Schlaglicht Israel Nr. 15/14 Aktuelles aus israelischen Tageszeitungen 16.-30. September 2014 Die Themen dieser Ausgabe 1. Abbas und Netanyahu in New York 1 2. Unruhen in Jerusalem 4 3. Armee tötet mutmaßliche Mörder 6 4. Haushalt 2015 8 5. Medienquerschnitt 10 a. Schließung der Internierungseinrichtung für afrikanische Flüchtlinge in Holot 10 b. Rücktritt von Innenminister Gideon Saar 10 c. Zunahme anti-israelischer Stimmen in Europa 11 d. Zwangsumsiedlung von Beduinen im Westjordanland 11 1

1. Abbas und Netanyahu in New York Der palästinensische Präsident Mahmud Abbas erhob in seiner Rede vor der UN-Vollversammlung den Vorwurf, Israel habe sich im Verlauf der knapp sechs Wochen andauernden Kämpfe im Gazastreifen des Völkermordes schuldig gemacht. Gleichzeitig schloss er eine Rückkehr zu den Friedensverhandlungen in naher Zukunft aus. Israels Ministerpräsident Benjamin Netanyahu verteidigte das Vorgehen der israelischen Armee im Gazastreifen. Es habe„in der Geschichte der Menschheit“, keine Armee gegeben, die mehr zur Vermeidung von zivilen Opfern unternommen habe, als die israelische. Netanjahu verglich die den Gazastreifen kontrollierende Hamas mit der IS-Miliz. At UN, Netanyahu outs Abbas’ lies about Israel It has come to be expected that Mahmoud Abbas uses his speech to the General Assembly to throw red meat at a predatory crowd hungry for Israeli blood.(…) So when Abbas invoked the“G word” characterizing Israel’s efforts to stop the rockets and tunnels that endanger its citizens as“genocide,” for which the Palestinians could“not forgive” the nation state of the Jewish people- he could expect applause from the assembled Israel-haters. So too can he expect approval from his people back home, the very people who are supposed to be part of any twostate solution.(…) But even I was shocked by what Abbas did not say- by the two words he never mentioned during the course of his rambling 40 minute screed:“Rockets” and“tunnels.” He accused Israel of“genocide” in its attack on Hamas’s double war crime- rockets and terror tunnels- without even mentioning the rockets and tunnels that justified Israel´s right of self-defense. This would be as if a prosecutor accused a policeman of murdering a child in cold blood, without even mentioning that the child who was shot by the policeman was being held as a shield by a bank robber who was firing at customers from behind the child. Any prosecutor who mendaciously leveled such perversely and deliberately incomplete accusations- which would constitute perjury by omission- would be disbarred and removed from office. Even without the omission of the provoking factors- thousands of rockets and dozens of tunnels- the charge of“genocide” is so irresponsible, so knowingly false, so deliberately provocative, as to raise serious questions about whether Abbas is a credible partner for peace.(…) This was the worst speech, of many bad speeches by Abbas at the United Nations, ever delivered by the so- called“moderate” peace partner for the two state solution.(…) There was only one point on which Abbas and Netanyahu seemed to agree: That the previous paths to peace are anachronistic and that new approach es are needed. Abbas’ proposed new approach included a veiled threat of renewed terrorism, invoking the tradition of the Fedayeen, a group that engaged in terrorism against Israel even before the 1967 war. Other than that, it was same old, same old with a renewed emphasis on unilateral actions, using the biased processes of the United Nations. Netanyahu, on the other hand, did propose a new pathway to peace: Namely that Israel is prepared to work with Arab neighbors such as Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the Emirates to achieve a two state solution with the Palestinians. Some might say that by doing so he has marginalized Abbas and the Palestinian Authority. Others would argue that it has been Abbas who has marginalized himself and his organization by the kind of hateful and unhelpful rhetorical poison he spewed during his notorious talk at the United Nations. Alan M. Dershowitz, HAA, 29.09.14 Netanyahu's UN speech: All talk, no action It was an excellent, well-written speech, composed of a series of short, catchy and message-focused sentences, with the right emphases at the right timing, with all the required pauses and gestures, in a remarkably polished American accent. After each of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's annual addresses to the United Nations General Assembly, I am filled with pride that this is the man speaking for Israel from the podium in New York. That's where he belongs. Had his father, Prof. Benzion Netanyahu, still been alive, he would have enjoyed this speech. The father devoted many years of his life to researching Islam's flaws. The son summarized his father's doctrine through rhetoric punch lines. ISIS is Hamas and Hamas is ISIS. Moreover, ISIS, which calls itself the Islamic State, is similar to the other Islamic republic, of Iran. And we're not done yet: The Palestinian Authority, which established a government with Hamas, belongs to that same family. A huge, worldwide Islamic conspiracy has been devised to destroy the West and Israel, the West's stronghold and representative in the Middle East. (…) Netanyahu's accusations are not baseless. It's true that militant Islam has raised its head in recent years; it's true that the progress made by Iran to the status of a nuclear threshold state is alarming; it's true that two radical terror organizations, armed with 2

