Schlaglicht Israel Nr. 17/14 Aktuelles aus israelischen Tageszeitungen 16.-31. Oktober Die Themen dieser Ausgabe 1. Unruhen in Jerusalem...................................................................................................................................... 1 2. Krise zwischen Washington und Jerusalem..................................................................................................... 3 3. Reuven Rivlins Rede in Kafr Qasem................................................................................................................ 5 4. Medienquerschnitt............................................................................................................................................ 6 1. Unruhen in Jerusalem Zwei Menschen mussten sterben, darunter ein drei Monate altes Baby, weil ein Palästinenser mit seinem Auto in eine Menschengruppe an einer Jerusalemer Straßenbahnhaltestelle raste. Der mutmaßliche Anschlag gepaart mit einem Mordversuch an dem jüdischen Ultranationalisten Yehuda Glick und der Zuzug einiger Dutzend israelischer Siedler in das palästinensische Viertel Silwan boten Zündstoff für neue Unruhen in Ostjerusalem. Palästinenserpräsident Mahmud Abbas appellierte an die Regierung in Washington, sie möge ihren Einfluss für eine Beruhigung der Unruhen in Jerusalem starkmachen. Jordaniens König Abdullah II. warnte vor einer Veränderung des Status quo auf dem Tempelberg. Jede Veränderung würde den Friedensvertrag zwischen Israel und Jordanien gefährden. Her only sin was being a Jewish baby (…) the imag e of the man carrying Chaya Zissel Braun in his arms(…), rushing her to the mobile intensive care unit as she lay in her pink clothes, barely as big as his forearm-- it ties your stomach in knots. At only three months old, this is what happened to her, and there is simply no way to ease the pain.(…) Her mother hugged her, breathed in the sweet scent of her newborn skin and whispered in her little ear that she would do anything and everything for her. Her father cradled her gently. And both of them were thrilled by her tiny toes and her first smile.(…) It is possible that little Chaya was laying in her stroller. Or that her mother was holding her in her arms.(…) they did not stand a chance against the car speeding cruelly into the group of people waiting at the light rail station.(…) Emily Amrousi, IHY, 23.10.14 A fiery devotee on the Temple Mount (…) His life's mission was breaking the status quo on the Temple Mount. Others pursued the same goal over the years, but none of them became addicted to it like Yehudah Glick.(…) Over the years, zealots from both sides tried to change the rules of the game – Sheikh Raed Salah on the one side and members of the Jewish Underground on the other side, but the rules were upheld. In recent years, there has been a change on the Jewish side: Religious Zionists began visiting the Mount.(…) Glick(…) and his friend s convinced right-wing MKs to formulate a bill changing the regulations on the Mount. The news about the bill made headlines in the Arab world media and contributed quite a lot to 1

the wave of violence Jerusalem has been experiencing in recent months. The claim was that Israel was planning to take over the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The attempt to assassinate Glick is another stage in the escalation. It didn't happen on the Temple Mount or in East Jerusalem, but in western Jerusalem, which has so far been overseeing the events from afar. The circumstances show that it was an intentional rather than spontaneous attack, a terror attack to all intents and purposes. It's bad and it's alarming. Of all places in Jerusalem, the Temple Mount is the most sensitive, charged and dangerous place. It has the power of turning our national conflict into a religious war.(…) Nahum Barnea, JED, 30.10.14 Dangerous provocation in Jerusalem (…) There are interests of the state that one should not compromise, even at the cost of escalation. The first interest is the immediate need to decrease the level of violence.(…) The ongoing insistence on maintaining the status quo on the Temple Mount, in regards to Jews' rights as well, is something we must not compromise on either.(…) Are there any additional Jewish activities that create friction but do not represent a real Israeli interest? I believe there are. I am referring to Jews' attempts to live in the heart of Arab neighborhoods.(…) When people or associations legally purchase a home or realize their rights of property, it is allegedly a private matter, and so regardless of whether it looks good or bad, the government is not a side in the matter. In practice, the situation is different. The moment the property is purchased or realized, the buyer seeks to construct new buildings and even a real neighborhood on the same land. The planning authorities tend to approve it, and so mini Jewish neighborhoods develop in the heart of an Arab neighborhood.