Yediot Aharonot says that "Netanyahu claims that the problem of the Israeli economy is its system for planning and construction. But the reality is different: In this field we are the most advanced in the world. Whoever attempts to circumvent it will end up with monstrosities like the Holyland project. That is not bureaucracy, Mr. Netanyahu; it is democracy."
Ma’ariv notes that "There are no free lunches. Compliance with the demand of the women’s lobby to prevent deferral of their retirement age would be at everybody’s expense, and would allow them to enjoy seven more years of pension than men."
Yisrael Hayom talks about the silent majority and sexual harassment. The author notes that "Israeli society, secular and religious, has made significant inroads in recent years in recognizing the plague of sexual harassment through ways of coping and dealing with complaints. My petition is paradoxically to the silent majority, who often does not sufficiently support the harassed, and therefore become accomplices in the crime."
The Jerusalem Post discusses the integration of women into religious leadership in Israel, and feels that the process cannot be divorced from the “blatant chauvinism unabashedly articulated by prominent rabbis.” The editor states: “Unfortunately, while women have made enormous headway in recent decades, essentialist attitudes continue to pervade large swaths of religious society,” and notes that “International Women’s Day offers a unique opportunity for change, known in Judaism as teshuva.”
Haaretz discusses the stalemate in the negotiations with the Palestinians and the apparent foot-dragging policy adopted by PM Netanyahu, and states that “Flowery speeches and pushing responsibility onto others are no alternative to serious and courageous diplomatic action. If Netanyahu doesn’t have the power to prevent the ‘disaster [of a bi-national state]’ as he phrased it, he must hand his mandate back to the people.”
[Sever Plocker, Yehuda Sharoni and Eilat Vider Cohen wrote today’s articles in Yediot Aharonot, Ma’ariv and Yisrael Hayom, respectively.]