(Israel Government Press Office)

Ma'ariv notes that the expense accounts went NIS 1.1 million over budget and says that the Prime Minister will find it hard to call on Israelis to tighten their belts and make sacrifices. The author notes that the budget included NIS 6,000 for scented candles and remarks that an Israeli worker who recently lost his factory job "sees, regarding his salary before he was kicked out of the labor force, that his Prime Minister is spending that amount on scented candles."

Yisrael Hayom deplores "the annual ritual of attacking Netanyahu," and claims that media outlets that support the Prime Minister's political opponents are orchestrating a campaign against him.

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Yediot Aharonot believes that "The interim agreement with Iran is a bad agreement and its basic weakness will certainly influence the format of the final agreement."  The author contends that "Israel must act to the best of its ability in order to influence the final agreement with Iran," but asks: "What is Israel's true ability to deal with the international arena without American support, especially given the expected diplomatic crisis over the Israeli-Palestinian issue?" The paper concludes: "It is reasonable to assume that the American-European partnership will table a diplomatic settlement of its own. Israel's ability to either refuse such a proposal or argue with it practically no longer exists. In light of the lessons of the past weeks, Israel would do well to hurry up and end the quarrel [with the Obama administration] as long as it has the ability to control the components of the agreement. A draft proposal put in front of Israel will limit its options for a response to 'Yes' or 'No' and the price of 'No' is liable to be very steep."

Haaretz criticizes the plan of the World Zionist Organization’s Settlement Division, part of the executive branch of the government, “to ‘Judaize the Galilee’ and create a ‘demographic balance’ vis-à-vis the Arab population.” The editor asserts that “The government must develop the Negev and the Galilee for all its citizens, Jews and Arabs alike,” and adds: “Anything else could further exacerbate the alienation already felt by Israeli Arabs citizens and escalate their protests.”

The Jerusalem Post discusses the string of violent demonstrations held over the weekend in protest against a plan to regulate Bedouin settlements in the Negev, and reflects that “The plight of the Bedouin has been neglected for too long.” The editor believes that this continued neglect has “helped create a state of lawlessness in the Negev, a territory which makes up over half of the entire area of the State of Israel,” and calls on the government to make every effort “to a reach a solution through dialogue and cooperation.”