Schlaglicht Israel Nr. 13/14 Aktuelles aus israelischen Tageszeitungen Sonderausgabe Juli/August 2014 1. Krieg in Israel und im Gazastreifen Der Krieg zwischen Israel und der Hamas bestimmte in diesem Sommer die Berichterstattung in den Medien. Israels militärische Operation „Protective Edge“ begann am 7. Juli mit dem erklärten Ziel, den Raketenbeschuss aus dem Gazastreifen zu beenden und die Infrastruktur der Hamas soweit wie möglich zu zerstören. Den Gefechten vorausgegangen waren die Entführung und Ermordung dreier israelischer Teenager durch eine Hamas-Zelle in der Westbank, eine massive Verhaftungswelle im Westjordanland, die Ermordung eines arabischen Jugendlichen durch jüdische Extremisten sowie gewaltsame Demonstrationen von Palästinensern sowohl in Israel als auch im Westjordanland und im Gaza-Streifen. Im Verlauf der Operation korrigierte die Regierung ihre zunächst angestrebten Ziele. Die am 17. Juli gestartete Bodenoffensive galt vor allem der Zerstörung der geheimen gut 30 Tunnel, die die militanten Palästinenser bauten, um nach Israel eindringen zu können. Another Tack: Eerily déjà vu “It was no surprise that the discovery of the remains of three slain Jewish schoolboys produced whoops of joy on both the streets of Ramallah and Gaza, that candy and sticky pastries were distributed to elated passersby.[ …] No one condemned this as racist because by skewed postmodern criteria, racism can be only attributed to Jews – never to Arabs.[ …] Unlike our own, Arab society is unbothered by the pluralistic niceties of moralrelativism. Allah is exclusively on their side and they are the only interpreters of his will. The murder of Jews is divinely decreed and this isn’t only Hamas ideology. By this precept, Jews must die and have no right to resist. That’s their lot. Not only do they possess no right to avenge, they possess no right to self-defense, to at all fight. Their very existence is a provocation, a casus belli.[ …] The tragedy is that not only is the fundamental asymmetry between Jewish and Arab mindsets not comprehended abroad, but there’s no inclination to even consider it. Worse yet – one-sided ferocious Arab indignation inevitably arouses empathy overseas.” Sarah Honig, JPO 10.07.14 When Gaza operation became a war “If it were not for the demonstration Hamas gave us about the murderousness of the tunnels, we might not have launched a ground operation. One could say that Hamas provided us with the consensus required to go to war. I believe that the majority of the public realized that there was no other choice, that after what had been uncovered, it would be unthinkable to abandon the residents of the Gaza vicinity to their fate. Netanyahu was right[...] this is a justified war. Even those who are looking for diplomatic solutions, who are convinced that calm will only be reached through an agreement, understand that this time we cannot stand idly by. (…) the operation has turned into a war, but the goals remain the same: A long-term calm and damaging infrastructures. No bringing down, no occupying, no destroying.“ Sima Kadmon, JED 21.07.14 Innocent Gazan civilians are responsible for their fate too “Not all Jews support the occupation and settlement policy, and I am one of those who oppose it, but I do know very well that at the end of the day I will pay the price for this policy, and so will my children and grandchildren, and I would never think of claiming that I am not responsible for it. I am responsible because I share the responsibility for the society I live in, and if I have failed to change its conduct, the responsibility for that lies on my shoulders as well. That's the way it is in the lives of nations in which 1

the rules of their lives are different from the rules of life of individuals. Palestinians in Gaza who whine that nothing is their fault, because they are the victims of their rulers, because all they want is to make a living and live in peace, may be telling the truth. But if they are indeed telling the truth, they should have rebelled against their rulers and dealt courageously with those building missile bases under their homes. Because they have failed to do so, they will have to pay a price I would have liked to spare them.” Yaron London, JED 17.07.14 Spilling and defending blood “Hamas does not care about the welfare of the Gazan people-- instead it turned the Gaza Strip into a military fortress whose walls are made of civilians. The women and children of Gaza serve as human shields protecting terrorists.