Summary of editorials from the Hebrew press
Today’s issues: Hired killers, thieves in the night, Trump’s Iranian challenge is an opportunity for Israel too, at least he won the Nobel Peace Prize, and the Trump administration prospects do not bode well.
The Jerusalem Post believes that the country is “sick and tired of the seemingly endless cycle of terrorist murders it endures, which it rightfully blames on constant incitement by the Palestinian Authority, particularly its leader for more than a decade of violence, Mahmoud Abbas, and calls on the international community to stop the violence by getting the Palestinian Authority to stop paying salaries and stipends to terrorists and their families. The editor notes that stopping these payments will help start a much-needed cultural revolution within Palestinian society, and declares: “The Palestinian people will finally be told that terrorism does not (literally) pay. This is the first step toward real peace.”
Haaretz criticizes the intent of the Ministerial Co mmittee for Legislation to discuss the annexation of the West Bank settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim to the State of Israel, in order to quickly prepare a draft of the bill to be presented to the Knesset for approval in an apparent attempt to give the new US president “a crash course in understanding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and, mainly, to give him a loyalty test without any preparation,” and asserts: “If there is a sane right wing in the government, here is its opportunity to remove this crazy proposal from the agenda. The annexation of Ma’aleh Adumim is the first step on the road to the annexation of other settlements like Gush Etzion, Kiryat Arba and Ariel – and, ultimately, the entire West Bank. In such a case, Israel will cease to exist as a Jewish and democratic state, and officially become an apartheid one.”
Yediot Aharonot discusses the important foreign affairs issues awaiting President Trump, especially the Iranian nuclear deal, and asserts: “The question is not whether the new US administration should stick to the nuclear deal or tear it up, but rather how it should maintain the agreement’s achievements in the near future in order to fix its difficult strategic flaws in the long run. Israel is now being given a second chance to influence the US policy on this issue.”
Israel Hayom examines outgoing US President Obama’s foreign policy track record, and notes: “The final, dismal scorecard that Obama is turning in today wouldn’t win him a local cookie-baking award from the Girl Scouts of America, never mind a global peace prize.” The author states: “Saddest of all is the way in which Obama successfully has splintered the global Jewish community by driving a false and insidious discourse about right-wing Israeli obstinacy and iniquitous settlements. Obama has legitimized a demonizing narrative that pits Jewish liberals against conservatives, and that saps the strength of the Jewish people,” and adds: “The man leaves the West, America, the State of Israel and the Jewish people weaker than ever, with our common enemies standing stronger and taller.”
Globes focuses on the multiple indications that the new US president will have a very tough time of it, and states: “What this all means for Israel is obvious. The most pro-Israeli president in recent history will be crippled by his own deficiencies and by the desperate efforts of his enemies (not least a seriously wounded Democrat Party) to see that he fails. His very support may indeed become a liability for Israel rather than an asset.”
[Amos Yadlin, David M. Weinberg and Norman Bailey wrote today’s articles in Yediot Aharonot, Israel Hayom and Globes, respectively.
