(Israel Government Press Office)

Two papers discuss various issues regarding the 40th anniversary of the 1973 Yom Kippur War:

Ma'ariv says that in the initial stages of the war, "The media did not even try to check the veracity of the reports it received from the IDF Spokesperson, about our forces defeating the enemy forces with an iron hand," and adds: "None of the journalists told what was really happening in the field and how false the stories about how our forces were galloping toward a splendid victory." The author notes that this could not happen today, "both because the media has changed beyond recognition and because most soldiers have mobile devices on which they can tell the truth."

Yediot Aharonot notes that "Forty years ago one spoke about 'the Israeli-Arab conflict' but in the meantime the Arabs have become enmeshed in their internal wars and no longer have time for Israel. Therefore, today, it has become the 'Israeli-Palestinian' conflict, i.e. the conflict has shrunk. And those same Arabs known as Palestinians? They are divided among themselves between Judea and Samaria and Gaza, with no connection between these two different and hostile communities, and in Judea and Samaria itself they are divided and torn, influenced by the deadly spring around them. Luckily for them, the IDF and Israel guard them against the civil wars that beset the other Arab areas. Many of them already understand that an Arab state in Judea and Samaria is another illusion, one of many."
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Yisrael Hayom reminds US President Barack Obama that "Fifty-two years ago, world leaders John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev met in Vienna. The Russian gained the impression that the American was a lightweight and humiliated him. This erroneous assessment brought the world to the brink of nuclear confrontation due to the Soviet intention to station ballistic missiles in Cuba," and cautions that "Russia – communist and imperialistic alike – is looking for a weak point in its rival and does not miss an opportunity to make inroads." The author claims that Russian President Vladimir Putin is looking to expand his country's influence in the Middle East at a time when many doubt America's resolve, especially with the more conservative regimes and adds: "This is a dangerous development."

The Jerusalem Post comments on the Egyptian military’s crackdown on northern Sinai’s terrorists and Islamic fanatics, which “has flown under the radar of international media,” and notes that “what is happening in Sinai is nothing less than pivotal for the region – even if it does not generate headlines.” The editor states: “Cairo’s campaign against the Sinai-based terror mongers could be a game-changer or at least the harbinger of one,” and concludes: “The implications for Israel are profound.”

Haaretz praises US President Barak Obama’s “wise decision to back down on,” and commends the president’s preference of “diplomatic means over military ones.” The editor asserts that “The combination of contained military power and diplomatic leverage … is more practical than a military strike with no strategic follow-up plan,” and believes that this is a lesson that can be applied to the Iranian nuclear issue as well: “A broad international front – American, Russian and Chinese, without the prominence of Israel – must set realistic, not messianic goals and do so without the urge to pull the trigger, if it is to prod the Iranian leadership into making sober decisions.”

[Yael Paz-Melamed, Guy Bechor and Dan Margalit wrote today’s articles in Ma'ariv, Yediot Aharonot and Yisrael Hayom, respectively.]