1. SUPREME COURT BEGINS INFORMATION CAMPAIGN. PRESIDENT BEINISH TO HA'ARETZ: PUBLIC DOES NOT UNDERSTAND US.
2. NOAM SHALIT AT UN: MY SON IS A HOSTAGE, NOT A CAPTIVE.
Noam Shalit, father of abducted soldier Gilad Shalit, testified yesterday in Geneva before UN's Goldstone Committee, which is investigating sides' conduct during IDF operation in Gaza. Shalit appealed to residents of Gaza: "You know that release of my son is key to advancing peace. Your leaders tell you that he is a prisoner of war. I say that he is a hostage."
3. After massive arrest of refugees over the weekend.
IMMIGRATION AUTHORITY INSPECTORS: HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS ARE HARASSING US.
MA’ARIV
1. Grocers are satisfied.
CAPITULATION WITHOUT VAT.
Netanyahu surrenders, rescinds decision to levy VAT on fruits and vegetables and did not miss opportunity to publicly humiliate his Finance Minister.
YEDIOT AHRONOT
1. HE CAPITULATED.
He promised, he committed and he broke: Thus Netanyahu was compelled to backtrack on intention to levy VAT on fruits and vegetables. Steinitz: I was not the one who capitulated.
YISRAEL HAYOM
1. Netanyahu: I am attentive to the public mood. Opposition: PM capitulated.
NO VAT ON FRUITS AND VEGETABLES.
At the last minute, over Steinitz's objections, Netanyahu cancelled the tax. His bureau: There was a majority for the tax but this is a values-based decision. Mixed reactions in political establishment. Labor and Shas commend decision. Kadima: On the attack. Chairman of Knesset Finance Committee: Levying tax was a mistake; praises its cancellation.
2. BARAK AND MITCHELL: EN ROUTE TO ADVANCING "REGIONAL PEACE."
FM Liberman explains why DM is conducting diplomatic move: As a settler, I would be liable to torpedo the negotiations.
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SUMMARY OF EDITORIALS FROM THE HEBREW PRESS
Yediot Ahronot declares that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, "ate the salad that he himself prepared." The author suggests that, "The humiliation that took place last night when Netanyahu appeared before the cameras, changed his position (for the third time in one day), and announced the cancellation of the decision to levy VAT on fruits and vegetables – any rookie adviser could have foreseen. And if Netanyahu has anyone to blame, it is only himself." The paper says that, "What is frustrating is that while his decisions are – in the end – correct, he reaches them almost too late. Instead of going to Washington with his agreement to a demilitarized Palestinian state, he needed the American administration's cold shoulder and Obama's speech to come out with his diplomatic plan. Thus it was with his exaggerated generosity to Liberman and his budgetary surrender to [Histadrut Chairman] Ofer Eini as well…This is the man who will need to decide about Iran."
Ma'ariv derides Irish Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Corrigan-Maguire who was recently detained – and subsequently released – when she and other international activists attempted to breach the naval blockade on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and asserts that, "Of all the injustices in the world, and there are many, she is bent on identifying with a population that elected a strongly anti-Semitic movement, the goal of which is the destruction of Israel, and whose charter is based on the Protocols of the Elders of Zion." The author scores the silence of left-wing activists over recent events in Iran and speculates that, "Neither global justice nor the genuine suffering interests them. They have only one obsession – Israel."
Yisrael Hayom says that, "The statement that Mitchell and Barak issued yesterday after their lengthy talks in London indicates a mutual inclination towards dialogue that will come to fruition only when the American envoy meets with the Prime Minister." The author notes the opposition within the Likud to restrictions on construction in the settlements and suggests that the Government might find it difficult to cope with the aforesaid internal opposition unless, "there are calming signs in the form of steps toward normalization in the Arab countries' relations toward Israel."
The Jerusalem Post finds US Vice President Joe Biden's remarks regarding Israel's right to defend itself somewhat condescending, and feels that the Obama administration appears hesitant to see the Iranian regime for what it is. The editor states that "rather than subcontracting the safeguarding of American, Western and Arab interests in keeping the bomb out of Iran's clutches - and being left to eventually face down Iran on our own - what Israelis would prefer is concerted US leadership now."
Haaretz urges caution in choosing Supreme Court justices, and notes that " Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his partners on the right have set themselves the goal of 'conquering' that fortress of Israeli democracy, the Supreme Court." The editor is pleased to note, however, that the Knesset has passed an amendment that calls for broad agreement in the selection of Supreme Court justices, thus ensuring that worthy and expert justices will be selected, without marking them as right, left or center.
[Sima Kadmon, Ben-Dror Yemini and Dan Margalit wrote today’s articles in Yediot Ahronot, Ma'ariv and Yisrael Hayom, respectively.]
(Courtesy of Israel GPO)
