1. ISRAEL CHANGES POLICY: REQUESTS INFORMATION FROM SYRIA REGARDING MISSING SOLDIER GUY HEVER
Twelve years after soldier went missing on Golan Heights, Foreign Minister Liberman asks his Russian colleague to inquire with Assad as to his fate. Syrian President replied that he will check into the matter. Hever's mother: Netanyahu promised to appoint contact to centralize efforts.
MA’ARIV
1. SENIOR SECURITY SOURCE: "ISRAEL HAS REAL MILITARY OPTION AGAINST THE IRANIAN NUCLEAR REACTOR"
"Even if we act alone, we will be able to set back the Iranian bomb for some years", the security source believes. And in the meantime, the US is wavering on whether or not to invite Israel to Obama-initiated conference against nuclear proliferation.
2. ISRAELI YOUTH IN RHODES: WE WERE ATTACKED BY ARABS
YEDIOT AHRONOT
1. Tiberias and Jerusalem residents to pay more than Netanya and Ra'anana.
WATER DISCRIMINATION
YISRAEL HAYOM
1. CAPTURED: CELL THAT PLANNED TO KIDNAP ISRAELIS IN SINAI
Al-Qaida cell captured by Egyptian security forces. Manhunt after additional cell which infiltrated into Sinai from Gaza. NSC Counter Terrorism Bureau: Don't travel to Sinai.
2. Shalit deal.
ARAD RETURNS FROM CAIRO AND REPORTS ON NEGOTIATIONS
Forum of six senior ministers convened. "An Egyptian delegation will push the deal."
3. ISRAEL TOURISTS IN RHODES: WE WERE ATTACKED BY ARABS
Three Israelis who disembarked from ship told: We were robbed. The Israelis returned with reinforcements and counter-attacked.
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SUMMARY OF EDITORIALS FROM THE HEBREW PRESS
Yediot Ahronot notes that the American strongly oppose construction in the E-1 area next to Maaleh Adumim because this would not only link Ma'aleh Adumim to Jerusalem but would also interrupt the territorial contiguity of any future Palestinian state. Thus, the author urges the various MKs and ministers who have spoken out in favor of construction in the E-1 area next to Maaleh Adumim to keep quiet because they, "know the truth: There will be no construction in E-1."
Ma'ariv strongly criticizes Interior Minister and Shas Chairman Eli Yishai's request that President Shimon Peres pardon former Shas MK and minister, Shlomo Benizri, who was recently convicted and sentenced for bribery, fraud, breach of trust, obstruction of justice and conspiracy. The author says that he is, "shocked and repelled" by, "the gall that the head of a party, seven of who's former MKs have criminal convictions, could ask for such a pardon." The paper writes: "Nobody will deny the failures in dealing with Sephardi immigrants in the early years of the state, the discrimination that continued even afterwards and the gaps that were created. Shas's goal to fight against all of these is completely legitimate. The problem is that the party has apparently lost all restraint and thinks that anything goes in order to correct the discrimination and compensate for the past. One must exploit the state and take as much as possible from it, and – in the view of some – even break the law. And in Yishai's opinion, apparently, even expunge such misdeeds with a pardon."
Yisrael Hayom comments on the Fatah convention in Bethlehem and says that many of those who were elected to leadership positions – Marwan Barghouti, Jibril Rajoub, Muhammad Dahlan and Tewfik Tirawi, et. al. – rose to prominence during the first intifada. The author believes that Fatah's "new-old leadership," is trying, "to renew its appeal and embark on a new path," in its continuing struggle, not with Israel, but against Hamas."
The Jerusalem Post, concerned that the character of Jerusalem will change for the worse due to haredi extremism, declares: "Whether the issue is Shabbat parking, gender-segregated buses, or the equal application of the law, we urge authorities to hold firm. And we appeal to mainstream haredim, the majority of whom, we fervently trust, do not identify with the tactics of the extremists, to at least speak out for tolerance even if their consciences do not allow them to advocate pluralism."
Haaretz refers to the public dressing down administered to Nadav Tamir, Israel's consul general in Boston, after the publication of an internal memo in which Tamir warned of a crisis in Israel's relationship with the United States, and states that "Our prime and foreign ministers still prefer 'people who share our mind-set' and reject the existence of a professional civil service whose assessments differ from the politicians' orders and official propaganda." Adding that there is great danger in neutralizing the professionals and turning them into mouthpieces for the parties in power, the editor demands that "Netanyahu and Lieberman must allow the professionals to do their jobs."
[Eitan Haber, Avraham Tirosh and Prof. Eyal Zisser wrote today’s articles in Yediot Ahronot, Ma'ariv and Yisrael Hayom, respectively.]
