TV Host Yinon Magal Clarifies 'Monkey' Remark About Gadi Eisenkot

In this episode

The stories Maya and Daniel cover, in order. Each one opens the full story.

1. TV Host Yinon Magal Clarifies 'Monkey' Remark About Gadi Eisenkot
2. Police and Shin Bet Seek Diplomats Attacked Near Ramallah
3. US Ambassador Condemns 'Abhorrent Terrorist Act' After Journalist Attacked in West Bank
4. Settlers Attack European Diplomats, Palestinian Olive Harvesters in West Bank
5. Rabbi Dov Lior Permits Olive Across West Bank
6. Lieberman Vows to Pass 'Accused Bill' to Bar Netanyahu from Premiership

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Transcript

Maya

Israeli police and the Shin Bet are hunting for the Jewish assailants who attacked European diplomats near Ramallah.

Daniel

A consulate car was smashed, and a French mayor was pushed, during a visit to the olive harvest.

Maya

This is Good Morning, Israel from baba News. It's Sunday, October eighteenth. I'm Maya.

Daniel

And I'm Daniel.

Maya

Daniel, we spent time yesterday on the attack on an American photographer during the olive harvest. Now it's diplomats. What happened?

Daniel

On Saturday, Belgian and French diplomats were at an olive harvest event near Ramallah, the Palestinian city just north of Jerusalem. According to the reports, assailants with sticks and stones smashed a Belgian consulate vehicle and pushed a French mayor.

Maya

And the Shin Bet is involved. That's not a usual sign.

Daniel

Right. The Shin Bet is Israel's domestic security service. It's working with the police to find the attackers, which tells you how seriously this is being taken.

Maya

How has the I D F responded?

Daniel

The army condemned it. It called the attackers Israeli order violators, and it's investigating. It also noted the consulate's patrol wasn't coordinated with it in advance.

Maya

Wait, does that matter?

Daniel

The diplomats say it doesn't. Their point is that people should be safe, coordination or not.

Maya

And the Prime Minister's office took a different line.

Daniel

It did. Netanyahu's office urged people not to rush to conclusions. It said serious accusations need substantial proof, and that the video so far isn't enough to establish who was responsible.

Maya

It went further than that, didn't it?

Daniel

It suggested the reports could be part of a campaign to slander Israel during the olive harvest.

Maya

Meanwhile, someone inside the security system is clearly unhappy.

Daniel

A security official criticized the lack of preparedness and intelligence. The question he's asking is a simple one. How did these assailants go undetected?

Maya

Which is the question for the Shin Bet now.

Daniel

Exactly. A violent fringe hurts Israel, ties up soldiers, and hands its critics a story. Catching them fast is the answer to that.

Maya

Back to the photographer, Heidi Levine. There's new reaction from Washington's man in Israel.

Daniel

U S Ambassador Mike Huckabee condemned the attack in very strong terms. He called it an abhorrent terrorist act.

Maya

Terrorist. That's not a word an American ambassador uses lightly, especially one this close to Israel.

Daniel

No. He's demanding a full investigation and prosecution of those responsible.

Maya

And Levine herself has now spoken.

Daniel

She has. She's an American citizen, she was severely injured, and she says she was kicked repeatedly during Friday's incident.

Maya

The I D F's position?

Daniel

It confirmed it's investigating the events. Those also involved alleged arson and stone throwing at Palestinian villagers in the area.

Maya

And it's not only these two incidents.

Daniel

Right. Other violent incidents against Palestinians were reported across the West Bank over the weekend, including shootings and crop theft, according to the reports.

Maya

Yesterday we also told you about Rabbi Dov Lior and his olive ruling. There's a response from other rabbis.

Daniel

There is. Seven rabbis have issued a ruling forbidding exactly what Lior permitted. They call harvesting those olives theft.

Maya

Remind us what Lior actually said.

