Summary of editorials from the Hebrew press
Today’s issues: Lessons from the Gaza pullout, delegitimization of Breaking the Silence, Israel’s Arabs don’t have to be Zionists to be loyal, and Islamists openly striding the streets while the victims of Islamist aggression pay the price.
The Jerusalem Post analyzes the lessons learned from Israel’s pullout from Gaza 10 years ago, and notes the significant shift in public opinion in the past decade. The editor believes that “the most important lesson to be learned from the disengagement is the potential danger of territorial concessions,” and maintains that any future two-state solution “must be reached through direct negotiations with the Palestinians and must include iron-clad security arrangements.”\
Haaretz believes that Israel’s center-left parties, (other than Meretz), have abandoned Breaking the Silence – the army veterans’ group that collects and publishes anonymous statements from soldiers serving in the territories – to incitement and delegitimization, and declares: “Breaking the Silence is a legitimate organization. In a democratic country, its activities should be encouraged, not silenced.” The editor criticizes the opposition’s silence in light of the attacks on Breaking the Silence, which in the paper’s opinion “reflects the ideological collapse of Zionist Union,” and declares: “Instead of being afraid of public opinion, one should fight to change it. Breaking the Silence is vital to Israel.”
Yediot Aharonot notes that the Israeli anthem is no different from the many national anthems that have a “religious, nationalistic tone,” and adds that “the anthem is a reflection of the Jewish yearning for the establishment of a national home.” The author points out that while the Arab citizen cannot and should not be part this yearning, “It shouldn’t stop him from being a loyal citizen, just like a Muslim citizen in Holland should be a loyal citizen and a Slovak citizen in the Czech Republic should be a loyal citizen.”
Israel Hayom criticizes Israel Police for the arrest of the Israeli-Jewish woman who responded to the groups of screaming Islamist female banshees who accosted them on a visit to the Temple Mount by terming the Prophet Mohammed a pig, and asserts that the result of this policy is that “Islamists openly stride the streets while the victims of Islamist aggression pay the price,” a fact that fits into a pattern going back at least to 1997, “of the Israeli authorities arresting non-Muslims who offend Islamic sensibilities.”
[Ben-Dror Yemini and Daniel Pipes wrote today’s articles in Yediot Aharonot and Yisrael Hayom, respectively.]
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