Summary of editorials from the Hebrew pressToday’s issues: Easing Palestinian tension, Arye Dery’s flight from responsibility, the Temple Mount agreement won’t lead to immediate calm, the cold wind blowing from Washington.
The Jerusalem Post doubts that Israel’s ban of non-Muslim prayer on the Temple Mount will help calm the Palestinians, and attests: “Limiting freedom of religious expression on the Temple Mount out of deference to Muslim extremists’ sensitivities is akin to other cases in which Western values have been compromised or curtailed to appease zealotry.” The editor believes that Palestinians’ legitimate fears and concerns about their third most holy site being compromised should be addressed through dialogue and mutual respect, without incitement, lies and distortion, but adds: “While we understand and accept the need to publicly reaffirm the status quo on the Temple Mount, restricting non-Muslims’ religious rights there is an intrinsic affront to liberal values that will likely fail to assuage Muslim extremists.”
Haaretz comments that Shas Party leader Arye Dery’s resignation from the office of Minister of the Economy after just six months in the post due to his refusal to use his authority as economy minister to confirm the natural gas deal, “clearly attests, yet again, to the man’s keen political utilitarianism,” and adds: “It also exposes the government’s weakness in the face of the tycoons, and its failure to protect the public interest.” The editor reminds readers that “The proposed gas deal has already claimed a number of victims,” and concludes: “Deri now joins the group that surrounds Netanyahu and has lost faith in its ability to do its job, especially when called upon to oppose the prime minister’s wishes.”
Yediot Aharonot contends that the agreements between Jordan and Israel, which were presented by US Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday evening, will not lead to an immediate calm in the wave of terror, and notes: “this a good agreement for Israel, but it’s too early to see is as the act which will end the ‘Facebook intifada.’” The author believes that the current wave of terror is losing momentum, and concludes: “if no particularly violent incident takes place in the coming days, it’s safe to assume that the wave of terror will die down. The coming weekend will likely indicate where this wave is headed to.”
Israeli Hayom discusses the cold wind currently blowing from the White House toward Jerusalem and “the U.S. administration’s inherent and deep-seated tendency to avoid its responsibility and to deny its important duty to act aggressively and with determination in the face of radical Islam, which threatens to draw additional parts of the region into its growing violent vortex.” The author states: “instead of demonstrating solidarity, warmth and unity with its ally that is facing challenges, as Bush the son did, ‘all of Obama’s men’ have taken the calculated path of scorekeeping, which essentially offers tacit support and inspiration for the stabbing attackers and the inciters,” and adds: “Thus, we bear witness to half-hearted American declarations, which are always careful to strike the sacred balance between attacker and victim.”
[Ron Ben-Yishai and Abraham Ben-Zvi wrote today’s articles in Yediot Aharonot and Israel Hayom, respectively.]
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