Two papers discuss the latest upheaval in Egypt:
Yediot Aharonot says, „In the first major confrontation between the ruling military clique and the Muslim Brotherhood, the army has blinked first and capitulated to the Islamist stream’s diktat that the government resign,” and suggests that the army fell into a trap set for it by the Islamists. The author contends that „If in January-February, Mubarak was toppled by the Egyptian middle class, those now clashing with the police and the army are the poorer strata, goaded by the Islamist parties. The secular, modern, progressive street no longer exists as a significant political actor in Egypt. The struggle for the image of the country is now being waged by two main groups: The army, representing the pro-Western approach, and the conservative, Islamist approach.” The paper is concerned that in the wake of the latest events, the Islamists might win an outright majority in the upcoming parliamentary elections, and doubts whether the army will be able to put off presidential elections to its preferred date of 2013. The author concludes, „The chance that, at the end of the democratic process, we will discover a secular, democratic, pro-Western Egypt that upholds the peace agreements with Israel and sees them as being in the national interest, is fast eroding.”
Ma’ariv asserts that the current scene in Egypt is very reminiscent of that which preceded and accompanied Hosni Mubarak’s fall except that military is no longer „the demonstrators’ darling.” The author believes that „After ten months, the honeymoon between the Egyptian street and the Egyptian army has worn off,” and notes that the military is being accused of trying to enshrine its immunity from parliamentary oversight in any new constitution in order to protect both its status and its very substantial economic assets. The paper says that the military now faces a dilemma: Refuse to give in to the demonstrators and risk considerable further bloodshed or allow some sort of genuine civilian control without any assurance „that such a control could – by itself – get Egypt back on its feet, especially given the myriad of political parties and streams.”
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The Jerusalem Post comments on the „anti-libel” bill, approved in the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee last month and brought for a first reading in the Knesset Monday night, increasing compensation for libelous reports six-fold to NIS 300,000: „If passed in second and third readings by the Knesset, the legislation would seriously intimidate journalists, editors and publishers. For decades, our courts have struggled to balance American law, which, tends to tolerate a greater degree of press freedom with English law, which tends to prioritize protection of the reputation and privacy of individuals, organizations and corporations. It would be extremely unwise to upset this delicate balance by introducing legislation that would severely intimidate an already embattled news media.”
Yisrael Hayom believes that „the libel law, the product of Yariv Levin from the present Likud and Meir Shetrit from the past Likud, neither of which is [Knesset Speaker] Reuven Rivlin’s original democratic Likud, is an unnecessary burden on what is left of Israel’s good name around the world.” The author avers, „This law is designed to threaten investigative journalists; its goal is to hint to media owners that they should rein in their investigators lest they be hit with severe financial punishment.” The paper reminds its readers that „Hardly had the voting on the libel law been completed when Avigdor Liberman announced that he would break up the government if it upholds the rule of law and evacuates private land currently occupied by settlers in Migron. It seems that he always acts against the judicial establishment, which is liable to decree his fate if it is decided to indict him. A minister calls not to honor a High Court of Justice decision? There can be no such situation in a western democracy. But there is in Israel. Aided by a tsunami of similar legislation, he is liable to make coalition life impossible, step by step until early elections.”
Haaretz comments on an initiative that will deprive women of any representation on the committee that appoints rabbinical court judges: „A fierce battle has raged in recent years between proponents of the reactionary Haredi approach and representatives of liberal factions within the religious Zionist movement. This battle revolves around the rigid and humiliating approach many rabbinical court judges adopt toward women. Giving women representation on the committee that appoints rabbinical court judges improved the situation slightly. But now, thanks to a web of unacceptable political deals, even this achievement is being undone. The rabbinical courts will complete a reactionary turnaround whose essence is the oppression of women. Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman, who has granted religious court judges extraordinary and harmful powers, is now pulling the strings of numerous political deals involving the justice system, each of which is dependent on the others. The representatives of sanity and moderation in the Knesset must therefore intensify their struggle against these initiatives by the minister.”
BreuerPress-info
