The Jerusalem Post remarks on the contrast between the visit to Washington of Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, which took place a few days prior to that of PM Netanyahu, and states: “The difference could not be more striking. Netanyahu, who spares no effort to combat terrorism, was persona non grata. Yet Tamim, whose country financially underpins some of the region’s worst bad-guys, was greeted with the pomp and circumstance typically reserved for the closest ideological soul mates.” The editor notes “There was no shadow of a hint of displeasure with Qatar’s chumminess with the most extreme of jihadists, nor with its appalling human rights record,” which were assiduously overlooked in the efforts “to shower tributes on Tamim as America’s darling,” while Netanyahu, conversely, “was vehemently disparaged as a brazen gatecrasher.”
Haaretz confronts the uncontained and violent behavior of thugs associated with right-wing parties who physically attacked female politicians at a recent political conference, and states: “As long as the heads of these right-wing parties fail to denounce, renounce and expel these zealots, they are their partners. The parties are responsible for the riotous behavior.” The editor asserts: “A political conference must not become a dangerous challenge for the participants,” and declares: “The fact that Israel’s right-wing parties compete among themselves for the most extreme campaign messages doesn’t legitimize the lawlessness that occurred [at the event].”
Yediot Aharonot asserts: “Netanyahu talks the talk, but that's it.” The editor contends that over the last six years, the prime minister has “burned all ties; he screwed up every connection; he eroded his own personal legitimacy and ours from an international point of view,” and states: “The prime minister didn't want Israel to become an apartheid state, but on his watch it is becoming entrenched as such; he didn't want a nuclear Iran, but on his watch it is becoming just that.”
Yisrael Hayom asserts: “anyone who dismisses or underestimates the value of congressional support for Israel, on the Iranian issue as well as others, clearly has no understanding of the American political arena,” and states that “most of the Democrats, and nearly all the Republicans in both houses understand that the Iranian issue is a very problematic one, and that the way the U.S. is conducting the negotiations with Iran will likely lead to a bad deal.” Despite this, and despite the very real alternatives advocated by PM Netanyahu, the author notes that “the American response to Netanyahu's speech has been disappointing,” and adds: “Even some on the more liberal side of the American political map would agree.”
[Amnon Abramovich and Yaakov Amidror wrote today's articles in Yediot Aharonot and Yisrael Hayom, respectively.]