fbpx

Media Summary

Increasing speculation about early elections in Israel

[ssba]

The Times, Financial Times, BBC News Online, the Independent, BBC Radio Four’s Today Programme and the Guardian report on the visit of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the United Kingdom to meet with UK Prime Minister Theresa May. The Independent and the Times report on the potential protests that may take place during the Crown Prince’s visit. BBC Radio Four’s Today Programme featured an interview with UK Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry. She also wrote an article in the Guardian where she raises concerns over the sale of arms to Saudi Arabia and their potential use in the war in Yemen. The Guardian, Financial Times and BBC News Online report on the visit more broadly. The visit will include lunch with the Queen, dinner with the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge, a day at the Prime Minister’s rural retreat Chequers, and attendance at a meeting of the UK National Security Council. The Times published an article by Sir John Jenkins arguing that what the Crown Prince “says he wants is exactly what we have been urging on the region as a whole for years. And we have done so because we believe that greater social freedoms for women in particular, more diversified economies, more action against certain forms of violent and intolerant Salafism and a greater role for the key Sunni-ruled states regionally are good things in themselves and cannot be achieved without Saudi participation.” BBC News Online  published an article by diplomatic correspondent James Landale arguing that how the UK government responds on defence issues will be a key metric to the success of the visit.

The Daily Mail via AFP reports that a Palestinian official said US President Donald Trump’s hard-line approach to the Palestinians is similar to “herding cows for slaughter”. The comments came a day after Trump welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington and ahead of the expected launch of Trump’s plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace. “Today what is happening with us is what you call in the United States a cattle chute trap,” Mohammad Shtayyeh, an adviser to president Mahmud Abbas, told journalists in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

The Daily Mail via AFP and the Daily Express report on Netanyahu’s speech to the AIPAC policy conference. Netanyahu thanked Trump for his vow to tear up the Iran nuclear accord if it is not strengthened to prevent Tehran from resuming its alleged quest for atomic weapons, and said Israel and its Arab neighbours would back such a move. To bolster his case he presented an ominous map with the countries of the Middle East that he accuses Iran of seeking to dominate; such as war-torn Syria and Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq and Gaza, coloured in black.

The Daily Mail via AFP reports that Netanyahu said Saudi Arabia has agreed to allow Air India to use its airspace in flights to and from Israel in what could indicate a warming of ties. But Air India said on Tuesday that while it had issued such a request, the regulator had yet to give it a positive answer. The new Israel-India route was announced by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Israel in July. In his reciprocal visit to India in January, Netanyahu implied the route could pass over Saudi Arabia, which beyond significantly shortening flight time would be a public indication of a warming of ties with Israel.

Politico Europe reports on evidence that Israel hatched a secret plan to assassinate Iranian scientists. It reports that Mossad director Meir Dagan approved a plan to develop a five-pronged approach to stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon: heavy international diplomatic pressure, economic sanctions, support to Iranian minorities and opposition groups to help them topple the regime, the disruption of consignments of equipment and raw materials for the nuclear program and, finally, covert ops, including the sabotage of installations and targeted killings of key figures in the program.

The Daily Mail via AFP reports that an Israeli official has hinted that a disruption to cellular coverage across southern Israel was caused by fighting in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. Israeli Communications Minister Ayoob Kara told Army Radio on Wednesday that defence and military officials met with their counterparts “over the border” and that cellular reception will soon be restored after a more than week-long disruption. Army Radio identified the foreign officials as Egyptian.

Politico Europe reports that natural gas discovery in the Mediterranean should be positive and would bring about peace and cooperation in an unstable region but the reality is that greater resources means more disputes. It discusses the recent gas deal between Israel and Egypt as well as the dispute between Israel and Lebanon.

The Financial Times has published the latest episode of its Tech Tonic podcast in which the newspaper’s Innovations Editor John Thornhill talks to Erel Margalit, founder and chairman of Jerusalem Venture Partners and former Knesset member, about his plan to help create a regional hub for tech startups and how he believes business collaboration in the region can help ease tensions when politicians fail.

In the Israeli media all the papers focus on Netanyahu’s speech to AIPAC.  Maariv and Israel Hayom pick up on the central theme of stopping Iranian aggression in the region. For Yeditot Ahronot, they note the fanfare and adulation he receives in Washington seems to be so far removed from the investigations he faced and will face at home.

