Summary of Editorials from the Hebrew Press – April 5th, 2012

Haaretz praises PM Benjamin Netanyahu for “doing the right 

thing by clearing the Hebron outpost,” thereby thwarting “Another attempt by the settlers to bend the law in the West Bank to their extremist ideology.” The editor believes that “The decisive action should serve as a precedent for government policy toward all the illegal outposts in the West Bank,” and adds that “The evacuation of the building in Hebron must be followed by confidence-building measures vis-a-vis the Palestinians, both on the ground and at the negotiating table.”

Ma’ariv believes that "More than anything, the Machpelah House affair teaches us about the insanity that awaits us as the elections approach," and adds that "Ministers are making combative statements, the sole objective of which is to garner greater support in the struggle within the Right.  Barak himself, who faces no primaries and whose only voter is the Prime Minister, seems free of such considerations and indeed, this time he acted according to logic and the directives of the legal system.  And yet even as he does so there are always those who suspect that his motives are not altogether clean and that he might be playing a complex game against Netanyahu."

Yisrael Hayom ventures that "With all due respect, the rule of law is only an excuse.  Around Machpelah House are hundreds of Arab homes that were built without permits.  Barak and his lawyers are not troubled by them.  The heart of the matter is the huge difference in outlook between Barak and most Government ministers (from the Likud, Shas, Yisrael Beytenu and the Jewish Home) regarding Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria, including Hebron."

 

Yediot Aharonot refers to last week’s "Land Day" events and contends that "As the real problems of the Arab world leap out, the Palestinians are being pushed to the bottom of the agenda; their Land Day received widespread coverage in neither the Western nor the Arab worlds."  The author believes that "To their shock, it has become clear to the Palestinians that in what is called the ‘Arab Spring’ as well, the Arab regimes are not much different than their predecessors in their regard.  Land Day proved that the regimes in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt, as well as Hezbollah, are not prepared to become entangled either with Israel or domestically because of the Palestinians."  The paper doubts that the Palestinians will reconsider their path and asserts that "As in recent decades, the Palestinian public will continue marching after its leaders, who bring it – generation after generation – to defeat and failur! e."

The Jerusalem Post notes that “In most circumstances Israel finds itself in the docks of assorted international forums – like the discredited UN Human Rights Council – which invariably function as kangaroo courts,” and therefore revels in last Tuesday’s “small victory”: the rejection by the International Criminal Court in the Hague of “a Palestinian Authority request to investigate Israel for alleged war crimes during Operation Cast Lead.” As the rejection was based solely on a technicality, however, the editor declares that “it’s gratifying to occasionally at least win by points. It’s nothing to scoff at in our existence, so long as we don’t lose proportions.”

 

[Ofer Shelah, Nadav Shragai and Guy Bechor wrote today’s articles in Ma’ariv, Yisrael Hayom and Yediot Aharonot respectively.]