A crowded Jerusalem bus in January. Is this the reason why there are less buses in Mea Sharim now? (photo credit: Miriam Alster / Flash90)

Israeli president and elder statesman Shimon Peres celebrated his 89th birthday on Thursday and took the occasion to voice his opinion on the question that’s on everyone’s mind – should Israel attack Iran?

Maariv paraphrases Peres’ answer for their headline, “Peres: We cannot attack alone, we need to go together with America.” Yedioth Ahronoth paraphrases a different part of Peres’ remarks, “Peres: We alone cannot stop the Iranians.”

Meanwhile, Haaretz and Israel Hayom both focus on the fallout from the president’s remarks. Haaretz leads with the reaction from the Netanyahu camp, “Netanyahu on Peres’ attack: he forgot the meaning of the president’s job.” The implication being that presidents are better seen, not heard. Government-friendly Israel Hayom went a different route by attacking Peres’ record on blowing up other country’s nuclear programs with, “PM Advisors: What luck that Begin didn’t listen to Peres’ advice in ’81 (the year Israel destroyed the Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osirak).”

All the papers report on Peres’ statements and then provide space to their commentators for reactions. Maariv focuses on whether Peres was right to comment on the situation since in Israel the president usually refrains from interfering in political debates. Ben Caspit is in favor of it, writing that Peres had no choice. “Peres is crazy with worry, anxiously observing the disintegration of Israel’s generation-long relationship with the US and looking with horror at the management style and conduct of Netanyahu and Barak.”

Caspit’s colleague Shai Golden disagrees, stating that for better or worse, Bibi is the Prime Minister and he makes the decisions, “Anyone who tries to weaken it [the position of prime minister] and impair its ability to act and make a decision, violates the resilience of Israeli democracy and weakens the ability of governance of the cause of the sovereign elected.“

Israel Hayom’s Dan Margalit takes a similar position stating that Peres may have correct assertions about Israel going at it alone but, “he is the last person who should be expressing an opinion about it, especially if it is contrary to the opinions of the prime minster and defense minister.”

Haaretz’s Barak Ravid writes that regardless of what Peres says, “Only Obama can bring Netanyahu down off this limb.” Ravid writes, “the prime minister and the defense minister are ready to accept the American ladder but it has to be meaningful. So far the Americans have not said what the Israelis want to hear.”

Yedioth Ahronoth covers the Peres comments but also includes other articles in its Iran coverage, including an update on the government’s text message warning system. They report that the majority of users did not receive a text message on their phones during the most recent drill, and that one unfortunate sou received 160 texts in four hours. The home front command states that currently only about 45% of phones can receive the messages and they are looking to increase that to 90% within the next year and half.

Price tag attack?

Both Haaretz and Maariv give front-page space to a possible “price tag” attack against a Palestinian family in the West Bank. Haaretz reports that six members of a Palestinian family were injured when a Molotov cocktail was thrown at the taxi they were in, near the settlement of Bait Ayin. Authorities suspect that it was an attack perpetrated by settlers, but have not ruled out that this was a case of mistaken identity.

Israel Hayom writes that a popular medicine in Israel may be responsible for a rash of hospitalizations in recent months. The article states that leukemia patients who were taking the popular over-the-counter drug Optalgin were being hospitalized with possible severe reactions to the drug. Optalgin, which is used to treat aches and pains much like ibuprofen, also causes the suppression of white blood cells which can cause complications when treating other diseases. The United States and other European countries have banned Optalgin and while the health ministry is looking into the case here, no change of policy is expected.

Yedioth reports on possible modifications of  the ‘psychometric’ exam, the equivalent to the American S.A.T. Yedioth states that Education Minster Gideon Sa’ar has established a committee to exam the effectiveness of the test, whose scores are used as a basis for acceptance into Israeli universities. “This is the tough question of the psychometric exam: on one side it is a predictor of academic success, on the other hand there are those who state that it brings culture into examination and therefore hurts a segment of the population,” Sa’ar explained. In addition to reviewing the test, the committee is also expected to review university admissions requirements so that they aren’t so reliant on the single test.

One hundred gates, one bus

Maariv reports on alterations to Jerusalem bus lines that includes rerouting around the ultra-orthodox neighborhood of Mea Shearim. Until now there were four different bus lines that traveled through the neighborhood, but now there will be only one. According to the Maariv report, the official reason is that the streets in Mea Shearim are too narrow for the buses, but others state that the real reason is that the Transportation Ministry caved to the religious extremists who are against bus lines that don’t have separate seating between men and women. Whatever the reason, not all residents of Mea Shearim are happy about it. “There are elderly and disabled people who depend on the buses, it doesn’t make sense that there aren’t additional bus lines,” one longtime resident told the paper.

Finally, is there a new cold war brewing in the Middle East? Yedioth reports that Nestle and Coca-Cola have stopped jointly producing Nestea brand iced-tea and now the Israeli market will have another choice. Nestle will retain the popular Nestea brand while Coca-Cola will produce the new Fuze Tea. Yedioth labels the upcoming product release as the “Iced-tea storm” and expects marketing for the products to be intense.