Yediot Aharonot suggests that "A bombardment would greatly sharpen the world\’s message to Assad: Go home, if your life is dear to you. Tyrants, for some reason, do not like to be bombarded. The special relations between France and Syria are decades old; the Syrian elite speak French. It is reasonable to deduce that when they turn their eyes towards a western entity to intervene militarily and put an end to the terrible bloodbath, they think of France. Even those amongst them who once viewed Assad as the least bad alternative, now view him as the worst. They would cheer French planes over the skies of Damascus. French public opinion would, for the most part, support such a surgical military operation. They would certainly cheer Mirages over Syrian skies, over those bombed, slaughtered, tortured and murdered by Assad\’s stormtroopers. In the face of tortured, slaughtered bodies throughout ! Syria, there is no reason to ask \’Where is the world?\’ There is a need to ask, to scream, Where is France?\’"
Ma\’ariv contends that "The social networks, foremost amongst them Facebook, were founded on a wave of support by a public which believed that it was a new kind of enterprise for the good of all. So when the cutting of corners of the principles upon which the network was founded begins, it is liable to find itself on the slippery slope of losing users\’ trust. Indeed, there is no lack of competitors, creative and well-motivated, that will try to be the next big thing."
Yisrael Hayom notes that "The debate over the \’infiltrators\’ excels in a mixture of half-truths, hypocrisy – and naiveté. There is incitement by both sides, and there are the self-righteous who moralize that because of the Holocaust we must open our gates to all who arrive, even illegally. First, the facts: They are not \’political refugees\’, i.e. people who were forced to flee from their homeland because of political, religious or racist persecution; according to various assessments, that definition applies to 20%-22% at the very most. The remainder left their countries due to economic hardship or in order to enjoy the social welfare that exists in Israel." The author concludes that "The illegal migrants in Israel are no different than the masses of migrants from the African continent who attempt to arrive, one way or another, to Spain, Italy, France and England."
The Jerusalem Post is pleased by the Treasury’s statement that taxes will not be increased in the 2013 state budget, but is nevertheless concerned by the fact that due to the dire situation in international markets, “government revenues are bound to diminish, a fact which will force the Treasury to conjure up other ways to cover the shortfall.” In light of this, the editor feels it would be prudent “to clue the public in and put it on alert. To foster rising expectations that negate the bleak assessments afflicting our foremost trading partners can only lead to a letdown, with its own detrimental socio-political ramifications.”
Haaretz discusses the ongoing Harpaz affair, which it views as a lengthy battle between former Chief-of-Staff Gabi Ashkenazi and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and remarks that “the picture that emerges from the Ashkenazi camp, with its potentially criminal materials, as well as that emerging from Barak and his people, whose conversation recordings were erased due to a technical error, justify State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss\’ demand that Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein launch a renewed criminal probe of the affair.”