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Media Summary

Airbnb removes Israeli settlement homes from its site

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The BBC, Times, Guardian, Telegraph and the Independent  report that Airbnb says it will remove from its listings all homes in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The BBC reports that the US firm said it had made the decision because settlements were at the “core of the dispute between Israelis and Palestinians”. The move has been welcomed by Palestinians but Israel has called it “shameful” and threatened legal action. The Independent reports that Israeli tourism minister Yariv Levin called Airbnb’s move “the most wretched of wretched capitulations to the boycott efforts”. Speaking on Israel’s Channel 13 television, he said Israel was not told of the decision in advance and that it would respond by backing lawsuits by settlement listers against Airbnb in US courts. Waleed Assraf, head of a Palestinian anti-settlement group run by the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organisation, welcomed Airbnb’s decision. Should other companies follow suit, he told Reuters, “this will contribute to achieving peace”.

The Times, reports that Quakers in Britain are banning investment in companies that profit from the “military occupation of Palestinian territories by the Israeli government”, prompting a furious response from Jewish leaders. It is the first instance of a British church adopting a bar on investment in the region and has been viewed by Jewish groups as an endorsement of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. Quaker leaders have compared the move to past protests against apartheid and the slave trade. The proposal has provoked anger from the Board of Deputies of British Jews, which described the decision as appalling and called for the policy to be reversed. It is understood that Jewish leaders asked Quaker chiefs if they had lodged protests against other governments. A spokeswoman confirmed they had no policies “relating to other occupations”.

The Financial Times reports that Israel has become a leader in image analysis thanks to the alumni of its elite surveillance Unit 9900. Computer vision has become the connecting thread between some of Israel’s most valuable and promising tech companies. Unlike Israel’s traditional strengths— cyber security and mapping — computer vision slides into a broad range of different civilian industries, spawning companies in agriculture, medicine, sports, self-driving cars, the diamond industry and even shopping. In Israel, this lucrative field has benefited from a large pool of engineers and entrepreneurs trained for that very task in an elite, little-known group in the military — Unit 9900 — where they fine-tuned computer algorithms to digest millions of surveillance photos and sift out actionable intelligence.

The Times, Bloomberg and the BBC report on efforts to forge a cease-fire in Yemen. The Times reports that Houthi rebels fighting a Saudi-backed coalition in Yemen’s brutal civil war gave their support last night to a British-drafted UN resolution for peace talks but demanded guarantees to take part. In an interview with the newspaper, Mohammed al-Houthi accused Britain of being “complicit” in the war, which has killed tens of thousands of civilians, but said the new drive for peace had a better chance of success thanks to European involvement. Martin Griffiths, the UN envoy for Yemen, wants to hold peace talks in Sweden this year. In exchange for agreeing to the talks, Mr Houthi said that he wanted officials from a neutral country to accompany the delegation to Sweden and on its return to Sanaa, the Yemeni capital. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is said to have “had a fit” when Jeremy Hunt, the British foreign secretary, gave a draft of the UN resolution to him in Riyadh last week, although the king has since backed the talks. Bloomberg reports that the draft resolution, a copy of which was seen by Bloomberg News, calls on all sides to cease attacks on densely populated civilian areas across Yemen and to stop missile and drone attacks against “regional countries and maritime areas.” It also urged the parties to participate in talks in Sweden in the coming weeks without preconditions. The BBC reports that fighting has broken out in the Yemeni city of Hudaydah despite both the Saudi-led military coalition and Houthi rebels agreeing to halt offensives. Coalition warplanes resumed bombing following clashes between rebels and pro-government forces. The UN is attempting to revive talks.

The Times, The Financial Times and Reuters report on the continued response to the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The Financial Times reports that Germany has imposed an entry ban on 18 Saudi citizens suspected of involvement in the killing in Istanbul last month and ordered a complete stop to all arms sales to the kingdom. The Times reports that King Salman praised the Saudi Arabian judiciary and his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, yesterday in his first public remarks since the murder. The monarch, 82, said that he was proud of the efforts of the judiciary and the public prosecution that exonerated Prince Mohammed last week from any role in the killing. King Salman’s speech, with his heir apparent in attendance, came as President Trump said that he was due to receive a full report on the murder today. Reuters reports that amid international uproar over the killing of Khashoggi, some members of Saudi Arabia’s ruling family are agitating to prevent Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman from becoming king, three sources close to the royal court said. Dozens of princes and cousins from powerful branches of the Al Saud family want to see a change in the line of succession but would not act while King Salman is still alive, the sources said. They recognise that the king is unlikely to turn against his favourite son. Rather, they are discussing the possibility with other family members that after the king’s death, Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz, 76, a younger full brother of King Salman and uncle of the crown prince, could take the throne, according to the sources. Prince Ahmed, King Salman’s only surviving full brother, would have the support of family members, the security apparatus and some Western powers, one of the Saudi sources said.