[...] Billions of aid dollars and thousands of tons of cement have gone into building an entire underground city below Gaza. There are dozens of immense tunnels, each one leading into an Israeli community across the Gaza border. It stands to reason that the plan was to send out hundreds of Hamas terrorists into Israel through each of the tunnels(somewhere around 10,000 terrorists in all) on one of the major upcoming Jewish holidays and to launch a massacre under the sleepy cover of the holiday.[...] the enemy is exposing its ugly face and sacrificing its own families on the altar of evil and blood, and meanwhile, here in Israel, there are Jews, flesh of our flesh, who are busy undermining the war effort. Well-known organizations are gathering and distributing information against the Israel Defense Forces, while others disseminate petitions and fabricate blood libels against us.” Dror Eydar, IHY 01.08.14 Israel's witch hunt against leftist organizations is McCarthyism in action “The witch hunt again st leftist and civil-rights organizations in Israel is picking up speed just as Operation Protective Edge winds down.[...] B’Tselem investigates, documents and makes public violations of human rights in Israel’s occupied territories. Its activity is extremely important during ordinary times, and much more so in times of war. B’Tselem performed this function during Operation Protective Edge, when its field researchers investigated and recorded events in the Gaza Strip. Thanks to the organization, Israel received vital information, as it has in the past, that the IDF made use of.[...]. The role of the organization is especially prominent now, when the world is demanding the investigation of suspected war crimes in the Gaza Strip. Israel can also use B’Tselem’s investigations to prove that the state investigates itself.” Editorial, HAA 15.08.14 Fighting brings Israel regional friends “The time to think about and plan for any post-war period is during the war.[...]. It is not too early either, to critique the handling of the war. Politically and militarily it was masterly. However, it unmasked a very significant intelligence failure. The fact that Hamas was able, undetected and over a long time, to build three dozen highly sophisticated attack tunnels leading to Israel is simply unacceptable. The intelligence services need to critically reexamine human and electronic assets and processes to try to find out how this could have happened and make sure it cannot happen again.“ Norman Bailey, GLO 05.08.14 Hamas' crushing defeat ”Yes, Israel had intelligence about the tunnels, but Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ya'alon failed to set their destruction as one of the operation's initial objectives. They erred, big time. There are going to be inquiries on this matter, to determine why there were no effective countermeasures and what rationale was used to discount this threat. But there is a course correction already underway. The tunnels are being dealt with, and the vast majority are already in ruins.[...] Just as Israel unilaterally redeployed along the Gaza border, it must bring this operation to a reasonable conclusion without waiting for others to decide. Otherwise it runs the risk of getting stuck in the Gaza quicksand.” Dan Margalit, IHY 19.08.14 Daniel Tragerm an’s war “Daniel Tragerman, aged 4— sweet, innocent [...];too young to cross the road alone, but old enough to know to dash to the protected room at his Kibbutz Nahal Oz home. Except that on Friday, with three seconds between the alarm and the fatal fall of a mortar shell outside, he didn’t make it. Daniel Tragerman is the inadvertent symbol of a war[...]. Hamas has its victory picture, and is drawing further delight in Israelis’ temporary abandonment of the kibbutzim and moshavim close to the treacherous border with its Gaza terror state.[...]. Let no one doubt that Hamas ideology of destruction, or the evil cynicism with which it is pursued. Let no one be 2