rockets, are operating next to Israel; it's true that Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' claim that Israel used methods of genocide in Gaza was not in line with the truth. But the comparison between Hamas and ISIS is unfounded, if only because the American administration is prepared to destroy ISIS while Israel wanted and wants Hamas to continue ruling Gaza. A weakened Hamas is what Netanyahu wanted before, during and after Operation Protective Edge. And the comparison between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas is absurd, because in the only area the Israeli government finds important in the Palestinian context, security, the PA is cooperating with Israel on a daily basis – not with Hamas. And the joint government, which Israel often condemns in speeches, is now the Israeli government's big hope, as it is perceived as the only chance to avoid the next violent flare-up in the south. If Abbas is Hamas and Hamas is ISIS, Israel should bomb Ramallah and resume the attacks on Gaza.(…) Instead, it is awaiting the moment Ame rican, European and Saudi money will fund Gaza's reconstruction and pay Hamas workers' salaries. Nahum Barnea, JED, 30.09.14 Abbas is a partner for peace after all Assuming that Mahmoud Abbas is not a partner for peace who may lead to a diplomatic agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, there is a simple question we must ask ourselves: Who is?(…) D espite the harsh statements voiced by Abbas on Friday, we must not forget that he and the leaders of the Palestinian security organizations are fully cooperating with the Israeli security services with a shared goal in mind: Preventing terror.(…) who ever cooperates with us at night is allowed to make speeches which include defamatory words against us during the day. But the decision about our future is not only in Abbas' hands. It is also in the hands of the Israeli government. It's just a shame that Netanyahu has yet to realize that and do something about it. Shimon Shiffer, JED, 28.09.14 Words matter (…) Israeli leader's 35-minute monologue from the podium of the hornet's nest in midtown Manhattan was a masterpiece.(…) What he did on Monday, with a mixture of resolve and elegance, was to use the consensus about combating the Islamic State terrorists to warn against militant Islam in all its permutations, emphasizing the danger of a nuclear Iran -- the original and ultimate"Islamic State."(…), it was the speech that President Barack Obama should have made.(…) Words are extremely i mportant. And Netanyahu's reiteration of certain truths that are under global assault is more crucial than ever, especially with a hostile administration in the White House and difficult opposition at home. But it is because words matter that I have to take issue with the last part of his tour de force on Monday. Concluding that the only way to achieve peace with the Palestinians is to create regional cooperation with the Arab world and international community, Netanyahu asserted that he is"ready to make a historic compromise" in the form of territorial withdrawals.(…) Announcements like that, particularly in the context of an increasingly radicalizing Middle East and Europe, only serve to embolden the worst elements of Palestinian society. Offering"land for peace" is the best way to convey to Israel's enemies that they should continue clinging to what Netanyahu himself called the"branches of the same poisonous tree" from which Hamas and ISIS cultivate their "fanatical creed." He, like all Israelis, ought to know this by now. Ruthie Blum, IHY, 29.09.14 No holds barred: Abbas the moderate It took all of two sentences at the UN for the world to discover just what kind of moderate Mahmoud Abbas truly is. Just after saying,“Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen,” the Palestinian Authority president followed up with this:“In this year, proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly as the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Israel has chosen to make it a year of a new war of genocide perpetrated against the Palestinian people.” Now if Abbas says that Israel is guilty of gen ocide he must be correct, right? He is, after all, an expert on the subject of genocide, having written a doctoral dissertation denying the Holocaust. All of which exposes the farce of those Jewish organizations and leaders who have embraced Abbas over the past few years as a moderate interested in peace. This is the man whose Fatah faction in 2011 named a town square after Dalal al-Mughrabi, the leader of a 1978 bus hijacking that murdered 35 Israelis. Had Netanyahu’s government unveiled a statue to Baruch Goldstein, would anyone claim it was interested in peace?(…) Shmuley Boteach, JPO, 29.09.14 Since Abbas is no partner, Israel should help try to produce one 3

We didn’t need Mahmoud Abbas’s ghastly“gen ocide” speech to the United Nations General Asse mbly on Friday to make plain that this is a man with whom Israel cannot reach viable terms for coexistence and a two-state solution. His unleashing of incendiary false accusations before the watching world was particularly despicable, but this was only the worst in a long series of vicious speeches calculated to exacerbate the hostility to the very fact of Israel’s existence among his own people, across the region, and indeed worldwide. More substantively, while not personally fostering terrorism, Abbas has long since proved disinclined to counter the uncompromising narrative that his late and unlamented predecessor Yasser Arafat bequeathed the Palestinians— namely, that there was no Jewish temple in Jerusalem, and that the Jewish people thus have no sovereign legitimacy here. Under his rule, as under Arafat’s, most aspects of norm alized relations with Israel and Israelis are discouraged, and Palestinian media routinely demonizes and delegitimizes Israel. At the negotiating table, moreover, Abbas has proved himself a serial rejectionist.(…).The pro blem is that, as things stand, there is absolutely no prospect of a Palestinian leadership emerging after Abbas that will interact more fair-mindedly with Israel in the cause of viable co- existence.(…) Netany ahu needs to galvanize the international community by specifying how the climate of hostility could be altered for the better, and by committing Israel to playing its part. No such radical shift can happen overnight. It will take years.(…) David Horovitz, TOI, 28.09.14 Israel’s criticism of Abbas’ speech is the rhetoric of despair P alestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ aggressive speech at the UN General Assembly was seen in Israel as clear proof that he does not want peace, that he is slandering Israel and cannot be a partner for an agreement.“This is not the way a man who wants peac e speaks,” came a remark out of the Prime Minister’s Office. What exactly does Israel expect from a person who has 2200 dead Palestinians on mind— a greeting for a happy Jewish New Year in Hebrew?