(…) In order to ease the tensions in Jerusalem, we must convey two messages to its Arab residents: On the one hand, a firm hand against disorderly conduct, and on the other hand – showing consideration for the things that bother them too. The thing that bothers them the most, and contains no real Israeli interest, is those Jewish outposts in the heart of the Arab neighborhoods. That has to be stopped. Giora Eiland, JED, 29.10.14 Israel must not allow another intifada Palestinians are intensifying their attacks against Jews in Jerusalem almost to the point of a full-blown intifada.(…) It may be too late. The violent conflict has erupted and there may not be a way back.(…) Israel should mount a double-sided response: On the one hand, make it clear to the world that Jordan's attack against Jews and insistence that Jews are not allowed to pray on the Temple Mount is based on false evidence. These kinds of assertions require proof. On the other hand, Israel needs to pull up its sleeves and ensure a large police presence on Temple Mount – one that is ready and willing to use great force if necessary. It is the only way to prevent the violence.(…). Dan Margalit, IHY, 23.10.14 Jerusalem, the capital of apartheid The terror attack in Jerusalem on Wednesday night should not have surprised anyone. After all, two nations live in the Pretoria of the State of Israel. Unlike the other occupied areas, there is supposed to be a certain equality between the two peoples: blue ID cards available for everybody, freedom of movement, property tax payable to the municipality, national insurance— Israelis all. But Jerusalem is engulfed by lies. It has become the Israeli capital of apartheid.(…) And now the Israeli boot is coming down even harder in the capital, so the resistance in the ghetto-in-the-making is intensifying: battered and oppressed, neglected and poor, filled with feelings of hatred and an appetite for revenge.(…) A Palestinian resident of Jerusalem is now in far greater danger of being lynched than a Jew in Paris. (…) Unlike the Parisian Jew, the Palestinian can be expelled from Jerusalem. He can also be arrested with terrifying ease.(…) Jerusalem could have been different. Had Israel exercised justice and equality there, it could have become a model city; the people who annexed it should have strived for that(…) The mass arrests in Jerusalem that aroused no interest in Israel, the settlers’ invasion of Arab neighborhoods with the support of the government and courts, the criminal neglect for which the city is responsible— all this will have a price.(…) there will be killings in the streets of Azariyeh and targeted assassinations in Beit Hanina, and another separation barrier will be built between the two parts of the city, just to be on the safe side. With a nationalist mayor, a violent police force and a government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, nothing is more certain. Gideon Levy, HAA, 23.10.14 Jerusalem: Between Ferguson and Damascus (…) The Israeli Police is using excessive force in suppressing the rioting in east Jerusalem, and Barkat has announced a campaign of collective pun2

ishment.(…) My initial reaction on thinking about these crazy policies was“typical Israeli behavior: arrogant, forceful, unsympatheti c.” But as I thought about it more, it seems like the behavior is typical Middle Eastern behavior: If people from a tribe different from the tribe of the nation’s leaders protest or riot, the protest is met with force and violence.(…) As such, it’s instructive to compare the“Western approach” to dealing with rioting with the Middle Eastern approach. The town of Ferguson, Missouri, was wracked by two weeks of violent protests and rioting after Michael Brown, an 18-year-old black man, was shot and killed by a white police officer. Police destroyed a memorial to the young man, inflaming tensions. After the protests turned violent the next day – including looting – the police responded the way Israeli police respond every day: with tear gas and rubber bullets.(…) So far Ferg uson sounds like Israel – but what’s differen t is the response of the federal government and the public. The public was outraged. President Barack Obama said,“There’s also no excuse for police to use e xcessive force against peaceful protests, or to throw protesters in jail for lawfully exercising their First Amendment rights.(…) The Justice Department has launched an investigation into whether the police in Ferguson engaged in civil rights violations unrelated to the specific circumstances of Brown’s death.(…) Israel needs to choose. Do we act like our neighbors in Damascus and Cairo, meeting protests and violence with escalations of violence? Or do we want to act like America, where excessive force(…) is not tolerated.