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Two newspapers discuss the so-called Prisoner X affair:
Ma\’ariv asserts that "The Australians\’ complaint is bogus. Who leaked Zygier\’s identity? Who put him in danger? It was the Australian Security Intelligence Organization. It leaked his name to the press. This is an extreme – and hostile – act given that he worked for a friendly intelligence agency. There are ways in which the Australians could have \’burned\’ Zygier as a Mossad agent without sending a journalist to his cellphone. Somebody there decided to leak his name to the press. This was the beginning of a chain of events at the end of which Zygier died. Yesterday, the Australian attorney General announced that they did not need to check their intelligence services; this statement is a little strange. Somebody there, according to the public testimony of an Australian journalist, decided to issue secret information to the press. This decision led to the arrest of an Australian citizen. The same source did this deliberately ! in order to create a buffer between the countries. All this sounds like excellent ma terial for an Australian commission of inquiry."
Haaretz demands “a professional, public inquiry,” of the Zygier affair, despite its sensitivity, and adds: “While we will never know the full details, the case of Prisoner X must be probed, as well as the extent of Netanyahu\’s knowledge of it.”
Yediot Aharonot notes that a number of Jewish community leaders from the Binyamin region [north of Jerusalem] recently met with Interior Minister Eli Yishai from Shas in order to thank him – inter alia – for generously supporting their communities. The author asserts that "The need to harness ultra-orthodox society to the cycle of Israeli identity, to integrate them into the work force, is more important to the state than any potential budget. If we evacuate an additional hilltop in the Binyamin area, nothing will happen. If, however, the next government does not enact a drastic change, the middle class – which includes many settlers, who serve in the IDF and pay taxes – is liable to collapse. The people at the Yesha Council have sufficiently explained their views on the diplomatic issue. Now they must take a values-based stand on the other ! challenges facing the State of Israel."
Yisrael Hayom analyzes the coalition negotiations. The author says: "One can only hope that despite the rude statements about a rupture between Likud Beytenu, and Yesh Atid and Jewish Home, somewhere there is a hidden backchannel on establishing the next government. Any delaying in forming a new government is liable to push Israel into an economic and diplomatic corner. There would be no image worse than Barak Obama having to postpone his scheduled March 20 trip due to the absence of a stable government in Jerusalem." While the paper believes that the electoral math requires Yesh Atid and Jewish Home to be in the government, it nevertheless urges Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett to try not to dictate to Benjamin Netanyahu. The author also calls on Prime Minister Netanyahu to realize that since Likud Beytenu has a mere 31 seats, as opposed to the 40-50 that majority parties have had here in the past, "The next government will ! be formed and run with uncertainty and a lack of security." Given the proximity of the three parties\’ views on socio-economic views and the shared assumption that the Palestinians are unlikely to meet Israel\’s minimum threshold, the party calls on the Prime Minister to prefer Yesh Atid and Jewish Home over Shas and United Torah Judaism as potential partners.
The Jerusalem Post comments on the Turkel Commission’s recently issued second report on the IDF raid on the Turkish aid ship to Gaza, and notes that “the 1,000-page report is an innovative ‘road map’ for grappling with the legal and ethical dilemmas arising from Israel’s ongoing war against terrorism.” The editor commends the suggestion that “there should be a full video recording of all Shin Bet interrogations, according to guidelines set by the attorney-general in coordination with the Shin Bet,” and adds that, despite the traditional opposition to this by Shin Bet commanders, “videotaping interrogations would provide a little more oversight and help ensure that the Shin Bet does not lose sight of basic ethical principles in the course of duty.”
[Nadav Eyal, Yoaz Hendel and Dan Margalit wrote today’s articles in Ma\’ariv, Yediot Aharonot and Yisrael Hayom, respectively.]