HA'ARETZ

1. COUNCIL FOR HIGHER EDUCATION EXPANDING INVESTIGATION INTO FAST-TRACK DEGREES AT ALL UNIVERSITIES

After Yair Lapid received doctorate without BA, rectors are being asked to provide information on special academic tracks.

2. SUSPICION BEING CHECKED THAT HEAD OF PM NETANYAHU'S BUREAU, NATAN ESHEL, HARASSED A FEMALE EMPLOYEE

3. FOR SECOND TIME, JOSEPH CEDAR EN ROUTE TO THE OSCARS: "FOOTNOTE" AMONG FIVE CANDIDATES

MA’ARIV

1. REPORT: ATTEMPTED ELIMINATION OF ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO AZERBAIJAN FOILED

Three suspects, one of them a resident of Iran, arrested with weaponry and ammunition in their possession. Official sources in Baku: Cell sought to avenge elimination of nuclear scientists – action that Tehran attributes to Israel.

2. CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION CHECKING WHETHER HEAD OF PM'S BUREAU, NATAN ESHEL, HARASSED A FEMALE EMPLOYEE. BUREAU: " MERE GOSSIP"

YEDIOT AHRONOT

1. EMBARRASSING IMBROGLIO

R., female employee at PM's Bureau, to be summoned to testify in coming days. At center of affair: Claims against Natan Eshel, Netanyahu's closest confidant, over embarrassing photographs and intrusion into emails. Sources in PM's Bureau: Gossip.

2. HOPE FOR ISRAELI OSCAR: "FOOTNOTE" IS A CANDIDATE

YISRAEL HAYOM

1. "ASSASSINATION OF AMBASSADOR TO AZERBAIJAN FOILED"

Report: Azerbaijan arrested suspects who were planning to attack Jewish targets, with Ambassador Michael Lotem first and foremost. Mysterious death in Iran: Four former senior Revolutionary Guards officials.

2. "NO BASIS TO CLAIMS AGAINST NATAN ESHEL"

According to Justice Ministry in wake of harassment claim.

3. "FOOTNOTE" CANDIDATE FOR OSCAR

Race of Oscar: Joseph Cedar's film candidate for Best Foreign Film.

WALLA!

1. MARWAN BARGHOUTI: ONLY WITHDRAWAL TO 1967 BORDERS WILL BRING END OF CONFLICT

NANA10

1. EU FOREIGN MINISTER URGING ISRAEL AND PALESTINIANS NOT TO NEGLECT ATTEMPT AT DIALOGUE IN JORDAN

[Headlines for Walla! and Nana10 are from their websites as of 13:55.]

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SUMMARY OF OP-EDS FROM THE HEBREW PRESS

The Jerusalem Post comments: "The impact of the EU decision - which includes a freeze on the assets of the Iranian central bank within the EU - was almost immediate: The Iranian currency, the rial, fell to record lows in black market trading against the dollar and there has been a surge in the prices paid by Iranians for basic goods. As Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu noted, the latest round of sanctions are indeed a 'step in the right direction,' making it increasingly expensive for Iran to continue with its nuclear program. Coupled with continued covert operations such as the assassination of nuclear scientists and cyber war attacks such as the Stuxnet, we hope that these sanctions will make a full-blown military attack on Iran unnecessary."

Yisrael Hayom believes that "Slowly, the West is understanding that a containment policy is necessary in the conflict with a spreading Islam, with the Shiites at the center." The author contends that "the cooperation [of the Europeans] is not full. The Europeans are packaging Iran with Palestine and the closer they move toward the Israeli position on Teheran, the more they demand a softening of positions toward Ramallah."

Haaretz comments: "Yesterday a new phase of Egyptian democracy began. For the first time in about 60 years, a parliament was sworn in, following free general elections, that reflects the authentic constellation of political forces in Egypt. Perhaps this isn't the parliament that the West, let alone Israel, was hoping for. The majority is in the hands of religious parties, some of which, such as the Salafis, hold radical views. That is the foundation of the democracy upon which the citizens of Egypt and their representatives are seeking to build their future. It's a democracy in need of help, both financial and diplomatic. Israel, which has been skittish over where its southern neighbor is headed, cannot divorce the fate of the peace treaty with Egypt from the fate of the peace process with the Palestinians. Egypt is now beginning to follow a new path, and it would be to Israel's benefit to get to know the contours of that road. Israel must initiate contacts and create opportunities when it comes to ties with the new government authority."

Yediot Ahronot responds to a woman protesting against the high cost of living in Israel by saying, "Whoever thinks like you that an arrangement with the Palestinians in unimportant, lives in a dangerous fantasy. With no agreement, or real progress towards one, another intifada will break out, the third, which will be worse than its predecessors. It will endanger your future and that of your children a thousand, thousand times more than the lack of competition at your supermarket chain and the real estate bubble."

Ma'ariv argues that, "The management of the affair of the sinking ship, like the sinking European and US economies, attests that perhaps our situation [in Israel] isn't so bad." The author notes that, "With us, the Lewinsky affair would have led to the President being fired, the stench of 'Whitewater' could have prevented the Clintons from being elected, and a 'Watergate' graduate President would have been prosecuted. That does not mean to say that we should be thrilled with ourselves, but perhaps the time has come to not get down on ourselves so much."

[Sever Plocker, Nadav Haetzni and Dan Margalit wrote today’s articles in Yediot Ahronot, Ma'ariv and Yisrael Hayom, respectively.]