MA’ARIV
1. LEAK THAT EMBARRASSED THE EDUCATION MINISTRY
2. DOWNGRADING OF PRISONER CONDITIONS: MEDIATOR CHANGED HIS MIND, MINISTERS WERE CONVINCED AND GAVE THEIR APPROVAL
Hagai Hadas claimed in the committee that the pressure on Hamas prisoners would not hurt Shalit negotiations, and thus paved the way for proposal's approval.
YEDIOT AHRONOT
1. MATRICULATION EXAM STOLEN
YISRAEL HAYOM
1. Storm over attack by Minister Moshe Yaalon against lecturers.
"ACADEMIC ELEMENTS ARE UNDERMINING OUR EXISTENCE"
Yaalon spoke to reserve soldiers at Open University. "In the battle against Israel's legitimacy, domestic radical or naïve forces have united." "They view the conflict as solely a matter of human rights."
2. "EQUALIZING OF CONDITIONS" BETWEEN HAMAS AND SHALIT
That is crux of law that was approved by the Ministerial Committee on Legislation. It will be brought to the Knesset in two days.
3. HOME FRONT EXERCISE: "BEST FOR PUBLIC TO KNOW - AND CE PREPARED"
Home front will test functioning of local authorities. Netanyahu reassures: There is no intention to start a war in the north.
WALLA!
1. ATTY. FELDMAN: "KAM WAS PROMISED SHE WOULD NOT STAND TRIAL.
Discussion in Anat Kam trial held in Tel-Aviv District Court.
2. PASSPORT FORGERIES: AUSTRALIA TO EXPEL ISRAELI DIPLOMAT
Australian Foreign Minister announces that his government has ordered the expulsion of a senior Israeli embassy official in Canberra for Israel's use of Australian passports in the alleged assassination of senior Hamas figure Al-Mabhouh.
NANA10
1. PRESIDENT'S BUREAU: PUBLICATION THAT NUCLEAR ARMS WERE OFFERED TO SOUTH AFRICA UNFOUNDED
Documents revealed by The Guardian provide evidence about meeting between Peres and South African defense minister in the 70s, in which nuclear warheads were offered for sale during the apartheid regime. Peres' Bureau: "We intend to issue a sharp letter about it to The Guardian editorial board and demand publication of the facts."
2. "ANOTHER EXCUSE FOR LIBEL AGAINST ISRAEL MUST NOT BE PROVIDED"
Stormy Knesset debate on Arab MKs' visit to Libya and call to rescind their immunity.
[Headlines for Walla! and Nana10 are from their websites as of 11:05. The print edition of Ha'aretz was unavailable today.]
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SUMMARY OF OP-EDS FROM THE HEBREW PRESS
Two papers discuss the Ministerial Committee on Legislation's decision yesterday to advance draft legislation that would worsen conditions under which Hamas security prisoners are held as long as abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit remains in captivity:
Yediot Ahronot commends the Committee's decision as, "important and dramatic," and believes that, "The only way to change anything substantive in the static situation in which we have become stuck on the Shalit issue is to press the prisoners so that they will press their leaders." The author believes that the lack of a unified leadership within Hamas and the impossibility of freeing Shalit by force have left Israel with no choice but to apply pressure and urges anyone who opposes the application of pressure on Hamas security prisoners to consider the conditions under which Gilad Shalit is being held.
Yisrael Hayom avers that, "Special and harsh circumstances lead to special and harsh laws." The author suggests that, "Determining severe restrictions via legislation and applying them carefully and with sagacity, to each individual case, is likely to pass legal muster," and adds that, "Only time will tell if the new legislation, if it is approved, will prove not only just but prudent as well."
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Ma'ariv comments on the tenth anniversary of the withdrawal from southern Lebanon and declares that, "The main lesson for the future is that any disengagement, withdrawal or exit from areas in Judea and Samaria that is not accompanied by international agreement – is destined to fail."
The Jerusalem Post examines the radical transformation brought about to the IDF’s Chaplaincy Corps by IDF Chief Rabbi Brig.-Gen, Avichai Ronsky, during his four years of service, and notes that Ronsky's great contribution to the IDF and the State of Israel was in confronting people with the fact that without a solid belief in the fundamental righteousness of Jews’ demands for a state in the land of Israel, it is difficult to imagine Zionist continuity and it is nearly impossible to meet the myriad challenges faced by the Jewish state.
Haaretz discusses the inter-ministerial committee tasked with examining the status of migrant workers' children, which is scheduled to submit its report this week. The committee is expected to recommend that the government grant permanent-residence status to children who are currently enrolled in the state education system, and have been living in Israel for more than five years. The editor notes that if the interior minister accepts the report's proposals, "Israel will have taken advantage of an opportunity to rectify a long-standing injustice," and declares: "Israel must shed its parochial paranoia by developing a cogent and humane immigration policy that fulfills the biblical commandment as it relates to foreigners: “And he shall be as one that is born in the land."
[Hanoch Daoum, Amos Gilboa and Dr. Aviad Hacohen wrote today’s articles in Yediot Ahronot, Ma'ariv and Yisrael Hayom, respectively.]
