Ma'ariv asserts that "The [recent] attack in Syria proved to the Iranians and to Hezbollah that Israel sees everything that they are doing," and ventures: "Now they will think very carefully if it pays for them to continue smuggling weapons." The author cites foreign sources that the surprise among those targeted was near total and that the attack "was measured, carried out according to very precise intelligence, well-timed [and] without civilian losses," and adds: "In order for deterrence to be credible, it must tell the enemy: We have the ability to strike you hard, we are determined to act and we have intelligence that gets us into your bedrooms."

Yediot Aharonot refers to the controversy over the fact that Prime Minister Netanyahu and his wife, on their recent five-hour flight to London for the funeral of the late Margaret Thatcher, enjoyed the comforts of a special private sleeping compartment that cost approximately NIS 450,000 to install.  The author, a senior adviser to former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, notes that the latter scorned the use of a similar compartment on his flights to the US and slept in his seat "like all of us." The author avers that "The sleeping compartment that was installed on a (relatively) short flight to London is nothing other than an infuriating waste of public funds during a time of economic crisis."

Yisrael Hayom notes that tomorrow, Shavuot, also marks the 72nd anniversary of the 1941 "Farhud" pogrom in Iraq, "in which 137 souls were murdered and hundreds were injured." The author reminds his readers that "The number of Jews who experienced on their flesh the history of the Jewish communities in Arab lands* is shrinking," and calls on the government to do more to commemorate their heritage, "so that we will not fall prey to Arab propaganda." The paper remarks that "One can assume that if Jews remained in the Arab countries, they would be punching bags in the current struggles in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Yemen and Syria."

* See http://www.jimena.org and http://www.justiceforjews.com

Haaretz discusses the expected cuts in defense expenditure in the forthcoming national budget, and asserts: “The economy is no less important than weaponry. A prudent defense budget will achieve higher security at lower cost.”

The Jerusalem Post discusses the recent victory for freedom of religious expression in Israel, and notes that for the first time in the 24 years since they began their campaign, “police were called in not to arrest the Women of the Wall, but to protect these women’s right to serve God the way they choose – complete with tallitot and tefillin and a public reading of the Torah.” The editor opines: “If we were to weigh the rights of the more zealous to protect themselves from outside influences and the rights of women to religious expression, the latter would unquestionably win out,” and asserts: “A democracy cannot tolerate the stifling of religious freedom, particularly when this freedom is expressed so innocuously with the wearing of tallitot and tefillin.”

[Amos Gilboa, Dov Weisglass and Tzvi Gabai wrote today’s articles in Ma'ariv, Yediot Aharonot and Yisrael Hayom, respectively.]