Az Izraeli lapok vezércikkeiből angolul

The Jerusalem Post considers the promotion of Agudat Yisrael MK Deputy Minister of Health Ya’acov Litzman to the post of Minister of Health in the wake of a High Court of Justice ruling that he cannot continue to run a ministry while rejecting a ministerial title. Previously, the haredi Agudat Yisrael MKs had been reluctant to formally assume responsibly for Zionist policy-making lest this imply perceived acceptance of Zionism. The editor contends that Litzman’s acceptance of the post “denotes clearly the triumph of Zionism,” but adds that it can be seen “as a harbinger of greater openness in much of haredi society (though not all of it) along with greater readiness to make concessions and integrate constructively into mainstream Israel.”

Haaretz is critical of a recent court decision banning players in second division teams from playing in soccer games on Saturdays, and notes that “Watching a match live is an integral part of Israeli leisure culture — a culture that cannot be maintained in full on another day.” The editor believes that “The real story remains religious coercion and a whittling away at the secular way of life,” and asserts: “Another symbol of secular life — Israeli soccer — must not be allowed to fall victim to religious coercion.”

Yediot Aharonot believes that the threatened resignation of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is merely a political stunt, but nevertheless reassures readers that just to be sure, “Israel is already trying to guess who his successors are. And just to be sure, the IDF’s Central Command is also trying to study the Palestinian security forces so it knows how to handle them, just in case they change their tune after Abbas is gone.”

Israel Hayom is intrigued by Europe’s concern with anti-Israel boycotts when they have much more serious problems to contend with, and opines that “Europe’s obsessive preoccupation with anti-Israel boycotts while fighting off an influx of refugees is reminiscent of cartoons where Wile E. Coyote attempts to catch the Road Runner and realizes, seconds before crashing, that he had walked right off a cliff.”  The author attests that “Many in the West have understood that the Palestinian issue is not at the root of what plagued the Middle East, and that resolving it at Israel’s expense will do little to alleviate the situation.,” and adds: “The Palestinians are starting to understand that their ‘issue’ is nothing more than an anachronistic anecdote and that in order to extricate themselves from the ‘Arab winter,’ they have no choice but to join the rest of the refugees in the Middle East and rehabilitate the children of Palestinian refugees. Now they are blaming one another for killing off the Palestinian ‘issue.’”

Globes suggests various solutions for Israel’s natural gas problems, as it seems increasingly likely that the gas in the Leviathan field will remain forever in the sea where its value will be zero. The author criticizes the absurd manner in which the entire matter was handled by the government and contends that the matter can be resolved were the state to invest “a little energy, perhaps 10% of the energy wasted on the gas plan without any results. All it takes is leadership, initiative, and a little thinking outside the box.”