fooled by this weekend’s claim by Hamas“political” leader Khaled Mashaal that it would kill“only” Israeli soldiers and settlers if it had more accurate weapons. This, do not forget, is the organization that waged suicide bomber war on Israeli civilians throughout the country for years at the turn of the millennium. Suicide bombers are highly accurate weapons. They go precisely where their dispatchers tell them to go. Hamas sent them to kill any and all Israelis.[...]. Many, many children are dying in Gaza. Hundreds upon hundreds. It is horrifying. And it was entirely avoidable. They are dying because Hamas is trying to destroy Israel.” David Horovitz, TOI 25.08.14 Don't leave unfinished business in Gaza “Here’s a nightmare for all Zionists, on the left and on the right. After having uprooted the settlers of Gush Katif and cleared all of the Gaza Strip of a Jewish presence, next in line will be those Jews living in the vicinity of the Gaza Strip, the towns and villages, who will be forced to leave their homes because of the constant rocket and mortar barrages that are being rained down on them by the Hamas terrorists who have taken over the Gaza Strip in the wake of the forcible evacuation of Gush Katif. Impossible, of course, but only on condition that Hamas is decisively defeated by the IDF. This has yet to happen.[...]. Destroying tens of underground tunnels was a great achievement, but it was only a first step. If we stop here we better get ready for another round in the future.[...]. Hamas is not about to give up its control of the Gaza Strip or to surrender its cache of weapons.” Moshe Arens, HAA 11.08.14 Israel's Gaza operation is a diplomatic turning point “Obama will not stand in Israel's way to bring down the Hamas government in Gaza. He will even welcome it, if it doesn’t entail a high death toll among Palestinian civilians. The way the US president sees it, uniting the two parts of the future state of Palestine under one rational leadership is an interest shared by the US, Israel and the Palestinians. This is the blessing that may develop from the misfortune of the fighting. Listen to Obama: He promises to resume his efforts to end the IsraeliPalestinian conflict as soon as the fighting ceases, and this time he even plans to recruit the majority of the moderate Arab world. Operation Protective Edge is being increasingly perceived as a turning point, not just militarily but also diplomatically. Not everyone is happy about it.” Sever Plocker, JED 04.08.14 War, peace& hope “Yitzhak Rabin said that we should fight to win a war like there is no peace and fight for peace like war is not an option. This is what we should do right now. Hamas and their like will never accept us and we should defeat them completely. At the same time we should commence final status negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. This should be done in parallel.[...] We can pull out now but we will only be back in a few years for the next round. The cost of acting now may be much less than what it will be in the future. We must defeat Hamas quickly and totally and from the ashes build something better for us and Gaza’s citizens.“ Simon Fink, TOI 03.08.14 A European green light to kill, destroy and pulverize Gaza “In its ongoing silence, official Germany is collaborating with Israel on its journey of destruction and death, waged against the Palestinian people in Gaza. Germ any isn’t alone – Austria’s silence is also deafening. Actually, why single out these two countries? On the second or third day of the war, Chancellor Angela Merkel wasn’t the only one to declare that she stood beside Israel. The entire European Union supported Israel and its right`to defend itself.´[...] EU member states and, obviously, the United States, gave Israel a green light to kill, destroy and pulverize. They placed the brunt of the blame on the people launching the rockets, the Palestinians. The rockets are disrupting the“order” and the“quiet,” endangering the security of Israel, which is so weak and vulnerable, always attacked for no reason whatsoever.[...] In their passionate declarations on Israel's right to defend itself, EU officials fail to mention the Palestinians’ right to security or protection from the Israeli army. If the security of Jews in the Middle East were of real interest to European countries, especially Germany and Austria, they would not continue subsidizing the Israeli occupation. They would not give Israel a permanent green light to kill and destroy.” Amira Hass, HAA 11.08.14 Encountering peace: The Gaza challenge “The political problem of Gaza, which is the political problem of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, will remain the aspiration of the Palestinian people to be free from Israeli control. There must be a political 3

