Summary of Editorials from the Izraeli Hebrew Press II.
Yediot Aharonot’s author comments that „In Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, a few weeks ago, I met a youth who immigrated to Israel. His grandmother was Jewish, but his name testified to the fact that he was Muslim. He told me, enthusiastically, about his period of service in the IDF. ‘You had no problems,’ I asked. ‘No,’ he proudly replied, ‘they even let me make the soldiers pledge of allegiance on the Koran.” The author maintains that „Such treatment is the right of all Arab-Israeli interested in serving in the IDF. And
whoever fulfills his obligations, should also duly receive all of his rights as well.”
Ma’ariv reminds its readers that „Economic growth in Israel comes especially from exports, and export’s number one enemy is prepared for an attack on our borders. A demand crisis means that for Israel it will be harder to export, and because of that, businesses will fall and it is possible that even the banks will be seriously harmed. The European banking system is showing worrying signs, and if the banks there are seriously hit, Israeli banks will be harmed as well.” The author argues that „The conclusion from all of this is that we must wake up and internalize that we are in the midst of a serious crisis. We must forget about social protests until the economic spring to come. This is not the time for illusions. We must concentrate our forces and battle this crisis, which is already here, in a sober manner while joining hands. If we delay and struggle with each other, we will find ourselves in a situation like Greece, Ital! y, Spain, Portugal and Ireland.”
Yisrael Hayom proclaims that „There is no easier way of saying it: Folks, the recession is at our doorsteps. We are no longer talking about polite discussions about expanding the deficit for next year. We are talking about a series of painful blows to our wallets. Some of them will be initiated by the Government. Others will arrive ‘naturally’ from the world – amongst which is the rising dollar, which will affect many products. A wave of price increases are expected which will not make it easy for our economy to deal with [the situation]. But there is no choice, really no choice because if we expand the deficit a bit more in order to finance the festival of waste we will finish like Greece or Spain.”
The Jerusalem Post discusses the recent rulings in Germany and other European countries prohibiting circumcision, because it is “‘a violation of physical integrity’” and therefore a criminal act, and asserts: “Some European countries may have issues with a growing, often radical, Muslim population that is resisting integration. But restricting the rights of Muslims and Jews to carry out a religious ceremony symbolizing purity and man’s covenant with God is surely not the way to proceed.”
Haaretz calls on the Ministry of Education to “Stop politicization of the education system,” in light of the controversy surrounding a forthcoming decision “whether the supervisor of civics instruction, Adar Cohen, will be allowed to continue in his role or will be fired.” The editor explains that “A decision to dismiss him would mean the ministry is giving in to a campaign by elements identified with the right wing who seek to distance from civics instruction any reference to disagreement with or criticism of the government,” and adds: “Cohen enjoys impressive support from both teachers in the field and senior academics. For the sake of the education system, which is trying to provide students with tools that allow them to deal with reality, he deserves to continue in his role.”
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