Thu, 22 Apr 2004 13:15:21 +0200 HAARETZ 1. ESCALATION OF CONFLICT IN GAZA: ANOTHER NINE PALESTINIANS KILLED. 2. LIKUD REFERENDUM APPROACHING, GAP NARROWS: ONLY 4% ADVANTAGE TO THOSE WHO SUPPORT DISENGAGEMENT. 3. VAANUNUS RELEASE SPEECH: WORLD MUST DISCUSS ISRAELI NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND SUPERVISE REACTOR. 4. INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL RETURNING TO ISRAEL. UEFA Executive Committee decides to hold international matches in Tel Aviv area. Committee reserves to itself the right to change its decision according to developments. HATZOFEH 1. National Insurance Institute Director: 30% of Israeli children live in very difficult conditions. 600,000 CHILDREN LIVE UNDER THE POVERTY LINE. In past year 40,000 children dropped to below poverty line – and today 30% of Israeli children live in situation of poverty. Data released months before planned date in order to try to shock Finance Ministry ahead of preparations for 2005 budget. (
). 2. VANUNU FESTIVAL. Spy who sold state secrets released from Shikma prison. He refused to talk in Hebrew and announced: I am not sorry for what I did – Im proud of myself. 3. SHARONS BUREAU DISCUSSING CANCELING REFERENDUM: OPPOSITION STRENGTHENS. 4. UEFA DECIDES: INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL GAMES RETURN TO ISRAEL. 5. US AMBASSADOR: ISRAELIS BORN IN ARAB COUNTRIES WILL NOT BE DISCRIMINATED AGAINST IN VISA REQUESTS. MAARIV 1. (
). HE CELEBRATES. After 18 years Mordechai Vanunu was released from prison, and quickly attacked the state. Expos?: Secret file security establishment prepared on him. 2. Disengagement referendum: GAP NARROWS – 44% SUPPORT, 40% OPPOSE. According to survey published in todays Haaretz and internal Likud surveys: Opposition to evacuation increasing. Sharons bureau: We will win. 3. FOOTBALL GAMES TO RETURN TO ISRAEL. We can host games, but only in central region. YEDIOT AHRONOT 1. Dozens of ISA agents closely watching Vanunu. MORDECHAI THE CHRISTIAN. Prison cell door opened and so did Vanunus mouth – against Jewish state, against nuclear weapons, against ISA and Mossad. 2. SURVEYS: GAP NARROWING BETWEEN SUPPORTERS OF DISENGAGEMENT AND ITS OPPONENTS.
______________________________ SUMMARY OF EDITORIALS FROM THE HEBREW PRESS Both papers discuss various issues related to yesterdays release Mordechai Vanunu: Yediot Ahronot says that, On the eve of our 56th Independence Day, we must seriously ask ourselves how we reached a situation in which the entire security establishment is afraid of one small, inarticulate, confused man, and asserts that, Vanunu should have been put on board a plane in the middle of the night and sent like a leprous dog to the four winds. The editors believe that, The fears of the security establishment built and gave birth to St. Vanunu, and suggest that, The restrictions that the state of Israel has placed on this man only strengthen the credibility of the things he intends to tell the world from now on. The paper derides Vanunu as, a miserable man who is detached from reality, and says that, Those self-righteous people who are surrounding him – people of religion and conscience who are so dazzled by the saint they have found – have forgotten to remind him of the universal value of honoring ones parents. He spit on his heritage, on the faith of his parents, on his roots. This has nothing to do with revealing state secrets. This only reminds us that our business is with a tortured and troubled soul and not a hero who carries the banner of world peace. The editors believe that, Now the state will have to guard Vanunu not from revealing more secrets but from an assassin, and suggests that his story would quickly run its course and exhaust itself were he exiled abroad. Hatzofeh asserts that, Vanunus supporters want to disarm Israel of its strategic weapons in order to make it easier for its enemies to overcome it, and charges that, They – those who demonstrated on Vanunus behalf – arent approaching Iran, North Korea or Syria and havent uttered a word about the martyrs because they all want the destruction of Israel. The paper calls on the authorities to forthwith deport, all of these Israel-hating patrons of peace. BPI.