Daniel

That Jews may harvest olives across Judea and Samaria, the biblical names for the West Bank, and the Benjamin region north of Jerusalem. Even in groves far from Jewish communities.

Maya

On what basis?

Daniel

Jewish historical ownership of the land, and the idea that owners who are absent forfeit their fruit. He frames it as asserting sovereignty and fulfilling a biblical commandment.

Maya

And seven of his colleagues say, no, it's stealing.

Daniel

That's it in one line. And that matters, because it means the pushback is coming from within religious Zionism itself.

Maya

To politics now. Avigdor Lieberman wants to keep Netanyahu out of the top job, by law.

Daniel

Lieberman leads Yisrael Beiteinu, a right-wing secular party. He's vowing to pass what's called the Accused Bill. It would bar anyone facing criminal indictment from serving as Prime Minister.

Maya

Which is aimed squarely at one man.

Daniel

Right. Netanyahu is on trial on corruption charges, which he denies.

Maya

How does Lieberman plan to get it through?

Daniel

Step one, replace the Speaker of the Knesset, Israel's parliament. Step two, push the bill through all three readings.

Maya

That's a lot of steps with an election coming.

Daniel

It is, and passage isn't guaranteed. Even if it passes, it could face legal challenges.

Maya

Staying with the campaign, and a remark on television that's turned into a fight.

Daniel

Yinon Magal, a host on Channel Fourteen, called Gadi Eisenkot a monkey. Eisenkot is a former I D F Chief of Staff, now in politics.

Maya

And Magal's explanation?

Daniel

He says it's criminal underworld slang for a figurehead. He says he was referring to a theory that an Ashkenazi elite controls Eisenkot behind the scenes.

Maya

Ashkenazi, for listeners abroad.

Daniel

Jews of European origin. The Yashar party condemned the remark as discrimination against Mizrahim, Jews with roots in the Middle East and North Africa.

Maya

And Eisenkot?

Daniel

He called the discourse low level. Magal, for his part, dismisses the whole thing as a manufactured distraction.

Maya

Less than two weeks to the vote, and this is where we are.

Daniel

Campaigns do that.

Maya

The economy now, and a very large number.

Daniel

Government officials are planning an emergency economic program. The aim is to prevent an estimated loss of two hundred and fifty billion shekels a year by twenty fifty.

Maya

A year. Every year. From what?

Daniel

From low workforce participation among the Haredim, Israel's ultra-Orthodox community, and from the fact that most don't serve in the I D F.

Maya

What's on the table?

Daniel

Possibly cuts to welfare benefits, and sanctions on draft evaders.

Maya

And if nothing changes?

Daniel

Experts warn the trends are unsustainable. That could mean a credit rating downgrade and deep cuts to public services.

Maya

The opposition has its own answer.

Daniel

Universal military service, and a core curriculum, meaning subjects like math and English in Haredi schools. They call both essential for Israel's future.

Maya

Finally, Gaza. We told you Thursday that merchants there had stopped working because of Hamas. Now we know what's at stake.

Daniel

According to estimates, the terrorist organization Hamas earns about three billion shekels a year, around eight hundred and twenty million dollars, by taxing goods that enter Gaza.

Maya

How much per truck?

Daniel

The traders halted operations over a levy of ten thousand shekels on each truck.

Maya

So that's what the strike was about.

Daniel

Right. And security officials say Hamas also profits from humanitarian aid.

Maya

Aid meant for civilians, funding the people who started this war.

Daniel

Exactly. Israel says that if the traders resume, it will reassess their permits based on Hamas's involvement.

Maya

In other words, no more business as usual for Hamas's middlemen.

Daniel

That's the message.

Maya

Something to watch today. Whether police and the Shin Bet make arrests in the attack on the European diplomats.

Daniel

And whether the attackers on Heidi Levine are identified too. Follow Good Morning, Israel so tomorrow's episode is waiting for you.

Maya

See you tomorrow morning.