Reuters  and The Times report on British and European relations with Iran. Reuters reports that Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif remarked on Tuesday that European countries are finding it difficult to set up a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to allow non-dollar trade with Iran, according to parliamentary news agency ICANA. The SPV would act as a clearing house that could be used to help match Iranian oil and gas exports to purchases of EU goods, circumventing U.S. sanctions which are based on the global use of the dollar for oil trading. “The Europeans are facing a challenge in identifying a country to host the SPV,” Zarif said. “In reality some countries who have been suggested as hosts have not accepted this task and the negotiations for identifying a host for the SPV mechanism are continuing.” The EU wanted to have the SPV set up by this month, but no country has offered to host it, six diplomats told Reuters last week. The Times reports that UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt is pushing to settle a £400 million debt owed to Iran for 40 years in a move that could secure the release of a British charity worker held in the country since 2016. Some diplomats believe that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has British-Iranian citizenship and was jailed in Iran on charges of spying, is highly likely to be released if the money is paid. The Foreign Secretary is facing a cabinet battle to secure agreement for the move amid fears that it would breach the sanctions regime against Iran and could be seen as payment to secure the release of a hostage.

The Guardian reports that Australian Special Minister of State, Alex Hawke has come out in favour of moving Australia’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, saying he believes the decision would be in the national interest. A member of the outer ministry in Scott Morrison’s government and a conservative power broker in New South Wales, Hawke said Australia should “respect” Israel by moving the embassy. Describing Israel as “the only stable democracy in the Middle East”, Hawke said Australia should “stand up for what’s right” in the international community by supporting the shift. “And supporting Israel is one of those things,” he said. “It’s absolutely in our interest to stand up for democracies in the world and other nations that we can get along with and are compatible with western values.”

All the Israeli media focus on domestic politics. Maariv and Yediot Ahronot highlight the frailty of a 61 member coalition government. Yediot Ahronot reports; “Festive statements aside, the political reality is grim. Senior coalition members said that even though Netanyahu said that elections would be held on their scheduled date in November 2019, a coalition of 61 MKs would have a hard time surviving for a year, and that it would be difficult to govern with a narrow coalition with several pieces of legislation, each one of which is liable to result in a political crisis… There are also coalition MKs with a rebellious streak, who are liable to take a stand and vote against the coalition. Just one such MK is needed to bring down the entire house of cards.” Israel Hayom reports that the appointment of vacant cabinet positions could also produce disgruntlement among the ministers and MKs who find themselves passed over, which is liable to result in a coalition crisis as well.  Maariv reports for example, that Finance Minister Kahlon will not support the “Gideon Saar law” that will limit the discretion of the President to nominate the next government.

Channel 2 news reported the drama behind the scenes on Monday night that led to Jewish Home Chairman Education Minister Naftali Bennett deciding not to resign from the government.  The Prime Minister’s office called Rabbi Haim Druckman, the most influential rabbi of the national religious camp. The rabbi said he does not get involved in politics but that it was important for him to learn whether the security situation was indeed as grave as Netanyahu had described. National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat went to the rabbi’s home.  (The two are related by marriage and also live in the same village).  They discussed the security situation, and according to sources in the national religious movement, the rabbi was given information that has not been reported by the media. Immediately after their conversation, Rabbi Druckman called Bennett’s office and told Bennett: “I met with Bibi’s envoy and I think that you shouldn’t quit the government.”  The Prime Minister’s office said: “The national security adviser does not get involved in political issues.”

Maariv and Haaretz report the the Israeli Police have recommended that Interior Minister and Shas leader Arye Deri, be charged with fraud, breach of trust, tax-related offences, obstruction of justice, perjury and money laundering.  In the past he was convicted of bribery and fraud and served 22 months in prison. He took over the Shas leadership a decade after his release.  A police statement said that most of the alleged crimes occurred before Deri returned to political life, but that some were committed after he became interior minister in 2015.

Yediot Ahronot, continues to focus on Gaza and criticises the government saying, “Residents of southern Israel have been suffering for many months. Netanyahu hasn’t found a solution. That isn’t because of a heavy-handed or a light-handed approach, and it isn’t because of the judge advocate general, as per Bennett’s accusation yesterday, which prompted even Lieberman to issue a condemnation. It is because Israel has no policy. Israel has been reactive. Israel hasn’t taken the initiative. And no, this isn’t a left-right disagreement. The disagreement is between those who think that Israel needs to adopt a clear policy that will involve creating an international and Arab coalition that will put forward a proposal to improve the lives of the residents of the Gaza Strip in exchange for disarmament, and the option of doing nothing, which has been the current government’s choice… Change is needed.”

Israel Hayom and Haaretz report Airbnb’s decision to remove Jewish settlements in the West Bank from its listings. In response, Israel’s Tourism Minister Yariv Levin instructed the ministry to restrict the company’s operations across the country. He also instructed his ministry to implement a special programme to encourage tourism and accommodation in holiday apartments in the West Bank. Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan called on Airbnb hosts harmed by the decision to file lawsuits against the company in accordance with Israel’s anti-boycott law and said he’ll turn to senior US officials to check if the company’s decision violated the anti-boycott laws “that exist in over 25 states.”  He said that “national conflicts exist throughout the world and Airbnb will need to explain why they chose a racist political stance against some Israeli citizens.”