French FM says Iranian statements ‘don’t seem to favor deal’

German schools said to miss ‘historical complexity’ of Israeli-Arab conflict

Most German history schoolbooks fail to appropriately describe the historical complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and portray Israel mainly as a country in a constant state of conflict, a new Israeli-German report concludes.

According to Haaretz, the report concludes a five-year study during which academics from both countries examined books on history, geography and civics in both countries. The report covered some 150 items, including articles and books taught in high school.

The German team found that Israel is presented in German schoolbooks mostly in the context of conflict, as a warring nation and a nation in a continued state of crisis in the Middle East, while failing to examine the development of Israeli society, Israel’s achievements and its uniqueness among world democracies.

The continued “occupation and settlements” are mentioned in most books as a main obstacle to peace, failing to define Palestinian violence against Israeli civilians as terrorism. The researchers concluded that Israel should not be presented one-dimensionally as part of the Middle East conflict and narrative in which the conflict is portrayed as inevitable and unsolvable should be avoided.

‘Israeli treatment of Holocaust is fair and non-sensational’

According to the Israeli-German report on schoolbooks, the Holocaust and Nazism are prominently emphasized in German textbooks, but in many cases in such a way that Nazi Germany is portrayed as “an automatic killing machine,” in which people pay a subsidiary role, thus often avoiding the issue of personal accountability of certain German individuals.

Israeli researchers examining the way the Holocaust is taught in Israel find that it is treated “academically, in a non-sensational matter-of-fact way, while taking care to present the factual data with almost no place for emotions.” The researchers note that “an effort is made to avoid putting hair-raising stories… and very few graphic images of corpses are used as visual documents.”

Additionally, Israeli textbooks do not neglect to note the Nazi treatment of non-Jewish groups which suffered persecution during the Holocaust.

On the other hand, Israeli books fare poorly when it comes to describing post-war Germany, hardly mentioning the Cold War period and the unification of East and West Germany.

4 soldiers lightly hurt in training accident

Four IDF soldiers were lightly injured during training when the all-terrain vehicle they were traveling in overturned in the south of Israel, Israel Radio reports.

They were taken for treatment. Earlier this week, seven soldiers were lightly hurt when their armored personnel carrier overturned during a military drill in the Jordan Valley.

Germany to host anti-Semitism conference next year

President of the German Bundestag Norbert Lammert spoke to the Knesset today in a special session held to mark 50 years of diplomatic relations between Israel and Germany. Lammert addressed the Israeli parliament in German, and his speech was heard by President Reuven Rivlin and guests from Israel and Germany.

“Thank you for the invitation and the warm welcome, it is an honor for me to speak to you here at the Knesset in my mother tongue,” Lammert said in Hebrew, before switching to German.

Lammert discussed the special relations between the two countries and the historical memory they share: “I am aware that this is not at all obvious: giving a military salute for the president of a foreign parliament, and of all possible ones, a German guest, in the Knesset, and to the sounds of the German national anthem.”

Lammert said his first official visit in 2007 was one of the most impressive experiences of his political life.

“The intensive relations of friendship between our two countries are a historical miracle. This miracle started thanks to the decisive vision of two veteran and experienced leaders, Konrad Adenauer and David Ben Gurion,” said Lammert.

Addressing recent anti-Semitic displays in Europe, Lammert said: “We are especially grateful for the fact that after the Nazi dictatorship and the Holocaust the Jews can again build their lives in Germany. This is the finest declaration of trust granted to the second German democracy. The fact that there are still anti-Semitic outbursts all over Europe is therefore all the more shameful and we must fight these outbursts decisively. Because of this we intend to organize next year in Berlin the Inter-parliamentary Coalition for Combatting Anti-Semitism (ICCA), because we know the implications of anti-Semitism in Germany were worse than anywhere else.

PM says he’ll defend right of Arab MKs to be elected, slams their ‘hypocrisy’

A screaming match erupts at the Knesset during a discussion on the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law, when a Likud MK tells a Joint List MK that Israel “is doing a favor to the Arabs by even granting them ID cards.”

