Arutz Sheva Daily Israel Report
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Monday, Nov. 21 '16, כ' בחשון תשע"ז
HEADLINES:
1. BENNETT: SUBMARINE PURCHASE ESSENTIAL TO ISRAEL'S SECURITY
2. TURKISH DOUBLE STANDARD ON TERROR?
3. OSHER AD - NOW IN THE US
4. WATCH: SYRIAN PLANES BOMB HOSPITAL
5. IDF HERO: FEMALE COMBAT SOLDIERS WILL LOSE MATERNAL WARMTH
6. EX-CIA CHIEF: TRUMP WILL USHER IN NEW AGE IN US-ISRAEL RELATIONS
7. MK DEDICATED TO RETURN OF IDF SOLDIERS' BODIES
8. HAREDIM CRITICIZE HAMODIA CONFERENCE
1. BENNETT: SUBMARINE PURCHASE ESSENTIAL TO ISRAEL'S SECURITY
by Uzi Baruch
Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) came to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's defense on Monday, rejecting criticism of the recent purchase of four naval vessels and three submarines from Germany.
The deal is now under investigation by the Attorney General, following a report by Channel 10 last week which suggested a conflict of interest in the Prime Minister's Office, noting that Netanyahu's attorney, David Shimron, has also represented the Israeli businessman who represents the German manufacturer of the submarines sold to Israel. No one claims he profited in any way by the deal.
Former Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, who was dismissed from his position by the Prime Minister earlier this year, claimed that the deal was made over his objections, and that he was not included in the deliberations over the acquisition, though the National Security Council rejected this claim and said he was involved the entire time.
Both Netanyahu and Shimron have denied ever speaking to each other about the submarine deal. Shimron took a polygraph test - the results of which were obtained by Channel 2 - which showed that he was telling the truth. Polygraph tests are inadmissible as evidence in Israeli courts of law, however.
Speaking to Arutz Sheva on Monday, Bennett spoke out on the controversy and defended the Prime Minister, calling the purchase "proper, responsible, and essential".
"I can say that according to the data shown to those of us in the cabinet, the submarine deal was proper, responsible, and essential. And it was essential to complete the purchase quickly," Bennett added, referencing claims by the Prime Minister that the acquisition needed to be effected during German Chancellor Angela Merkel's term.
"This will be Israel's insurance policy for the next 40 years," Bennett said, "which is why I supported the deal and continue to support it."
The Dolphin class submarines are Israel's primary ballistic missile launch platform for deploying nuclear warheads. They are considered to be the heart of the Jewish state's nuclear deterrent.
Regarding the alleged ties between Shimron and the manufacturer, Bennett reiterated his belief that the deal was essential and that timing was of the essence.
"I'll say it again, I'm convinced that this deal, given the information shown to us, the cabinet, is essential to Israel's security. I myself have said that it is our insurance policy for decades to come."
2. TURKISH DOUBLE STANDARD ON TERROR?
by Arutz Sheva Staff
[youtube:2021248]
Europe is liable to be "flooded" with terrorism, Turkish President Recep Erdogan warned, calling upon the EU to take a zero-tolerance approach to terrorism.
Speaking at the closing session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Istanbul, Erdogan said Turkey was on the frontline of a war on terrorism that could easily submerge Europe.
"Turkey is really like a barrier between terror groups and the rest of the world, notably Europe," he said. "If we are unsuccessful in this fight, that is if this barrier is destroyed, the terrorists will spread fire and blood across the whole world just like a flood. Let's strengthen this barrier instead of weakening it."
The Turkish President also chastised European Union states for permitting members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to operate across the continent, and even allowing them to appear in the EU Parliament.
"As a country that suffers from terrorism, we cannot tolerate the fact that PKK members freely travel in the European countries and walk through the corridors of the European Parliament carrying posters of PKK leader (Abdullah Ocalan). Therefore, our friends need to take the necessary measures to prevent this. If they don't take these necessary measures, one day this (terror) will hit them like a boomerang. Let me say that."
