Yediot Aharonot questions the Government’s decision to add two more companies to the cellular telecommunications market: "Are we really interested in further intensifying our use of cell phones? Does little Israel need, here and now, the spread of two more cellular networks? Will the cellular operators really earn less? Israelis are known as intensive cell phone users. If the price of a minute’s airtime goes down even more, we will never stop talking. Is that desirable or healthy?"
Ma’ariv professes that "Theoretically, you have to be a real whiner in order not to join the celebrations of praise and tribute to Iron Dome. The system’s high accuracy level in recent days most likely prevented casualties on Israel’s home front, and particularly saved an uncontrolled deterioration towards ‘Operation Cast Lead II’". But the author counters: "Despite all that, what exactly are we celebrating? Take a step back and try to contemplate what really happened here: After surrounding itself with a fence to the east in order to prevent attacks, Israel has covered itself with an aerial dome in the south." He concludes that "The two defense systems reveal a tragic reality. In little more than a decade, Israel has surrounded itself with walls of defense and despair."
Yisrael Hayom praises the addition of two more companies to the cellular telecommunications market: "This is an equilibrium-breaker, which as far as the consumer is concerned, changes the rules of the game. The entrance of new operators will shock the three existing companies, who will have no alternative but to go towards the consumer – in service and in price."
The Jerusalem Post praises the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court for ruling definitively that peaceful demonstrations are a fundamental democratic right and are perfectly lawful – even if the protests are against the court’s own decisions. The editor opines that “The challenge of maintaining a vibrant democracy is all the more difficult, given Israel’s unique security situation,” but adds: “the Jewish state’s commitment to democracy must remain unshaken, not only for the sake of its minorities, but also for the sake of higher Jewish morality.”
Haaretz declares that “Israel’s Arabs are partners, not enemies.” The editor notes that “Forty-five years after the military regime within the Green Line was revoked, public officials and state authorities continue to treat the Arab minority in Israel as a suspicious group of second-class citizens,” but is nevertheless hopeful that the government will come to view the integration of Israel’s Arabs into state life as one of its government main challenges
[Sever Plocker, Udi Hirsch and Ehud Peleg wrote today’s articles in Yediot Aharonot, Ma’ariv and Yisrael Hayom, respectively.]