briefing.Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP
Call it a coincidence, but on the same day Bannon departed from Breitbart, it was also announced that Scaramucci – who spent the day dancing on his grave – would be a keynote speaker at the annual meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas. The RJC confab is set for early February at Adelsons Venetian hotel and casino. In the past, ZOAs Klein has described Scaramucci as being supportive of Israel in the ZOA way, not in the mainstream Jewish way.
Scaramucci has made a point of cozying up to the Adelson-backed Rabbi Shmuley Boteach. It was at a Boteach Hanukkah party that Scaramucci reportedly took a verbal detour from recounting his trip to Israel to insult Bannon, allegedly calling the former Trump aide messianic and a loser, warning that Hell be a stalwart defender of Israel until hes not. Thats how this guy operates. Ive seen this guy operate. He was a stalwart defender of me until it became better for him not to be.
In the end, it was not his failure to defend Israel that proved to be Bannons undoing. It was his failure to defend Donald Trump.

Allison Kaplan Sommer
Haaretz Correspondent

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Israeli army warns: Danger of violence escalating into war is growing -

With eye on recent events, military intel warn of potential war ■ Abbas may have backed himself into a corner ■ Gaza threat looms over Israelis

Amos Harel 13.01.2018
read more: ▻https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.834343

The odds of a neighboring country, or one of the terrorist organizations operating inside of it, launching a war against Israel this year are almost nonexistent, according to the Israeli army’s intelligence assessment for 2018.
Sounding remarkably similar to the 2017 assessment provided to the defense minister, the military noted there is not much left of the Arab armies, and Israel’s neighbors are mostly preoccupied with themselves, while internal problems are distracting Hezbollah and Hamas.
Is there any difference from 2017? Well, the danger of deterioration – perhaps even to the point of war – has grown significantly, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot stated. The intelligence branch and the chief of staff, who is beginning his fourth and final year at the helm of the army, are concerned about two possible scenarios. 
The first would be the result of a reaction by one of Israel’s enemies to an Israeli show of force. The second would stem from a flare-up on the Palestinian front. When the terrorism genie gets out of the Palestinian bottle, it takes many months or even years to put it back.
The first scenario, which the army terms “the campaign between the wars,” might happen when Israel tries to prevent rivals from obtaining advance weaponry they might want to use during a future war, according to Eisenkot.

Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, center, being briefed by Col. Gilad Amit, commander of the Samaria Brigade, following the murder of Rabbi Raziel Shevach, January 18, 2018.IDF Spokesperson’s Unit
Most of these operations occur under the radar, far from Israel’s borders. Usually, such operations draw little media attention and Israel invariably dodges the question of responsibility. The previous Israel Air Force commander, Gen. Amir Eshel, told Haaretz last August there were nearly 100 such attacks under his five-year command, mostly on Syrian and Hezbollah arms convoys on the northern front.

However, the more Israel carries out such attacks, and the more it does so on increasingly sophisticated systems (according to foreign media reports), the higher the chances of a confrontation with other countries and organizations, increasing the danger of a significant retaliation.
A similar thing is happening on the Gaza border. Work on the defense barrier against cross-border attack tunnels is advancing, while Israel is simultaneously developing and implementing more sophisticated methods to locate these tunnels.
At least three tunnels were seemingly located and destroyed near the Gaza border in recent months. However, this success could exact a price if Hamas or Islamic Jihad decide to try and use the remaining attack tunnels before they are completely destroyed or redundant.

Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, accompanied by Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot during a visit to a military exercise in the Golan Heights in 2017.Ministry of Defense
It is usually accepted practice to call out intelligence officials over mistaken forecasts. But we received a small example of all these trends on various fronts over the past two weeks. The cabinet convened for a long meeting about the northern front last Sunday. Arab media reported early Tuesday morning about an Israeli attack on Syrian army weapons depots near Damascus. A base in the same area, which Iran had reportedly built for one of the Shi’ite militia groups, was bombed from the air in early December. In most of the recent attacks, the Syrians fired at the reportedly Israeli aircraft. The Syrians also claimed recently that the attacks have become more sophisticated, made in multiple waves and even included surface-to-surface missiles.
A few days beforehand, there was a report about an Israeli aerial attack – apparently on a cross-border attack tunnel – next to the Gaza border. Meanwhile, in the West Bank, the demonstrations to protest U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital were dying down, out of a seeming lack of public interest. Then, on Tuesday evening, Rabbi Raziel Shevach, from the illegal outpost of Havat Gilad, was killed in a drive-by shooting attack near Nablus. The army responded by surrounding villages and erecting roadblocks around Nablus, for the first time in two years. The IDF moves were acts of collective punishment the chief of staff would normally rather avoid, but they were approved on a limited basis due to the murder of an Israeli.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted that the Shin Bet security service is close to solving the murder, but at the time of writing it was still unclear who did it. Hamas and Islamic Jihad released statements praising the deed, while, in a rare move, Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades – which has been virtually inactive for a decade – took responsibility for the attack.
Its statement, which was posted on several Facebook pages, attributed the attack to the “Raed Karmi cell,” marking the anniversary of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades leader’s death. Israel assassinated Karmi – the military leader in Tul Karm responsible for the killing of many Israeli civilians and soldiers during the second intifada – on January 14, 2002.

