HEADLINES FROM THE IZRAELI HEBREW PRESS
HA’ARETZ
1. TODAY: SYRIAN OPPOSITION AND ASSAD REGIME TO MEET FOR PEACE TALKS
(…)
MA’ARIV
1. UN AND US GOALS AT GENEVA CONFERENCE: REMOVAL OF ASSAD AND ESTABLISHMENT OF TRANSITIONAL REGIME
(…)
2. WALL PARADOX
On the one hand, the security establishment is completing the fence along the trans-Samaria highway, the main entry for Palestinian illegals. On the other hand, the IDF is concerned: Economic blow to the Palestinians will lead to security escalation.
3. DILEMMA IN SHAS: WHETHER OR NOT TO SUPPORT RABBI OVADIA’S DAUGHTER ADINA BAR-SHALOM’S CANDIDACY FOR PRESIDENT
YEDIOT AHRONOT
1. Concern in Israel: Rohani going to Davos as victor
WORLD EXTENDING HAND TO IRAN
Today: Global economic forum opens in Davos with participation of 40 heads of state. Israeli delegation led by Peres, Netanyahu and Livni anxiously monitoring Rohani’s arrival: Will he meet with Kerry and secure major deals following nuclear agreement, and what will happen if they meet in the corridors?
YISRAEL HAYOM
1. President in private conversation: Netanyahu’s insistence liable to torpedo agreement
PERES: DEMAND TO RECOGNIZE JEWISH STATE – „UNNECESSARY”
In contravention of official statements and of PM’s position, in talks with political leaders, President lining up with Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid. For his part, Netanyahu declares: „Recognition of the Jewish People is condition for concluding the negotiations.” PM to meet with Kerry in Davos in order to discuss framework agreement
WALLA!
1. RESIDENT OF HAR BRACHA SUSPECTED OF ASSAULTING IDF OFFICER WHO WAS GUARDING PALESTINIANS
2. RESUMPTION OF PROTEST: THOUSANDS OF ASYLUM-SEEKERS GATHER IN LEVINSKY PARK [IN TEL AVIV]
[Headlines from Walla! are from its website as of 13:10.]
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SUMMARY OF OP-EDS FROM THE HEBREW PRESS
Ma’ariv commends Nobel Chemistry Prize laureate Prof. Dan Shechtman (www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2011/press.html) for announcing his candidacy to succeed Shimon Peres as Israel’s next president and says his entry into the race, „has infused it with a refreshing spirit and raised its level of respectability.” The author notes that Israel’s fourth president, the late Ephraim Katzir, was also an apolitical scientist and adds that, „His tenure and several of his remarks underscored the disadvantages of such a president.” However, the paper also notes that whereas Shechtman has entered the race of his own accord, Katzir, „did not volunteer for the post and was dragged, almost forcefully, by Golda Meir from his laboratory at the Weizmann Institute and crowned president.” The author suggests, „One may guess that most MKs are not welcoming him with open arms, especially not those who see themselves as candidates for the presidency,” but asserts, „It would be preferable to have a professor of chemical engineering in the President’s Residence and not the familiar politicians.”
Yediot Ahronot refers to a recent controversy over a teacher who expressed his political views in class and asserts, „Outside the classroom, it is the civil right of any teacher to express a view on any subject, but in the classroom the teacher is not a private citizen. He is an educator: His job is to raise for discussion even controversial issues, bring information and present valid views from all sides. His job is to teach pupils how to evaluate them with a critical eye and formulate justified arguments. In class, his job is to present the positions of all sides, not take one of them.”
Yisrael Hayom discusses yesterday’s deadly car-bomb in a pro-Hezbollah Shi’ite neighborhood in southern Beirut. The author reminds his readers that Hezbollah is strongly supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad in his country’s civil war and says, „The Sunni jihadist fighters, who have been unsuccessful in toppling the Alawite regime in Syria, are translating their frustration in Damascus into the carrying out of a series of deadly attacks against Hezbollah in its southern Beirut stronghold.”
