HA’ARETZ
1. EGYPTIAN SOURCES: ISRAEL HAS NOT CONDITIONED CALM ON SHALIT RELEASE.
2. Olmert investigation.
STATE PROSECUTOR: PM RECEIVED ENVELOPES WITH DOLLARS.
3. APPROVED ON FIRST READING: UP TO FIVE YEARS' IMPRISONMENT FOR ALL INFILTRATORS; SEVEN YEARS FOR INFILTRATORS FROM DARFUR.
MA’ARIV
1. Last night: Olmert underwent MRI at Hadassah. Today: Decision on Talansky deposition.
WAITING FOR THE SUPREME COURT.
Both PM and his Government and Knesset rivals waiting for judges' decision. Estimated in Kadima and Labor: Revelation of evidence likely to increase public pressure that will compel Olmert to resign earlier than expected.
2. BURNING THE NEW TESTAMENT.
Or Yehuda, 2008: Deputy Mayor fights 'missionaries' – and burns hundreds of copies of the New Testament.
YEDIOT AHRONOT
1. State Prosecutor: PM suspected of receiving cash from Talansky.
OLMERT: I AM READY TO BE INVESTIGATED ON FRIDAY.
PM's attorneys delivered possible date for investigation shortly after Olmert underwent imaging test on prostate tumor. Today or tomorrow: Decision on appeal against deposing Talansky.
[MAKOR RISHON-HATZOFEHwas unavailable today.]
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SUMMARY OF EDITORIALS FROM THE HEBREW PRESS
Ma'ariv asserts that Defense Minister Ehud Blew missed two opportunities to pull the Labor Party out of the Government – after he was elected to head the party and following the publication of the Winograd Committee's final report – and is now paying for it, given recent polls that show Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is more popular with Labor voters than he is and which point to a victory for the Likud. The editors criticize the Defense Minister for failing to build himself up as an alternative leader and suggest that he has painted himself into a political corner.
The Jerusalem Post discusses support of Israel by Diaspora Jews, and their tendency to form varying opinions regarding Israeli policies, restating what to the editor is obvious: "No gatekeeper stifles criticism of Israeli policies among US Jews. There are no risks, not on the Left or on the Right, in proffering advice to Israel from the Diaspora. All one needs is lots of hubris."
Haaretz criticizes the behavior of the breakaway Pensioners MKs who have made a laughingstock of themselves in recent weeks by apparently selling their seats to billionaire Arcadi Gaydamak, and cautions future voters, stating they must make a choice among the known parties that offer complete platforms, even if it sometimes seems like a choice among many bad options.
Yediot Ahronot discounts the possibility that anyone from Kadima will be able to establish a government and believes that early elections are increasingly likely. The editors suggest that Defense Minister Ehud Barak is not pulling the Labor Party out of the Government immediately because either a major policy move, such as against the Iranian nuclear threat or the unending Kassam fire at the western Negev, or because he wants to bolster Labor's image and public standing first. The paper ventures that the foregoing smacks of the same opportunism that led the Defense Minister to backtrack on his promise to withdraw from the Government following the publication of the Winograd Committee's final report.
[Amos Carmel and Shalom Yerushalmi wrote today’s articles in Yediot Ahronotand Ma'ariv, respectively. Makor Rishon-Hatzofehwas unavailable today.]
