Internal Israeli Politics | The American Task Force on Palestine

Israelis criticize PM's Iran-Holocaust parallels
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Daniel Estrin - March 7, 2012 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — The Israeli prime minister's linking of Iran to Nazi Germany evoked ringing applause this week at a gathering of a pro-Israel lobbying group in Washington. Back home, though, it drew some heavy criticism. The Nazi Holocaust of World War II is a delicate and charged topic in Israel, and many felt Benjamin Netanyahu's repeated equating of the Nazis with the possible modern-day threat of a nuclear-armed Iran went too far.

Why is Israel calling Iran a nuclear duck?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
by James Reynolds - (Opinion) March 7, 2012 - 1:00am

"A nuclear armed Iran must be stopped," Benjamin Netanyahu told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) lobby group in Washington on Monday. "Amazingly, some people refuse to acknowledge that Iran's goal is to develop nuclear weapons." So, how might Israel's prime minister try to persuade the sceptics? A couple of paragraphs later, Mr Netanyahu decided to deploy a favourite rhetorical device of recent Israeli leaders. It's a phrase always used whenever an Israeli politician wants to come over as wittily plain-spoken to English-speaking audiences - the duck analogy.

Rabbis warn Jews against going to Temple Mount
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Jeremy Sharon - March 6, 2012 - 1:00am

Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar, along with several other senior rabbis, issued a public statement on Tuesday warning the public that visiting the Temple Mount is forbidden by Jewish law. According to the statement, the warning is being issued at this time because of increased organized attempts to go up to the holy site. The Temple Mount is Judaism’s holiest site, but Jewish law requires those going up to certain sections of the mount to be ritually pure – a status only obtainable through a ceremony that cannot be performed today.

Arab women in Israel face double discrimination
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Merav Michaeli - (Opinion) March 6, 2012 - 1:00am

In Israel, 17-year-olds are minors for all intents and purposes - except when it comes to marriage. This is not merely theoretical: Every year more than 4,500 Israelis aged 17 or younger marry. The vast majority - around 4,000 - are female. For this purpose, they are not minors. After all, they can already cook and clean; more important, their wombs and all the organs leading to them are ready. The Knesset plenum is to vote today on a bill to raise the minimum marriage age from 17 to 18; there is still a danger that the ultra-Orthodox parties will scuttle it.

Destabilised, disintegrated Syria benefits Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Musa Keilani - (Opinion) March 3, 2012 - 1:00am

The Israelis are having an ongoing debate over the anti-regime uprising in Syria, with participants saying that the world is not doing anything about the carnage against the Syrian people by security forces loyal to the government. Many Israelis use the opportunity to thrash the Arabs, in the process, accusing them of doing nothing to help the Syrian people.

Israel should consider altering its anthem to include non-Jews
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) March 2, 2012 - 1:00am

Supreme Court Justice Salim Joubran has the right not to sing the national anthem, "Hatikva." The law doesn't oblige him to do so, and the song's lyrics don't enable him to do so. As a loyal citizen of his country, the justice did not want to betray his conscience during the new Supreme Court president's inauguration by singing a song whose words are alien to every Arab citizen of Israel. And the uproar that erupted following Joubran's refusal damaged the delicate fabric of Israeli democracy far more than his silence did.

Israel is becoming a footnote in the eyes of the U.S.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yoel Marcus - (Opinion) March 2, 2012 - 1:00am

1. President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will both be visiting Washington at the same time. Each of them will speak separately with U.S. President Barack Obama, each of them will march proudly on red carpets, and journalists will swoop down on them separately or together. They will be interviewed on television, and Sara Netanyahu will be a star with her finery and her smiles. Although we didn't win the Oscar, there's no question that we are gradually managing to become a footnote in the eyes of the U.S. administration.

Israeli President to Protect Christian Sites
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
March 1, 2012 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — Israel's President Shimon Peres has promised the Roman Catholic Church that the country will step up efforts to combat the vandalism of Christian holy sites by suspected Jewish extremists. Pierbattista Pizzaballa, who is the Vatican's custodian of religious sites in the Holy Land, asked the president earlier this week to intervene following the spraying of graffiti on two Christian churches in Jerusalem in February.

Arab judge, Jewish words
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Noah Klieger - (Opinion) March 1, 2012 - 1:00am

I just cannot understand the major assault on Supreme Court Justice Salim Joubran, who refrained from singing our national anthem, HaTikva, in an official ceremony at the courthouse earlier this week. What do they want from him? After all, he is not Jewish, and the thing about our anthem is that its words are “blatantly Jewish.” How can an Arab Israeli, regardless of whether he is Muslim or Christian, sing about a “Jewish soul?” After all, Naftali Herz Imber wrote the words of our national anthem many years before the State of Israel’s inception as an anthem for the Zionist movement.

Polls: Most in U.S. See Iran as Threat; Majority of Israelis Against Iran Strike
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
March 1, 2012 - 1:00am

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- A poll showed 87 percent of registered American voters believe that Iran’s suspected illegal nuclear weapons program is a threat to the United States. The poll commissioned by The Israel Project also found that 88 percent of respondents believed that Iran is a threat to Israel.

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