U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at a more amicable time, May 3, 2017Carlos Barria, Reuters
Woe to Abbas
The Palestinian Authority, whose leadership has avoided condemning the murder of an Israeli citizen, is making an effort nonetheless to capture terrorists in designated areas in Nablus under its jurisdiction. The Israeli moves in the area added to the humiliation of the PA, which looks like it has navigated itself into a dead end. 
President Mahmoud Abbas is in trouble. The Trump declaration on Jerusalem provided him with a temporary escape. Last November the Palestinians received worrisome information that the Trump administration’s brewing peace plan was leaning in Israel’s favor. Trump’s so-called deal of the century would likely include leaving settlements in the West Bank in place, and declaring Abu Dis the Palestinian Jerusalem, capital of a prospective state.
These planks are unacceptable to Abbas. However, the Trump declaration allowed the PA leader to accuse the Americans of giving up any pretense to being an honest broker. He found refuge in the embrace of attendees at the Islamic Conference in Turkey, and in halting all discussion of renewing negotiations.
Abbas soon discovered that rejecting a reopening of talks with Israel didn’t stop the drumbeat of bad news coming his way. UNRWA was facing a severe financial crisis well before the Trump administration threatened to freeze the U.S. share of funding for the UN agency in charge of Palestinian refugee assistance. The crisis, incidentally, also worries Jordan, which hosts at least 3 million Palestinian refugees and descendants. The flow of funds from the donor nations to the territories is dissipating, at a time that the reconciliation process between the PA and Hamas has ground to a halt, with Abbas saying he doesn’t see any benefit that can come of it.
Meanwhile, Fatah members from activists in the field to the aging leadership are despairing of the chance of realizing the two-state solution. Israel protests the statements of senior Fatah officials about the right to wage armed struggle. It recently arrested a retired Palestinian general on the charge that he had organized protests in East Jerusalem. Fatah plans a council meeting next week, in which participants are expected to adopt a militant line.
Abbas, who turns 83 in March, is increasingly feeling his years. His health has deteriorated and so has his patience and fitness to work, although it seems his love for travel has not faded. Claims of widespread corruption, some of which allegedly involve his family, are increasing. Other forces in the West Bank are aware of his weakened physical and political condition. Hamas is vigorously encouraging attacks against Israel, probably in expectation of humiliating the PA. Last week the Shin Bet asserted that for the first time, an Iranian agent was operating a Palestinian terror cell in Hebron.
Meanwhile, a multiparty effort is being made to halt the violence and prevent a sliding into a military confrontation. Under the shadow of rockets by Salafi groups in Gaza, Israel and the PA announced the transfer of additional funds from the PA to pay for increasing the electricity supply from Israel to the Strip. There has not been a single rocket fired this week, but the situation remains fragile. The army increased security around communities close to the border and has stepped up exercises that simulate terrorists using tunnels to infiltrate under the border to kidnap and kill Israelis. The chief of staff watched the elite Shaldag unit going into action in such a scenario this week.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants take part in the funeral of their comrade in the central Gaza Strip October 31, 2017. SUHAIB SALEM/REUTERS
The army has to stay alert because Islamic Jihad has yet to avenge the killing of its people together with Hamas operatives in a tunnel explosion on the border last October. In November, Jihad militants fired over 20 mortar shells in a four-minute span at an army outpost near Sderot (no one was injured).
Shells were fired a month after that, probably by Islamic Jihad, at Kibbutz Kfar Aza during a memorial ceremony for Oron Shaul, who was killed in the 2014 Operation Protective Edge and whose body is being held in Gaza. Army officials expect more attempts.
The large number of gliders the Palestinians have launched near the border recently likely attests to intelligence gathering ahead of attacks. Israeli officials are also kept awake by recent reports from Syria of a mysterious glider attack against a Russian air force base in the country’s north. Organizations in Gaza are in arm’s reach of this technology.

An opposition fighter fires a gun from a village near al-Tamanah during ongoing battles with government forces in Syria’s Idlib province on January 11, 2018.OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP
Syria war still isn’t over 
The civil war in Syria, which enters its eighth year in March, has not completely died out. The Assad regime, which has restored its rule over most of the country’s population, is still clashing with rebels in the Idlib enclave in northern Syria and is preparing for an eventual attack to chase the rebels out of the border area with Israel, along the Golan. The two attacks on the Russian base in Khmeimim (artillery shelling, which damaged a number of planes and helicopters, preceded the glider attack) indicate that some of the groups are determined to keep fighting Assad and his allies.
The war in Syria started with a protest by residents of Daraa, a town in the south, against a backdrop of economic difficulties for farmers whose incomes were suffering from desertification. The regime’s brutal methods of oppression led to the spread of protest, and things quickly descended into civil war, in which several countries have meddled until today. The war often has consequences on nature. There has been a rise in the number of rabies cases in Israel in recent months, mainly in the north. One of the possible explanations involves the migration of rabies-infested jackals from Jordan and Syria. During the war Syria has suffered a total collapse of civilian authority, and certainly of veterinary services. When there are no regular vaccinations, neighboring countries suffer as well.
The Middle Eastern country suffering the second bloodiest civil war, Yemen, gets only a tenth as much attention as Syria. The war in Yemen has raged for three years. Some 3 million residents out of a total of 28 million have fled the country as refugees. Over half of those remaining suffer from food insecurity. The UN recently estimated that about a million residents have contracted cholera from contaminated water or food.
Such outbreaks can erupt easily, even closer to home. The European Union is expected to hold an emergency session in Brussels about the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The Israeli defense establishment has confirmed the frequent reports by humanitarian organizations of the continued collapse of civilian infrastructure, mainly water and sanitation, in Gaza. Wastewater from Gaza, flowing straight into the sea, is reaching the beaches of Ashkelon and Ashdod. I recently asked a senior Israeli official if he doesn’t fear an outbreak of an epidemic like cholera in Gaza.
“Every morning, I am surprised anew that it still hasn’t happened,” he replied.

Amos Harel

EU, Norway to convene emergency meeting of donor groups providing Palestinians financial aid - Europe -

The conference, to be held on January 31, is being held against the backdrop of a U.S. threat to cut funding to the Palestinians and a stalemate in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks

Noa Landau Jan 10, 2018
read more: ▻https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/europe/1.834111

The European Union and Norway will be convening an emergency meeting of donor groups that provide funding for the Palestinians.
>>Why a big wave of European countries recognizing Palestine is fast approaching | David Makovsky, Opinion
The gathering is being held against the backdrop of the crisis in peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, the American threat to cut financial assistance to the Palestinians and the stalled reconciliation process between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction and Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. The gathering will also examine the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi and the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai will be representing Israel at the conference, which will take place on January 31 at the initiative of Norwegian Foreign Minister Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide and European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to cut funding to the Palestinians if they don’t return to the negotiating table. Among the possibilities is cutting U.S. funding to UNRWA, which is more than $300 million a year – about a third of the agency’s budget.
A senior Israeli official has told Haaretz that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu only supports a gradual cut. This comes in the context of Israeli security officials’ position that a collapse of humanitarian aid in Gaza could worsen the security situation.

Noa Landau
Haaretz Correspondent

Israel Faces Possible ICC Probe over 2014 Assault on Gaza & Expansion of Settlements
Democracy Now! | Headline Jan 10, 2018
▻https://www.democracynow.org/2018/1/10/headlines/israel_faces_icc_probe_over_2014_assault_on_gaza_expansion_of_settleme

Israel is facing a possible International Criminal Court probe over its 2014 assault on Gaza and continued expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank. According to the Israeli TV station Channel 10, Israel’s National Security Council recently warned Israeli lawmakers that the ICC could open an investigation at some point this year.

This comes as the Israeli defense minister said Israel will approve the construction of hundreds of new settlement homes in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing a domestic political controversy after an Israeli TV station aired a secret audio recording of his son from outside a strip club in 2015. In the recording, Yair Netanyahu can be heard talking about prostitutes and demanding money from the son of an Israeli gas tycoon. Yair implies his father, Prime Minister Netanyahu, helped push through a $20 billion deal to benefit the businessman, saying, “My dad arranged $20 billion for your dad, and you’re whining with me about 400 shekels.” This comes at a time when Benjamin Netanyahu is facing multiple corruption investigations.

