Today’s Top Stories
1. Palestinian officials told Haaretz that peace talks are a non-starter while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a criminal investigation:
Associates of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas recalled the atmosphere that prevailed when Ehud Olmert had to resign as premier, and the messages conveyed at the time by senior Israeli and American officials were that no progress could be made with a prime minister who was suspected of crimes. Moreover, they note that as opposed to Olmert, Netanyahu doesn’t have much to offer on the diplomatic front . . .
According to the same source, the Palestinian leadership is beginning to believe that U.S. President Donald Trump won’t present any initiative in the near term, and even if the White House intends to do so it will prefer to wait until Netanyahu’s situation is clarified. If the investigations lead to Netanyahu being replaced or to new elections, the Palestinians say, everything will have to be reevaluated.
Police have launched two separate investigations of the prime minister. In one, referred to as Case 1000, Benjamin and Sara Netanyahu are suspected of receiving thousands of shekels worth of illicit gifts from wealthy benefactors. The other, known as Case 2000, deals with an alleged arrangement in which the prime minister was to take measures reducing the influence of Israel HaYom in exchange for more favorable coverage by rival paper Yediot Aharonot. Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing in both cases.
Though police have been investigating for months, pressure on Netanyahu has risen in recent days as his former chief of staff Ari Harow turned state’s witness. (Disclosure: Harow briefly worked for HonestReporting more than a decade ago.)
There are two other corruption investigations in which Netanyahu is not a suspect, but people close to him are. Case 3000 regards suspected fraud by people close to the PM during the purchase of several naval vessels, while Case 4000 deals with securities fraud and conflicts of interest between officials at the Communications Ministry and Bezeq.
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2. Interviewed by the Jerusalem Post, a PA official responsible for disbursing terror stipends to Palestinian prisoners and their families spun the payments as positive for the West Bank.
“This assistance has never encouraged terrorism, the opposite is true,” said Issa Qaraqe, head of the commission for detainees and ex-detainees, who holds the rank of minister in the Palestinian Authority. “This social and humanitarian assistance creates a kind of stability in the Palestinian society. Cutting the assistance is what will lead to extremism.”
3. Jordan’s King Abdullah visited Ramallah for the first time in five years. He and PA chief Mahmoud Abbas discussed the Temple Mount and other issues.
.@KingAbdullahII shook like 30 hands, but only one man makes it into the tweet: the Mufti of Jerusalem, Muhammad Hussein https://t.co/qAoaraWQks
— Dov Lieber (@DovLieber) August 7, 2017
By the way, Palestinians are unexpectedly clamoring for Israel to return its embassy staff to Amman.
Hundreds of Jordanian passports are being held in the embassy awaiting processing for entry permits to Israel. Most of the passports belong to Jordanian citizens of Palestinian origin who want to visit relatives in Israel or the Palestinian territories, or to businessmen with direct ties to the Jordanian royal family and the office of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who are being prevented from traveling anywhere abroad without their passports.
4. HR Senior Editor Daniel Pomerantz appeared yesterday on i24’s Spin Room. He discussed Israel and Trump and the Hebron shooting sentence along wiht guests MK Nurit Koren and journalist/activist Tami Molad Hayo. Watch the video.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Is Israel restricting Mahmoud Abbas from leaving Ramallah?
• Communications Minister Ayoub Kara explained to reporters his plan for shutting down Al Jazeera in Israel. We’re talking about revoking press permits, asking cable and satellite networks to block Al Jazeera transmissions and additional legislation. Kara also cited other countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates which already shuttered the Qatar-based network.
Al Jazeera’s response basically amounts to “How dare the Mideast’s only democracy take action against us?”
• The Washington Post looks at the “wasted generation” of Gaza youth, who grew up under Hamas, unemployed and unable to leave the Strip.
But in many interviews, in their torn-just-so jeans and fresh white sneakers, Gaza’s young people today say they would rather fight for a job in Tel Aviv than fight Israelis.
“If the borders were open, I’d work in Israel in a minute. I got absolutely no problem with that. Everybody would work in Israel,” said Iyad Abu Heweila, 24, who graduated with a degree in English education two years ago but now spends his days hanging out.
• Worth reading: Aviva Klompas describes A Day in Area ‘A’ as she joined a group of American academics visiting a refugee camp and a high ranking PA minister.
Commentary/Analysis
• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .
– Alan Johnson: When ‘alternative facts’ kill
– Eric Mandel: Does Israel Anti-Boycott Act infringe on free speech?
– Ronni Shaked: Israel is going to miss Mahmoud Abbas
– Daniel Pipes: Weakening Palestinian rejectionism
– Mishka Gora: Blaming the Jews in Australia
Featured image: CC BY-NC-ND Stefano Corso; Netanyahu via YouTube/IsraeliPM;
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