May 12 Headlines
Monday
HA’ARETZ
1. Investigation of Prime Minister.
SUSPICION: FUNDS TRANSFERRED TO OLMERT DURING NON-ELECTION PERIODS.
Body that worked for Olmert's Jerusalem mayoral campaign was left with debts after the elections. American businessman Moshe (Morris) Talansky guaranteed debts; guarantee implemented for what was not repaid. Police now investigating if return of debt by Talansky was legal. State Comptroller has previously determined that debts by bodies that worked for candidates during elections will be considered illegal contributions unless contributions' legal origin can be proven. Olmert: I am prevented from responding to details under investigation.
2. OLMERT CONFIDANTS: LIVNI TO PAY FOR HER SILENCE.
3. TALANSKY: I DON'T KNOW WHAT MONEY I TRANSFERRED TO OLMERT WAS USED FOR.
4. ATTY. MESSER HIRES SPOKESMAN AND EMBARKS ON STRUGGLE TO CLEAR HIS NAME.
5. OLMERT TO GO TO EGYPT SOON TO DISCUSS CALM.
MA’ARIV
1. PM's confidants outraged: "Tzipi is not backing him."
CONCERN IN KADIMA: "OLMERT HANGING LIVNI OUT TO DRY."
Concern in ruling party: PM to push Foreign Minister aside and cause her to resign. "Livni is electoral asset," they're saying in Kadima, "We cannot let her go." Main winner in such a case: Mofaz, who is likely to receive Foreign Ministry.
YEDIOT AHRONOT
1. Official in charge of negotiations, in sharp letter to Olmert and Barak:
"WITHOUT SHALIT, THERE IS NO AGREEMENT WITH HAMAS."
Ofer Dekel: If Israel does not demand to include Gilad in ceasefire, it is giving up on him."
2. Yediot Ahronot and Mina Tzemach/Dahaf poll:
59%: OLMERT NEEDS TO RESIGN.
60% believe that he pocketed campaign contributions. Livni defeats Netanyahu and Barak – if she heads Kadima.
3. "EHUD IS STILL MY FRIEND."
PM's confidant, attorney Uri Messer, who has become key witness: "I am not angry at Olmert and appreciate the long partnership between us."
[MAKOR RISHON-HATZOFEHwas unavailable today.]
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SUMMARY OF EDITORIALS FROM THE HEBREW PRESS
Ma'ariv discusses a dilemma of having to choose between a corrupt politician who may bring peace and an honest politician who may lead the nation to war. The editors suggest that either, "war or peace are is at our doorstep, a matter of a day or two, and the minister under discussion is the deciding voice, except that just yesterday he was caught in his iniquity. What now?"
Haaretz comments on the growing strength of Hizbollah in Lebanon, especially after the June 2006 war, as well as the political monopoly that Hamas is gradually consolidating for itself in the Gaza Strip, and states that faced with these two threats, from north and south, Israel can no longer sit with arms folded or make do with military bombast. It must also examine the diplomatic alternatives and make immediate and wise use of them while they still exist.
The Jerusalem Post criticizes restaurateurs who demand that the government allow them to import cheap labor from foreign countries, and states that cheap labor can end up being exceedingly expensive for Israeli society. When foreign workers fill a special niche, they can aid our economy while helping themselves. But importing restaurant workers to labor for exploitative wages simply leaves a bad taste in our mouths.
Yediot Ahronot relates to an Israeli Arab "monitoring committee" which holds that, "Your Independence Day is our disaster," and to an article by a local Israeli Arab editor, who claims that Israel is not his state. The editors believe that, "It is time correct the injustice of Israeli citizenship, which has been imposed upon Israeli Arabs against their will, including those who view the state as a 'disaster'."
[Kobi Niv and Elyakim Haetzni wrote today’s articles in Yediot Ahronotand Ma'ariv, respectively. Makor Rishon-Hatzofehwas unavailable today.]
(Courtesy of the GPO)
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