Ma'ariv comments on the appointment of Yael Andoran as Director-General of the Finance Ministry and notes "the gigantic task," that has been placed on her shoulders. The author reminds her readers that Andoran "is the first woman to break the thick glass ceiling in the Finance Ministry," and adds: "She paved the way with hard work."
Yediot Aharonot analyzes events on the Korean peninsula and suggests: "The North Koreans have nothing against us. They are simply looking for friends who are ready to pay for them for the judgment day toys that they are marketing without shame." The author says: "Even when the crisis is over it will have a very bad lesson for us. Iran's rulers are studying the picture: On the one hand, what happened to Moammar Khadafy – he agreed to give up his nuclear weapons project in return for Libya's being reaccepted into the family of nations. If he had had nuclear weapons when the disturbances broke out in his country, there is no doubt that NATO would not have intervened there and it could be that Khadafy would still be in power. On the other hand – North Korea, which developed nuclear weapons and thanks to them has managed to blackmail the West and impose terror on its neighbors. From Iran's point-of-view, the necessary conclusion is that there is nothing like a nuclear bomb to ensure the survival of the regime, and this is the only thing that, in the end, interests the ayatollahs."
Yisrael Hayom discusses Amira Hass's recent article in Ha'aretz, entitled "The inner syntax of Palestinian stone-throwing", in which she wrote – inter alia – that "Throwing stones is the birthright and duty of anyone subject to foreign rule." The author characterizes the decision to run the article as expressing "the degeneration – to the point of complete paralysis – of the value of the free press in Israel," and says that it could play into the hands of those who would like to restrict freedom of expression in Israel.
Haaretz comments on the forthcoming visit of US Secretary of State John Kerry, who is hoping to kick-start the peace process, and asserts: “Israel’s government must take advantage of the short time frame to present clear stances, to dispel the convenient vagueness behind which it is hiding its lack of policy, and turn the phrase ‘two states for two peoples’ into practice.” The editor argues that with “the country’s standing among its friends crumbled to the point where some are ready to consider sanctions,” “Israel’s government will be committing a crime against its citizens if it lets this latest opportunity slip away.”
The Jerusalem Post refers to the sentence of Palestinian journalist Mamdouh Hamamreh for ‘insulting’ Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Facebook, and states: “The arbitrary manner in which anyone can be accused of injuring a leader’s honor – and the very fact that this at all constitutes a felony – is hardly conducive to fostering the public climate that would lead the populace to welcome and sustain democracy.” The editor adds: “Abbas has not faced his electorate for a long time and elections do not anyhow on their own suffice for democracy. Without undeviating devotion to fundamental freedoms, the façade of democracy is nothing but hollow hype.”
[Carmit Sapir Weitz, Ronen Bergman and Yaakov Ahimeir wrote today’s articles in Ma'ariv, Yediot Aharonot and Yisrael Hayom, respectively.]