(Israel Government Press Office)
Ma'ariv discusses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's announcement yesterday that he would not be appointing former Likud minister Moshe Kahlon as head of the Israel Land Administration, as he promised two days before last January's election, ostensibly because the election results were not as he had hoped. The author suggests that the original idea to appoint Kahlon to head the ILA was always "quasi-imaginary," and speculates that for his part, Kahlon never really wanted the job since he very much doubts the ability of the ILA Chairman to significantly affect housing prices and feared the position would be a political albatross around his neck. The author suspects that the Likud has hardly heard the last from Moshe Kahlon and concludes: "The Likud senior leadership is watching with concern."
Yediot Aharonot comments on the motion against the new law to prevent infiltration from Africa that is now pending before the High Court of Justice: "It is not our national existence that the foreigners are threatening from time to time, but the civil existence of the residents of the weaker neighborhoods and cities. The foreign workers are human beings, not objects and not goods to be shipped in containers. But neither are the residents of [poorer] neighborhoods lab rats for human rights activists. The realization of universal rights should grate on and trouble those with consciences if they are carried out on the stooped backs of those who are neglected and forgotten by society. Sensitivity for the far away and obtuseness for the close at hand, refinement and preening, these are the feelings that liberal and left-wing circles are leaving with the weaker strata who usually pay them back at the ballot box."
Yisrael Hayom criticizes outgoing EU Ambassador to Israel Andrew Stanley's recYisrael Hayom ent remark that Israel "must choose between Hebron and Haifa." The author replies that soon Europe "will have to choose between London and Mecca." The paper notes that there are initiatives in Europe to label all Israeli goods originating in Judea and Samaria and says that they are "a mark of Cain for a Europe which cannot identify the true dangers that threaten it." The author concludes: "I propose the goods be marked with a logo featuring [Neville] Chamberlain's umbrella."
Haaretz is skeptical of the ability of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to advance the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, despite his intensive efforts, and asserts: “American mediation is not the last chance, but it is the last chance under comfortable circumstances. Israel should realize negotiations are with the Palestinians, not the U.S.”
The Jerusalem Post discusses the reunification of Jerusalem 46 years after the outbreak of the Six Day War, and notes “Jerusalem has never before in its long life flourished so astoundingly.” The editor comments that “Never have so many Jews lived in Jerusalem in relative harmony and security alongside a diverse non-Jewish population. And never before have the religious rights of all been so carefully protected,” and adds: “Israelis are rightly wary of endangering all this.”
[Shalom Yerushalmi, Amnon Abramovich and Dror Eydar wrote today’s articles in Ma'ariv, Yediot Aharonot and Yisrael Hayom, respectively.]