(Israel Government Press Office)
Ma'ariv commends recent legislation providing for greater representation of women on the committee that selects rabbinical court judges and predicts that it will have positive implications for other public bodies. The author notes: "One must point out the beauty of the fact that the most advanced expression of the obligation for fair representation of women is to be found in legislation dealing with religion-and-state issues."
Yediot Aharonot discusses the election of Hassan Rohani as Iran's next president and suggests that "Even Rohani's most liberal supporters do not believe that his election will lead to Western-style democracy." The author contends that "Despite the continuing repression, the young Iranians who voted for Rohani are determined to find their own way in the world, neither according to dictates from the US and the West nor as sheep blindly following the orders of conservative clerics. Even if they oppose the current regime, they do not aspire to create in Iran a European-style state. It is possible that the course the young Iranians have chosen for their country will be good for Israel, it could be that it will be very bad – but it will be local and unique."
Yisrael Hayom reminds its readers that Economy Minister Naftali Bennett recently dismissed the idea of the two-state solution and says that he has thus joined Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon in publicly undercutting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's avowed policy. The author believes that such remarks greatly impair the Government's credibility abroad and wonders: "Why are ministers and MKs expressing themselves in a way that saws through the premise upon which Netanyahu is conducting the preliminary negotiations?" The paper replies: "Short-sightedness, not only from their perspective, but also from the perspective of their desire to maintain the coalition. In the end, they are cutting the branch they are sitting on. This is a steep price for big, but fleeting, headlines.”
Haaretz is incensed by the innocuously named bill “Rights of Those Who Contribute to the State Law” that was approved last Sunday by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, and claims that it is “one of the most dangerous bills ever approved by the ministerial committee.” The editor states that the bill “would essentially legalize discrimination against groups that are already weak and excluded,” and asserts: “This bill should be buried quickly, because if not, it will be another brick in the Israeli apartheid wall.”
The Jerusalem Post comments on the battle being waged over who will be appointed Chief Rabbi of Israel, and notes that “Rabbi Ovadia Yosef’s diatribe against Rabbi David Stav follows in a long tradition of intra-rabbinic nastiness.” The editor states: “Instead of providing more opportunities for rabbis to bicker by maintaining a large, state-funded Chief Rabbinate, we should think of ways of limiting to a minimum the functions of the Chief Rabbinate, and concludes: “Perhaps we should even think seriously about doing away altogether with the post of chief rabbi. Judaism would be better off for it.”
[Adi Blotner, Yoni Shedmi and Dan Margalit wrote today’s articles in Ma'ariv, Yediot Aharonot and Yisrael Hayom, respectively.]