(…) Rhetoric plays a great role in creating an atmosphere and promoting policy. But it should not be confused with policy. Even when Abbas is accusing Israel of genocide and crimes against humanity, he has not turned his back on the diplomatic process, which remains an anchor of his policy. The Palestinians, he sa id, seek“to achieve peace by affirming the goal of ending the Israeli occupation and achieving the two-state solution, of the State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital, over the entire territory occupied in 1967, alongside the State of Israel.” At the same time, Abbas made clear to the Palestinian people, Israel and the countries of the world that he aspires to hold the next talks with Israel as president of a recognized country, not as head of an organization, a movement or an authority. He intends to ask the United Nations to set a date for the end of the occupation and a renewal of talks with Israel on borders. That’s a worthy policy after the 47 years that have eroded Israel’s borders. The government is now grasping at Abbas’ statements as if it were grasping at a life raft. This helps Israel market its opposition to renewing peace talks; it helps it keep hold of the territories and expand the settlements. But leaning on Abbas’ speech reflects nothing but fear and weak leadership. Israel has neither an answer nor a strategy for the diplomatic elements in Abbas’ address. Editorial, HAA, 27.09.14 Peace talks are officially off the table (…) In some sense, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is right: Abbas is not a partner. He has not been a partner since last February, when he made it clear to the American peace team that he has given up on the chance to reach an agreement through negotiations.(…) Abbas is a pleasant man in person, but he is a bitter rival to the policy of the current Israeli government's policy – and in fact, to the policies of most Israeli governments since 1967. He angers people in the West Bank and Gaza, but is considered a hero in the world. He can take credit for the calm in the West Bank during Operations Brother's Keeper and Protective Edge. It was his investment, and he will receive something in return for it. The West's fear of the new Islamic terror(…) is not necessarily working in Israel's favor. It is precisely when a Western-Arab coalition takes shape against new enemies, that there is a growing need to balance the picture by helping a pan-Arab, panMuslim issue. Where will the balance be made? On the Israeli-Palestinian front. Similar activity was recorded on the eve of the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. The Prime Minister's Office issued a condemnation to Abbas' speech. Abbas is slandering, lying, inciting. The assumption was that this is a propaganda war: Abbas will say that we are a racist and apartheid state, which is committing genocide, and that will be it. I'm afraid they are wrong, and they are not the only ones. The change taking place before our eyes is much more significant. The thing called 4

the peace process, or the Oslo process, or peace negotiations, is off the table. The gap between the parties is too big; the internal forces opposing concessions are too strong. What we are left with is a battlefield between an Israeli government which will forever stick to the status quo and a desperate Palestinian Authority which is fighting it, with the world's growing support. It's a recipe for an explosion.(…) Netanyahu(…) needed Abbas- if not as a real partner, then as a fig leaf. That fig leaf has flown away. There is no one to hide the bluff. Nahum Barnea, JED, 28.09.14 2. Unruhen in Jerusalem Jerusalem ist in den vergangenen Monaten erneut Schauplatz heftiger Unruhen. Auslöser war der Mord an dem 16jährigen Palästinenser Mohammed Abu Khdeir Anfang Juli. Die Polizei reagiert heftig auf die Demonstranten, die ihrem Unmut mit Steinewerfen, dem Werfen von Molotow-Cocktails und Sachbeschädigung Luft machen. Die zahlreichen Festnahmen und Berichte über eine schlechte Behandlung in den Gefängnissen stacheln den Zorn der Demonstranten offenbar zusätzlich an. Jerusalem season (…) Jerusalem is one of the most com plex urban areas in the world. It is Israel’s largest metropolis, as well as the biggest Palestinian city in the region. Of its 815,300 residents, 37 percent(301,200) are Palestinian. Beneath the façade of unity, it is deeply divided demographically, economically, physically, religiously, nationally and politically. In many respects, it represents a microcosm not only of layers of historical, ethnic and cultural interchange, but also of the deep challenges currently facing the region and— by extension— t he global arena.(…) Pr esent day Jerusalem is tense and replete with suspicion and strife. July and August of this year were accompanied by a sevenfold increase in Palestinian insurrection in the city. In the process, property was destroyed(…), buses were stoned, security forces were assailed and several Israelis were seriously injured.(…) Violence against Palestinians has also been on the rise:(…) Both Jews and Palestinians fear venturing into each other’s neighborhoods.(…) The tension permeating the city reflects a host of inequities, the most glaring of which is the housing differentials between Israelis and Palestinian Jerusalemites— which reached a new peak in the past year alone. The housing density for Palestinians is twice that of Jewish residen ts,(…). Since 1967, one-third of Palestinian land in East Jerusalem has been confiscated. During this period, 27,000 Palestinian homes have been demolished. Only recently, after a six-year court battle, was approval given for the construction of the first Palestinian residential area in almost fifty years: 2,200 units to be built in ASawahara. Indeed, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel(ACRI) shows that only 14 percent of East Jerusalem is zoned for Palestinian residential construction. And the separation barrier constructed during the past decade divides Palestinian neighborhoods within the municipal boundaries of the city. At the same time, Jewish construction has expanded by leaps and bounds, from Gilo in the southwest of the city, to Har Homa, French Hill, Pisgat Ze’ev, Neve Yaakov and Ramat Shlomo— to mention but a few of the post-1967 Jewish neighborhoods circling the city. Jewish enclaves in Palestinian parts of Jerusalem continue to receive support from the authorities.