While Turkey has long protested what it calls the soft handling of the PKK, a group it has designated as a terrorist organization, Turkey has given refuge to the Hamas terror group and served as the Gaza terror regime's strongest patron.
Despite a reconciliation deal signed by Israel and Turkey to formally reestablish ties between the two regional powers, Turkey has maintained its links with the Hamas regime and remains a sanctuary for terrorists in exile.
3. OSHER AD - NOW IN THE US
by David Rosenberg
The popular Israeli supermarket chain Osher Ad is hoping to replicate its successful business model abroad, unveiling its first American branch this week.
The new store, operating under the name "BINGO" opened its doors in Brooklyn, New York, represents a $9 million investment by Osher Ad.
Covering 70,000 square feet, the building now housing BINGO was previously owned by the now bankrupt company Pathmark.
If all goes well, the new store will be just the first of a series of stores in the US.
A statement issued by Osher Ad following the opening of BINGO noted that the company was the first Israeli retailer to enter the American market.
"We are happy to be the first Israeli retail chain to enter the American market," the statement read. "This is an area with a high growth potential, and it is our intention to continue to expand into other American markets."
Founded in 2009, Osher Ad now operates 15 branches across Israel.
Inside Bingo Osher Ad
Inside Bingo Osher Ad
4. WATCH: SYRIAN PLANES BOMB HOSPITAL
by Arutz Sheva Staff
[youtube:2021236]
A pediatric hospital in the war-torn Syrian city of Aleppo was hit during a bombing run by Syrian aircraft on Friday.
The government warplanes dropped ordinance in the northern Syrian city, targeting rebel forces, when the hospital was hit.
5. IDF HERO: FEMALE COMBAT SOLDIERS WILL LOSE MATERNAL WARMTH
by Arutz Sheva Staff
In an interview with Galei Israel Radio, Reserve Brigadier-General Avigdor Kahalani expressed his opinion on the IDF's recent decision to integrate women into the Armored Corps.
"When I was injured and burned, and I couldn't leave my tank, I screamed one word: Mommy!! There's only one mother to a child, and a girl who fights in a war will end up completely different [than a mother should be]," Kahalani said.
Kahalani also thinks the danger in putting women in the Armored Corps is the emotional damage they'll suffer after the war.
"I'm just thinking of seeing women injured from wars, like some of my comrades were," he said. "I think at the end of the day, a woman's job is to be a mother, and after the traumas of war, she'll be completely different. The motherly feeling, the mother's touch, the ability to nurse and give birth, it won't be the same."
Kahalani is currently CEO of the Association for the Wellbeing of Israel's Soldiers (Ha'aguda Lema'an Hachayal). He has decorations from the Yom Kippur War where his battalion held off a Syrian force of 500 tanks, the Medal of Distinguished Service for service during the Six-Day War, where he was badly wounded when his M-48 Patton tank caught fire and a medal from the president for his contribution to Israel.
Former IDF Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Yisrael Weiss, was also interviewed in the program. He said women in the Armored Corps sounded like a crazy idea no matter how you looked at it.
"If we put two people into a closed box, there's no way something won't happen," Rabbi Weiss said. "We can't put a couple, a man and a woman, a male soldier and a female soldier, into a closed box for a week and expect that nothing will happen. You'll get a little tank soldier in another nine months."
On Sunday, former Major Gen.Yiftach Ron-Tal said the idea to put women in the Armored Corps was a leftist plot to weaken the IDF. In his words, the decision is a "scandal that will harm everything you can even think of, including the IDF's abilities to fight."
6. EX-CIA CHIEF: TRUMP WILL USHER IN NEW AGE IN US-ISRAEL RELATIONS
by David Rosenberg
[youtube:2021237]
Former CIA chief and Undersecretary of the Navy James Woolsey on Sunday blasted the Obama administration's handling of the US-Israel relationship and its conciliatory stance vis-à-vis the Iranian regime.
A registered Democrat, Woolsey was critical of what he described as the Bush administration's intelligence "failure" prior to the Iraq war.