Israel sets up secret firm with top ex-generals, envoys for online ’mass awareness’ campaign ’to fight delegitimization’

Among the shareholders are former UN ambassador Dore Gold and ex-generals Amos Yadlin and Yaakov Amidror. The new initiative will not be subject to the Freedom of Information Law

Noa Landau Jan 09, 2018 3:26 PM
read more: ▻https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.833817

The Strategic Affairs Ministry has set up a public-benefit corporation to engage in what it calls “mass awareness activities” as part of “the struggle against the delegitimization campaign” against Israel internationally.
Haaretz has obtained a list of the shareholders and directors of the company, Kella Shlomo, who include former Israeli ambassadors to the United Nations.
The government recently allocated 128 million shekels ($37 million) to the initiative, in addition to the 128 million shekels it will raise from private donors around the world.
The new initiative will not be subject to the Freedom of Information Law, in accordance with the secrecy policy of the ministry, which refuses to release detailed information about its activities.
The shareholders and directors include former ministry director general Yossi Kuperwasser; former UN ambassador Dore Gold, who is also a former adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; and former UN ambassador Ron Prosor.

Reuven Rivlin with Amos Yadlin. Mark Neiman

FILE PHOTO: Protestors march behind a banner of the BDS organization in Marseille, southern France, on June 13, 2015George Robert / AP
They also include businessman Micah Avni, whose father, Richard Lakin, was killed in a 2015 terror attack in Jerusalem; Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Yadlin, who heads the Institute for National Security Studies; and Col. (res.) Miri Eisin, who served as the prime minister’s adviser on the foreign press during the Second Lebanon War.
skip - Israel Publishes BDS Blacklist

Also on the list are a former National Security Council chief, Maj. Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror, and Sagi Balasha, a former CEO of the Israeli-American Council, which has casino magnate Sheldon Adelson as a major supporter.

Most refused to discuss the initiative and referred questions to the office of Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan.
The most recent data from the Companies Authority shows that the last report the company submitted to the authority came this past October. On December 28, the cabinet approved an allocation of 128 million shekels to the company over three years. The decision to provide the funding was made by the special procedure under which a government resolution is distributed to the ministers and goes into effect automatically if no one objects or demands a discussion.
According to the government resolution, the funding was granted “to implement part of the ministry’s activities related to the struggle against the phenomena of delegitimization and boycotts against the State of Israel.” It says the agency will work to raise its portion of the financing for the initiative (around half) from “philanthropic sources” or “pro-Israel organizations.” A steering committee will be appointed for the initiative to comprise government representatives and representatives of the other funding partners.

Ron Prosor at the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon oath ceremony forr his appointment as the Secretary-General of the United Nations for second termShachar Ezran
Itamar Baz of the media watchdog website The Seventh Eye has been covering the Strategic Affairs Ministry, most of whose activities are concealed from the public. He reported Monday that while ministry officials have for months been advancing legislation that would exclude the company from being subject to the Freedom of Information Law, the law in any case does not apply to this new agency so its activities will be easy to hide.
He also revealed that Liat Glazer, the ministry’s legal adviser, wrote in a legal opinion that the activities conducted through the company would be “those that require ‘non-governmental’ discussions with various target audiences.”
According to a ministry document, Kella Shlomo people would work via social networks because “the enemy directs most of its awareness and motivating efforts to this area.” Similarly, the document, published by The Seventh Eye, says the organization was expected to carry out “mass awareness activities” and work to “exploit the wisdom of crowds,” an activity defined as “making new ideas accessible to decision-makers and donors in the Jewish world, and developing new tools to combat the delegitimization of Israel.”
A report in the daily Yedioth Ahronoth the day after the cabinet approved the funding described the initiative positively, saying it would “raise the level of efforts in the struggle against BDS” — the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. Yedioth said the new company would “provide a speedy and coordinated response to efforts to stain Israel’s image around the world,” for example, in the event of a military operation, terror attacks or UN votes against government policies.
This would be done by launching online campaigns, lobbying, engaging organizations abroad and bringing delegations to Israel.
The Strategic Affairs Ministry declined to clarify whether the company would act in accordance with the principles of the Freedom of Information Law.
“This is a joint initiative that meets all the requirements of the law for this type of engagement and is similar to other government initiatives like Taglit [Birthright] and Masa,” the ministry said.
“In the agreement with [the company] there are distinct control procedures, as defined by the Finance Ministry and the Justice Ministry during the joint work with them on setting up the project. It will be subject to auditing by the state comptroller,” it added.
“In addition, as the ministry leading the initiative, one that attributes great importance to it as part of the campaign against the delegitimization of Israel, the ministry has allocated additional control tools and functions to what is required. Both the ministry’s legal adviser and its controller will sit on the steering committee managing the project.”
skip - WTF is BDS?

Netanyahu confronté aux propos de son fils à la sortie d’un bar à strip-tease - L’Orient-Le Jour
▻https://www.lorientlejour.com/article/1093248/netanyahu-confronte-aux-propos-de-son-fils-a-la-sortie-dun-bar-a-stri

« Mon père a fait gagner 20 milliards de dollars au tien, tu peux bien me donner 400 shekels », dit Yaïr Netanyahu à Nir Maïmon, le fils de l’un des hommes les plus riches d’Israël.

Benjamin Netanyahu est à nouveau confronté aux frasques d’un de ses fils tenant des propos potentiellement gênants sur les relations d’affaires du Premier ministre israélien dans un enregistrement réalisé à son insu à la sortie d’un bar à strip-tease.

La deuxième chaîne de télévision a diffusé lundi soir cet enregistrement audio d’une conversation datant selon elle de 2015 entre Yaïr Netanyahu et un de ses amis, le fils de Kobi Maïmon, l’un des hommes les plus riches d’Israël.

Yaïr Netanyahu et Nir Maïmon, apparemment éméchés, sont dans une voiture avec un autre jeune homme, Roman Abramov, collaborateur en Israël du milliardaire australien James Packer, un chauffeur et un garde du corps, selon la deuxième chaîne.

La provenance de l’enregistrement est inconnue, mais personne, pas même Yaïr Netanyahu, n’en a contesté l’authenticité.

#israël #fils_à_papa

What Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury” says about Trump’s collusion with Israel
▻https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/what-michael-wolffs-fire-and-fury-says-about-trumps-collusion-is

However, the special counsel probe by Robert Mueller has indeed uncovered some collusion between the Trump team and a foreign power: Israel.

In a plea agreement last month for making false statements to the FBI, Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn admitted that he had contacted foreign governments during the final weeks of the Obama administration to try to derail a UN vote condemning Israeli settlements.

This possibly illegal effort to undermine the policy of the sitting administration was done at the direction of Kushner and at the request of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Yet mainstream pundits have shown little concern, just as they have shown little interest in any further revelations about what we might well call Israelgate coming out of the Wolff book.

As the book’s publication was brought forward amid the media frenzy, I decided to take a look.