(…) Naomi Chazan, TOI, 22.09.14 Israel must finally address East Jerusalem’s problems (…) A Palestinian child suspected of throwing a single stone at an armored jeep has a very slim chance of being released to house arrest, compared to a Jewish child suspected of the same offense or a much more serious one. Eleven of the 12 Jews charged with the brutal assault of two young Palestinian men in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Neveh Ya’akov in late July were released to house arrest. This happened even though most of the defendants were adults, stood accused of serious crimes, and at least one had a criminal record involving a similar offense. It doesn’t end there. Remarks by the pa rents and lawyers of some of the suspects suggest that the police take liberties with juvenile law when it comes to Palestinian minors. For example, Palestinian teenagers and even children are arrested late at night and questioned for hours, sometimes without their parents present. It’s hard not to conclude that the justice system has decided to deal harshly with these young suspects at the expense of their rehabilitation, in the hope that this will help calm the situation. But this is likely to have the opposite effect. As parents and educators in East Jerusalem have indicated, the chance of recidivism is very high for a child who has been incarcerated for even a few days.(…) It’s too early to predict whether the events that began in Jerusalem early this summer will develop into an intifada. But the involvement of so many children suggests that this is not a planned 5

uprising directed from above. Rather, it’s an expre ssion of anger rooted in despair.(…) Editorial, HAA, 21.09.14 Fundamentally Freund: The quiet intifada in Jerusalem In recent months, Palestinian terrorists have transformed Jerusalem into a battleground, carrying out increasingly brazen attacks against Jews. The incidents have grown in both quantity and severity, putting Jewish lives and property at risk.(…) The situ ation has become so bad that Citipass, the company which operates the Jerusalem light rail system, announced last month that eight out of its fleet of 23 vehicles, or more than a third, had been taken out of service due to Palestinian attacks. Despite the fact that the light rail system serves all Jerusalem residents and benefits Arab and Jew alike, Palestinians have reportedly attacked it more than 120 times in the past two months, primarily in Shuafat and Beit Hanina, causing at least half a million shekels in damage. Clearly, this is not just a matter of sporadic violence.(…) To their credit, in recent months the police have arrested more than 600 Palestinians who were involved in the violence and unrest, but Jerusalem residents are growing weary of the violence and of the failure of the authorities to halt it. (…) Palest inian terror cannot be allowed to prevail in Jerusalem or anywhere else. The“quiet intifada” sweeping the eastern part of the capital must be defeated. The police need to increase their presence throughout the area and move quickly to detain and arrest anyone who hurls stones, tosses firebombs or otherwise engages in violence of any kind. And the court system needs to send a strong message by sentencing Palestinian rioters and stonethrowers to lengthy jail terms rather than just giving them a slap on the wrist. Furthermore, the government needs to reinforce the Jewish presence in eastern Jerusalem, upgrading its security and continuing to build homes for Jews. This is the best way to disabuse our foes of any notion that they will chase us away through intimidation and fear. But time is of the essence and action must be taken soon. If it isn’t, then instead of petering out, the bu rgeoning intifada in Jerusalem may prove to be anything but quiet. Michael Freund, JPO, 22.09.14 Neglect leading to Jerusalem´s division A new intifada has erupted in East Jerusalem in recent months, without anyone declaring it. Stones are being thrown, dustbins are being torched and stores are being plundered. Entire neighborhoods are closed for security reasons.(…) The main pro blem is the municipal area. In 1967, Arab villages and neighborhoods which were never included in Jerusalem became part of the city. It was a historical navigation error, which created 250,000 people with Israeli identity cards but with no Israeli government. Instead of nurturing East Jerusalem's historic neighborhoods, the Old City's surroundings, the outskirts of the Mount of Olives and the other original Jerusalemite parts, in order to make the Israeli ownership clear – they were all neglected equally. Most of us are unaware of the fact that the Jerusalem neighborhoods outside the separation fence are a governance parody. At the entrance, there are signs forbidding Israelis to enter. The mayor doesn’t visit the area, and neither do the police. The National Insurance funds, on the other hand, arrive on time. Jerusalem must not be divided. Generations of Jews arrived here for the sake of Zion. But the current reality is leading there – not in a constitutional way, not because of an agreement that won't arrive, but in the name of neglect. If Jews can't enter a neighborhood under the Old City, Jerusalem has a problem. The only solution is implementing the sovereignty in the Jewish neighborhoods within the fence – operating a police force 24/7, strictly enforcing construction, enforcing laws and a treatment equal to that of the western part of the city – as well as redefining the city's municipal borders. I am not talking about diplomatic agreements, but about the practice of running a city.(…) At the end of th e day, there is nothing our politicians are more afraid of than Jerusalem. And when they are afraid, there are no decisions and there is disregard. This is how an intifada develops, this is how you lose control. This is how parts of Jerusalem seem like a navigation error to us. Yoaz Hendel, JED, 17.09.14 Re-liberate Jerusalem (…) It is hard to accept the police's version that the recent events of the third Jerusalem intifada are not pre-organized. While incidents like the abduction and murder of the three teenage boys, the murder of the Arab boy in Shuafat or the war in Gaza have undeniably been motivating factors, the perpetuation of the terrible violence is evidence of a guiding hand, certainly at the local level and perhaps further afield, behind the th ird Jerusalem intifada.(…) The voices currently calling for Jerusalem to be divided(like my journalist colleague Shalom Yerushalmi in the Makor Rishon newspaper), are vastly mistaken. The dis6