(…) Barry Leff, JPO, 30.10.14 No broken windows in Jerusalem (…) The operation in Gaza this past summer should make it clear what happens when our leaders choose to ignore the writing on the wall when it comes to Arab terror. Imagine how different our summer would have been had our leaders in the past acted decisively every time a missile was smuggled into Gaza, or responded with an appropriate show of force at every act of aggression by the Palestinians. To avoid such a reality of everincreasing violence in Jerusalem, we must immediately implement both short and long term strategies to resolve this unacceptable situation. In the shortterm our security forces should begin operating deep in the Arab neighborhoods.(…) For the longer term, we should look to the example of New York City. Anyone who visited New York in the 1980’s and 90’s remembers what a dangerous place the world’s most famous metropolis was. When Rudolph Giuliani was elected mayor in 1994 he began implementing the now-famous broken windows theory. (…) The NY police began cracking down on everything from prostitution to graffiti, and even began arresting the‘squeegee men’ who would harass drivers at red lights and demand payment for their so- called services.(…) This is what is needed now in Jerusalem.(…) Danny Danon, TOI, 29.10.14 2. Krise zwischen Washington und Jerusalem Die Eiszeit zwischen Jerusalem und Washington erreichte in den vergangenen Wochen neue Höhepunkte. Einmal stieß Israels Verteidigungsminister Moshe Ya´alon während seiner US-Reise auf verschlossene Türen bei US-Regierungsangehörigen. Zum zweiten erzürnte ein hoher Beamter aus dem Weißen Haus Israels Ministerpräsidenten Benjamin Netanyahu, als er ihn als „ Angsthase“ bezeichnet e. Dauerstreitpunkt zwischen den verbündeten Regierungen ist der fortgesetzte israelische Siedlungsbau in den besetzten Palästinensergebieten. U.S. to Israel: Never mind peace, just be polite (…) In a snub widely reported in the Israeli(…) press, the administration refused Israeli Defense Minister Moshe“Bogie” Ya’alon’s requests to meet with Joe Biden, John Kerry and Susan Rice. Several accounts cited the White House’s anger at Ya’alon for having called Kerry“messianic and obsessive” and for having derided Obama’s foreign policy as weak.(…) the real message, as received by Israel’s leaders, has been(…): Defy us more courteously. Even as Ya’alon was being rebuked, his boss, Benjamin Netanyahu, was moving ahead with plans to build more than a thousand housing units in East Jerusalem(…). But he did so politely, taking care not to personally insult American officials along the way. And thus, he struck another blow against Palestinian statehood while garnering nothing more than a mild reproach from a State Department spokeswoman.(…) If the Obama White House wants to change that game, it should stop wasting time dissing Ya’alon and do something that actually gets Israel’s attention: Support Mahmoud Abbas’ effort to set a timeline for Palestinian statehood at the UN. According to recent reports, the White House has not only vowed to veto such a resolution, it has tried to pressure Arab countries to make the Palestinians shelve it. If they don’t, the Palestinians 3

fear the U.S. may even delay aid for the reconstruction of Gaza. All this because Abbas is doing what everyone always tells the Palestinians to do.(…) Snubbing Boogie Ya’alon doesn’t promote that. Helping Mahmoud Abbas just might. Peter Beinart, HAA, 29.10.14 US has turned Netanyahu into its punching bag The American administration is going through something bad. It failed in Iraq. It failed in Libya. It failed in Afghanistan. It tried to be nice to the Muslim world, and in response, the Muslim world is becoming much more hostile towards the United States. But instead of engaging in self-examination, the American administration has turned Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into its punching bag. Apparently, Netanyahu is to blame for Libya's disintegration and for the Taliban's slow takeover of Afghanistan. As far as US Secretary of State John Kerry is concerned, Netanyahu is also to blame for the Islamic State's growing number of volunteers.(…) Netanyahu may not be worthy of an award, despite his willingness to withdraw from more than 90% of the territories. And there is no need for an award for the drop in construction. But ongoing personal attacks? Why? Considering the fact that he is the leader of the Likud party, Netanyahu has presented historical compromises. The Americans know that. They know that Abbas was the refuser.(…) Israel should not enter a conflict with the American administration, but it is allowed to present its own truth, to the Congress and the public opinion as well. Not in order to harm the relations, but on the contrary – in order to point to those insisting on deteriorating them. Ben-Dror Yemini, JED, 30.10.14 US is settling scores with Netanyahu through Ya'alon (…) Ya'alon's harsh criticism of the American policy in the past year is in fact a symptom of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's offensive and irresponsible attitude towards the American administration.