It turns out that Fire and Fury contains evidence that Trump’s policy is not so much America First as it is Israel First.

Wolff recounts an early January 2017 dinner in New York where Bannon and disgraced former Fox News boss Roger Ailes discussed cabinet picks.

Bannon observed that they did not have a “deep bench,” but both men agreed the extremely pro-Israel neocon John Bolton would be a good pick for national security adviser. “He’s a bomb thrower,” Ailes said of Bolton, “and a strange little fucker. But you need him. Who else is good on Israel?”

“Day one we’re moving the US embassy to Jerusalem. Netanyahu’s all in,” Bannon said, adding that anti-Palestinian casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson was on board too.

“Let Jordan take the West Bank, let Egypt take Gaza. Let them deal with it. Or sink trying,” Bannon proposed. “The Saudis are on the brink, Egyptians are on brink, all scared to death of Persia.”

Asked by Ailes, “Does Donald know” the plan, Bannon reportedly just smiled.

Bannon’s idea reflected “the new Trump thinking” about the Middle East: “There are basically four players,” writes Wolff, “Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iran. The first three can be united against the fourth.” Egypt and Saudi Arabia would be “given what they want” in respect to Iran, and in return would “pressure the Palestinians to make a deal.”

Another key foreign policy relationship for the Trump administration has been with Mohammad bin Salman, the reckless crown prince and real power in Saudi Arabia, who has been willing to go along with the plan, especially by cozying up to Israel.

According to Wolff, the lack of education of both Trump and MBS – as the Saudi prince is commonly known – put them on an “equal footing” and made them “oddly comfortable with each other.”

Trump, ignorant and constantly flattered by regional leaders, appeared to naively believe he could pull off what he called “the biggest breakthrough in Israel-Palestine negotiations ever.”

Israel Digs a Grave for the Two-State Solution -
Editorial The New York Times

▻https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/05/opinion/israel-two-state-solution.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=sto

Encouraged by supportive signals from Washington and disarray in Israeli politics, Israeli right-wing politicians are enacting measures that could deal a death blow to the creation of a separate state for Palestinians, the so-called two-state solution that offers what tiny chance there is for a peace settlement. That hope, however remote, should not be allowed to die.

Israeli nationalists have long sought a single Jewish state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean. While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has paid lip service to supporting the two-state solution, he has continually undermined it. Palestinians have also acted in ways that thwarted their goal of an independent state.

The United States, Europe and a majority of Israelis have opposed such territorial expansion into the West Bank and supported a negotiated peace.

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But President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, in contravention of longstanding American policy, followed by United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley’s threat to cut off aid to Palestinian refugees, were seen by the right-wingers as an opening to end any pretense of supporting the two-state idea.

These hard-liners, taking advantage of the political damage that corruption investigations have done to Mr. Netanyahu, have staked out positions to the right of his. The prime minister was not even present at a meeting of the Likud leadership that for the first time urged the formal annexation of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. The Israeli Parliament, meanwhile, voted to require a two-thirds majority vote for any legislation ceding parts of Jerusalem to the Palestinians, raising an obstacle to any land-for-peace deal involving Jerusalem.

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This should be the moment for the United States, Israel’s strongest supporter in the world, to step in and say no, that path can lead only to greater strife and isolation for Israel. But it is evident that for Mr. Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is supposed to be leading the president’s Middle East efforts, diplomacy is a one-sided affair.

Furthermore, the threat to cut the substantial American contribution to the United Nations agency that supports more than five million Palestinian refugees and their descendants in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria would foment a humanitarian crisis in refugee camps, threaten continuing Palestinian security cooperation with Israel and prompt more censure around the world.

Mr. Trump still claims he is in favor of peace talks. All he has done so far has been to create greater obstacles and fan the ardor of extremists on both sides. If he was really interested in a Middle East deal, as he claimed in his campaign, this would be a good time to reaffirm America’s longstanding commitment to a two-state solution and tell the Israeli right that it is going too far.

German foreign minister under fire for accusing Israel of ‘apartheid’ | The Times of Israel
▻https://www.timesofisrael.com/german-foreign-minister-under-fire-for-accusing-israel-of-apartheid

Open letter from Jewish woman accuses Sigmar Gabriel of ’providing further ammunition to youths who were fed anti-Semitism with their mothers’ milk’

By TOI STAFF and JTA

❝BERLIN — German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel has come under fire for suggesting that Israel pursues an “apartheid” policy.

During a meeting with Muslim representatives in mid-December, Gabriel mentioned that he had visited Hebron several years ago and said that what he saw “reminded him of apartheid,” the Berliner Zeitung newspaper reported.

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In an open letter to Gabriel, a Jewish woman has demanded an apology for “providing further ammunition to youths who were fed anti-Semitism with their mothers’ milk,” according to a report in the German Jewish weekly, the Juedische Allgemeine.

Gabriel had been addressing the issue of anti-Semitism among Muslims in Germany with a group of Muslim communal representatives. The event event was hosted by the Kreuzberg Initiative Against Anti-Semitism, a non-governmental organization that works in schools with children of migrant background, trying to combat anti-Semitic attitudes from an early age.

Instead of helping fight anti-Semitism, Gabriel fed the flames, the letter from Malca Goldstein-Wolf said.

In her open letter to Gabriel, published on the Israel advocacy website “Honestly Concerned” on December 21, Goldstein-Wolf applauded the idea of meeting with Muslim leaders. “But if you use this occasion to repeat your defamation of Israel as an apartheid state, then it is not only counterproductive but must be vehemently condemned.”

Responding to a query from the German Jewish weekly, Gabriel’s office said he had emphasized at the meeting that there was no place for anti-Semitism in Germany.

His comments, which referred to 2012 visit to the region, mirrored a post he published on Facebook at the time accusing Israel of running an “apartheid regime.”

“I was just in Hebron. There’s a legal vacuum there for Palestinians. This is an apartheid regime, for which there is no justification,” Gabriel, who was then chairman of Germany’s main opposition party, wrote. The post quickly drew hundreds of responses, mostly from pro-Israel surfers, some of whom threatened to cancel their memberships in the SPD.

Since becoming foreign minister, Gabriel has publicly clashed with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In April, Netanyahu canceled a planned meeting with the Gabriel after the latter refused to cancel a sit-down with Breaking the Silence, an NGO that collects anonymous testimonies from IDF soldiers on alleged human rights abuses in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Gabriel also met with B’Tselem, another group that deals with human rights issues and campaigns against Israeli settlement building.

« Nous ne participerons pas à l’occupation » : dans une lettre à Netanyahu, des dizaines des jeunes refusent de s’enrôler dans l’armée israélienne
28 décembre | Yaniv Kubovich pour Haaretz |Traduction CG pour l’AURDIP
▻http://www.aurdip.fr/nous-ne-participerons-pas-a-l.html

Un groupe de 63 jeunes a publiquement déclaré qu’ils refuseront d’être enrôlés dans l’armée israélienne, a rapporté Yedioth Ahronoth jeudi matin.