tance between the Arab and Jewish neighborhoods usually ranges from anywhere between dozens and hundreds of meters(yards). They are intertwined with one another. Whoever gives the Palestinian Authority neighborhoods like Jabel Mukaber(near Armon Hanatziv), Issawiya ‎ (near French Hill and Mount Scopus) or Shuafat(near Pisgat Ze'ev) will automatically render these Jewish neighborhoods to imminent and perpetual danger of shooting attacks, as we have seen happen to the Gilo neighborhood (near Beit Jala) during the Second Intifada. The solution is not to withdraw from these neighborhoods, rather to enter them and make Israeli sovereignty there more than just a virtual reality. The demographic temptation to"get rid of" these tens of thousands of Arabs is also an illusion. By virtue of their residency and rights, they will respond exactly like their brethren when the security wall was erected inside the city's area of jurisdiction. At that time, tens of thousands of people crossed the wall to the Israeli side, crowded the Arab neighborhoods in Israeli territory and even"settled" in Jewish neighborhoods. A"disengagement" from the Arab neighborhoods will cause an even more severe demographic overflow of Arabs with residency status, who will flood Israeli Jerusalem-- Arab and Jewish. The correct course of action is to re-liberate east Jerusalem, reinvent ourselves as the governing and sovereign power, and to wield not only a stick but also carrots. There is no justification for Israel's many years of neglecting the Arab neighborhoods. It cannot continue to hold the stick at both ends in those places: to demand control over the territory but also treat the residents living there as an unnecessary burden. The majority of the population there heeds Hamas more than the Israeli Shin Bet security agency and police. This is the real reason for the lack of deterrence. This needs to be changed, and quickly. Nadav Shragai, IHY, 16.09.14 Jerusalem is burning (…) Dozens of incidents(…) happen almost every day, but such incidents get minimal coverage, and sometimes, even on the public broadcasting channels, one can discern a sense of solidarity with the rioters.(…) The“principle” guiding the police is to avoid force at almost any cost. And this is indeed a cowardly principle. Policemen who“sit still and do nothing” in the face of riots know that if Jews are injured by a Molotov cocktail, they’ll suffer some(...) annoying op-ed by a right-wing columnist. But should these policemen injure the people throwing firebombs, that’s a whole different ballgame. The report will likely lead the evening news; the act will be defined as“police brutality”; they’ll become e mbroiled in Justice Ministry investigations and/or commissions of inquiry; they’ll be put on trial; and under pressure from the media and NGOs, they may even be ousted from the force. Israel Harel, HAA, 18.09.14 3. Armee tötet mutmaßliche Mörder Die beiden mutmaßlichen Entführer und Mörder der drei Mitte Juni verschleppten israelischen Teenager, die ein Internat im Westjordanland besuchten, sind bei einem Schusswechsel mit Soldaten getötet worden. Der Mord an den drei Schülern stand am Anfang einer Welle neuer Eskalationen und schließlich dem Krieg im Gazastreifen. If a man comes to kill you.. Had the murderers of the three teenage boys, Marwan Qawasmeh and Amer Abu Aisheh, come out of their hideout in a Hebron carpentry shop with their hands up, white flag raised and weapons tossed aside, the IDF soldiers would have detained them. It is better that Qawasmeh and Aisheh opened fire and were killed in the ensuing gunfight. Naftali Frenkel's mother expressed the proper sentiment, saying that after the difficult mourning period she would not have wanted to see them grandstanding in court or cope with an extortionist demand to release them in exchange for an Israeli hostage in a few years.(…) Ever since the massacre at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Israel has adopted a policy of retribution against murderers. Not only has this policy been applied to those who aided and abetted them, or to their commanders and leaders, but to them pers onally.(…) Israel does not kill innocents, not purposefully. It does, however, refresh its commitment to instilling a sense of dread in the hearts and minds of terrorist murderers and their dispatchers. At the height of Operation Protective Edge, Meretz MK Tamar Zandberg issued a statement opposing a pinpoint assassination of one of Hamas' senior terrorists. How can it be, she asked, that we targeted him without a proper trial? Her comment was so bizarre and ludicrous, that it could have been countered in a similar vein: Does she recommend knocking on the terrorist's door and handing him the subpoena, or, heaven forbid, should we have unlawfully abduct him and brought him to Israel? Preemptive shootings against Palestinian murderers do not fall under the category of being"light on the trig7

ger." It is actually the implementation of a Jewish precept--"If a man comes to kill you, rise early and kill him first." This is precisely what transpired, rightfully, in Hebron on Tuesday, even if late-- after they r ose to kill us and succeeded.(…) Dan Margalit, IHY, 24.09.14 Head held high (…) justice has many shades. It can come in the form of a blurry black and white photo taken at night, on the outskirts of Hebron.(…) In the first hours following the abduction, it was a matter for the families. Afterwards, it was a matter for three small communities. Within a day, the boys were the focus of prayers for an entire country. Today, 100 days later-- the change is occurring at an accelerated rate-- it seems this is now a matter for the entire Western world. One hundred days ago the Islamic State group was not a bother for U.S. President Barack Obama and then-EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. The killing of Qawasmeh and Abu Aisheh is the latest revolution of the carousel of the past few months, from Operation Protective Edge to the Islamic State's beheading videos: The Israel Defense Forces is standing guard, a nation is standing guard, Western countries are standing guard. There is a trend.