(Israel Government Press Office)
Three papers discuss Wednesday's chemical weapons attack in Syria:
Ma'ariv believes that "The gas attack is not only a war crime by the Syrian military, it is a shame for the US," given President Barack Obama's statement from one year ago that the use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime would be a "red line," for the US. The author says: "This was a conscious decision by the Syrian President to make chemical weapons an inseparable part of his arsenal," and adds: "He has good reason: It has already been proven that the US's red lines are not even flexible – they are a joke." The paper suggests that "The truth is that the US is deterred by Russia, which has identified the American weakness and wants to reconstruct its days as a great power. The Russians are threatening that if the US or Europe enforces a no-fly zone over Syria or intervenes in the fighting in some other crude way, they will supply Assad with advanced S-300 anti-aircraft missiles. As opposed to the US, Russia has proven that it supports its allies to the end (even if they are almost a lost cause, like Bashar Assad)." However, the author adds, "The problem is that America's weakness is a big problem for us," and is concerned that "Israel, which has placed all its hope on the strength of the American empire, will yet pay for this weakness."
Yediot Aharonot asserts: "There is no chance that the horrific pictures from Syria will change US or European policy towards the bloody struggle because the tragedy of Syria is that it is not an important enough country vis-à-vis Western interests," and contends: "As long as American interests in the region are not threatened, i.e. as long as the crisis does not threaten Jordan's stability and does not endanger its allies Turkey and Israel, the Syrians can continue to destroy and slaughter each other unhindered." The author says: "The Syrian military is firing chemical weapons at its people because it can, and because it receives backing from Russia and Iran," and concludes: "This is the lesson that the world must learn from yesterday's events: There is no reward and punishment and countries do not go to war for humanitarian reasons, and what determines things is cold interests."
Yisrael Hayom believes that "The Americans are in favor of Bashar Assad's fall, but are not prepared to lift a finger. Well, maybe a finger but nothing more, and the civil war in Syria is becoming more and more of a global problem. To historians, it recalls the Spanish Civil War, which was a kind of preliminary to World War II." The author refers to events in Egypt and says: "What can be said about the fire being used by the Egyptian military against the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing compared to what is happening on the outskirts of Damascus," and adds: "If the world is silent, the message will be especially sharp. This means that mass slaughter is again not in the realm of the forbidden and the impossible."
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The Jerusalem Post comments on the hounding and persecution of Egypt’s Christians by Muslim Brotherhood supporters, and points out that “Dozens of churches, monasteries and schools have been ransacked during the past few weeks.” The editor notes that “Incredibly, all this appears to pass right under the radar of Western media. Ostensibly undetected and barely reported, anti-Christian drives stand out as yet further illustrations of mind-boggling selectivity by the press overseas.” The editor states: “The one steadily growing Christian community in the Middle East is to be found in much-maligned little Israel,” and declares: “Only under Jewish sovereignty are Christians safe and free from serial terror and harm.”
Haaretz uses a petition by a homosexual couple to the High Court of Justice to allow them to undergo a surrogacy procedure in Israel, which according to law is only permitted for married, heterosexual couples, to illustrate “the extent to which the health and the legal systems in Israel are not in synch with the cultural and social changes in Israel and the Western world.” The editor states: “In Israel, as in the Western world, recognition is growing of the right to family life of individuals and couples who are not heterosexual,” and asserts: “The state must treat all couples equally and make regulatory legal practices, including those of the Health Ministry, subservient to this fundamental stand.”
[Amir Rappaport, Alex Fishman and Dan Margalit wrote today’s articles in Ma'ariv, Yediot Aharonot and Yisrael Hayom, respectively.]