Summary of editorials from the Hebrew pressAz izraeli lapok vezércikkeiből angolul
Today’s issues: Lessons for Guterres, class-based school tracking, nothing new in Assadistan, and how to reduce terrorism in Europe.
The Jerusalem Post discusses last week’s maiden visit to the region by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and expresses the hope that his encounter with the reality on the ground in the Holy Land will result in fairer treatment of Israel in the United Nations. Noting the secretary-general’s observation that “the Palestinians need to unify if they hope to achieve a state,” the editor points out that this is something that Arab leaders “have dashed again and again, starting with their rejection of an Arab state in Palestine, if this meant having to live alongside a Jewish state. This core element of the original anti-Zionism is still the operating principle of a majority of Palestinian nationalists.”
Haaretz comments on the new analysis, which shows that about half of the students in areas outside of the center of the country are in vocational-technical programs as opposed to higher education, and asserts: “Assuming that talent and potential are distributed equally among social groups, a correlation between students’ socioeconomic background and their educational possibilities is unacceptable from the start. The decision whether to place a student in an academic track or a vocational track cannot be determined by where the student was born and educated.” The editor argues that it is not the role of the Education Ministry to shape the path that its charges’ life will take at such a young age, and declares: “In effect, the ministry’s goal should be the opposite: to offer as many options as possible to as many students as possible.”
Yediot Aharonot believes that the topic dominating PM Netanyahu’s annual speech this year at the UN General Assembly will be Iran, “But instead of nuclear Iran, he will talk about Iran’s takeover of Syria.” Quoting official non-political sources, the author contends that the assessment that Israel is about to face a second, Iranian-inspired, Holocaust is a little more complex, and asserts: “Iranian President Rouhani has a different opinion. Syria is not at the top of his list of priorities right now. Instead, he wants to focus on the rehabilitating Iran’s economy.”
Israel Hayom notes that while ISIS is effectively defeated, its members can now go back to their homelands where they will have an easier time planning and carrying out terrorist attacks against foreigners. Forecasting that Europe won’t change dramatically because of terrorism, the author opines: “The mass migration to Europe from Muslim countries could turn out to be what decides the continent’s fate, and its response to terrorism can contain the immigration, particularly because most of the attackers are first- or second-generation Muslim immigrants. We must hope that Europe will use every means at its disposal to fight terrorism, but it’s a mistake to hope that terror will cause the continent to change its character and its approach to the problems of the world, including its relations with Israel.”
[Nahum Barnea and Yaakov Amidror wrote today’s articles in Yediot Aharonot and Israel Hayom, respectively.