(…) The boys' cr ies, along with the cries of their children and grandchildren, the generations they could have brought into this world, still rise from the ground and reverberate among us, but the bringing of their murderers to the gates of hell (precisely to the place where Hamas vowed to bring the Jews), is an emotional closing of the circle. "Heads down," the murderers yelled at the boys. "We are holding our heads high," we say today(…) Emily Amrousi, IHY, 24.09.14 A good end to a tough year (…) The killing of Marwan Qawasmeh and Amer Abu Aisheh(…) was an intelligence achievement. But while the Shin Bet must be credited for finding the killers, it must also be faulted for not thwarting their attack in the first place. The Shin Bet has to learn lessons from this episode, so it can prevent the next attack, which is certainly already in the works. Yet, it is unlikely that"quality terrorist attacks" will be the story of the coming year. Rather, it is believed the main headache, which is expected to get worse, will be"popular terrorist attacks"(i.e., stones and firebombs), particularly in east Jerusalem. The challenging budgetary reality means the defense establishment will have to stretch itself to find an answer to this threat, knowing that a failure-- like the events that happened this past summer-- could initiate a dangerous process. A local event, like the kidnapping and murder of the three teens, could lead to wider fighting or even a multi-front conflict. Yoav Limor, IHY, 24.09.14 4. Haushalt 2015 Regierungschef Benjamin Netanyahu und Finanzminister Yair Lapid(Yesh Atid) sind sich über den Haushalt für das kommende Jahr einig geworden. Im Zentrum der öffentlichen Kritik steht die Aufstockung des Verteidigungsbudgets und das steigende Haushaltsdefizit. No money left for Israel's citizens It really didn't take an economic-political forecaster to know how the budget dispute between Finance Minister Yair Lapid and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu(and Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon) would end: The Defense Ministry will receive half of what it asked for in advance and an unwritten promise to get billions more throughout the year, the civilian ministries will receive much less than what they asked for and hoped for – and the rest will be covered by the increased deficit.(…) The math is si mple. According to what is known as a"budget rule," a law in the statute book which includes a certain calculation formula, the government's expenses could grow next year by some NIS 8 billion(about$2.2 billion). The growth in the tax collection forecast is much lower – not just because of the zero VAT on new apartments, but mainly because of the slowdown in growth – and so at the starting point the Treasury already faced the following question: A higher deficit or more taxes? Lapid decided, unequivocally, in favor of a higher deficit.(…) We are already talking about a deficit amounting to 3.4% of the GDP(about NIS 40 billion in 2015 prices), an addition of NIS 6 billion to the defense budget and a tiny addition of only NIS 2 billion addition to all civilian ministries. The government will allot about 0.15% of the annual GDP next year to increase its spending on education, health, welfare, infrastructures and growth engines. That's less than a statistical error. It means an additional reduction in the share of public-civilian spending in our GDP cake. For years, Israel has been ranked last among developed countries which are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in terms of the share of public and civilian budgets in the economy. This is an inappropriate 8

last place for a country whose poverty rates are among the highest in the West. Now, as a result of the budget arrangement taking shape for 2015, our last place will be secured for many more years.(…) politics, once again, overpowered society. Sever Plocker, JED, 21.09.14 Wanted: A better budget for Israel (…) Netanyahu is trying to portray himself as“Mr. Security,” which is why he wants the defense budget boosted; Lapid is“Mr. Social Justice,” who is proud of his zero-VAT plan for new apartments and insists on not raising taxes. The addition to the defense budget is a mistake. At issue is a huge bureaucracy whose budget is already larger than the defense budgets of all the surrounding Arab states combined. If it gets those additional billions it will never reorganize the military’s structure, nor do anything to confront manpower surpluses, early retirements, the Rehabilitation Branch, the delegations abroad, or any other area that requires fundamental restructuring.(…) Lapid’s crowing about not raising taxes is also problematic. After all, enlarging the budget deficit is essentially imposing a tax on the weakest and most vulnerable. A large deficit of 3.4 percent will lead to higher government debt, which will come at the expense of education, health services, and welfare. A large deficit will also worsen the debt-to-GDP ratio, a clear change of direction that will lead to drops in Israel’s credit rankings, higher interest rates, reduced investments, depressed private consumption, an economic slowdown and higher unemployment. The first to be fired will be those lowest on the totem pole. After that, middle class employees will feel the heat, as they pay more for their mortgages and overdrafts, all the while facing a greater risk of being fired. Nor does the new budget contain any important reforms. There is no proposal for more flexible management in the public sector, no canceling of tax exemptions like the VAT exemption on fruits and vegetables, no higher pension contributions by public-sector workers, and no rise in women’s retirement age. The result is that 2015 will be a wasted economic year, with low growth and a high deficit, which will lead the economy downward toward an unavoidable crisis. It would behoove Lapid and Netanyahu to draw up a better budget proposal than the one currently on the table. Editorial, HAA, 22.09.14 Economic forecast: Cautious optimism (…) As we head into the Jewish New Year, one can be taken aback by the many malfunctions in the Israeli economy. It's still too concentrated, seeded with monopolies, full of interest groups that wake up every morning to guard their own fat piece of the pie.(…) But despite the problems, and we could list plenty, the cafes are full. Soon we'll see people lining up to buy the new iPhone. Israeli exports, even after a difficult year, can now benefit from the rising dollar.