(…) It could have been funny if it were not so sad, not to mention dangerous. We have never had a prime minister and defense minister who have shown such deep contempt towards the American administration. Their pretention to school Obama on how to run the world, and the repeated accusations emerging from their mouths about American"naivety" and"ignorance" on the Middle East, point to one very unfortunate mindset:(…) There is no doubt that the American administration has made quite a few mistakes. Indeed, there have been many cases in which such an Israeli perception was justified. But Netanyahu and Ya'alon have yet to internalize what their predecessors never dared forget for one minute: A state receiving more than$3 billion a year in security aid is committed to acting courteously, politely and with understanding towards those who provide it with the cash that helps secure its exist ence.(…) Shimon Shiffer, JED, 26.10.14 From sanctions to veto: The US has plenty of ways to punish Israel (…) The most dangerous weapon in the Obama administration's arsenal is that ability to rebrand Israel as a partisan actor, undermining Israel's neutral support across the aisle. Israel enjoys a unique status in the American political discourse; it was an issue which enjoyed across the board support by both Democrats and Republicans.(…) Nowadays, that is being eroded; Obama can portray Israel and its prime minister as part of the Republican Party, an active player in the divisive politics polarizing American society.(…) Becoming a "side" in American politics is the worst possible damage Netanyahu could inflict on Israel and its citizens in the long run. But it is not the only damage it could result from the dust up between DC and Jerusalem.(…) Obama, like Jimmy Carter and Bush senior before him, can postpone the transfer of arms and funds, an additional tool he can use to pressure Israel by delaying programs like the Magic Wand anti-missile system – something that could cause real damage to Israel, which would not be prepared should Hezbollah launch an offensive. Lack of coordination between the US and Israel in the fields of intelligence and cyber threats(…) could harm Israel's ability to address the threats it faces in the Mideast, when it really counts.(…) In the diplomatic arena, the White House is already pushing the EU and certain Asian nations to toughen their stance on Israel, and try to push it into greater international isolation. It is safe to assume that German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President François Hollande have come under the influence of this new sentiment. This is especially damaging at a time like this, in which the world is holding critical negotiations with Iran over its nuclear military program. Ron Ben-Yishai. JED, 30.10.14 4

3. Reuven Rivlins Rede in Kafr Qasem Israels Präsident Reuven Rivlin hat als erstes amtierendes Staatsoberhaupt an einer Gedenkfeier für die Opfer des Massakers von Kafr Qasem teilgenommen. Die Tötung 48 israelischer Araber am 29. Oktober 1956 sei ein"abscheuliches Verbrechen" gewesen, sagte er. Sicherheitskräfte hatten zu Beginn des Sinai-Kriegs in dem Dorf 48 Zivilisten, darunter Frauen und Kinder, erschossen, weil sie sich nicht an eine Ausgangssperre gehalten hatten. Die Opfer hatten allerdings von der Ausgangssperre nichts gewusst. Rivlins Amtsvorgänger Shimon Peres entschuldigte sich 2007 für das Massaker. Arabs and Jews: Destined, not doomed, to live together (…) I too am here today to say that a terrible crime was done here. An illegal command, over which hangs a dark cloud, was given here. The same terrible dark cloud which was ignored by those who carried out the murder of innocents.(…) I came here today, specifically during these difficult days to reach out my hand in the belief that your hands are outstretched to me and to the Israeli Jewish public in turn. Friends,“I hereby swear, in my name and that of all our descendants, that we will never act against the principle of equal rights, and we will never try and force someone from our land.”(…) The State of Israel is the national home of the Jewish People, who returned to their land after two millennia of exile. This was its very purpose. However, the State of Israel will also always be the homeland of the Arab population, which numbers more than one and a half million, and makes up more than twenty percent of the population of the country.(…) A sizable proportion of the Arab public, are not prepared to accept the idea that the State of Israel is the state of the Jewish People.(…) On the other hand, I am aware that the establishment of the State of Israel was not the realization of a dream for the Arabs of this land.