solution.[...] Let Gaza become the first stage of an independent sovereign Palestinian state. If it is successful, meaning peaceful, meaning focused on development, meaning educating for peace, Israel would agree that the West Bank follow suit and join the Palestinian state with full independence.[...] It should be quite clear by now that the Palestinian people, in Gaza and in the West Bank, will not give up their aspirations to be a free people in their land. It should be clear that no people would be willing to live under siege without freedom of movement and access. It should also be clear that the time has come for Israel to launch some kind of political initiative aimed at resolving the conflict. Failure to take the initiative on a political plan toward peace is a betrayal of the Zionist dream.” Gershon Baskin, JPO 20.08.14 The end of a dream “The Israeli Left was never so thin and helpless as it was at its peace rally in Rabin Square last Saturday night. A few thousand of the once-400,000-strong peace camp remain. The citizens of Israel have fled in droves from the version of peace presented by journalist Uri Avneri, writers David Grossman and Amos Oz, and former President Shimon Peres. A giant sign held by Israelis who did not show up at the square read"End the Naivete." Most already understood the message Hamas was sending with its rockets. The rockets once again being fired at our cities from Gaza have proved that the struggle between us and the Palestinians is not about the settlements in Judea and Samaria. The leftist traders in delusions are selling us the 1967 borders as a messianic solution to the bloody conflict. The Palestinian narrative has determined that all of Israel is an illegal settlement that must be eliminated by force.(…) We need to wake up from the delusions taken from a bunch of lies. Most of the Israeli public already knows that only an iron wall around Hamas and its partners can lead to security, and possibly later on to peace.“ Dr. Haim Shine, IHY 21.08.14 The eternal cycle: Death and destruction in Gaza “Occupation engenders resistance. Cruel occupation engenders fierce resistance and terrorism as well. For years, Israel— which did not even allow commercial strikes in the territories to go by without harsh punishments such as closing shops, arrests and torture— built the only track it was eager for, that of“operations.”[...] the consensus surrounding the oppression of the Gaza Strip was firm; no Zionist party supported Palestinian independence, and certainly not an independent state that would include the Gaza Strip.[...] The crueler the oppression became, the more extreme the resistance that followed. Compared to Hamas, the old extreme Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine now looks like a study group for Marxist humanism. But Hamas’s steadfastness in the current operation is proof not only of the blindness of our rulers but also of the power— the result of not having a choice in the matter— of the inhabitants of the long-besieged and bombed ghetto.“ Yitzhak Laor, HAA 27.08.14 The end of the operation: Hamas blinked first “In Jerusalem[...] they are rubbing their hands in satisfaction- and quite rightly so. After a short-lived war of attrition of just one week, even without a fresh ground incursion, Hamas blinked first and agreed to the outline of the initial ceasefire proposed by the Egyptians[...]. Hamas has not even received the "minor agreement" it could have secured eight days ago, before it violated the ceasefire the last time. Israel, however, has not ceded on anything, rather simply agreed to the ceasefire approved by the Cabinet back in mid-July, a few days after the start of Operation Protective Edge. Even so, I can honestly say that I still do not know, if we won or drew against the terrorist organization that initiated this war. Granted, the organization is badly wounded, has had all of its military capabilities taken away and more than a thousand of its fighters lost their lives, but Israel also lost 68 people, most of them soldiers. And yet, there is no satisfactory answer that will ensure the safety of the border communities against mortars, short-range rockets and even anti-tank missiles that could be fired on a bus carrying children to school in the Eshkol Regional Council or the Negev.“ Ron Ben-Yishai, JED 27.08.14 2. UN-Untersuchungskommission Der UN-Sicherheitsrat entschied am 23. Juli dafür, eine Untersuchungskommission zu beauftragen, um den Vorwurf der Menschenrechtsverletzungen in den besetzten palästinensischen Gebieten, einschließlich Ostjerusalem, zu prüfen. Mit der Entscheidung reagierte der UN-Sicherheitsrat auf die hohen Opferzahlen unter Zivilisten im Gazastreifen. In Israel ist die Kommission aufgrund ihrer Besetzung – als Vorsitzender wurde William Schabas bestimmt, der sich in der Vergangenheit 4

