Summary of Editorials from the Izrael Hebrew Press
Yediot Aharonot suggests that „There are certainly grounds to ask what all this is for. Why hold early elections if the next government will resemble the current one?” The author cautions: „Let’s not get confused: Whoever thinks that this election campaign is unnecessary and that its results are known in advance – should think again. Major surprises await us, from possible candidates who are likely to declare their candidacies in the coming days or weeks to strange and varied coalitions that may form the next government.”Three papers discuss Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to call for early elections:
Ma’ariv says: „Don’t pay attention to the spin. It’s not the budget, it’s not Romney and it isn’t Iran. It is Ehud Olmert who is pushing Netanyahu to the polls at almost hysterical speed.” The author believes that the Prime Minister „knows that the only one who can go eyeball-to-eyeball with him and give him a real fight is Olmert,” and adds that therefore wants „to forestall Olmert’s comeback, catch his rivals unprepared and steal another term before it is too late.”
Yisrael Hayom believes that Prime Minister Netanyahu wants to deny the currently divided center-left time to get organized. The author asserts: „There elections are underway without a clear agenda. After the social protest, the anti-haredi wave and Iran, it is not clear where all of this is going, but it is clear where everyone will try to pull. The Likud, Kadima, Independence and Liberman will champion security-diplomatic issues, and Labor, Lapid and Shas socio-economic issues. The elections have begun. The knives are out. After the holidays, the best show in town is already here.”
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Haaretz discusses the upcoming US presidential elections and notes that: “The real distinctions between the two presidential candidates are faint; the important question is how quickly the next presidential administration can prepare for action, and with how much resolve.” The editor warns Israelis from intervening in the elections, and states: “We can follow the action and cheer on one side over the other, but we must not intervene.”
The Jerusalem Post comments on a recent anti-jihad campaign run in New York subway stations by the American Freedom Defense Initiative. The campaign was initially rejected by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for its ‘demeaning’ language, but was later allowed to run in accordance with a federal court ruling citing MTA’s violation of the First Amendment of the US Constitution. The editor believes that “the proper response in an open society is not to attempt to stifle freedom of speech by preventing the ads from being placed. Rather, an alternative, competing view should be articulated that vies for support in the free market of ideas,” and adds: “it is precisely when a message is controversial that true freedom of expression is tested.”