(…) But dear friends, despite all of this, despite the difficult and deep rooted hatred, I believe it is possible to establish trust and partnership between us, the Jews and Arabs of the State of Israel.(…) Establishing partnership between us is an existential need. Reuven Rivlin, TOI, 28.10.14 President Rivlin’s courageous statements are worthy of praise (…) Reuven Rivlin´s decision to visit Kafr Qasem on Sunday to attend the memorial event for the victims of the massacre that took place there 58 years ago was an especially important decisio n.(…) It was a worthy contribution toward healing the rift between Arab society and the State of Israel. Rivlin correctly stressed the shock that every human being, every Israeli, must feel after such atrocities. The massacre at Kafr Qasem was caused by a series of misunderstandings.(...) In his address, Rivlin rightly called for coexistence among all Israelis.(…) The importance of his words cannot be underestimated. When prominent politicians, led by the foreign minister, are not ashamed to suggest removing Israeli Arab citizens and setting a border that would leave their communities outside it, Rivlin’s courageous statements are worthy of praise. They are also an important reminder that there isn’t, nor should there be, any contradiction between being a member of the right and the obligation to demonstrate respect and equality for minorities. Editorial, HAA, 28.10.14 Rivlin's Kafr Qasim speech can herald change (…) Remember the date: October 26, 2014. With a lot of intellect and goodwill and a bit of luck, this may have been the pivotal speech of the official State of Israel ahead of the establishment of a different kind of relations between Jews and Arabs, who are all clinging with their fingernails onto this bleeding, split land that we all call"home land."(….) Rivlin himself was decent enough to say that he is stating the obvious, but even the obvious is not at all obvious at times of hatred, with a widening gap between the two people, after years of deprivation and discrimination – whose existence the honorable president finally admitted, loudly and without trying to wriggle out of it – as the violence on both sides is becoming intolerable.(…) Rivlin is the first president who can make both sides reach out to each other, not out of love but – as he reiterated in his decency – because there is no other choice. Because the Arab citizens must accept the principle that this is the Jewish people's homeland, and Israel's Jewish citizens must accept the principle that there is a large national minority here who shares this homeland and that no one is going away, and no one should go away.(…) we need someone out there to execute the president's vision.(…) This has to be a national, binding, documented and budgeted educational program, as important as a national program that has to be created to identify all the budgetary discriminations and immediately fix what can be fixed.(…) Ariana Melamed, JED, 29.10.14 5

Israel cannot lose this battle (…) J ewish-Arab relations from the river to the sea are a bleeding wound that must be treated. The appropriate approach was presented on Sunday by President Reuven Rivlin in Kfar Qasim. It was a tribute to Israel's glory and the Zionist movement, to the legacy of Ze'ev Jabotinsky and Menachem Begin, and to the president's father Joseph Rivlin, who translated the Quran into Hebrew. The Kafr Qasim massacre during the 1956 Sinai Campaign left a scar that has yet to heal.(…) The president also did well to say that the Arab citizens of Israel are not constantly on the brink of exile. Rivlin was especially right to say that this is the land of our forefathers. Our homeland. We have no other land. These are hard facts that not every Milky pudding consumer seems to understand. Rivlin said these things not at the opening of a Knesset meeting in Jerusalem but in the middle of Kafr Qasim. It's good that he expressed the feelings of both sides. It is a shame there is no one like him on the other side standing up and saying similar things in Arabic. Dan Margalit, IHY, 27.10.14 4. Medienquerschnitt 20 Jahre Frieden mit Jordanien Revisiting the peace process: Jordan-Israeli relations (…) Arabs and Israelis have arrived at a crossroads: either we move further away from one another, pursuing self-interests that will inevitably bring about destructive regional Balkanization, or we move closer together and, taking our common humanity as the starting point, realize a sustainable peace process (…). Success will be predicated on d ealing first with the obduracy of extremists, whether the hardline Israelis who insist on a God-given right to the land roughly encompassing the whole of the southern Levant, or those who conversely are intent on“dri ving the Jews who live in their midst i nto the sea,” and who between them currently block any possibility of successful negotiations in the near future. Rather than reinvent the wheel, a good starting point might be to reexamine the strengths and weaknesses of previous initiatives.