Israel Government Press Office
Yediot Aharonot refers to several recent incidents in which ordinary citizens and/or policemen either shot and killed criminals or were seriously injured by them as a result of not shooting them. The author declares that “Policemen and citizens who defend themselves and their property must receive legal and moral backing. It is preferable that Shai Dromi be alive, as opposed to the person who broke onto his property and endangered him. It is preferable that Shlomi Asoulin [comatose for four years after being stabbed in the neck by a car thief he chose not to shoot] be walking around among us freely and the thief who destroyed his life be in the Elysian Fields of car thieves.” The author also criticizes the 30-month jail sentence meted out by the Supreme Court to Hadera police detective Shahar Mizrahi for shooting a car thief in – what he claims to have been – an act of self-defense and asserts that “Isn’t the risk of injury a professional risk those who decide to steal, rob and endanger policemen and citizens take upon themselves? Isn’t this their fault?”
Ma’ariv reminds its readers that Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman recently proposed that “Israel completely disengage from the Gaza Strip and hand over dealing with that accursed place to the nations of the world.” The author explains that the Foreign Minister proposed that “Israel would no longer supervise imports and exports from Gaza and would assist in establishing power plants and desalination facilities, and in building housing for the residents, with the goal being world recognition that the occupation is over.” The paper says that at present, “Israel continues to determine life in the Gaza Strip and the world continues to see us as occupiers of the place,” and adds that “Liberman’s proposal would resolve exactly this and therefore, it has no chance.” The author believes that “Netanyahu is not Sharon; he will not embrace any brave and dramatic move that would put Israel in a different place than the one it is in now.”
Yisrael Hayom discusses the situation of Israeli wives when their husbands go off to annual reserve duty. The author points out that while their husbands are in the army, “The wife is obliged to continue with all of her previous responsibilities, with no discounts: Work, kids, school holidays, morning sickness and shopping,” and suggests – addressing Israeli men – that “Reserve duty is a necessary burden; you must go to reserve duty because the IDF needs you. What we ask is that you continue to hide from us the pleasant side; don’t tell us about the quintessential, formative Israeli experience that you have undergone. Leave home with drooped shoulders, answer the phone with a hoarse and cracking voice, and tell us that you’re starving because the field rations are disgusting. Your wives will thank you.”
The Jerusalem Post discusses the Supreme Court’s decision to double the prison time to which police detective Shahar Mizrahi was sentenced by the Central District Court for the for the manslaughter shooting of a car thief. The editor says that “When a ruling such as this one, even if it is in perfect accord with the letter of the law, violates the law’s spirit and egregiously offends ordinary folks’ notion of justice, it is – to put it mildly – counterproductive,” and adds that “A society that seeks to maintain law and order must ask itself who will protect it if the courts refuse to consider the special combat-like circumstances under which officers sometimes must make split-second life-and-death calls.” The editor feels that this incident will only serve to reduce the motivation of police personnel, a factor that will result in dire consequences for Israeli society, and suggests that President Peres step in to pardon Mizrahi.
Haaretz feels that the current Knesset is “A bad Knesset for Israel”, and states that “In both words and actions the MKs are undermining democracy’s fundamental values, making cynical, cheap use of parliamentary tools, dragging Israeli society to sectorial disputes and separatism, and isolating Israel from the world.”
[Gilad Sharon, Yael Paz-Melamed and Emily Amrousi wrote today’s articles in Yediot Aharonot, Ma’ariv and Yisrael Hayom, respectively.]
Who told Tibi?
Ahmed Tibi, Israeli MK and a maverick Jew-hater, told Arab journalists that Israel has 254 nuclear bombs.
Would someone give Tibi a polygraph test to reveal which of Israel’s top leaders leaked this ultra-secret information to him?
Show of force is just a show
Many commentators laud US aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf as somehow threatening Iran into halting its nuclear program.
The United States staged a much larger military show in the East Sea: an aircraft carrier, two hundred aircraft, 8,000 troops in joint maneuvers with South Koreans. Of course, the exercise would have no effect on North Koreans whatsoever. Like Iranians, they know that the American military behemoth lacks the willpower to smash their nuclear installations.
Israel to the world: please guard our borders
Expecting an ugly confrontation with all-female boats from Lebanon, Israeli government implored its foreign counterparts to pressure Lebanon into stopping its boats.
The act of sending boats into Israeli naval blockade zone violates the ceasefire our country had signed with Lebanon. As such, it is an act of war. Israeli Navy can damage the boats and either evacuate the wet females, or let the boats drift until towed away.
BoI: Arabs are so much better than Jews
Bank of Israel governor Fischer has let loose a diatribe against haredim. According to him, 70% of haredim are unemployed. Which is not true: many are employed in the black market economy. Also, there is no economic difference between a haredi woman being employed as say, a kindergarten teacher, and a mother whose family is equal in size to a kindergarten.
The behavior of the haredi is indeed far from commendable, and runs against the essential Jewish values which command that a Jew should not become a burden upon his community. But Fischer is being hypocritical. Haredim are 10% of the populateion, but Arabs are 24%. Haredim are our Jewish brothers, while Arabs are our enemies. Unemployment in the Arab sector is similarly staggering. Arabs consume 14 times more subsidies than haredim.
But the BoI’s governor is afraid to speak the A-word.
No!!! Somehow the court should be taken to task for doing what they have done. Courts should get no “benefit of clergy” for their actions, simply because the members of such courts have done well in law school and are now senile enough to merit the status of a “high” court membership.
The whole situation seems disgusting…
Pretty soon they’ll be arresting and trying soldiers for killing the enemy… Wait a minute…