Yediot Aharonot lauds the success of Iron Dome but reminds its readers that "The security establishment has only two batteries," and estimates that it will take up to four years before all four of the additional batteries on order arrive. "Until then," the author warns, "we must not forget that Hezbollah has 50,000 rockets and Hamas an additional 10,000." The paper contends that "Those in the know see the current round as a kind of ‘dry run’ by Hamas," and speculates that the organization may have fired at Be’er Sheva and Ashkelon in order to test Iron Dome ahead of an expected major conflagration in the future. The author notes that in such a conflagration, Israel’s decision-makers would be forced to decide whether to use the few Iron Dome batteries to defend strategic targets or population centers, and recommends that the IDF maintain its deterrent ability to hit the missiles on the ground.
The Jerusalem Post justifies the superlatives used to describe the successful deployment of the Iron Dome mobile short-range missile defense system against rockets fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel, and states that despite high operational costs, “implementation of Iron Dome will actually have numerous economic and tactical benefits.” The editor points out that while the heart of the problem is “Islamists’ unrelenting blind hatred for the Jewish state and for those who live in it,” nevertheless, from a historic perspective, “Jews do manage to make the best of the circumstances. Iron Dome is a perfect example.”
Ma’ariv believes that Judge Richard Goldstone’s recent article in the Washington Post will have little effect on those stricken with "Goldstonism – a chronic disease among various groups in Israel and around the world that see the State of Israel as fundamentally evil, a brutal occupier and a war criminal. The disease motivates them to disparage Israel relentlessly in order to tie its hands and deny it the right to defend itself. There are groups whose motives are apparently ethical but the disease prevents them from discerning simple facts based in reality and blinds them." The author says that the Government "knows only to scream about how threatening ‘Goldstonism’ is but does almost nothing to build a professional system to provide a permanent answer to it."
Yisrael Hayom notes that Arab League Secy.-Gen. Amr Moussa, who is also among the leading candidates for the Egyptian presidency, "hastened to propose closing the skies over Gaza, as was done in Libya," and reminds its readers that "He will never miss an opportunity to hit at Israel." The author refers to the de facto calm that has come over Gaza and suggests that "While it may not be possible to prevent Gaza from deteriorating in an Operation Cast Lead II, it would be wise to do so with forethought, not as a result of the sides having been dragged into war without either of them being interested in at present."
Haaretz discusses the negotiations between the Israel Medical Association and the Finance Ministry, which have run aground, and states that under no conditions should the government accept the condition of instituting private health care in hospitals run by the government or the Clalit health maintenance organization. The editor declares that “Israel’s health care system is a good one, but it suffers from a shortage of doctors and resources, and it must be shored up. Abandoning the public infrastructure for privatization will allow the state to completely ignore its obligation to provide equal health care, and is liable to destroy the entire health care system.”
[Yossi Yehoshua, Amos Gilboa and Dan Margalit wrote today’s articles in Yediot Aharonot, Ma’ariv and Yisrael Hayom, respectively.]