June 1, Headlines
Sunday
HA’ARETZ
1. OLMERT AGREES TO PRIMARIES. SENIOR KADIMA OFFICIALS: BRING FOREWARD ELECTIONS.
Prime Minister requests to postpone decision on date of internal primaries until after Moshe Talansky's cross examination. Only then will he decide whether or not to compete for party leadership.
2. OLMERT TO INVESTIGATORS: "YOU UNFAIRLY TRIED TO MISLEAD ME."
3. ISRAEL TO EUROPEAN COUNTRIES: DON'T RUN TO DAMASCUS.
French President Nicholas Sarkozy called Syrian President Assad and said that, "France recognizes Syria's legitimate claim on Golan". Foreign Ministry concerned that this could be first harbinger of collapse of Syria's international isolation. Israeli ambassadors in Europe receive instructions to ask Europeans to treat Syrian requests carefully, "Until they appear to be serious".
4. DESPITE INVESTMENTS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, PROBLEMS DISCOVERED IN ANTHRAX VACCINES.
Senior official at Israel Institute for Biological Research warned of operational failures and was transferred from job.
MA’ARIV
1. Countdown has already begun.
[BARAK] DOESN'T WANT ELECTIONS IN NOVEMBER.
Labor Chairman downshifts. Four days after jump-starting election process, Barak grasps: Going to the ballot box in six months liable to be politically disastrous for him. The preferred option: Alternative government led by Livni or Mofaz.
YEDIOT AHRONOT
1. PM facing Barak and Livni in fight over ceasefire with Hamas.
TEST OF STRENGTH FOR OLMERT.
Prime Minister, Defense Minister and Foreign Minister conducting separate negotiation to achieve quiet in Gaza. Today in joint discussion, Olmert will try to show that his position is decisive, despite his political situation.
2. PM'S ATTORNEYS SEARCH FOR MATERIAL AGAINST TALANSKY.
3. OLMERT TO KADIMA: ACCELERATE PREPARATIONS FOR PRIMARIES.
4. SHARON'S "RANCH FORUM" FOR LIVNI.
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SUMMARY OF EDITORIALS FROM THE HEBREW PRESS
Ma'ariv asserts that, "In order to stop the tailspin into which we have become caught, a double process is needed – amending the political party financing law on the one hand and changing the procedures for investigating politicians on the other." Regarding the former, the editors advocate increasing both the amount of public financing and the size of permitted contributions. As to the latter, the paper supports changing the system in order, "to prevent a situation in which anyone who wants to harass a prime minister can bring about the opening of a criminal investigation and system paralysis." But the editors declare that, "Any reforms must be postponed until after the conclusion of the Olmert affair so that they are not seen as an attempt to save his skin. Afterwards, we must act."
Haaretz calls on the government not to accept the proposal to change makeup of the high court judicial selection committee, aims to change a long-standing tradition, as its only motivating factor is to harm the authority of the Supreme Court and to aggrandize the politicians' clout in selecting justices for the bench.
The Jerusalem Post discusses the situation of higher education in Israel in view of the universities threat not to open for the next academic year unless the reform plan proposed by Israel's Committee for Examining the Higher Education System, better known as the Shochat Committee, is implemented. The editor calls on the government to supply the universities with the means to nurture excellence, and halt the shortsighted squandering of Israel's brainpower, the country's unique asset and only natural resource.
Yediot Ahronot refers to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and suggests that, "In the current public situation, he has no chance of continuing in office as Prime Minister." The editors surmise that, "The elections train has already left the station and all that remains to be done now is fix the date," and add that, "Today's working assumption is November 2008 or early 2009." The paper cites the old adage that, "If we don't hang together, we'll hang separately," and declare that, "Today, this applies to both Kadima and Labor."
[Eitan Haber and Gadi Taub wrote today’s articles in Yediot Ahronotand Ma'ariv, respectively.]
(Courtesy of the GPO)
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