During a discussion of the law, which prohibits citizens of certain countries (Iran, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Libya, Sudan, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, the West Bank and Gaza Strip) from automatically receiving Israeli citizenship after marrying an Israeli national, Likud MK and Deputy Interior Minister Yaron Mazuz made the above comment to Joint list MK Aida Touma Sliman. Shortly afterwards, Meretz MK Michal Rozin stepped up to the podium with her ID card and demanded that Mazuz apologize. Mazuz then addressed another Joint List MK, Hanin Zoabi, and told her “those who support terrorism cannot be here.”

Unusually, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was at the plenum for a vote on the citizenship law, stepped up to the podium and lashed out at the opposition MKs:

Every citizen, Jew or non-Jew, has the right to vote and to be elected but all the citizens of Israel have a duty to obey the law but no one has the right to accuse IDF soldiers – who defend all of us, Jews and non-Jews alike – with false accusations of being war criminals. You have the right to be elected and this is a universal right, which I will defend. But I have no duty to agree with your hypocrisy. I didn’t hear a single word from you on the horrible crimes committed in Syria and many other places around the globe.

I want to say two things: the right to vote and to be elected is universal; there is no argument about that. But I speak now about the hypocrisy. I see two issues here, you have a right to say your piece and this is a right which we will defend, which I will defend. But I have no duty to agree with the hypocrisy. I did not hear from the women and men here condemnation of the real war crimes in Syria, in Yemen. I don’t hear a word about this and I hear false accusations against IDF soldiers.

PA holding up Palestinians heading to Al Aqsa

The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, accuses the Palestinian Authority of placing obstacles in front of Palestinians to Ramadan prayers at the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. According to Mordechai, Israel asked the PA to conduct security checks on each Palestinian traveler ahead of allowing them to board buses from the West Bank to Jerusalem.

Mordechai remarks that this is the first time since the Oslo Accords in which Israel is allowing entry of buses from Palestinian cities directly to prayers in the mosque. Palestinian companies told the Ma’an News Agency that Israel demands that passengers undergo stringent security checks, but Palestinian security authorities refuse to carry out the checks.

Joint List MK says, My citizenship is a right of birth

Aida Touma Sliman, a Joint List MK, responds on Facebook to the comment of Likud MK and Deputy Interior Minister Yaron Mazuz, who said to Arab MKs during a Knesset plenum session today: “We are doing you a favor by even giving you citizenship.”

She writes:

My citizenship comes from the fact that I am a member of the native people. My father was born here, in this country, even before the establishment of the state. No one is doing me a favor by giving me citizenship. The prime minister, Netanyahu, instead of distancing himself from the incitement by the deputy interior minister, continues the racist line of ‘Arabs coming to ballot stations in droves.’

At the end of the day, Arabs and Jews will live here together in equality despite the incitement to racism.

Herzog says, We’re patriotic, not jingoistic

Opposition leader Isaac Herzog responds to Deputy Interior Minister Yaron Mazuz and to PM Netanyahu: “Every person who strongly opposes the Palestinian flotilla and the participation of Israelis there is patriotic but those who oppose the right of our Arab citizens to complete equality including an ID card are just jingoistic,” says Herzog in a Facebook post.

“We are not less patriotic than you but not as jingoistic as you,” Herzog writes on Facebook. “I call on the prime minister to clarify unequivocally where he stands in this battle over the character and image of the state.”

Iran seems to prefer nukes to deal – French FM

Recent declarations from Iranian leaders seem to show the country prefers to keep its nuclear program than to reach an agreement with world powers on curbing the program, says a top French official.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius says his country “wants a deal but wants the deal to be robust,” according to Reuters. “Since then there have been a number of statements that do not seem to go in that direction,” the French minister tells reporters.

Bennett raps Mazuz, saying all citizens are equal

Education Minister Naftali Bennett responds to Deputy Interior Minister Yaron Mazuz.

