(Israel Government Press Office)
Ma'ariv says that the EU's decision to blacklist the military wing of Hezbollah complements the IDF's ongoing efforts "to exploit Hezbollah's entanglement in the Syrian civil war in order to undermine its position in Lebanon." The author suggests that the EU decision is the least of the organization's troubles given that "It is up to its neck in the Syrian civil war, is losing hundreds of its best fighters and is under severe criticism in Lebanon."
Yediot Aharonot suggests that it is as yet unclear how the EU will enforce its decision to bar cooperation with Israeli entities from Judea and Samaria, the Golan Heights or eastern Jerusalem. The author notes that Israel is a key investor in several of the EU's showcase research and development programs – 600 million Euros in the 'Horizon' project alone – and ventures that "If the Europeans insist on affixing yellow stars to certain Israeli institutions and verifying where every researcher lives, the state should invest these large sums directly in research at our own universities."
Yisrael Hayom believes that agreeing to hold a referendum on a peace agreement with the Palestinians will, in effect, open a Pandora's Box to the detriment of Israel's system of representative democracy, in which our leaders will urge the holding of referendums on all sorts of divisive issues. The paper also says that there will be those rabbis, on the right, who will assert that the people lack the authority to give up any part of the Land of Israel.
The Jerusalem Post discusses the outdated management policies and other ills afflicting the Israel Broadcasting Authority, and states: “The timing is ripe for a radical rethinking of the mission of public broadcasting in the Jewish state of the 21st century.” The editor believes that “a new and improved IBA could raise the standards of commercial Israeli television,” and urges Communications Minister Gilad Erdan to “seize the opportunity and create a dynamic, creative, intelligent public television station.”
Haaretz comments on the bill being promoted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that would require a referendum on any diplomatic agreement with the Palestinians as well as on Economy Minister Naftali Bennett's efforts to turn the existing referendum law into a Basic Law, and asserts: “It's clear that the motivation behind the current initiative - which Bennett is promoting aggressively, including by threatening to quit the coalition - is to constrain the cabinet and Knesset, and make it harder to reach an agreement with the Palestinians.” The editor adds: “Israel's system of government is representative democracy. In this system, the people elect representatives whose most important job is to make difficult decisions on the basis of the mandate they received from the people. Making an exception for critical decisions like signing a peace agreement shows that the prime minister is fleeing responsibility,” and concludes: “Netanyahu must begin and conduct negotiations in the full knowledge that he and the government he heads are authorized to make important decisions on behalf of the nation that, just a few months ago, elected them to lead it.”
[Amir Rappaport, Dr. Eli Even and Dan Margalit wrote today’s articles in Ma'ariv, Yediot Aharonot and Yisrael Hayom, respectively.]