HEADLINES FROM THE IZRAELI HEBREW PRESS BreuerPress
HA’ARETZ
1. SYRIAN REBELS: HUNDREDS KILLED IN CHEMICAL ATTACK.
(…). Yaalon: „Chemical weapons were used.” (…).
MA’ARIV
1. OVER 1,000 KILED IN CHEMICAL WEAPONS ATTACK ON CIVILIANS EAST OF DAMASCUS; LOW LIKELIHOOD OF US INTERVENTION.
(…). DM Yaalon: „Fall of Assad will not end crisis.”
YEDIOT AHRONOT
1. AND THE WORLD IS SILENT.
(…).
YISRAEL HAYOM
1. (…).
RED LINE HAS BEEN CROSSED.
(…). Minister Yaalon: „Chemical weapons were used in Syria, and not for the first time.”
2. DEPUTY MOSSAD DIRECTOR YOSSI COHEN TO BE APPOINTED NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL CHAIRMAN.
WALLA!
1. DEPUTY MOSSAD DIRECTOR TO BE APPOINTED NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER.
NANA10
1. UN SECURITY COUNCIL DEMANDS „CLARIFICATIONS” REGARDING CHEMICAL SLAUGHTER IN SYRIA.
[Headlines for Walla! and Nana10 are from their websites as of 11:50.]
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SUMMARY OF OP-EDS FROM THE HEBREW PRESS
All three papers discuss Wednesday’s chemical weapons attack in Syria:
Ma’ariv believes, „The gas attack is not only a war crime by the Syrian military, it is a shame for the US,” given President Barack Obama’s statement from one year ago that the use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime would be a, „red line,” for the US. The author says, „This was a conscious decision by the Syrian President to make chemical weapons an inseparable part of his arsenal,” and adds, „He has good reason: It has already been proven that the US’s red lines are not even flexible – they are a joke.” The paper suggests that, „The truth is that the US is deterred by Russia, which has identified the American weakness and wants to reconstruct its days as a great power. The Russians are threatening that if the US or Europe enforces a no-fly zone over Syria or intervenes in the fighting in some other crude way, they will supply Assad with advanced S-300 anti-aircraft missiles. As opposed to the US, Russia has proven that it supports its allies to the end (even if they are almost a lost cause, like Bashar Assad).” However, the author adds, „The problem is that America’s weakness is a big problem for us,” and is concerned that, „Israel, which has placed all its hope on the strength of the American empire, will yet pay for this weakness.”
Yediot Ahronot asserts, „There is no chance that the horrific pictures from Syria will change US or European policy towards the bloody struggle because the tragedy of Syria is that it is not an important enough country vis-à-vis Western interests,” and contends, „As long as American interests in the region are not threatened, i.e. as long as the crisis does not threaten Jordan’s stability and does not endanger its allies Turkey and Israel, the Syrians can continue to destroy and slaughter each other unhindered.” The author says: „The Syrian military is firing chemical weapons at its people because it can, and because it receives backing from Russia and Iran,” and concludes, „This is the lesson that the world must learn from yesterday’s events: There is no reward and punishment and countries do not go to war for humanitarian reasons, and what determines things is cold interests.”
Yisrael Hayom believes that, „The Americans are in favor of Bashar Assad’s fall, but are not prepared to lift a finger. Well, maybe a finger but nothing more, and the civil war in Syria is becoming more and more of a global problem. To historians, it recalls the Spanish Civil War, which was a kind of preliminary to World War II.” The author refers to events in Egypt and says, „What can be said about the fire being used by the Egyptian military against the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing compared to what is happening on the outskirts of Damascus,” and adds, „If the world is silent, the message will be especially sharp. This means that mass slaughter is again not in the realm of the forbidden and the impossible.”