« Nous avons décidé de ne pas participer à l’occupation et à l’oppression du peuple palestinien », ont-ils écrit dans une lettre au Premier Ministre Benjamin Netanyahu, au chef du personnel militaire Gadi Eisenkot et aux ministres de la défense et de l’éducation. « La situation ‘temporaire’ traîne depuis 50 ans, et nous ne voulons pas lui donner un coup de main. »

Les jeunes critiquent le gouvernement et l’armée dans leur lettre. « L’armée poursuit la politique raciste du gouvernement, qui viole les droits humains fondamentaux et met en oeuvre une législation pour les Israéliens et une autre pour les Palestiniens sur le même territoire », écrivent-ils.

Les étudiants protestent aussi contre « la provocation intentionnelle et institutionnelle contre les Palestiniens des deux côtés de la Ligne verte », se référant à la ligne de l’armistice de 1949 qui sépare Israël de la Cisjordanie, « et nous — des garçons et des filles en âge de faire leur service militaire, venant de différentes régions du pays et de différents milieux socio-économiques—refusons de croire à ce système de provocation et de participer au bras armé d’oppression et d’occupation du gouvernement. »

Noëlle Lenoir, présidente du Comité d’éthique de Radio France s’amuse sur Twitter - Acrimed | Action Critique Médias
▻http://www.acrimed.org/Noelle-Lenoir-presidente-du-Comite-d-ethique-de

http://www.acrimed.org/IMG/jpg/lenoir_tweet.jpg

Jérusalem : veto américain à une condamnation voulue par 14 pays à l’ONU - L’Orient-Le Jour
▻https://www.lorientlejour.com/article/1090123/statut-de-jerusalem-les-palestiniens-prets-a-aller-devant-lassemblee-

https://s.olj.me/storage/attachments/1091/__494139-01-08-1513619971_796098_large.jpg

Ce vote est une « insulte et un camouflet que nous n’oublierons pas », a martelé l’ambassadrice US à l’ONU, Nikki Haley.

[...]

Ce vote en faveur formulé par quatorze des quinze membres du Conseil de sécurité, dont les plus proches alliés européens de Washington, Londres et Paris, représente un camouflet pour la diplomatie américaine.

[...]

... certaines ardeurs des Palestiniens à un premier texte plus fort et datant du 11 décembre, qui citait nommément les #Etats-Unis, ont dû être réfrénées.

#fumisterie #bouffonnerie #sans_vergogne #ONU

Netanyahu agrees to exclude settlements from economic deal with European Union - Israel News

Deal would award tens of millions of euros to initiatives across Mediterranean ■ EU policy states funding cannot be allocated to territories occupied by Israel in 1967

Noa Landau Dec 14, 2017
read more: ▻https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.829063

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has given approval in principle to a cooperation agreement with the European Union that contains a provision excluding the settlements.
To really understand the Middle East - subscribe to Haaretz
Netanyahu approved the wording of a cabinet resolution on the subject this week. If no ministers object to the resolution by January 1, it will be approved automatically. If so, Israel will effectively have consented to EU funding that is contingent on a boycott of the settlements.
The resolution has now been signed by all the relevant government offices, including those of Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Habayit Hayehudi), two of the most vocal settlement supporters in the government.
The agreement, known by the acronym ENI CBC Med (which stands for “cross-border cooperation in the Mediterranean), awards tens of millions of euros in funding to ventures that entail cooperation with the 14 Mediterranean Basin countries that aren’t EU members. These include Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

After a dozen Gaza rockets in a week, Israel is being backed into a corner -

Frequent rocket fire from Gaza would disturb the feeling of security and would put pressure on Netanyahu and Avigdor Lieberman to act more resolutely

Amos Harel Dec 13, 2017
read more: ▻https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.828581

Since the evening of December 6, when U.S. President Donald Trump announced American recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, eight rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip into the Negev region. At least three other rockets were fired from Gaza but fell inside Palestinian territory. This is the largest number of rockets fired at Israel since the end of Operation Protective Edge, the war that Israel fought with Hamas and its allies during the summer of 2014.
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Israeli intelligence agencies attribute most of the rocket fire, if not all of it, to extremist Salafi factions that operate beyond Hamas’ direction. Israel has also identified preliminary steps taken by Hamas over the past few days to rein in the rocket fire, including the arrest of members of these organizations. In the past, the Hamas government in Gaza has known how to make the rules of the game that it has established with Israel clear to these smaller groups – and has adopted a harsh enforcement policy when it has understood that the rocket fire was endangering the stability of its rule in Gaza.
This time, either the message was not received or was not properly understood. It appears that in Gaza Trump’s declaration was seen as an opportunity to let off steam and attack Israeli civilian population centers. The stage of the large demonstrations by Palestinians protesting Trump’s declaration is slowly coming to an end, without leaving much of an impression on the international community, or on Trump either.
>> Three reasons we aren’t seeing a third intifada | Analysis
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Now there is a shift to a different approach involving firing rockets from the Gaza Strip, a period during which one “lone wolf” terrorist attack also occurred, involving the stabbing by a Palestinian at the Jerusalem central bus station of a security guard, who was seriously wounded.

The site in the Israeli border town of Sderot where a rocket fired from Gaza fell on Dec. 8, 2017.Eliyahu Hershovitz
The Israeli response to the rocket fire from Gaza has been rather restrained so far. As has been its custom in the past, Israel has said that it views Hamas as the party responsible for violence coming from its territory – and has exacted a price from it by bombing Hamas positions and command headquarters. But the Israeli attacks have generally been carried out when the targets were empty, and the attacks have been planned in such a way as to limit the damage. In one case, last Friday, a member of the Hamas military wing was killed, and the Hamas leadership felt Israel had gone too far. For now, it seems that the Israeli leadership does not want to rock the boat to too great an extent in Gaza.
The Israeli government’s problem is that it does not fully control of the situation. Continued rocket fire and “red alert” rocket sirens will exact a psychological price from the Israeli residents in the region near the Gaza border, who have enjoyed a relatively long period of quiet and a major influx of new residents, as a result of a building boom and government tax breaks for the region following Operation Protective Edge. The traumatic experiences of Protective Edge and other previous periods, during military operations in Gaza and between them, are still remembered quite well in Sderot, Ashkelon and the nearby collective moshavim and kibbutzim communities.
Iron Dome anti-missile batteries intercepted two of the rockets fired over the past few days – and missed one rocket, which fell in a populated area in Sderot but did not cause any injuries. The Israel army made a change recently in how it calculates the area where the rockets are projected to fall (known as the “polygon”), thereby only requiring that alarms sound in a very small and more focused area, and limiting the disruption to local routines in border communities near Gaza. Nevertheless, rocket fire every day, or every other day, would disturb the feeling of security that had been restored with difficulty and would create pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman to act more resolutely. The distance could be short from that to another round of violence.
The latest tensions are occurring against the backdrop of the Israeli army’s announcement Sunday that it had successfully destroyed another attack tunnel dug well inside Israeli territory that was discovered along the border with Gaza, the second in less than two months. It appears, however, that Hamas’ actions are influenced first and foremost by another factor, its reconciliation agreement with the Palestinian Authority. So far the commitments included in the agreement have not been carried out. That’s the case when it comes to the opening of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt and the resumption of funding for Gaza from the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah.
As far as Hamas is concerned, the bad news is coming from almost all directions: Trump’s announcement, the Israeli army’s success in locating attack tunnels and the difficulties with Palestinian reconciliation. If Hamas cannot deliver the goods to Gaza’s residents, who have been waiting with bated breath for a measure of improvement in their economic situation and freedom of movement, Hamas could well find itself dragged once again into an escalation with Israel – as it has acted in the past.
This is the main worry keeping Israel’s senior defense officials and political leadership busy at the moment, and it explains the relatively restrained Israeli response – restraint that could end if the frequent rocket fire continues, and certainly if the rockets inflict casualties.

