Yediot Aharonot contends that "A huge dose of naiveté is necessary in order to find anything new in the Wikileaks’ documents on the Iraq war. War is still war and the sea is still the sea…A huge dose of political naiveté is necessary in order to think that something of these disclosures is tied to us; that tomorrow morning someone will relate to our wars apologetically; that anyone would even appreciate the blood we shed in the effort to do battle under moral restraints." The author continues and notes that "The legal reality of the IDF, version 2010, is pitiful. Soldiers and officers are too easily investigated and tried for operational errors. The term ‘war crime’ has shrunk since the Goldstone report, and its modification to fit international criticism is wrong. The result is a cheapening of terminology on the one hand and circumvention of reality on the other."
Ma’ariv opines that "In secular Israel, work is the official religion. Our workweek is especially long, and going on vacation is an embarrassment. It’s no surprise that we have no time to demonstrate in the streets."
Yisrael Hayom argues that "Real estate price rises are a difficult problem. It is not only that it is hard on young couples who want to buy a new apartment; they are also a disease that injects a lot of speculative elements. When people become accustomed to ever rising real estate prices, they become caught up in illusions."
The Jerusalem Post discusses the statement issued by the Vatican Synod in Rome last Saturday, which all but ignored the plight of Catholics living in Muslim lands while singling out Israel’s ‘occupation’ for special castigation. The editor notes that the statement was an apparent attempt by Mideast bishops to garner favor among Muslim extremists, and states that Pope Benedict XVI still has a chance to distance himself from the synod’s declarations and make it clear the statement deviates from Church teaching. "That is the right and necessary thing for the pope to do – not just for Jewish-Catholic relations, but also for the sake of the Middle East’s persecuted Christian minority."
Haaretz declares that the start of the annual olive harvest has been the signal for an onslaught of violence against Palestinian farmers by groups of settler thugs in recent years, and states that "The government, starting from the very top, must make it clear to the security forces that as long as Israel controls the West Bank, it is responsible for the welfare of all the area’s inhabitants – and that there must be only one law, for Palestinian and Jewish terrorists alike."
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