Maariv speculates that it is the start of an election campaign as the standoff continues with ultra-Orthodox parties insisting on passing new legislation to preserve religious study and prevent ultra-Orthodox men from joining the army.  The paper fuels the speculation by quoting various coalition leaders. Finance Minister Kahlon said: “If the budget doesn’t pass by Passover, I will recommend that my party quit the government.” MK Moshe Gafni, from the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism (UTJ) party retorted: “So we’ll celebrate the Seder night without a finance minister.” They also quote a source in the Prime M0inister’s entourage who said: “The Prime Minister doesn’t want a local, temporary solution to the political crisis, and to have everything repeat itself within a month or two. We truly don’t want elections.  Despite the flattering polls, the Prime Minister remembers full well that you know how you go into elections, but you don’t know how you will come out of them.”  Israel Hayom highlights the ultimatum from Netanyahu to his coalition partners, “either a government until the end of the term, or elections.”

Reflecting on the Prime Minister’s address at AIPAC, in the Times of Israel, editor David Horovitz described Netanyahu’s performance as “polished, clear, and cogent  — in the starkest of contrasts to the latest would-be prime minister to speak here, Labour’s Avi Gabbay, who gave a perfectly reasonable speech on Sunday”.  He concluded Netanyhu appeared as, “a national leader at the very top of his game, the Prime Minister did everything to show himself not merely inspiring and commanding, but irreplaceable. But it’s not AIPAC that will determine his fate. As things stand, it’s not Israeli voters either. It’s Israel’s law enforcement authorities.”

During his speech Netanyahu spoke of the unprecedented security cooperation between Israel and the United States. Yediot Ahronot notes the 22,000 employees of the Israeli defence industries who are going to begin to lose their jobs gradually, as of next year, because of the memorandum of understanding that Netanyahu rushed to sign with the Obama administration a year and a half ago.

Yediot Ahronot continues to focus on corruption investigations, they quote an official in the justice system, who said: “When you’re dealing with investigations into a sitting prime minister there is a greater public interest in discovering the truth, especially when the issue is public corruption cases. With that being the case, signing state’s witness agreements with two suspects in Case 4,000 is not excessive.”  The paper also reports comments by the Police Commissioner Insp. Gen. Roni Alsheich who spoke at the Sderot Conference yesterday. He said: “State’s witnesses are one of the important tools for deterring crime organisations and public corruption. A state’s witness tells the story. The more strong, stable and open his testimony is, obviously when it is supported by external evidence—that strengthens the case a lot.”   The Police Commissioner added, “Our test is not to show that we’re able to convict someone, but rather to decrease corruption. If what we do doesn’t decrease corruption, we aren’t providing our service to society.” He added “The Attorney General will make a clean decision as to whether it is correct to prosecute on the basis of a legal analysis and, of course, in keeping with the public interest. If it becomes evident that we didn’t do our job in discovering the truth—that will be a personal failure of mine.”  On Israel Radio News this morning, an associate of state witness Nir Hefetz said that he had prepared for judgment day, as he put it, and had assembled an orderly dossier on the Netanyahus, after realising that some of the requests he received from them could get him into trouble in the future. The associate said that the connection between Hefetz and the Netanyahu’s was purely professional and not ideological.

Yediot Ahronot promotes the #MeToo campaign profiling several women who have spoken out from across a range of industries including actresses and prominent journalists.   The paper also includes a piece written by first lady Nechama Rivlin in which she writes: “I hope that under the influence of the changes that women have undergone in recent years, which give each other the strength and desire to step forward and demand rights, our consciousness is also changing and that we will give our daughters an inner, personal strength to reach where they wish in their own right and in their will. Today, smart and talented women had finally reached the status and place they were destined for. Alona Brown has a newspaper, the president of the Supreme Court is (again) a woman, the head of Bank of Israel is a woman, and two weeks ago the first ultra-Orthodox judge was appointed.”

Israel Hayom notes that yesterday the USS Iwo Jima arrived at Israel’s coast in order to participate in the joint IDF and US Military Juniper Cobra 2018 exercise. The ship is manned by 1,400 Marines, 1,100 sailors, 25 aircraft and three hovercraft.  Commanding Officer, Col. Farrell J. Sullivan, said: “The bilateral training opportunity builds upon a strong and enduring military-to-military relationship between the US and Israel – a relationship built on trust developed over decades of cooperation.”