Summary of Editorials from the Hebrew Press – December 14th, 2011

Yediot Aharonot says, "We must remember that a ‘noxious weed’ once murdered the Prime Minister. If I were called Benjamin Netanyahu, I would fear for my life – whoever threw a block at the head of a deputy division commander in the first round, will open fire in the third."

Ma’ariv believes that "a very bad wind is blowing through the country. A bus unloads dozens at an army base, and they hasten to throw a block at a division commander, only because he is supposed to, in some foggy time in the future, to fulfill the directives of the law." The author opines that "This is the heyday of the most extreme ultra-orthodox, the most extreme of the rioting hilltop youth, the most extreme MKs and also, and this is called for, Israel’s most extreme enemies, internal and external. And Netanyahu? Present-absent."

The Jerusalem Post comments: "It is completely legitimate to support Israel’s right to replace the Mugrabi Bridge, which provides Jews with their only means of access to a site the Jewish faith considers the holiest place on earth. Similarly it is perfectly legitimate to protest the evacuation of Jews from their historical homeland. But it is one thing to hold these views, and quite another to avail oneself of destructive means and violence in order to realize them. Unfortunately it seems that many of the extremists involved in these incidents are rebellious youths who refuse to listen to authority of any kind. Under the circumstances, the only solution is a more stringent enforcement of the law."

Haaretz comments: "What happened on Monday night merely proves what has long since been obvious: In the West Bank, there is neither law nor judge as far as the settlers are concerned. They can run riot to their heart’s content. But the scale of the latest incidents proves that we are no longer talking about a handful of "wild weeds" on the margins of the settler community. The government must immediately authorize a forceful and determined operation to stop Jewish terror in the West Bank. It must break the armed militias and impose law and order. For it is not the settlers alone who bear responsibility for the lawlessness: The prime minister and the heads of the military establishment are also responsible."

Yisrael Hayom declares that "Hundreds of thousands of Israelis in Judea and Samaria relate to the anarchists exactly as do the rest of the [country’s] citizens – as a dangerous group which must be dealt with immediately. The heads of the Yesha Council again condemn these acts. The IDF is us, and any harm to it is harm to us all."

 

[Eitan Haber, Nadav Ayal and Yesha Council Chairman Danny Dayan wrote today’s articles in Yediot Aharonot, Ma’ariv and Yisrael Hayom, respectively.]