Lieberman qualifie des députés arabes de « criminels de guerre » - L’Orient-Le Jour
▻https://www.lorientlejour.com/article/1089020/lieberman-qualifie-des-deputes-arabes-de-criminels-de-guerre.html

Un ministre israélien a qualifié lundi des députés arabes de « criminels de guerre » un jour après avoir appelé au boycott économique d’une région du nord, où des Arabes israéliens avaient protesté contre la décision américaine de reconnaître Jérusalem comme capitale d’Israël.

Le ministre israélien de la Défense Avigdor Lieberman s’exprimait lors d’un débat parlementaire télévisé sur une motion de censure déposée par la Liste unie, une coalition de formations arabes qui représente le troisième groupe au Parlement israélien.

En présentant cette motion, la députée de cette liste, Haneen Zoabi, a estimé que le Premier ministre israélien Benjamin Netanyahu « devrait être jugé devant la Cour pénale internationale à La Haye, parce que c’est un criminel de guerre ». « L’occupation est toujours (...) violente, illégitime et basée sur des crimes de guerre », a-t-elle ajouté, en référence à l’occupation depuis 50 ans des territoires palestiniens par Israël.

« Vous tous, à la Liste unie, vous êtes des criminels de guerre », a rétorqué M. Lieberman, s’adressant aux membres de cette alliance qui compte douze membres arabes et un juif. « Vous exploitez les faiblesses et les avantages d’un Etat démocratique pour nous détruire de l’intérieur », a-t-il ajouté. « Vous êtes ici par erreur et le temps viendra où vous ne serez plus là », a-t-il encore lancé.

#alliés #seule_démocratie #terre_promise

Jérusalem : l’Autorité de Ramallah tente de manipuler la colère palestinienne
Jalal Abukhater - 10 décembre 2017 – Al-Jazeera – Traduction : Chronique de Palestine
▻http://chroniquepalestine.com/jerusalem-autorite-ramallah-tente-de-manipuler-colere-palestinie

http://chroniquepalestine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/00-19.jpg

(...) La fin d’une imposture

Au cœur de cette colère fabriquée depuis le haut se trouve une Autorité palestinienne paniquée qui risque sans aucun doute de voir s’évanouir son mince voile de légitimité. Ce que Donald Trump a accompli avec son annonce sur Jérusalem expose au grand jour le « processus de paix » israélo-palestinien pour ce qu’il est réellement : une imposture.

Dans l’histoire moderne de la Palestine, il n’y a jamais eu de dirigeants palestiniens plus disposés à faire des compromis pour parvenir à une sorte d’État palestinien indépendant que cette direction palestinienne dirigée par Mahmoud Abbas. Pourtant, malgré tous les signes de refus de coopération, d’entêtement et de violation continue du droit international par le gouvernement israélien, le mythe du « processus de paix » a perduré grâce à l’Autorité palestinienne. Pour cette dernière, c’est, après tout, la principale raison de son existence.

Comme le processus de paix échoue, l’Autorité palestinienne perd le but qui justifie son maintient. Cela crée la panique et explique alors la nature fabriquée de la vague actuelle de « colère ».

Nous, les Palestiniens, avons mis tous nos œufs dans le même panier, à savoir le panier américain, malgré tous les signes avant-coureurs nous déconseillant de le faire. Ce fut un pari mal réfléchi par les dirigeants, un pari qui clairement s’évapore sous l’administration de Donald Trump.

Trump n’est pas un homme équilibré, et il n’est pas non plus capable de prendre la tête d’un problème d’une telle envergure. Les signes sont là, que ce soit dans la relation chaleureuse de Donald Trump avec Sheldon Adelson, un milliardaire sympathisant, ou Jared Kushner accoquiné au plus grand donateur démocrate Haim Saban, qui partagent un programme similaire sur Israël.

Lors de sa visite à Bethléem en mai dernier, Trump aurait crié à Abbas : « Vous m’avez trompé à [Washington] DC. Vous avez parlé de votre engagement pour la paix, mais les Israéliens m’ont montré votre implication dans l’incitation [contre Israël]. » Pour les Palestiniens, c’était un drapeau rouge, une preuve de la facilité avec laquelle le président américain peut être manipulé par Benjamin Netanyahu.

En juillet dernier, lors des manifestations d’Al-Aqsa, j’ai vu des gens venus de tous les secteurs de la société – musulmans pratiquants, musulmans non pratiquants et chrétiens – participer directement à la protestation contre la fermeture d’al-Aqsa. Il y avait un extraordinaire esprit d’unité parmi les habitants de Jérusalem, et la colère était vraie, sincère et pleine de vie. Je ne vois pas ce même esprit reflété dans les manifestations de colère d’aujourd’hui. (...)

