HEADLINES FROM THE IZRAELI HEBREW PRESS
HA’ARETZ
1. DEFENSE ESTABLISHMENT RECOMMENDS HALTING PRODUCTION OF GAS MASK KITS
Decision made in wake of dismantling of Syrian chemical weapons, main threat that required distribution of kits in recent years
2. CLINTON BOYCOTTED, KERRY EMBRACING: US TO TRY TO TURN NEW PAGE WITH LIBERMAN
MA’ARIV
1. DEFENSE ESTABLISHMENT RECOMMENDS HALTING DISTRIBUTION OF GAS MASK KITS
Recommendation, which includes halting production of kits, has been adopted by DM Moshe Yaalon and will be submitted for Cabinet approval. Reasons for recommendation: Financial savings, dismantling of Syria’s chemical weapons and IDF’s advanced missile defense systems
2. LAPID TO NETANYAHU: APPOINT MK OFER SHELAH AS CHAIRMAN OF THE KNESSET FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND DEFENSE COMMITTEE
Following swearing-in of Avigdor Liberman as Foreign Minister, coalition crisis intensifies over vacated position. Yesh Atid threatening: We will pass appointment even without Likud support
YEDIOT AHRONOT
1. Exclusive: Yediot Ahronot correspondent reports on Iran under Rowhani.
14 DAYS IN IRAN
(…)
YISRAEL HAYOM
1. Conflict continues – PM: we will do our utmost to prevent a bad agreement.
ISRAEL: DEAL? ONLY ON OUR TERMS
Jerusalem sharpening positions: „Any agreement that does not include halt to enrichment, sending out of enriched uranium and halt to activity at Arak reactor – will be bad.” Yaalon: „We must shout.” (…)
2. END OF THE MASKS
DM to propose that Government halt production of gas mask kits and their distribution to civilians. Reason: Change in intelligence assessment – and budgetary savings
WALLA!
1. LIBERMAN RETURNS TO FOREIGN MINISTRY: „MUST CALM MOODS WITH US”
NANA10
1. LIBERMAN: „WE WILL BE UNABLE TO MANUVER WITHOUT THE US. DISAGREEMENTS MUST NOT BE ALLOWED TO SOUND LIKE THIS”
[Headlines for Walla! and Nana10 are from their websites as of 13:00.]
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SUMMARY OF OP-EDS FROM THE HEBREW PRESS
Ma’ariv notes that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is claiming that the projected agreement with Iran, „is not just appeasement, it is fraud,” and that, „It does not endanger peace for Israel, but for the world,” and asserts, „Anyone with a brain knows that Netanyahu is right. It is not a matter of Left and Right, but of common sense and a willingness to see things as they are.” The author believes that the US, „prefers a short-term settlement, which will become a danger to world peace in the long-term,” and says, „It is not that Iran will drop the terrible bomb the day after it is made. The problem is that with a nuclear capability, Iran will become a major power. The chance for regime change will be zero. The Gulf states will be in danger. Hamas, which, again, has been trying to draw closer to Iran, will become much stronger. The regional order will become dark and threatening. Hezbollah will become the ruler of Lebanon and Syria.” The paper calls on Israelis, however much they support or oppose the Prime Minister on other issues, to rally around him on this one in an effort to forestall the above scenario.
Yediot Ahronot suggests, „The bad news in our region is that Washington has apparently reconciled with the existence of Iranian nuclear installations,” and speculates that the Obama administration would suffice with an agreement that pushes off any Iranian attainment of a nuclear bomb until after it has left office even though Israel maintains that, „This is a recipe for an existential threat to Israel in the future.” As to the disagreement between Jerusalem and Washington, the author says that, „Under previous Israeli governments, envoys would have been dispatched to the American leaders and would have resolved everything in secret talks. For many years, only the Defense Ministry and IDF archives would have known what happened. Today, the disagreement is public and whoever does not stitch up the good relations with the US on Friday feels it on Saturday. The American President would have to be made of steel in order to not make the Israeli Prime Minister pay for doing almost everything to see his rival, Mitt Romney, take his place in the White House. The problem is that this price is liable to be paid by all of us.”
Yisrael Hayom discusses the situation in the joint Likud-Yisrael Beytenu Knesset faction now that Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman has been acquitted and suspects that he might break up the joint faction sooner rather than later. The paper says, „Liberman will claim that Netanyahu promised him a merger. Even if he did – he does not have the strength to make it happen. A host of Likud ministers, deputy ministers, and MKs who would like to be such in the future, strongly oppose a merger,” and adds, „The continuation of the present situation will only increase friction, and with it anger and ill-will, and it is likely that it will not succeed.” The author reminds his readers that a potential source of wider coalition friction is that with Liberman’s return to the Foreign Ministry, both Yesh Atid, with 19 MKs, and the Jewish Home, with 12, now have fewer ministers than Yisrael Beytenu, which has only 11 MKs.
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