mehrfach Israel-feindlich geäußert hatte – sehr umstritten. Demilitarize Gaza, by force „Our soldiers are fighting for their homes as their families watch on. There is no war more just than the one we are currently fighting against Hamas in Gaza.[…] It would be delusional to think Hamas would voluntarily disarm itself. Hamas must be demilitarized by force.[…] Listening to the U.N. dru mbeat,[…] we must avoid the mistakes we made during the investigation that followed Operation Cast Lead(Gaza war 2008-2009). This time, we must take an active and aggressive role in providing data and facts to the investigators. Let's remove the masks from the faces of U.N. Relief and Works Agency employees, who today are mostly Hamas members. On top of every sack of flour in UNRWA warehouses in Gaza, there are now sacks of explosives and rockets. Let's show the mosques, hospitals and health clinics that have been turned into terrorist command centres and weapons storage sites. Let's expose the chemistry labs at higher education institutions that have been used to produce propellant for rockets and mortar shells. Let's reveal the cement that was supposed to be used to build homes for refugees, but was instead poured to reinforce the terror tunnels. Let's help investigators see Gaza through a catheter and understand that Hamas has become a monstrous cancerous tumor.” Avi Dichter, IHY 08.08.14 Discredit the Schabas report “In most cases, the U.N. Human Rights Council does not fulfil the mission that was intended for – protecting and promoting human rights around the world.[…] Since its founding, the council has passed more than 100 resolutions condemning policies that are said to violate human rights. More than 45 percent of these resolutions have been directed at Israel. Genocide in Darfur? Use of unconventional weapons in Syria? Executions of homosexuals in Iran? The massacre of Yazidis in Iraq? All of these are of less interest to the council. […] Although its ridiculousness is known, the council has not changed its pattern of behavior and it is establishing another committee to investigate the recent fighting in Gaza. The committee will be led by William Schabas, who has set a goal of finding Israel guilty and will do everything necessary to achieve that goal.[…] However, Schabas will not take note of any of this, and Israel's main challenge will be to take away the credibility from the report he will write. The garbage can of history has plenty of room.” Eli Hazan, IHY 17.08.14 Cooperating with UN's Gaza probe would be a wasted effort “Despite this background, despite the bias, should Israel cooperate with the commission? The main argument is that we should learn the lesson from our failure to cooperate with the Goldstone Commission, and therefore if we do cooperate – the outcome will be different. This is an excellent argument, but it's baseless. Israel did find a way to hand over all the required material, all the answers and rebuttals, even if this was not done officially by the state. It was a wasted effort, because when the commission's letter of appointments demands, to begin with, that Israel should be convicted in the first act, the conviction arrived at the third act.[…] It´s kind of amazing that dignified professors cooperate with this growing distortion. They could have saved the status of international law if they had maintained their decency. But they gave up. The result is not a fair trial; the result is a showcase trial.” Ben-Dror Yemini, JED 14.08.14 Welcome to the UN's festival of hypocrisy “Instead of taking the General Assembly podium and promising to check how UNWRA institutions have turned into shelters for terrorists and murderers, and instead of apologizing to millions of Israelis who have turned into the mobile targets of Hamas' rockets, Ban Ki-moon accuses Israel and rolls his eyes. The UN secretary-general should perhaps look reality in the eye, and explain in the same breath in which he shoots his arrows at Israel, why his messengers to Gaza failed to report that they had become the launching facilities' gatekeepers. […] If you have any doubt that the UN's festival of lies is just beginning, look towards Geneva, at the Human Rights Council, and then turn your gaze towards The Hague and wait on the steps of the International Criminal Court. It is those exact places which are about to host the distorted media circus of the fake morality and justice keepers, who will find all the right words to attack Israel for defending millions of civilians living under terror, and forget to place a mark of shame on the terrorist organizations, whose only desire is to destroy everything the United Nations was supposed to be.” Attila Somfalvi, JED 08.08.14 5

