The Jerusalem Post writes: "Last Wednesday night, Islamic Jihad fired a Grad rocket that struck near Rehovot to mark the October 1995 assassination in Malta of Islamic Jihad leader Fathi Shikaki, an avid supporter of suicide bombings as a means of terrorizing Israel. The situation quickly deteriorated. While Cairo was instrumental in helping to clinch a shaky cease-fire agreement between Islamic Jihad and Israel early Sunday, the deal did not hold, with more rockets being fired into Israel. With the Muslim Brotherhood expected to notch up an impressive victory in the upcoming Egyptian elections, the ties between Egypt and Gaza will inevitably strengthen further, while relations between Cairo and Jerusalem will undoubtedly suffer. At the same time, Hamas, which could easily stop Islamic Jihad’s attacks against Israel if it wanted to, is under pressure, in particular from Iran, Islamic Jihad’s patron, to accommodate the rejectionist camp, at least for a limited period. And that cannot augur well for the region, or for the peace process in the Middle East."
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Yediot Aharonot contends that, "If we accept the claims attributed to Netanyahu and Barak, we are apparently marching toward a military confrontation with Iran. Netanyahu compares Ahmadinejad to Hitler. He describes the confrontation with Iran as his life’s mission. According to Barak, Israel cannot countenance the existence of a hostile nuclear power within missile range of Israel."
Yisrael Hayom ponders, "Could it be that the spirit of our times has also taken control of the media on the subject of defense? True, these are the days when we are asked to choose the best chef and the sexiest male model by sending an SMS. Perhaps from now on we need to ask Moshe from Ashkelon and David from Kiyat Shmonah what they think about bombing Iran, when to attack and maybe even from what direction? Whoever asks, on behalf of the security of Israel’s citizens, to remove from the agenda even the threat of attacking Iran, paradoxically encourages the Iranians to accelerate the pace, without fear of possible attack, ironically heightening the danger to the nation’s citizens."
Haaretz writes: "Long years of the blockade of Gaza and the boycott of Hamas, as well as Operation Cast Lead, have not led to quiet for the inhabitants of the south. At the same time, the isolation of the Gaza Strip has augmented the international isolation of Israel and has contributed to a profound crisis in relations with Turkey. In addition to the danger to lives of Israeli civilians, the hostilities in the south are damaging the small chance that remains for renewal of the diplomatic process with the Palestinian Authority leadership in Ramallah. The time has come for the government of Israel to reexamine the Gaza blockade policy, the total boycott of Hamas, the assassinations and the aerial attacks."
Ma’ariv notes that, "For whoever may have forgotten: In a deceitful cloak of ‘freedom of expression’ Anat Kam, Uri Blau and Haaretz attempted to dump war crimes that never existed on the IDF." The author points out that "At no stage did the IDF request to stop publication, but rather demanded only one thing: That the documents, stolen property in all respects, be returned. How the hell is this an infringement on freedom of expression?"
[Nahum Barnea, Ben-Dror Yemini and Boaz Bismout wrote today’s articles in Yediot Aharonot, Ma’ariv and Yisrael Hayom, respectively.]