(Israel Government Press Office)

Yediot Aharonot reminds its readers that "Russia is a superpower," and adds: "Superpowers have degrees of freedom all their own. Take, for example, the Chinese invasion of Tibet: The Chinese occupation was an action far more brazen and deplorable than Putin's occupation of Crimea. Nevertheless, the enlightened world has accepted it. It did not accept the occupation of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein. More than a few Israeli politicians are jealously monitoring Putin and what he is doing to Ukraine. Why not us? Why can't we occupy Gaza tomorrow morning or annex the West Bank? They should relax: It still isn't clear if Putin will emerge victorious from his power move in Ukraine, but even if he does, we will not learn from his example. Our Putins should recall the warning given to those watching a circus show: Don't try this at home."

Yisrael Hayom dismisses the American and European sanctions against Russia as "Too little, too late," and suggests that: "The Russian bear has already swallowed the Crimean peninsula as if it were a jar of honey." The author doubts whether the EU will take any meaningful steps due, in part, to the dependence of several of its member states on Russian natural gas.

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Haaretz deplores PM Netanyahu’s decision to impose a gag order on the comptroller’s report on Israel’s treatment of asylum seekers, and believes it is because “The Israeli government’s motivation and the actions it is taking, which are legitimized by the attorney general, contravene international agreements to which Israel is a party.” The editor concludes: “If the government of Israel’s behavior toward the asylum seekers were decent, humane and also legal, there would have been no need to conceal it or change its description.”

The Jerusalem Post discusses labor sanctions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and notes that “A year of negotiations and seven months of mediation supervised by a former labor court judge have yielded no results in the Foreign Service labor dispute.” The editor notes that as “it appears that the Finance Ministry officials have little respect or appreciation for our Foreign Service personnel, it should come as no surprise that during all the time that mediation and negotiations have dragged on, no substantial dialogue or communication has taken place,” and calls on Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman to take direct action to resolve the dispute. Attesting to the hardships of life for Israeli diplomats, the editor suggests that the best way to show much-deserved appreciation to the Foreign Service personnel is to “update salaries in the Foreign Ministry, provide economic compensation to the spouses of diplomats and take steps to lift the trampled morale of Foreign Service workers.”
 
[Nahum Barnea and Boaz Bismout wrote today's articles in Yediot Aharonot and Yisrael Hayom, respectively. There was no print edition of Ma'ariv today.]