HEADLINES FROM THE IZRAELI HEBREW PRESS
HA’ARETZ:1. TAX BURDEN WILL GROW BY NIS 9 BILLION WITHIN A YEAR AND A HALF
On Monday, Cabinet will approve raising taxes: NIS 3 billion this year and NIS 9 billion next year.
2. The vision: Syrian-Iraqi state that would battle Israel and Iran.
AL QAEDA WANTS TO CONTROL SYRIAN UPRISING
MA’ARIV
1. PRICE OF [ECONOMIC] EDICTS FOR AN AVERAGE FAMILY: NIS1,740 PER ANNUM (…). Netanyahu: „we do not want hundreds of thousands of unemployed.”
YEDIOT AHRONOT
1. OVERNIGHT PRICE HIKES
(…).
2. NEW RESEARCH: SUCCESS FOR ULTRA-ORTHODOX [IDF] NAHAL UNIT
82%: Our standing in the ultra-orthodox society has risen.
YISRAEL HAYOM
1. (…).
CIGARETTES AND BEER HAVE ALREADY BECOME MORE EXPENSIVE, VAT IS NEXT (…). Monday: Cabinet expected to approve cuts; VAT set to go up on August 1. (…).
2. IRANIAN PROVOKES: „WE WILL ENRICH URANIUM ALSO AT 60%”
Tehran to powers: Be flexible
– or we will advance our nuclear project. PM: „Real defense – the ability to attack.” Concern: Al Qaeda taking control of Syrian uprising.
WALLA!
1. PRESSURE HELPS: BBC CHANGES ISRAEL’S PROFILE PAGE
Network internet site featured an IDF soldier confronting a Palestinian on the Israel page, while Iran and Syria are presented by pictures of landscapes and people. Now, instead, a picture of Tel Aviv is shown.
NANA10
1. BARAK: „NUCLEAR IRAN
–
A THREAT TO INTERNATIONAL ORDER”
[Headlines for Walla! and Nana10 are from their websites as of 10:00.] ______________________________
SUMMARY OF OP-EDS FROM THE HEBREW PRESS
Yediot Ahronot lauds the latest statistics regarding the success of the ultra-orthodox Netzah Yehuda Battalion<www.nahalharedi.org/index.php> in the IDF Nahal Brigade<www.idf.il/1515-en/Dover.aspx> as, „good news for both Israeli society and the ultra-orthodox world.” The author, a former GOC Personnel, notes that the latest figures, show that battalion graduates are finding work (most at jobs that pay higher than the national average), acquiring degrees and meeting with greater acceptance in both the ultra-orthodox sector and society at large.
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Two papers discuss various economic issues regarding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s and Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz’s decision to enact a series of steps including raising VAT, raising taxes on gasoline, alcohol and cigarettes, imposing a surtax on high income earners and an across-the-board budget cut at Government ministries:
Ma’ariv suggests that two factors spurred Prime Minister Netanyahu into announcing the aforesaid steps now. The author says that the first was what Bank of Israel Governor Prof. Stanley Fischer wrote in Monday’s announcement on the August interest rate<www.boi.gov.il/press/eng/120723/120723ekrlc.htm>: „‘The decision to increase the deficit target to 3 percent of GDP and the uncertainty of meeting the target raise the concern that the credibility of fiscal policy
—which was a central component of the economy’s success in dealing with the previous crisis—will erode.’ In plain Hebrew, the Governor showed the Prime Minister a yellow card regarding the economy. Economists at the international credit rating agencies are reading what the Governor said, and from their point-of-view, this is an unequivocal message –
The Israeli economy is in danger of deteriorating.” The paper believes that the other reason is the need to prevent investors from, „running to the dollar,” and says, „Yesterday, in the wake of the program of cuts, the flight to the dollar calmed down somewhat.” The author calls on the Prime Minister to, „show leadership and public courage and immediately take up the 2013 budget.”
Yisrael Hayom believes that, „The Government must be alert to two factors that play an important role in the public’s response to the [aforesaid] steps: True, one must be careful in raising taxes on the rich out of concern over the flight of capital from Israel, but the worship of money that characterizes Israeli society and causes damage in various areas must stop. At the same time, the Arab and ultra-orthodox sectors must be brought into the cycle of those who pay taxes.”
BreuerPress info