Top ministers fume after Gaza flotilla operation goes ahead without their approval
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - June 1, 2010 - 12:00am

Senior ministers have been sharply critical of the fact that the decision to seize control of the flotilla to Gaza was made after two meetings of the forum of seven senior ministers but without official deliberation by the inner cabinet, the body that has the authority to approve military actions of this scale.

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Makhoul to be indicted this week
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Yaakov Lappin - May 25, 2010 - 12:00am

Amir Makhoul and Omar Said, who are suspected of spying for Hizbullah and conspiring with enemy agents, will be indicted this week, Army Radio reported Tuesday. Makhoul's brother, former MK Issam Makhoul requested the gag order on the case be lifted, as he believes the investigation itself to be illegal. Makhoul's remand has been extended until Friday. Amir Makhoul was arrested on May 6 and Omar Said was taken into custody on April 24, security services said.

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Even picnics in Israel are political
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Neve Gordon - May 25, 2010 - 12:00am

Picnics, like almost everything else in Israel, are often political. Oz Shelach underscores this point in his collection of short stories, Picnic Grounds, where he describes how a history professor takes his family on a picnic in the pine forest near Givat Shaul, a Jerusalem neighbourhood. The professor teaches his son some of the camping skills he learned while serving in the Israeli military, using old stones to block the wind and to protect the newly lit fire. The stones, we are told, are the remains of a village known as Deir Yassin.

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Israel denies offering nuclear weapons to Apartheid South Africa
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
May 24, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel on Monday vehemently rejected claims in a British newspaper that it offered to sell nuclear warheads to Apartheid-era South Africa in 1975. "There exists no basis in reality for the claims published this morning by The Guardian that in 1975 Israel negotiated with South Africa the exchange of nuclear weapons," the president's office said in a statement.

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Israeli police recommend indicting FM Lieberman
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
May 24, 2010 - 12:00am

Israeli police say the country's contentious foreign minister should be indicted on charges of trying to disrupt an investigation into his business dealings. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said Monday that an investigation has shown Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman should be charged with breach of trust. This is the first in a long series of steps that could lead to an indictment. Lieberman, who is known for his blunt, hard-line pronouncements, has denied wrongdoing.

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Harsh jail rules for Hamas prisoners threaten riots, Israel warned
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Omar Karmi - May 24, 2010 - 12:00am

Hamas officials yesterday warned that new legislation before the Israeli parliament that seeks to worsen conditions for Hamas prisoners detained in Israeli jails could spark prison riots that might spill over into the streets. Human rights organisations also condemned the legislation, which cleared a major hurdle on Sunday when it passed a ministerial committee and received the support of the Israeli government.

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On being an Arab lawmaker in Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - May 23, 2010 - 12:00am

Ahmad Tibi, a member of Israel's parliament, talks about why he thinks democracy in Israel applies only to Jewish citizens, why he'll never accept Israel as a Jewish state and why he'll never leave. Reporting from Jerusalem As one of Israel's few Arab lawmakers, Ahmad Tibi knows how to fight to be heard, even when colleagues don't want to listen.

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Democracy according to Reichman
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Gideon Levy - May 20, 2010 - 12:00am

In the end, we will only be left with Prof. Uriel Reichman. After we sent Prof. Noam Chomsky away, and there was no sharp rebuke by Israeli academics (who in their silence support a boycott of Bir Zeit University ), we will be left with a narrow and frightening intellectual world. It will be the kind of intellectual world shaped by the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya - an institution of army officers and the rich, headed by its president, Reichman.

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A Roadside Rally For Soldiers Who Refused Orders
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Jeffay - May 19, 2010 - 12:00am

Some 400 protesters gathered recently outside a prison dating back to the British Mandate to offer solidarity with inmates who are being hailed by some as modern-era Sharanskys. “Refuseniks claimed the right for Jews to live in a certain place in the world, and these youngsters are defending that right,” Likud party activist Shlomo Amshalem said of two men being held inside the prison.

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A country with no bosses: What we don't do ourselves, our foes will force from us
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yoel Marcus - May 18, 2010 - 12:00am

Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, who has never lost his sense of humor or his optimism, returned last week from a short visit to Europe. And what do you think he discovered there? That Israel is in the worst situation it has ever been in. They despise Israel in Europe, and for the first time are questioning its very right to exist. Europe hates us, Ben-Eliezer found.

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