#Palestine Netanyahu s’invite aujourd’hui à Bruxelles, 56 eurodéputé-e-s lui ont adressé ce week-end la facture pour la destruction d’infrastructures financées par l’Union Européenne ▻https://europeecologie.eu/une-facture-pour-m-netanyahu

An American withdrawal from peace - Haaretz Editorial

It’s true that his predecessors also didn’t impose a settlement, but at least since the 2000 Camp David summit they mediated between the parties

Haaretz Editorial Dec 07, 2017
read more: ▻https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/editorial/1.827389

U.S. President Donald Trump has given a valuable political gift to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who’s strugging amid the corruption investigations against him and is trying to maintain the stability of his governing coalition, which is being led by the Habayit Hayehudi party headed by Naftali Bennett.
In his White House address Wednesday, Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital – a declaration that all his predecessors had avoided since the state was established in 1948. In the same breath, he diluted the American commitment to the two-state solution, which he conditioned on the agreement of the parties. More importantly, Trump promised that the United States wouldn’t present a position on the contentious issues between Israel and the Palestinians, above all the borders of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem.
Trump awarded Netanyahu an unprecedented diplomatic achievement, even as he postponed fulfillment of his campaign promise to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. At the same time, he calmed Netanyahu’s fears about presenting an American diktat for an Israeli-Palestinian agreement that might have unraveled the prime minister’s coalition, which rejects the two-state solution or any gesture toward the Palestinians. It’s no wonder that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas responded with great disappointment to Trump’s remarks and called for an international front against the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

On eve of Netanyahu visit, EU to mark Human Rights Day with anti-occupation group B’Tselem
Noa Landau Dec 04, 2017 3:53 PM
▻https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.826676

https://www.haaretz.com/polopoly_fs/1.826680.1512392894!/image/207482751.jpg_gen/derivatives/headline_1200x630/207482751.jpg

In slap to Netanyahu, incoming EU ambassador chooses to hold official event with human rights group ■ Foreign Ministry says move is like ’spitting in the face of Israelis,’ while minister blasts EU as increasingly irrelevant

Representatives of the European Union in Israel will mark International Human Rights Day on Thursday together with the human rights organization B’Tselem. The event, led by incoming EU Ambassador Emanuele Giaufret, will feature an exhibition of photographs marking 50 years of Israeli occupation and has sparked a fierce condemnation from Israel.

The exhibition, entitled “50 Years,” is currently on display at the Jaffa Port in Tel Aviv. It features portraits of 50 Palestinians born in 1967, the year that Israel took over the West Bank and Gaza after the Six-Day War. The event is expected to be attended by other foreign diplomats in Israel as well.

Early next week, Netanyahu will fly to Brussels for a rare meeting with the 28 foreign ministers of the EU member nations.

In a departure from protocol, Netanyahu was invited not through the usual official channels, but through Lithuania’s representatives to the EU, a relatively friendly nation from Netanyahu’s perspective. The bypass of protocol has peeved the foreign minister of the EU, Federica Mogherini.

The spokesman for Israel’s Foreign Ministry, Emmanuel Nahshon, stated, “For reasons unknown, the EU people believe that the way to Israelis’ hearts is by spitting in their faces. We are again seeing the same patronizing approach of preaching hypocritical, condescending morality, that just pushes away rather than bringing closer. It is sad and superfluous.”

Israeli officials and politicians fumed at the news. “The European Union loses no opportunity to needle the State of Israel and persists in its unilateral ways,” stated Naftali Bennett, the leader of Habayit Heyehudi party. “This attitude makes the EU a less relevant player by the day.”

Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely commented that Israel has “been threatend by Palestinian terror for over 100 years” and that “unfortunately, the EU has not investigated the Palestinian Authority’s education system, which raises children to be ready to kill innocent civilians.” She further added that “whoever wants to look into human rights should begin with the Palestinian education system.”

B’Tselem responded, saying they have invited Bennet, Hotovely, and Nahshon to the exhibition, “so that they can have a firsthand look at the children of 1967— who have been deprived of their human rights by Israel.”

In late April, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled a scheduled meeting with German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel for refusing Netanyahu’s demand that he not meet with two human rights nongovernmental organizations, Breaking the Silence and B’Tselem.

Netanyahu’s bureau stated at the time that the prime minister’s policy is to not meet with diplomats who visit Israel and meet organizations “that slander [Israel Defense Forces] soldiers and seek to prosecute them as war criminals.”

In February, Netanyahu ordered the Foreign Ministry to reprimand Belgium’s ambassador to Israel after Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel met with representatives from B’Tselem and Breaking the Silence. Netanyahu’s bureau stated at the time that “Israel sees gravely the meeting of the Belgian prime minister today with the heads of Breaking the Silence and B’Tselem during his visit to Israel.”

The same month Netanyahu visited London and asked Prime Minister Theresa May to stop funding left-wing Israeli organizations, including Breaking the Silence, B’Tselem, Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel and others.

In the past Netanyahu has also ordered to abolish the posts at B’Tselem reserved for young Israelis who do voluntary national service as an alternative to enlisting in the army.

This is not the first time the EU has lent public support to the organization, despite the disapproval of the Israeli government. In October 2016, the EU delegation to Israel openly supported an appearance by B’Tselem executive director Hagai El-Ad before a special session of the UN Security Council on the settlements, tweeting “We support B’Tselem to maintain human rights of vulnerable Palestinian communities in Area C.”

Des dizaines de milliers de manifestants à Tel-Aviv contre la « corruption du gouvernement » RTBF - Belga - 3 Décembre 2017 - 8h12
▻https://www.rtbf.be/info/monde/detail_des-dizaines-de-milliers-de-manifestants-a-tel-aviv-contre-la-corruption

Plusieurs dizaines de milliers de manifestants se sont rassemblées samedi soir dans le centre de Tel-Aviv pour protester contre ce qu’ils dénoncent comme la corruption du gouvernement. Les manifestants, qui avaient intitulé leur rassemblement « la marche de la honte », ont envahi le large boulevard Rothschild, dans un des quartiers huppés de Tel-Aviv, pour dénoncer la corruption du gouvernement et les lenteurs présumées des enquêtes en cours contre le Premier ministre Benjamin Netanyahu.

https://ds1.static.rtbf.be/article/image/1248x702/2/6/2/90513027_88125928_640554_4942936.jpg

Le rassemblement était organisé par les responsables des manifestations de protestation hebdomadaires devant la résidence du procureur général d’Israël, Avishai Mandelblit, contre la lenteur présumée de ces enquêtes. Le Premier ministre israélien est visé par deux enquêtes, l’une sur des cadeaux qu’il aurait indûment reçus de riches personnalités, et l’autre sur un accord secret qu’il aurait tenté de conclure avec un quotidien populaire pour une couverture favorable.

Le nom de son avocat personnel et d’un ancien chef de bureau apparaissent par ailleurs dans une affaire de corruption présumée liée à l’achat de trois sous-marins allemands. « Honte », « Bibi rentre chez toi », ont scandé les manifestants, qui ont également pris pour cible le procureur général Avishai Mandelblit. Le leader de l’opposition travailliste, Isaac Herzog, a montré son soutien aux manifestants via sa page Facebook : « la frustration (...) vient du sentiment d’injustice, de la révulsion face à la corruption, et à l’objection morale à une loi faite sur mesure pour une personne », a-t-il écrit.

Le Parlement israélien va examiner lundi en deuxième et troisième lectures un projet de loi qui est vu par les détracteurs de Benjamin Netanyahu comme un moyen de le tirer d’affaire dans les enquêtes dont il fait l’objet.

