1. POLICE INVESTIGATORS CONFISCATE NUMEROUS DOCUMENTS FROM BANK HAPOALIM TEL AVIV HQ
2. PERES: "NETANYAHU HANDCUFFED BY RIGHT-WING AND CANNOT ACHIEVE PEACE"
In closed talks, President said that Netanyahu must bring Kadima into coalition.
MA’ARIV
1. Liberman affair. Suspect in leak in interview:
"AN AMBASSADOR IS NOT A MAILMAN"
2. THE CUBAN MODEL
Foreign Ministry worried that UN Security Council will torpedo sanctions against Iran. The solution: Convince US to apply economic embargo.
YEDIOT AHRONOT
1. Suspicions against former Bank Hapoalim Chairman revealed
THE AREEST. THE DEA. THE INVESTIGATION.
2. "MABHOUH AFFAIR INVESTIGATORS EMBROILED IN TEL AVIV HIT-AND-RUN"
YISRAEL HAYOM
1. DANNY DANKNER'S ENTANGLEMENT
2. BOOMERANG: AUSTRALIANS CAME TO INVESTIGATE PASSPORTS AND CAUSED AN ACCIDENT IN TEL AVIV
They hit a bicyclist – and did not come to her assistance.
WALLA!
1. SECURITY FORCES DEMOLISH STRUCTURES NEAR HEBRON
At 02:00, security forces assembled at Mitzpe Avihai outpost and demolished four structures on site. Settler: They won't break us. We will fill the hilltops with more outposts and structures.
2. CAB DRIVER SHOT AT PALESTINIANS WHO TRIED TO ROB HIM
Taxi driver, who was attacked in the Rosh Ha'ayin industrial zone, succeeded in drawing his pistol and shooting at two Palestinians who reportedly attempted to rob him. One passenger was seriously injured, the other lightly; driver also lightly injured.
3. BROWN IN SUPPORT OF LIVNI: HE WILL HINDER ARREST WARRANTS
British Prime Minister will present Parliament with amended legislation obliging those who demand arrest warrants to present testimony beforehand.
4. HIT SQUAD? AUSTRALIAN HIT-AND-RUN
Three Australian federal police agents, who arrived in Israel to investigate passport fraud in al-Mabhouh Dubai elimination, are suspected of hitting bicyclist in Tel Aviv and not stopping to give assistance.
NANA10
1. REPORT: AUTRALIANS WHO ARRIVED TO INVESTIGATE PASSPOT FRAUD – WERE INVOLVED IN HIT-AND-RUN ACCIDENT
Australian news agency reported that federal police, who came to investigate the use of Australian passports in Dubai elimination, hit cyclist and did not stop to give assistance
[Headlines for Walla! and Nana10 are from their websites as of 09:50]
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SUMMARY OF OP-EDS FROM THE HEBREW PRESS
Two papers comment on the controversy over the recent elimination of senior Hamas terrorist Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh in Dubai:
Yediot Ahronot accuses those countries that are complaining about the misuse and forgery of their passports of hypocrisy and wonders if their intelligence services have ever used another country's passports. The author derides Dubai's police chief for calling for Mossad Director Meir Dagan's resignation and says that, "He should demand the resignations of his country's rulers over the fact that, under their very noses, 27 foreign agents came and eliminated a terrorist whom they had apparently been sheltering for years in their country."
Ma'ariv accuses the Dubai authorities of overlooking the fact that Al-Mabhouh, "used an official Iraqi passport, under a false identity," and attributes much of the Dubai police chief's frustration to his embarrassment at having been unable to either thwart the killing or apprehend the perpetrators. The author reminds her readers that, "The reading Arab public views the operation, which has been attributed to the Mossad and which the Israeli media hastened to brand as a failure, as a success."
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Yisrael Hayom notes that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad recently met in Damascus with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and the leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas. The author cites veteran Washington Post correspondent Howard Schneider, who wrote last Friday that, "'The presidents of Iran and Syria on Thursday ridiculed U.S. policy in the region,' and reaffirmed their alliance." The paper asserts that, "Contrary to the view that an Israeli-Syrian peace would detach Damascus from its alliance with Tehran, thereby resulting in a strengthened regional front against the Iranian nuclear project, it seems that the opposite is true, namely that only if America takes determined action, and soon, against Iran, whether as part of an international coalition or alone, will the balance of forces in the Middle East change to its benefit, will Iranian aspirations to regional hegemony be blocked, and – maybe – will the chances for peace between Israel and Syria be advanced." The paper doubts the efficacy of heightened sanctions and speculates that their failure will lead to the consideration of, "other options."
Nana10 suggests that Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Ministry information website, "is perhaps the Government's worst joke up until now," and adds that, "We recently discovered that even hundreds of information websites cannot repair the damage caused by the removal and addition of two lines in a list of 150 heritage sites." The author avers that, "There is no doubt that statements on our rights to the country are very important," but asks, "Is there anyone who thinks that the resulting uproar would have occurred even if the sites had been put into the list from the beginning and not as an afterthought?"
The Jerusalem Post commends IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi for removing an offending but very promising officer from service, and states that the civilian justice system pales in comparison to that of the military. The editor notes that "With a painful decision against a dedicated officer, Ashkenazi struck a blow against mendacity, arrogance and even, to a degree, stupidity, within the echelons under his jurisdiction."
Haaretz avers that every passing day that Avigdor Liberman serves as foreign minister only intensifies the national disgrace of his failed and inappropriate appointment. The editor states that Liberman's actions obligate the prime minister to remove him from office, and further calls on the state prosecutor to finish dealing with the Liberman case as soon as possible and decide if he should be put on trial.
[Noah Kliger, Linda Menuchin, Zalman Shoval and Amiad Taub wrote today’s articles in Yediot Ahronot, Ma'ariv, Yisrael Hayom and Nana10, respectively.]