(…) A number of options by both sides that offered pragmatic compromises were all eventually discarded in favor of the Camp David formula of gradual autonomy over a five-year transition period.(…) We need a new regional arch itecture(…), recognizing the gravity of th e situation, in a spirit of mutual respect and partnership. Within this architecture any progress, in the present conditions, must be sought slowly, gradually, incrementally and organically, and with an emphasis on the concrete issues of the conflict.(…) Ultimately, the conflict comes down to control over the region, and its resources. To ensure self-determination for the Arab people and non-exploitation of their resources, the Arabs must be involved in any peace process conversation(…). Israel must acknowledge its own role as a stakeholder in regional stability and development by committing to peace(…). Furthermore, Jordan, along with its neighbors, must be included in talks and negotiations pertaining to the peace of our region. Only then, can we move forward inclusively to address the possibility of the long and just peace we all so desperately seek. Prince El Hassan Bin Talal, JPO, 30.10.14 Diskussion zu einseitiger Anerkennung Palästinas durch einige EU-Staaten European recognition of Palestine will save the two-state solution To recognize the State of Palestine on the 1967 border is a moral step that should be taken by all states that claim to support the two-state solution. It is an investment in peace that sends the right message to both Israelis and Palestinians. To Israel, the occupying power, recognition of Palestine is a strong sign that their illegal colonization policies are null and void, but also that they don’t have a veto right over the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to freedom. To the Palestinians, recognition is a reaffirmation of their right to self-determination and a step in the right direction. It proves that diplomacy and international law are the way forward and that the international community will side with those who decide to respect its laws and principles.(…) Europe is moving towards taking significant steps in order to respect international law, protect Palestinian rights and save the prospects of a two-state solution.(…) Saeb Erekat, HAA, 29.10.14 Israel’s Lab or party should climb off the fence (…) Labor general secretary MK Hilik Bar lobbied his British counterparts not to recognize Palestine, because such recognition“does nothing to advance” Palestinian statehood, as it“plays into the hands of Israel’s hard Right.”(…) I am afraid he is wrong this time.(…) We can’t do this on our own now any more than we could do it in 1991 when the hard-liner 6

prime minister Yitzhak Shamir was dragged to the Madrid Conference – kicking, screaming and sulking. Then and now most Israelis preferred a compromise with the other side over perpetuation of the conflict, but then as now a messianic settler lobby hijacked the government and prevented it from moving toward a resolution.(…) That is why the current party leader, Herzog, advocated already in September 2011 that Israel should be the first country to vote yes for Palestine.(…) Tal Harris, JPO, 19.10.14 Premiere der Klinghoffer-Oper in New York `Death of Klinghoffer´ is an injustice to our father’s memory On Oct. 8, 1985, our 69-year-old wheelchair-bound father, Leon Klinghoffer, was shot in the head by Palestinian hijackers on the Achille Lauro cruise ship.(…) Beginning on Oct. 20 for eight perfo rmances, a baritone portraying“Leon Klinghoffer” will appear on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera and sing the“Aria of the Falling Body” as he artfully falls into the sea.(…) The four terrorists responsible for his murder will be humanized by distinguished opera singers and given a back story, an“explanation” for their brutal act of terror and violence.(…) For us, the impact and message of the opera is much more deeply felt and tragically personal.(…) We were devastated by what we saw: the exploitation of the murder of our father as a vehicle for political commentary.(…) We have always been strong suppor ters of the arts, and believe they can play an important role in examining and understanding significant world events.“Klinghoffer” does no such thing. It presents false moral equivalencies without context and offers no real insight into the historical reality and the senseless murder of an American Jew. The opera rationalizes, romanticizes and legitimizes the terrorist murder of our father.(…) Lisa und Ilsa Klinghoffer, TOI, 20.10.14 HAA= Haaretz JED= JediothAhronoth/ Ynetnews JPO= Jerusalem Post IHY= Israel HaYom TOI= Times of Israel GLO= Globes Veröffentlicht im: Oktober 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