Summary of editorials from the Izraeli Hebrew press

Summary of editorials from the Izraeli Hebrew press


 MFA Newsletter 

Summary of editorials from the Izraeli Hebrew press

BreuerPress 

Four newspapers discuss yesterday’selection of veteran Likud MK Reuven Rivlin as Israel’s next president:

Ma’ariv suggests that many centrist and left-wing MKs first supported MK Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and then MK Meir Shetrit for the presidency because of their dovish views on the peace process, even though this meant overlooking various problematic issues vis-a-vis their public and/or personal integrity. The author asserts: „At the present time, when Israel’s biggest problem is corruption, what should have guided MKs as they chose a president was the need for values, integrity, fairness and clean hands. Yes, we want peace. But, first of all, as former Meretz leader Yossi Sarid once said, we want the people who enter politics to leave it wearing the same shirt.”

Yediot Aharonot says: „Whoever missed the results of the second round [of voting for president] could not have missed seeing it reflected in the Prime Minister’s face,” and adds: „‘Sour’ is too soft a word to describe the look on Netanyahu’s face when the Knesset Speaker announced the winner.” The author believes that „Rivlin won big yesterday because he defeated not only the other candidates but also the Prime Minister, the Chairman of Yisrael Beytenu, his rivals within the Likud and the one who, up until yesterday, was the first lady.” Paradoxically, the paper speculates that a Shetrit victory might have caused a politically dangerous loss of face for the Prime Minister within the Likud as its rank-and-file would have likely blamed him for a Rivlin defeat. The author credits Minister Gideon Saar, who strongly backed Rivlin, and the ultra-orthodox MKs for engineering his ultimate victory.

Yisrael Hayom suggests that while there may be tension in the Likud following Rivlin’s victory, „There is no crisis,” but adds: „It is possible to imagine what would have happened in the Likud if Rivlin had lost; axes, not knives, would have come out.” The author notes that while the Prime Minister’s „aversion to Rivlin is personal and deep,” the latter’s victory „saved Netanyahu from his rivals and, to a certain degree, from himself.”

Haaretz congratulates Rivlin on his election, and notes that his crucial task will be to „save Israeli democracy from the forces that are threatening to crush it.” The editor asserts: „He, and the institution of the presidency together with him, will be required to serve as a symbolic and actual buffer against nationalism, racism and the persecution of minorities.”

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The Jerusalem Post praises the announcement by Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop that her country „would no longer view Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem as ‘occupied’ territory,” especially in light of the fact that „The US, the EU, the UN, Russia, China and other countries had just given unconditional recognition to a new Palestinian unity government that includes Hamas, a terrorist organization dedicated to the destruction of Israel.” The editor states: „As the rest of the world seemed to be losing its moral compass, the Aussies were keeping themselves on course, pointing out the unique nature of the territorial conflict between Israel and the Palestinians,” and notes that the Canberra government understands that „defining east Jerusalem as ‘occupied’ hinders chances for peace by emboldening an intransigent, rejectionist Palestinian political leadership, whereas defining the territory as ‘disp uted’ might encourage a spirit of compromise on the part of the Palestinians.”