(Government Press Office)
Haaretz - http://www.haaretzdaily.com
Ma'ariv - http://www.maariv.co.il
Yediot Aharonot - http://www.ynet.co.il
Globes - http://www.globes.co.il
Jerusalem Post - http://www.jpost.com
Hazofeh - http://www.hazofe.co.il
Haaretz comments: "The involvement of Western countries, particularly European, in Holocaust commemoration is seen by Israel, among other things, as evidence of their desire to disassociate themselves from contemporary expressions of anti-Semitism at home. It can be added to a series of other measures, statements and gestures in the struggle against anti-Semitism that these countries have been waging recently... The legal and diplomatic steps taken recently by leading EU countries to suppress the wave of anti-Semitism are to be praised. However, the arena in which the success of these policies will be tested must not be forgotten. As long as Jews are afraid to reveal their Jewishness in public, as long as synagogues are defaced and cemeteries defiled, Europe will not be healed of this age-old disease."
The Jerusalem Post writes: "Neither Prime Minister Ariel Sharon nor Labor's Dalia Itzik were far off the mark in the invective they hurled at each other last week. Both were essentially telling the truth. The Likud side was correct in accusing Labor of crawling to the coalition and Labor in retorting that the Likud was chasing after them... Both large parties, on the evidence of these negotiations, appear to have lost their sense of priorities – and to have lost touch with much of their own histories, their ideologies, their pride. It is hard to reconcile the last few days' reality of petty haggling over cabinet posts with the history of venerable political groupings which once stood for clearly delineated sets of beliefs, and were ready to struggle and sacrifice for their doctrines."
Hatzofeh asks why tunnel-detecting equipment has not been stationed at all IDF outposts in the Gaza Strip. The editors urge the IDF to put more energy into discovering the tunnels and assert, “The public wants to know the reason for the intelligence failure, especially in light of the fact that it is so clear that IDF outposts are a target for tunnel attacks.”
Yediot Aharonot complains about the slow pace of infrastructure construction in Israel.
Yediot Aharonot, in its second editorial, says that “It is impossible to understate the diplomatic and economic importance,” of the Egyptian-Israeli agreement for mutual industrial cooperation. The editors note that a similar agreement with Jordan has proved very successful and has survived the last four years of intifada. The editors comment that, “Strengthening economic relations is not a substitute for peace, but it helps to establish it.”
[Sever Plocker wrote today’s editorials in Yediot Aharonot.]