Yisrael Hayom comments on the current coalition unrest between Yisrael Beiteinu, led by Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The author ventures that „It does not seem to me that Liberman is interested in a break but only in a crisis situation until it becomes clear whether or not Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein will indict him.” The paper cautions that events may yet force the Prime Minister’s and Foreign Minister’s hands and notes that Kadima and its leader Tzipi Livni are waiting in the wings as possible replacements for Yisrael Beiteinu in the coalition.
Haaretz discusses the crisis in the relationship between PM Netanyahu and head of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, FM Avigdor Liberman, , and finds it an opportunity for change. The editor declares that „The crisis between Netanyahu and Lieberman gives the prime minister an opportunity to toss Yisrael Beiteinu out of the coalition, and to replace it with Kadima,” and adds: „Netanyahu insists that he, not Lieberman, crafts the government’s policy. He should now put his money where his mouth is, and use his meeting with the foreign minister today as a lever to change the coalition.”
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Yediot Aharonot suggests that „Our obsession with Mubarak’s health is getting on official Egypt’s nerves,” and believes that „We must let the issue go.” The author adds that „We know that ‘after Mubarak’ will come and we know we have a plan in the drawer, but now, it is enough, stop obsessing.”
Ma’ariv says that „Israelis who continue to be suspicious of Obama have good reason, which cannot be erased by a month of public diplomacy. A photo-op with Netanyahu and an interview with Channel 2 news are important moves in restoring trust. But apparently, Israelis…are waiting to see what substantive change is heralded by this public relations barrage. Whoever thinks that they have opposed Obama from the beginning because his middle name is ‘Hussein’, as the President himself hinted in the aforesaid interview, is not giving Israelis proper credit. The numbers prove it: On the eve of the first Obama-Netanyahu meeting, and even before the ‘Cairo speech’, only 14% of Jewish Israelis thought that Obama was ‘pro-Palestinian’ and over 30% thought that he was ‘pro-Israeli.’ The numbers have since been reversed. This says that what is decisive for Israelis is neither a candidate’s name nor the color of his skin. Policies are decisive.”
The Jerusalem Post commends the environmental battle successfully waged by groups of young people who succeeded in preventing the building of a 350-unit vacation village on Palmahim beach, and says that „the Palmahim victory is unique in the sense that activists managed to halt a project after it had been approved by a regional building council.” Despite this, the construction firm behind the project invested millions of shekels over the years and did not break any laws, and therefore should clearly be compensated for the government’s decision to reassess the project. The editor concludes: ” Our businesses’ liberties should not be be infringed – within reason. And reason requires that our natural resources should not be endangered.”
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