(…) Since the start of the year, Israeli tech companies have been sold to foreign buyers for hundreds of millions of dollars. A few went public on Wall Street. This is encouraging. After all, when an Israeli start-up is sold, it's a certificate of merit for the genius of its employees. In a cycle that is nothing but positive for both entrepreneurs and the public, the people who make a killing in exits often go on to found more companies.(…) Yes, there are pro blems that need to be addressed. But we should count up and look at the good things, too. We have violent neighbors who are always angling for a deal, but they force us to develop sophisticated Iron Domes. We have a complex, clumsy political system, but despite the impossible regulation we need to stand on our own feet and move forward. Hezi Sternlicht, IHY, 21.09.14 Israeli politicians' budget rhetoric: Lies, lies, all lies (…) They say the overall budget framework will not be exceeded? That’s a lie. It will be violated using a “black box” of a few billion shekels for defense needs, that makes a mockery of the cabinet resolution restricting growth in the budget. They say the budget deficit will be 3.4%? A lie. It will be higher as a result of the heightened increase in defense spending, the fiction known as“heightening tax co llection and the fight on unreported revenue” and whatever the Knesset cooks up. They say the army will become more efficient after it gets its billions? Another lie. It won’t become a jot more efficient. Anyone who gets billions with so little effort will put their energy into obtaining even more, not into efficiency measures. The former is much easier. They say they won’t raise taxes? A lie. The big deficit is the worst tax.(…) The deficit raises interest pa yments on the national debt, so we’ll have to cut spending on health, education, day care and social services to make up for it. The debt-to-GDP ratio will also change for the worse, leading to downgrades of Israel’s credit rating, higher interest rates, less i nvestment, economic slowdown and higher unemployment. The first to be fired will be workers from the lower and middle classes that Lapid cares so much about. In other words, we are heading toward 9

a great budgetary crisis that will blow up toward the end of the year and drag us into new elections in early 2016. After the election we will have a new finance minister who will implement deep and painful cutbacks(…) Nehemia Shtrasler, HAA, 24.09.14 Politicians squabble as economy stagnates (…) economic activity more or less stagnated during the war, and entire sectors are still having trouble recovering.(…) low growth has become the new norm(…) Israel is currently in a state of deflation: the August 2014 Consumer Price Index is at the same level as the August 2013 index, and the index, excluding housing, fell 0.7% over the past 12 months. Once upon a time, such figures in Israel would have led to long meetings, innumerable discussions, and statements by leaders about ways to end the economic stagnation and restore a reasonable level of economic activity. In similar situations in the past, the infrastructure budget was enlarged, or an attempt was made to reach agreement on measures for encouraging growth, but not this time, at least not according to the behavior of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Finance Yair Lapid.(…) The relative indifference to que stions of economic growth may lie in the unemployment figures. As long as the unemployment rate remains around 6%, the politicians assume that there is no need to worry. The problem is that if and when unemployment starts to rise, it will be too late for them to chan ge the situation.(…) Furthermore, nobody has a clear idea of what the government's economic policy is, what its priorities are, or who will bear the burden of paying for the war in Gaza.(…). Actually, in the current argument about the budget, the prime minister is behaving like the last general on the IDF general staff, not someone who also bears supreme responsibility for economic policy. (…) Avi Temkin, GLO, 16.09.14 Budget slugfest dragging Israel's economy down This is not an economic struggle here, but purely a political one. Finance Minister Yair Lapid wants to position himself as a champion of social justice protecting the middle class, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is campaigning on the security ticket. The problem is that this struggle is liable to lead us into a financial crisis as early as the coming year.(…). Because Lapid is not prepared to either raise taxes or make further cuts to civilian budgets, and because Netanyahu is demanding a hike in defense outlays, the solution in the end will be to raise the deficit to 3.5 percent, which is a dangerous level. Moreover, it isn’t being accompanied by any meaningful reforms. There is no plan to cancel the VAT exemption on fruits and vegetables or on transactions in Eilat; no reforms planned for the Israel Electric Corporation or the natural gas monopoly; no changes to the Israel Lands Authority or to the salaries and management practices in the civil service; no plans to introduce pension contributions in the public sector for those receiving budgetary pensions, and no talk of raising the retirement age for women. In other words, Israelis will end up suffering from a high deficit, which is poison for growth and employment, without enjoying any growth engines. The political dispute between Netanyahu and Lapid will drag Israel into a difficult financial situation in which its credit rating drops, interest rates go up, and the debt-to-GDP ratio increases, bringing higher unemployment in its wake. Editorial, HAA, 17.09.14 5. Medienquerschnitt Das Oberste Gericht in Israel ordnete die Schließung der Internierungseinrichtung für afrikanische Flüchtlinge in Holot an und provozierte damit Beifall wie auch Kritik. Potent message The High Court of Justice dealt Israeli democracy a grievous blow last week when for the second time in a year it nixed the notion of detaining illegal infiltrators and struck down Knesset legislation on the matter. The upshot is that 2,000 detainees will soon be back on the crime-ridden streets of south Tel Aviv, which has been turned into a lawless African enclave – exacerbating the already dreadful plight of its Israeli residents. Worse yet, it means that Africans have now been told that if they only manage to sneak into the Jewish state, they will become legally invulnerable despite having broken Israeli law by their illegal entry. This is a potent message.(…) Editorial, JPO, 27.09.14 Holot ruling proves democracy's strength (…) Despite the state's sensitive situation, the court is insisting on leading it in a liberal and humane way. The ruling, which is already evoking automatic reactions calling to limit the Supreme Court's power, serves as decisive proof of democracy's strength. 10