#Israel #manifestation #corruption #Tel-Aviv #humour ( pour le choix du boulevard #Rothschild ) #benjamin-netanyahu marche de la #honte #avishai-mandelblit #sous-marins #allemagne

Des diplomates européens agacés après que Netanyahu « s’est auto-invité » au sommet
Times of Israel Staff 30 novembre 2017, 13:20
▻http://fr.timesofisrael.com/des-diplomates-europeens-agaces-apres-que-netanyahu-sest-auto-invi

Des dirigeants européens ont été pris par surprise la semaine dernière quand le Premier ministre Benjamin Netanyahu a annoncé sa participation au sommet des ministres des Affaires étrangères de l’Union européenne (UE) prévu le 11 décembre. Certains ont accusé le dirigeant israélien d’avoir concocté un coup diplomatique dans leurs dos, a annoncé la Dixième chaîne mercredi.

Les diplomates de l’UE, en colère, ont depuis accepté sa visite, mais ils ont prévenu Netanyahu qu’il ferait face à des questions difficiles, et promettent que les dirigeants palestiniens recevront une invitation similaire, expliquait-on dans le reportage.

Netanyahu a annoncé plus tôt ce mois qu’il prendrait part à la rencontre de Bruxelles organisée le 11 décembre. C’est la première fois en 22 ans qu’un dirigeant israélien participe à une rencontre de l’UE.

Mais l’invitation était loin d’être officielle : Netanyahu a été invité par le ministre des Affaires étrangères de la Lituanie pour participer à un petit-déjeuner avant la rencontre sans l’accord ni avoir informé d’autres diplomates de haut rang, a révélé la Dixième chaîne.

La nouvelle a été accueillie avec colère par plus d’un ministre des Affaires étrangères, et plusieurs étaient au début opposés à la manœuvre du dirigeant israélien de s’inviter lui-même à un forum de haut niveau.(...)

Saudi Arabia ‘doesn’t care’ about the Palestinians as long as it can make a deal with Israel against Iran, says former Netanyahu advisor
▻http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/11/25/saudi-arabia-doesnt-care-palestinians-long-can-make-deal-israel

Saudi Arabia is so eager to establish diplomatic relations with Israel that it is prepared to sign off on almost any type of Israeli-Palestinian peace deal no matter how unfavourable to the Palestinians, according to Benjamin Netanyahu’s former security advisor.

#arabie_saoudite #Palestine #Israel

Legislation protecting Netanyahu brings Israeli parliament to a new low - Israel News - Haaretz.com
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If the stink wafting from the Knesset on Monday had been from a biological hazard rather than a public one, hundreds of thousands of the capital’s residents would have had to close their windows and shutters. In one of the most shameful moments ever in the legislature, the governing coalition undertook to assist senior suspect Benjamin Netanyahu by banning the approaching publication of the police recommendations in the extravagant-gifts case and the quid pro quo newspaper coverage case.

#Israel #démocratie (vibrante-unique-villa) #farce

Netanyahu condamne les propos d’un membre du gouvernement sur les juifs américains
AFP / 23 novembre 2017 22h11
▻https://www.romandie.com/news/Netanyahu-condamne-les-propos-d-un-membre-du-gouvernement-sur-les-juifs-americains/866203.rom

Jérusalem - Le Premier ministre israélien Benjamin Netanyahu a abruptement désavoué sa ministre adjointe des Affaires étrangères Tzipi Hotovely jeudi après une rare tirade de celle-ci contre les juifs américains, trop habitués au confort selon elle pour comprendre Israël.

Explained: How Israel is trying to break Breaking the Silence – and how it could backfire

What happened after a former Israeli soldier confessed he assaulted an unarmed Palestinian

Judy Maltz Nov 21, 2017
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Following a relatively swift investigation, a former Israeli combat soldier was cleared of allegations that he assaulted an unarmed Palestinian during a tour of duty in Hebron.
It might have been cause for celebration, had the soldier not been the one to bring the allegations against himself.
So last week, when the State Prosecutor’s Office alleged that Dean Issacharoff, spokesman of the soldiers’ anti-occupation group Breaking the Silence, had lied about his actions, Israeli right-wing leaders naturally rejoiced.
>> To whitewash occupation, Netanyahu crew casts Breaking the Silence whistle-blower as bogeyman | Opinion
The findings, they claimed, were further evidence of what they have been saying for years – that Breaking the Silence is an organization of liars and traitors bent on defaming the State of Israel and the Israeli army.
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As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared in a Facebook post: “Breaking the Silence lies and slanders our soldiers around the world. Today this fact received further proof, if anyone had a doubt. The truth wins out.”
But in the latest twist in a case that has gripped the nation in recent days, Netanyahu’s declaration of victory appears to be premature.
According to brand new evidence, the state prosecutors who pronounced Issacharoff a liar may have been investigating the wrong incident and questioning the wrong victim.

Breaking the Silence spokesman Dean Issacharoff, who confessed in a video to beating up a Palestinian in the West Bank while in the Israeli army.Breaking the Silence
Newly unearthed footage, broadcast on two of Israel’s most popular evening news programs Monday, suggests that the Palestinian whom Issacharoff claims to have assaulted was not the same Palestinian questioned by state investigators.

It also appears that the Palestinian questioned by state investigators, the one who testified that Issacharoff had not assaulted him, had been referring to a completely different incident.
In the clip, filmed three-and-a-half years ago by a Hebron resident employed by another Israeli human rights organization, Issacharoff is seen escorting a handcuffed Palestinian who appears to have bruises on his face. How he received the bruises and the circumstances of his arrest are not clear from the footage.
An account published Tuesday morning in Haaretz by Amira Hass raises further questions about the credibility of the state prosecutors’ findings. In his first interview since the findings were published, Hassan Joulani, the Palestinian questioned by investigators about the incident, said that contrary to what state prosecutors reported, he had indeed been assaulted during his arrest – although by Border Police and not by Issacharoff.
The blows, he said, were received during a separate incident – not the one cited by Issacharoff in the videotaped account that prompted the investigation.
Joulani was arrested and beaten, according to this interview with him, in February 2014, during a demonstration marking the 20th anniversary of the mass murder of Palestinians at Hebron’s Cave of the Patriarchs by settler Baruch Goldstein.
The assault reported by Issacharoff, however, took place after a routine round of stone-throwing.
On one level, it boils down to the simple question of whether or not a former Israeli soldier lied.
On a whole other level, however, the case of Issacharoff raises more fundamental questions about Israel’s 50-year-old occupation and its corrosive effects on society, among them: Who is to blame when soldiers serving among a hostile population in occupied territory act badly – the soldiers or the state that sent them there? Should Israeli soldiers speak out about the atrocities they witness during their service at the risk of tarnishing the image of the state? Can an investigation launched by a right-wing politician who harbors hostility toward anti-occupation organizations – in this case, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked – really be undertaken with neutrality?