(Israel Government Press Office)

Ma'ariv expresses disappointment over the bill now being worked on by the Shaked Committee to ensure greater equality in "bearing the burden," and criticizes the fact that Israel still "budgets for and finances an educational system that thumbs its nose at the state." The author says: "Israel funds the avoidance of work. Change could have been, and needs to be, very simple: If you give, you get. No more budgets for an educational system that is opposed to, for example, the core curriculum. No more budgetary allocations for evaders."

Yediot Aharonot calls on Israel to place greater emphasis on the study of Arabic. The author believes that "In the Israeli reality, the lack of knowledge of Arabic is a fault," and cites the father of a soldier in his unit who said: "A young person must study the Bible and Arabic," because "The Bible is where we came from and Arabic is where we live."

Yisrael Hayom discusses yesterday's decision by the Bank of Israel to lower the interest rate by 0.25% to 0.75%, and says that Bank of Israel Governor Dr. Karnit Flug is seeking to "assist economic growth and strengthen the dollar," and to "prod the real estate bubble, which a worrying IMF report recently said had elements that are very dangerous to Israel's economic stability."

The Jerusalem Post believes that the large delegation of German ministers that accompanied Chancellor Angela Merkel on her current visit to Israel “is a gesture of the present German government’s commitment to the Jewish state.” The editor calls on Israelis to recognize that “After the US, Germany is probably Israel’s greatest ally,” and calls on German leaders to “combat the tendency among Europeans to single out Israel for special criticism.”

Haaretz is concerned by the government’s “obsession with Jewish zealotry,” and asserts: “It seems as if the Israeli government has no concerns other than to repeatedly reaffirm the Jewish identity of Israel.” The editor singles out Habayit Hayehudi chairman Naftali Bennett as a participant in this “shameless process,” and declares: “His obsession, shared by the current government, is to turn the Arab population into second-class citizens.”