January 29 Headlines
Tuesday
HA’ARETZ
1. Winograd report tomorrow.
OLMERT TO REFUSE EARLY ELECTIONS.
In framework of preventing break-up of coalition, PM's confidants make it clear that he will not agree with Barak on date for early elections.
2. SEVERE CRITICISM OF IDF PERFORMANCE.
Committee members say that final report will offer sad picture of military's level in war and during six previous years.
3. PROTEST ORGANIZATIONS CHANGE DIRECTION.
In wake of leaks about character of report, campaign will focus on PM's personality instead of on last battle of war.
4. FEWER KILLED IN GAZA, FEWER KASSAMS IN ISRAEL.
In parallel with relative calm, Egyptian police and Hamas activists are supervising Rafiah border.
5. TWO HOMELESS PEOPLE FREEZE TO DEATH; TODAY – SNOW EXPECTED IN NORTH AND IN JERUSALEM.
6. OBAMA: THERE IS AN UGLY SMEAR CAMPAIGN AGAINST ME IN THE JEWISH COMMUNITY.
MA’ARIV
1. Countdown: Tomorrow – Winograd report. 24 hours before report: Increasing pressure on Olmert.
BARAK TO SENIOR KADIMA OFFICIALS: EVERYTHING DEPENDS SOLELY ON YOU.
Labor Chairman holding secret preliminary contacts with ruling party figures. They put ball in his court: Everything depends on you.
2. OBAMA TO JEWS: YOU HAVE NOTHINHG TO FEAR FROM ME.
Candidate accuses: "Ugly campaign being waged against me."
3. MAJOR STORM ARRIVES.
Tonight: Snow in Jerusalem. Even Winograd Committee members are prepared for road closings.
YEDIOT AHRONOT
1. Winograd report tomorrow. Increasing tension between Olmert and Barak. PM's confidants:
"BARAK CAN QUIT; WE WON'T HOLD EARLY ELECTIONS."
Assessment in Labor: Barak will work for early elections. Bar-On: He is abandoning the country. Exclusive: Kadima messages for report day: North is quiet; you can't find a b&b. Must not confront bereaved parents. Ask Syria about our strength.
2. WAITING FOR SNOW.
Wintry assault to start this afternoon with rain and hail. Jerusalem preparing for 20 centimeters of snow and moving homeless to hotels. Gush Etzion and Negev highlands communities to be covered in white.
3. OMRI: I GO TO JAIL LIKE A HERO.
Former PM's son to start serving sentence in another month. He will be able to visit his hospitalized father twice a week.
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SUMMARY OF EDITORIALS FROM THE HEBREW PRESS
Two papers discuss the Winograd report regarding Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's conduct during the Second Lebanon War.
Yediot Ahronot asks, "When will Olmert return the keys?" The paper asserts that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert failed in his conduct during the Second Lebanon War and, by not resigning, is sacrificing an entire nation.
Haaretz suggests that while the country waits for the Winograd Committee's full report on the Second Lebanon War, the public should not ignore the "interim report" made public last week in the speech delivered by former Supreme Court president Aharon Barak to the Herzliya Conference, in which he sounded a warning against the prime minister's systematic and determined undermining of the independence and scope of operation of the judicial authority - a campaign that may be engraved in Israel's history as his most destructive legacy.
The Jerusalem Post discusses "Project Hourglass", a plan drawn up in 2005 by then deputy IDF chief of staff Moshe Kaplinsky to build a proper barrier along the international border with Egypt. The editor states that now that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have invaded Sinai, it is to be expected that terrorists will try to enter Israel through the largely unfenced border. The decision to build a border fence, accordingly, is not about a particular crisis, but the fulfillment of a basic long-term need. This need existed before Gaza fell to Hamas, and it will exist even if the threat from Hamas is removed. It is an investment worth making now that will benefit the nation far into the future.
Ma'ariv compares the conduct of Israel's Prime Ministers for the First and Second Lebanon Wars. The editors aver that Prime Minister Menachem Begin took responsibility for his actions by resigning, while Prime Minister Ehud Olmert refuses to do likewise.
[Mordechai Gilat and Tzipi Chotobali wrote today’s articles in Yediot Ahronotand Ma'ariv, respectively.]
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