3. Medienquerschnitt Über das umstrittene Vorhaben von Finanzminister Yair Lapid, eine 0% Mehrwertsteuer für Erstkäufer einer Eigentumswohnung einzuführen Lapid’s zero-VAT plan: A pyrrhic victory in the making “From the beginning, zero-VAT looked like an act of desperation. Instead of releasing the bureaucratic bottlenecks that prevent the government from selling enough land and slowly lowering home prices, Lapid opted for a plan that would lower them overnight. [ …] Lapid’s stubbornness is astonish ing. He knows very well that his proposal is super-problematic. He has even said on several occasions that even he “objects in principle” to differential VAT rates.[ …] Since he entered politics Lapid has made many promises that have been left unfulfilled.” Sami Peretz, HAA 18.08.14 The economy has no protective edge “Here are several things that happened during the second quarter of the year, when Ministry of Finance Yair Lapid was busy promoting his plan for 0% VAT on apartment purchases from a contractor: the Israel economy grew at a 1.7% clip, private consumption stagnated, investment fell, and exports plunged by an annualized rate of almost 18%. Indeed under the leadership of Lapid and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli economy is rapidly approaching a recession, while its industrial base is eroding and investment in resident construction is declining.[ …] When the third quarter figures are published, the numbers will be worse. Growth may be negligible, or even negative, and could serve as a warning to the country’s economic leadership. The Israeli economy is not“strong”; it has weakened in recent years, to a large extent because of a passive policy, two-year budgets, and ministers of finance who do not exactly understand what their job and duty consist of.[…] The Minister of Finance should not be doing battle on behalf of 0% VAT, and campaigns glorifying the culture of exits are not what we need. Israel desperately needs a different economic leadership that will think about economic growth whose benefits can be enjoyed by its citizens.” Avi Temkin, GLO 17.08.14 Über die ungerechte Verteilung von Budgetzuschüssen diesseits und jenseits der grünen Linie Where is the money? “The settlements received 20 million shekels($ 5.7 mil lion) for“social reinforcement,” while Religious Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett’s religious councils got 69 million shekels. But there were zero shekels for Nahal Oz, zero for Ashkelon, zero for the entire south.(…) Since the fighting began, not one re quest to transfer funds to residents of the south has been submitted to the Finance Committee.(…) Instead, a special grant of 5 million shekels to West Bank settlements, which the government approved after Naftali Fraenkel, Gilad Shaar and Eyal Yifrah were murdered, was brought up for discussion in the committee with lightning speed and then was mysteriously quadrupled to 20 million.(…) Southern communities can only dream about getting bonuses like that.” Stav Shaffir, HAA 21.08.14 Über die Neugründung des israelischen öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunks The purpose of public broadcasting “In an era in which there are so many media outlets and huge quantities of information flow through new platforms like the social networks, public broadcasting’s raison d’être is to respond to market failures and produce content that the commercial networks won’t touch. A cornerstone of future public broadcasting[…] is, among other things, to encourage Israeli productions, relevance, pluralism and innovation.[…] Researc h shows that despite the high penetration of the Internet and other new media, the rate of exposure to television content is still very high and TV has the strongest effect on people’s perception of reality. So the real test of the new public broadcaster will be news and current affairs broadcasting which must be independent and free of any influence by tycoons or politicians.” Editorial, HAA 13.08.14 HAA= Haaretz JED= JediothAhronoth/ Ynetnews JPO= Jerusalem Post IHY= Israel HaYom TOI= Times of Israel GLO= Globes 6

Veröffentlicht im: September 2014 Verantwortlich: Dr. Werner Puschra, Leiter der Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Israel Redaktion: Susanne Knaul Judith Stelmach Homepage: www.fes.org.il Email: fes@fes.org.il 7