Finding their voice: 6 things to know for July 23

1. For most Israeli media outlets, the leading story on Monday was the impressive turnout at Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square to protest the exclusion of gay couples from a recently passed surrogate parent law that has drawn accusations of LGBT discrimination in the Jewish state.

• Police estimated that 60,000-80,000 gay rights advocates and their supporters flooded Rabin Square to demand equal rights, with many focusing their anger at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who last week pledged to pass legislation supporting the right of surrogacy for gay fathers, but then voted against it, reportedly under pressure from ultra-Orthodox coalition partners.
• Yedioth Ahronoth’s Nahum Barnea calls Sunday night’s showing “an impressive achievement” for a community that is going through change in its identity, and is becoming a force to be reckoned with in the Israeli political arena. “They have political and economic power, as well as widespread support from the straight community. They call themselves a community, but in reality they are more than that, they are a sector of Israeli society.”
• Haaretz also heaps praise on Sunday’s protest, saying the rally should serve as a model for other civil action in Israel. In its editorial, the paper notes the widespread support for Israel’s LGBT community even managed to “bring down the apolitical wall behind which Israel’s business community is entrenched” and should “fill the liberal camp with hope.” Haaretz calls for the application of corporate pressure on the government regarding the LGBT surrogacy to reverse the contentious Jewish nation-state law.
• Monday’s Israel Hayom barely makes any mention of the mass civil action in Tel Aviv the night before, relegating its coverage of the rally to page 9. The pro-Netanyahu daily noticeably avoids any mention of the prime minister’s U-turn on the legislation nor the anger directed at him in the wake of his backtracking. Israel Hayom does report that Netanyahu is likely to meet with the head of Israel’s LBGT community and will offer to support comparable legislation that will extend surrogacy rights to gay men in a “limited capacity.”

2. The other major story dominating Monday’s headlines in Israel was the IDF’s overnight operation facilitating the evacuation of members of the Syrian civil defense forces from the advancing regime army.

• The predawn operation that saw Israeli soldiers facilitate the transfer of 422 members of the “White Helmets” rescue organization and their families from the Syrian Golan Heights through Israel to Jordan earned praise from the international community, politicians and local media.
• Yedioth’s report says the operation to “extract the extractors” saved the lives of hundreds of “courageous volunteer first responders who risk their lives to help Syrian civilians.”
• Israel Hayom goes a step further, saying the operation carried out by “the angels in green” “once again revealed the kind face of the IDF.” In a prominently placed front-page op-ed, columnist Haim Shine says the “exceptional humanitarian gesture” reflects the Jewish values of the IDF. Unlike the barbarity of some of the conflicts raging in the region, Shine asserts, the IDF “does not act like our enemies… Few armies carry out such a complex operation out of humanitarian considerations and out of the recognition of the value of life.”

3. Hours after Israel revealed its role in the rescue operation, it reportedly launched an airstrike on a Syrian regime military target in the west of the country.

• The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strike targeted a “workshop supervised by Iranians where surface-to-surface missiles are made” that housed Iranian and Hezbollah soldiers.
• The IDF declined to comment on the raid.

4. On Monday, friends and family buried IDF Staff Sgt. Aviv Levi, who was killed by Palestinian sniper fire on the Gaza border on Friday.

• Levi, a 21-year-old from Petah Tikva, was an infantry soldier in the Givati Brigade. He was the first IDF fatality on the Gaza front since Operation Protective Edge in 2014.
• Yedioth reported his father eulogizing him as “ray of light for us, glowing and smiling” during his funeral. Other family members interviewed by the paper described him as fearless and a natural leader.

5. Palestinian health officials say a teenager was killed in clashes with IDF troops overnight in a West Bank refugee camp outside of Bethlehem.

• The teenager was identified by the official Palestinian news service Wafa as Thaer Mazhar, 15, from Deheishe.
• The military said riots broke out while troops were conducting an arrest raid in the the Deheishe refugee camp, with residents “throwing improvised explosive devices, Molotov cocktails and stones” at the soldiers. It said an investigation into Mazhar’s death had been opened.

6. Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said the only goods crossing into the Gaza Strip would re-open tomorrow if the calm holds following a ceasefire

• “If today and tomorrow the situation continues as it was yesterday, then on Tuesday we will allow Kerem Shalom to return to normal activity and the fishing zones will return to the same distances as before,” he said.
• Liberman, speaking at the crossing, stressed that calm also meant an end to months of kites and balloons carrying firebombs over the border fence from the Palestinian enclave run by Islamist movement Hamas to burn Israeli farmland.
• Hours after Liberman spoke, Israeli aircraft fired at a group of Palestinians launching incendiary balloons into southern Israel from the northern Gaza Strip, breaking the two days of relative calm along the border.
• The Hamas-run Gazan health ministry said two people were injured in the strike.