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Summary of editorials from the Hebrew press
Today’s issues: Ending a crisis, blocking access to free expression, Hezbollah is taking Israeli war mongers seriously, another attempt at a unified Cyprus, and the stresses driving the new populism.
The Jerusalem Post is pleased to note that the Health Ministry us about to end an enduring conflict between Magen David Adom and United Hatzalah, and declares: “If the arrangement is accepted by the sides the main beneficiaries will be the public, which has suffered from the lack of cooperation between MDA and UH.”
Haaretz slams the government’s efforts to limit freedom of expression and thought under the guise of protecting state security and preventing crime prevention, and asserts that the benighted bill aimed at granting the government control over the content the public can be exposed to online positions Israel firmly in “a list of non-democratic countries that limit unrestricted online surfing by their citizens, a list that includes China, North Korea, Iran and Saudi Arabia.” The editor argues that the basic freedoms granted to every individual in a democracy are the reason criminal law is meant to punish retroactively and not deal with prevention, but notes: “the trend of legislation by the current government is increasing these exceptions, which then become part of the new legal reality. According to this reality, citizens do not benefit from complete freedom.”
Yediot Aharonot comments on Hezbollah’s raised level of alert along the Israel-Lebanon border and argues that the reasons behind this “are the reports in Israel about an impending war in the summer.” The author contends that “Even when Defense Minister Lieberman declares that Israel has no intention of launching a war in Lebanon, Nasrallah doesn’t believe him,” and declares: “Neither side feels like starting a war, but flexing muscles is a different story. And this is where the danger lies: The loaded gun has been on the table for 10 years now. There is a very short distance between misreading the map to uncontrolled unsheathing. Nowhere is this demonstrated more clearly that than what happened in the Second Lebanon War and Operation Protective Edge.”
Israel Hayom comments on the marathon talks currently underway between Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, who are attempting to resolve the long-running conflict in Cyprus and reunite the island, and notes: “Israel has an interest in what transpires in Cyprus. Geographically, it is the closest non-Arab state to Israel, and a resolution to the conflict could have repercussions for us.”
Globes discusses the new tide of populism sweeping through Europe, North America and even Australia, and notes that “The new populism is not necessarily ideologically centered, as has always been the case before during similar periods of societal turmoil.” The author remarks that the new populists come in all flavors across the political spectrum, and adds: “There is an advantage in being a populist of the center because you can draw votes from the disaffected across the ideological spectrum.”
[Alex Fishman, Arye Merkel and Norman Bailey wrote today’s articles in Yediot Aharonot, Israel Hayom and Globes, respectively. |
