Summary of Editorials from the Hebrew Press – May 21th, 2012

Yediot Aharonot predicts that the talks will proceed as follows: "Jerusalem will continue to claim that it is a Persian bazaar while Obama – who never intended to attack Iran anyway – achieves a relaxation until after the elections, with international backing."  The author suggests that "In the end, the major powers will succeed – perhaps – in delaying the ayatollahs\’ nuclear project for a few years," and believes that the western powers are well aware who they are dealing with.  The paper concludes: "And where is all this leading?  In the future, it could be that the Iranian regime will be replaced and the danger to the world will pass.  And if not, if Ahmadinejad and his people succeed in realizing their nuclear ambitions, there is an additional possibility: Israel will internalize, willingly or not, that it is also possible to live in the region alongside a nuclear Iran."

Yisrael Hayom asserts that "Since 1979, Iran has been ruled by a regime the raison d\’etre of which is to survive, even at the expense of its own people.  The ayatollahs\’ regime gambled on the nuclear project not in order to ensure sources of energy for its population, but to ensure its own survival. Thus, the projected agreement is expected to be no more than a scrap of paper."  The author avers: "What Iran will achieve, mainly, is time that is vital to it to reach the nuclear point that will grant it – like with the regime in Pyongyang – the ability to survive, and to threaten."

 

Ma\’ariv refers to the controversy over the mainly African illegal migrants in Israel and says that "Israel Police Inspector-General Yohanan Danino, who suggested, contrary to the Government\’s view, that the tens of thousands of infiltrators here be given work permits so they will not necessarily be dragged into lives of crime (because how will they eat if they have no work?), reveals himself to be the only wise man in intelligence-challenged, xenophobic Government circles."  The author derides the idea of building "an open detention camp in the Negev to hold 10,000 infiltrators," and reminds his readers that "There are at least 60,000 infiltrators here."  The paper asks: "Why hasn\’t Israel filed an official complaint with the US, which is responsible for the Camp David agreement, to the effect that Egypt is in serious violation of the agreement, according to which it is supposed – of course – to prevent infil! tration from its territory?  The answer is that over the years we were afraid of Hosni Mubarak, just as we are afraid of his successors today, with \’strategic considerations\’ always being the pretext.  But it must not be forgotten that Egypt has interests too, and now, in its low state, and with the anticipated new regime, it needs a little help from its friends. This is the time to demand its cooperation, backed by the Americans, in preventing terrorism and infiltrations from its territory."

The Jerusalem Post comments on the refusal of the International Olympics Committee to commemorate the murder of Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists at the Munich Olympics in 1972 with a moment of silence at the forthcoming London Olympics, despite an official request issued by Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon  and additional requests by two members of the US Congress. The editor states that “The Munich massacre should be commemorated not primarily as an Israeli tragedy, but as a tragedy ‘within the family of nations,’” and adds:  “[IOC’s president Jacques] Rogge missed an opportunity and clinched a gold for insensitivity. But his failure should not in any way diminish the legacy of the Munich 11.”

Haaretz discusses the 45th annual celebration of Jerusalem Day, which commemorates the unification of Jerusalem in the Six-Day War, and declares that “Without a peace agreement, Jerusalem will continue to be a capital city that no political entity except for Israel recognizes as such. Victory parades that ignore international law and the Palestinians\’ ties to Jerusalem are not a substitute for responsible policy.”

 

[Menachem Benn, Shimon Shiffer and Boaz Bismout wrote today’s articles in Ma\’ariv, Yediot Aharonot and Yisrael Hayom, respectively.]