Summary of Editorials from the Hebrew Press – February 9th, 2011

Yediot Aharonot opines that "Without a deep understanding, it is impossible to defeat one’s enemy, to struggle with one’s opponent, to prevent failures or to enter into vital negotiations.  To understand the perspective, obstinacy and harsh words of one’s opponent or rival does not mean identifying with him or accepting his narrative."
Ma’ariv argues that "Mubarak would be pleased if he could only receive the same treatment from President Barack Obama that is reserved for Ahmadinejad.  The Americans know how to demand democracy only from the weak."
Yisrael Hayom maintains that "The real battle is for our rights on this land."  The author suggests that "It is important to reiterate, and to remind in every discussion, the dry facts that the ties of the Jewish People to their homeland are incomparably stronger and deeper than that of the region’s Arabs."
The Jerusalem Post attacks the bigotry of some ultra-orthodox rabbis, as expressed in a recently released 230-page treatise – purportedly based on Halacha – which advocates the killing of innocent babies on the enemy side during warfare. The editor declares that treatises of this type do not size up with Judaism’s moral and halachic teachings and should be condemned, and states that “it is open intellectual exchange, in the free market of ideas, that is the best weapon against bigotry and racism.”
Haaretz criticizes the apparent abuse of power by the custody tribunal, which decides the fate of thousands of foreigners in Israel and is responsible for the illegal detention of hundreds of foreigners. The editor notes that “The impression is that the tribunal serves as a rubber stamp for custody orders issued by the Interior Ministry, which it approves almost blindly, without any supervision or oversight, and without detainees being able to defend their freedoms,” and calls on the Justice Ministry to “enter the fray, investigate what is going on in the custody tribunal and transform it into what it should be: a fair judicial institution and not a rubber stamp for the Interior Ministry’s shenanigans.”