Taking a principled approach, Bennett attacked Mazuz, saying: “The state will maintain equality for all its citizens regardless of religion, race or gender. This is the right of Arabs as it is the right of Jews. No one is doing citizens a favor by making them citizens, period.”

Meretz chairwoman Zahava Galon praised Bennett for his comment, telling Army Radio, “I expect to hear similar things from the prime minister and from Zionist Union.”

Farmer attacked, ostensibly by Palestinian workers

A 60-year-old farmer was seriously wounded near the community of Pedaya in the center of the country.

The man was found with significant injuries all over his body and an initial investigation suggests that he was attacked by Palestinian laborers who were in Israel illegally. The man was evacuated to Assaf Harofe Hospital in serious condition, suffering multiple wounds and head injuries.

Police are investigating the incident.

Netanyahu meets Druze leaders in Jerusalem

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu concludes a meeting with Druze leaders in his office in Jerusalem.

Netanyahu told them: “Your boys, the boys of us all serve and fight in the IDF and defend the country that is for all of us. We are all law-abiding, loyal citizens, and if someone violates these rules and takes the laws into their hands it is our duty to condemn it and to make sure that these violations will not become norm. This is something we must prevent – the recurrence of such incidents.”

The prime minister was referring to the lynching by Druze residents of an injured Syrian man in an IDF ambulance in the Golan Heights on Monday.

“I think also,” Netanyahu added, “that it is important to prevent harm to IDF soldiers who are carrying out their missions. We succeeded in keeping Israel from sliding to the anarchy all around us, we succeeded because we knew how to draw a line around our actions, to act sensibly. Nevertheless, I want to say a personal word to the community. I cherish the community, cherish its achievements, its contribution to the state in general and to the state’s security specifically,” Netanyahu says.

“Out of this attitude of respect, partnership and camaraderie I ask that we continue to work together as we did until today to ensure the state’s security and the regular activity of the IDF and security establishment,” he added.

The leader of the Druze community in Israel, Sheikh Moafaq Tarif, said “I am well aware of all that you do for the state and for our community. Of course we condemned everything that happened. Our tradition and religion are against harming an injured person or an ambulance. This is not our way, not our education…and we hope you will continue to lead this whole affair wisely. We are at your service.”

Israelis who faked kidnapping to be indicted

Two Israelis who faked a kidnapping in the West Bank two months ago and caused a panic in the country, including scrambling dozens of soldiers, police officers and other security officials in search of them, will be indicted, Channel 2 reports.

Niv Asraf and Eran Nagauker will be indicted for submitting false information to the police.

Nagauker alerted police to the supposed disappearance of Asraf, who was hiding near Kiryat Arba in the West Bank with a sleeping bag and some canned food. Asraf apparently figured that the media attention brought by his disappearance may cause a girlfriend that dumped him to change her mind.

In first, woman to head Rome Jewish community

For the first time, a woman has been appointed to lead the Jewish community of Rome.

Ruth Dureghello, 48, who has managed a Jewish day school in the city for the past seven years, was named president on Tuesday at the first meeting of the new Rome community council, which was elected on June 14. There are 27 members on the council.

“It’s time to put aside any rivalries and work together for the good of the community,” Dureghello, who heads the For Israel list, said in her inaugural address.

In her address, she announced her intention to create a unity board that includes the other three lists which participated in the election.
The current community president, Riccardo Pacifici, was not eligible for re-election because of a regulation that prevents serving more than three consecutive terms. Pacifici is the founder of the For Israel list.

— JTA

Iran hardens stance on nuke deal as deadline nears

Iran hardens its stance less than a week before the deadline for a nuclear deal, with its top leader rejecting a long-term freeze on nuclear research as it ratified a bill banning access to military sites and scientists.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also insists that Iran will only sign a deal if international sanctions are lifted first, which could further complicate the negotiations. The ratified bill, now binding law, calls for all sanctions to be lifted the first day of implementation.