In September, 2016, Woolsey crossed party lines to become Donald Trump's senior national security adviser.
Woolsey broke with the Obama administration over budget cuts to the military, the controversial 2015 Iran nuclear deal, and the icy relations between the White House and Israel.
Speaking to Fox News on Sunday, Woolsey said the incoming Trump administration was likely to alter or reject the Iran nuclear deal, signed by the Obama White House but never ratified by the US Senate.
When asked what would be the most consequential policy change President Trump would likely make, Woolsey replied: "I think definitely the agreement with Iran on nuclear weapons and nuclear technology."
"It's a terrible agreement," Trump's adviser continued, "it's the worst I've ever come across in nearly 40 years of negotiating agreements with the Soviets and so forth. I think that anybody who brought that agreement back as something that was effective and verifiable would be laughed out of Washington. And the people who brought this one back should have been."
Woolsey went on to call hopes that the nuclear agreement would constrain Iran's nuclear ambitions as "fanciful".
"They can call anything, on the spur of the moment, to be a military facility and therefore can't be inspected. If I'm an inspector and I start out to go inspect something, before I get there they turn it into a military facility. They never disseminated all of the paperwork that had to be – in copies of the agreement – that had to be disseminated. So the steps that obligatory to us - paying the funds that have been withheld from banks and so forth – should never have been paid and should be stopped now. It is really a very, very bad and dangerous agreement because it lulls us into a false sense of security and it is not going to be an effective restraint on the Iranians."
The former CIA Director added that any arrangement with the Iranian regime would have to take into account that government's history of evading treaty obligations.
"The Iranians never don't cheat. Negotiations for them are not about a deal where there's a quid pro quo and each side goes away more or less satisfied. That's totally alien [to them]. From their point of view, it's about dominance. It's about showing dominance. And this agreement they are very pleased with because they believe it shows their dominance."
During the interview, Woolsey praised Vice President-elect's 2014 comments on Israel, calling the US-Israel relationship the "most cherished" one with a foreign power.
"I think that that's a good statement. I would put Britain and Israel together in that."
He added that the Trump White House would strengthen the US-Israel relationship, repairing damage done during the Obama administration.
"I think that we're headed back towards the old days that some of us lived through and worked on matters in the Middle East where the US and Israel worked very closely together and had each other's back. I think that's coming back again. It's excellent and we will hopefully get away from the Obama administration propensity to treat your friends – like Israel - as enemies and your enemies – like Iran – as friends."
7. MK DEDICATED TO RETURN OF IDF SOLDIERS' BODIES
by ILTV
[brightcove:2021230]
8. HAREDIM CRITICIZE HAMODIA CONFERENCE
by Haim Lev
[video:2021226]
During Israeli newspaper Hamodia directors' conference on Monday morning, there was a good deal of internal criticism voiced.
Haim Epstein, vice-mayor of Jerusalem and a representative of Rabbi Auerbach's stringent Yerushalmi faction, told Kol Hai Radio on Monday morning that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's speech regarding the integration of haredim into the employment world was an instance of "blurred boundaries."
"When the Israeli Prime Minister is invited to a conference of a conservative paper, and speaks about integrating haredim into the rest of Israeli society and into the workforce, it hurts. It shows how the boundaries have blurred, how there are no clear lines," Epstein said.
Netanyahu spoke on Sunday at an economic and business conference held by Hamodia in Airport City about the haredi parties' place in the coalition, saying they were "true partners."
"We work together as true partners," said Netanyahu, explaining, "We're not brothers who share the same fate, we're brothers by choice. It's true love."
He also said, "Many haredim are now entering the workforce, working in hi-tech, law, and doing outstanding work. Not by force, not with threats, but by calmly and with a lot of goodwill."
Hamodia is a haredi-hasidic newspaper, appearing in both Hebrew and English, Israel and abroad.
Hamodia recently attacked Mishpacha, another haredi publication, for publishing a picture of Hillary Clinton on the front cover.
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