To help Israel, Jews must broaden the tent
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
(Opinion) August 14, 2011 - 12:00am

Amid global events of the past few years that are changing the world -- the rising power of the BRICs economies (Brazil, Russia, India and China), the global economic crisis, the rise of social networks and, most recently, the popular uprisings in the Middle East -- Israel and the Jewish world are facing a uniquely difficult challenge with the ongoing assault on Israel’s right to exist. This year, the assault coincides with the Palestinian campaign to secure U.N. recognition of statehood.

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The State of Israel and its neighbor, the IDF
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Gideon Levy - (Opinion) August 14, 2011 - 12:00am

Since its establishment, the state of the Israel Defense Forces has lived amicably alongside the State of Israel. Borders between the two states are well-known, and are defensible.

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Israelis protest costly housing – but not cost of settlements. Why?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - August 12, 2011 - 12:00am

Israel yesterday announced new homes in East Jerusalem to ease a housing shortage. But critics argue that the cost of building in contested territory is partially to blame for Israel's economic woes. The Israeli government, facing unprecedented public protests over the soaring cost of housing, yesterday announced it is advancing plans for thousands of new homes in contested East Jerusalem.

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Likely freeze in Israel's defense budget is a victory for protesters
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel - August 12, 2011 - 12:00am

Leaders of the tent protests could chalk up another victory in addition to the establishment of the Trajtenberg Committee: a freeze of the defense budget. In recent months, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have both said repeatedly that the upheavals in the Arab world necessitate an increase in the Israel Defense Forces' budget. But the protests have changed their minds.

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Israeli protests fight injustice - as long as it's convenient
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Joseph Dana - (Opinion) August 12, 2011 - 12:00am

Last weekend, more than 300,000 Israelis protested for economic reform throughout the country. In Tel Aviv, the epicentre of the housing protests, 250,000 Israelis marched to the defence ministry chanting the slogan "the people want social justice". The demonstrations were some of the largest in Israel's history and have pumped new life into the corpse of Israel's leftist political movement.

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Israel's rights groups condemn 'Jews only' businesses
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Jonathan Cook - August 10, 2011 - 12:00am

NAZARETH // We don't employ Arabs - so dozens of companies listed in Israel's Yellow Pages plainly state. The businesses, which include a bus firm, plumbers, electricians and a removal firm, openly advertise under the banner of "Hebrew labour" - a policy to hire only Jews that Israeli civil rights groups say is a violation of the country's anti-discrimination laws. The groups believe such advertising is one of a series of initiatives that aim to give preferential treatment to Jewish job-seekers over the country's Arab citizens, a fifth of the population.

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Netanyahu's government has proven it fits in well in the Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Nehemia Shtrasler - (Opinion) August 10, 2011 - 12:00am

No question about it, the establishment of the Trajtenberg Committee is another embarrassment for the Finance Ministry. The people at the treasury are skulking about, bruised and shattered, unable to understand how they fell so far. The fact that the panel for socioeconomic change is headed by an outsider, not the director general of the ministry or its budgets director, proves how weak the ministry and Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz have become.

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Israeli settler leader braces social protesters
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
August 10, 2011 - 12:00am

In a show of solidarity with the social protests that are currently sweeping Israel, settler leader Danny Dayan visited activists in Tel Aviv Tuesday, saying that the West Bank settlers share the protesters' grievances. Dayan, who heads the Municipal Council of Jewish Settlements in the West Bank (Yesha Council), visited the tent complex at Tel Aviv's upscale Rothschild Boulevard, where he met the head of Israel's National Students Union, Itzik Shmuli, one of the protest movement's outspoken leaders.

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Netanyahu must distance himself from Lieberman
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) August 9, 2011 - 12:00am

The growing social-economic protest is, as could be expected, giving rise to efforts to divert resources from the issues of the day to a different set of priorities. The prime minister and the finance minister were quick to grab hold of the crisis in the money market following the downgrading of America's credit rating. The foreign minister harnessed for his needs the political crisis expected to occur in the wake of a United Nations decision to recognize a Palestinian state.

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In accepting ‘67 lines for talks, Netanyahu tries some political maneuvering
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Jessica Steinberg - (Opinion) August 9, 2011 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- In the never-ending game of diplomatic chess played by Israeli and Palestinian leaders, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week made a new move to try to outflank the Palestinians. On Aug. 2, he said that Israel is ready to use the pre-1967 lines as a rough starting point for discussion of a Palestinian state -- if the Palestinians recognize Israel as the Jewish state and back down from their plan to petition the United Nations for statehood recognition in September.

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