The supreme leader has backed his negotiators amid criticism from hardliners, but his latest remarks may narrow their room to maneuver ahead of a self-imposed June 30 deadline for a potentially ground-breaking deal with world powers that would curb Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for lifting sanctions.

Iran’s constitutional watchdog, known as the Guardian Council, ratified legislation banning access to military sites and scientists, making it binding law, according to state TV.

— AP

PM to punish Hotovely for missing Knesset vote

Prime Minister Netanyahu will impose sanctions against Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely, for the latter’s absence from a Knesset vote today.

Netanyahu said after the establishment of the government that MKs, including those who also serve in ministerial positions, will not be allowed to be absent from Knesset for fear that the coalition may lose them when it is only 61 MKs strong.

Another absent deputy minister, Likud’s Ayoub Kara, was missing but a Zionist Camp MK was also absent to make up for Kara’s absence. Hotovely, Channel 2 reports, was supposedly in agreement with Yisrael Beytenu MK Orly Levi who agreed to be absent from the vote but Levy was present and voted.

It is not clear what sanctions Netanyahu plans to impose against Hotovely.

Car rental ‘refuses to rent cars to Arab callers’

The Albar car rental company allegedly refuses to rent cars to callers with Arab-sounding names and Arab accents, a Channel 2 exposé claims.

A station employee called three branches of the company in three different cities, impersonating an Arab man. In each case, he was told there are no vehicles available at the moment.

Minutes later, another employee of the station, speaking with a Hebrew accent, was easily offered a choice of car models and flexibility on when to come pick up the car.

“My manager told me that every time someone from the Arab sector arrives, to tell them there are no cars. All the time they would imply that we should not rent out cars and make up excuses… every excuse just so as not to give them a vehicle,” an employee whose voice was altered tells Channel 2.

Asked whether Arab renters cause the vehicles more damage, the employee says “Jews, Arabs, secular or ultra-Orthodox, they all cause damage to the cars. We have their credit cards and can bill them for damage.” Arab employees, she adds, were not unusually careless when it comes to damaging a rental.

The company said in response that it “rejects with disdain the implications of the TV report which is based on only two employees who may have intention to harm the company. Naturally, during this time of summer, the number of vehicles available for rent changes and is updated on the company’s computers in real time. This situation, as well as dozens of clients from the Arab sector, some of whose contracts were shown to Channel 2, completely contradicts the claims made in the report.”

Man beaten by laborers near Pedaya succumbs to wounds

A man from the community of Pedaya who was found in a field with multiple injuries that were allegedly inflicted by Palestinian laborers succumbed to his injuries and died, Channel 2 reports.

Police are investigating the case as both a potential terror attack or a criminally-motivated murder.

Obama tells Hollande US not spying on him

The White House says President Barack Obama has told French President Francois Hollande that the US isn’t targeting his communications.

The leaders spoke by telephone Wednesday as the French were angered by new reports of American spying.

The revelations came from WikiLeaks regarding National Security Agency intercepts of conversations involving Hollande and his two predecessors between 2006 and 2012.

The White House says Obama told Hollande that the US was abiding by a commitment Obama made in 2013 not to spy on the French leader after Edward Snowden disclosed the extent of NSA surveillance powers.

The White House says Obama pledged to continue close cooperation with France on matters of intelligence and security.

— AP

Meretz MK Zandberg to head Knesset drug panel

Meretz MK Tamar Zandberg will head the Knesset Committee on Drugs, Israeli media reports.

Zandberg is an outspoken supporter of legalizing, or decriminalizing the use of marijuana.

“The time has come to stop the disgrace of criminalization and to connect the Knesset with the day-to-day reality in which hundreds of thousands of Israelis smoke cannabis recreationally as a matter of routine,” says Zandberg.

Philharmonic plays for Bundestag president

The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra plays at the Knesset’s Chagall Lounge in honor of the visit of Bundestag President Norbert Lammert.