Summary of Editorials from the Hebrew Press

Yediot Aharonot remarks about yesterday’s signing of a defense accord between Russia and Israel.  The author urges his readers to "always remember that with the Russians there are no Catholic weddings.  Today they are going out on the town with us, and tomorrow – without even bothering to inform, to coordinate or to apologize – they can suddenly turn a cold shoulder."

Ma’ariv argues that "Historically, there is no proof of any advantage whatsoever to ‘people from the Left.’  As in the past, so it is now, they behave like automatons.  Always on the side of [left-wing parties] Rakah or Meretz, and they still find it hard to understand why they are booed."  The author injects "That does not mean that we should not listen to them.  That does not mean that they are not right sometimes.  Of course they are.  But it is a little difficult listening to automatons."

Yisrael Hayom says: "Think about issues like Jerusalem, the [Palestinian claims regarding a right of] return and Palestinian acknowledgement of Israel as the nation of the Jewish People.  Does it seem possible to resolve all of this in one year?"

The Jerusalem Post opposes the idea of Israel signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, as requested recently by  International Atomic Energy Agency head  Yukiya Amano, and states that "Now is not the time to coerce Israel into ending its four-decade long, highly responsible policy of nuclear ambiguity, under which the Jewish state neither confirms nor denies its alleged nuclear capability, even for the sake of deterrence – such as during the Yom Kippur War, when Israel was on the verge of being overrun by the combined armies of the Arab nations." The editor feels that "forcing Israel to abandon opacity could actually spark a nuclearization race in the Middle East and unravel the NPT," and concludes:  "Perhaps one day Amano’s vision of a nuclear-free world can be realized. For the time being a nuclear-free Iran should be his main concern."

Haaretz opines that MOD Barak "seeks to wield sole control over the defense establishment without taking responsibility for any of the consequences." Despite this desire, the editor points out that the goal of the Basic Law on the Army, enacted in 1973 in the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War, was "to reinstate a shared fate: The government and the army would be partners in success and glory, but also in failure and resignations," and notes that Barak’s fellow ministers reminded him earlier this week that the chief of staff answers to the cabinet as a whole.