(Government Press Office)
Haaretz states that while Prime Minister Olmert has declared that a constitution is one of his government's main goals, the justice minister is submitting a bill to the Ministerial Committee on Legislation today that would effectively eviscerate any future constitution. In light of that, the editor concludes, the prime minister must decide whether his goal of enacting a meaningful constitution takes priority over Minister Friedmann's poorly thought out legislative initiative.
The Jerusalem Post criticizes the decision of the Culture Ministry to drastically reduce funding of the Academy of the Hebrew Language, which falls under its jurisdiction, and to establish a parallel Academy for the Arabic Language. To thoughtlessly injure Hebrew's unique institution, and fund a superfluous academy at its expense, is to strike a heavy and gratuitous blow at Israel's Zionist foundation - an ill-conceived, government-mandated blow that further undermines Israel's inherent Jewish character and that should be reversed.
Yediot Aharonot declares that 'It is possible to eliminate the phenomenon of violence in areas near nightclubs – a massive police presence financed by the business owners," and adds that "Tel Aviv's experience proves that this works."
Ma'ariv notes that Friday, November 2nd was the 90th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration and says that "The Balfour Declaration diverted history and made the hitherto marginal Zionist idea a real option in world politics." The editors believe that "The Balfour Declaration was not designed to serve Britain's political interests," since it damaged those interests and suggest that it had to more with Christian messianism.
[Ze'ev Shahor and Gadi Taub wrote today’s articles in Yediot Aharonot and Ma'ariv, respectively.]