From now on, the government will simply have to work harder to find ways to solve the problem of the infiltrators. Tova Tzimuki, JED, 24.09.14 Zum überraschenden Rücktritt von Innenminister Gideon Saar. Gideon Sa'ar will be back Interior Minister Gideon Sa´ar promised at the start of his speech to say something that would raise interest. His supporters in the audience had all kinds of expectations. They never expected a resignation announcement.(…) Sa'ar's decision is a gamble of course, but it's a calculated gamble.(…) In the I sraeli political system one can only advance from the outside. Those who go in are worn out.(…) Sa'ar mainly used personal reasons to explain his decision to take a break. He turned his speech into a soap opera episode: He wants to be with his baby boy when he starts walking and hold his hand, he wants to be with his two older daughters, he wants to spend more time with his beloved wife. Voters around the world love this kind of kitsch. It turns the politician into a so-called human, so-called warm person, one of us. Even if there is a grain of truth in the way Sa'ar describes his motives, it's hard to separate the truth from the pretension. Why does a politician have to drag a nine-month old baby into a political speech, why does he have to drag his older daughters into it, why does he have to confess his love in public, in front of a political audience, in front of the cameras? Grooms do that on their wedding day in the very same hall, with the grace of young people with no experience in life. Within several years, 50 percent of them get divorced. But Sa'ar is a big boy. Nahum Barnea, JED, 19.09.14 Infolge des Gazakrieges mehren sich die antiisraelischen Stimmen in Europa. It’s the colonialism they hate, not Jews Most Israelis, especially those on the right and center, find it convenient to believe that the current hostility toward Israel is anchored in anti-Semitism. Although anti-Semitism did not disappear in 1945 – just as racist and extreme nationalist tendencies in Europe were not eradicated – the fact is that, until the 1970s, no country was held in higher esteem or more admired as a model than Israel. Even the Palestinians were considered refugees who bore sole responsibility for their own fate. The criticism began when it became clear that Israel was not intending to withdraw from the West Bank. As the occupation grew deeper, and as a colonial regime developed in the territories, the opposition grew and turned into hostility – until, in the wake of the destructive operations in the Gaza Strip, it became hatred that has penetrated wide circles within Europe. To this must be added the fact that the Muslim population is growing in Western Europe and gradually becoming more central in society, politics and the universities there. There is no doubt that anti-Semitic tendencies feed into the anti-Israel sentiment. But equally, hostility toward Israel’s oppressive policies feeds into the anti-Semitism and antipathy toward Jews. Anyone who wants to nurture the Jewish communities as a pro-Israeli pressure group must understand that this comes at a price. In most cases the hostility is not directed at Israel as the state of the Jews, but rather as the last colonialist state in the West.(…) The West’s political elite is not speaking out openly against Israeli colonialism, for fear of encouraging the anti-Semitic monster. But at the universities and in the schools, in the media and on social networks, they are already saying this explicitly: It is untenable that the Jewish past serve as a justification for cruelty in the Palestinian present. Zeev Sternhell, HAA, 19.09.14 Israel plant die Zwangsumsiedlung von Beduinen im Westjordanland Stop the expulsion of the Bedouin The actions of Israel’s Civil Administration in the realm of planning in the West Bank have shown and continue to show, more than any declaration or speech, what the Israeli government wants and is striving toward: emptying most of the West Bank (“Area C” which is under full Israeli control) of Pale stinians and creating the false impression that the densely populated enclaves(“Areas A and B” under full or partial Palestinian control) can be called a state. The declarations of state lands, construction in settlements, prohibitions against construction in Palestinian communities and demolition of houses reveal, one step at a time, the map of the permanent solution the government hopes to force on the Palestinians.(:…) The forced concentration of the Be douin is the logical outcome of decades in which the Israeli authorities limited the movements of the Bedouin communities in the West Bank and restricted the space in which they herd their flocks, blocked their access to water sources, expelled them and banned them from building and from hooking up to 11

infrastructure. This policy made the lives of the Bedouin in the West Bank – most of whom are the descendants of tribes that were expelled from the Negev after 1948 – very hard. The Civil Administration, a de facto government not elected by the inhabitants, purports to be looking out for their welfare through the very act of planning the town. But the plan was devised as a result of a legal necessity. The existence of the town will make it easier for the Civil Administration to argue before the High Court of Justice that the Bedouin are illegally residing in the places where they now live, since they have an alternative venue. Although the Bedouin no longer wander between permanent seasonal spots, as they once did, the fact that they live scattered across a wide area, disrupts plans for the expansion of the settlements. The forced evacuation of the Bedouin communities would release large reservoirs of land for the settlements. The Civil Administration must retract the expulsion plan and stop pushing the Palestinians out of Area C. Editorial, HAA, 17.09.14 HAA= Haaretz JED= JediothAhronoth/ Ynetnews JPO= Jerusalem Post IHY= Israel HaYom TOI= Times of Israel GLO= Globes 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 12