A-governing we will go!

After using up almost every available second, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed President Shimon Peres on Saturday night that he was finally able to cobble together a coalition. The papers let us in on the negotiations, for those who care, but mostly look ahead to what’s on the agenda for the new government.

Israel Hayom dives in deep with this front-page headline: “High tension within the Likud.” According to the article, Likud members feel left out of the coalition (though Likud has the most ministries) and one source told the paper, “Netanyahu left us crumbs.” One apparently unhappy customer is Sivan Shalom, who is slated to be the minister for the development of the Negev and the Galilee, who feels he should have a more strategic post. The paper reports that if he doesn’t receive an upgrade, he is considering just serving as a Knesset member and not a minister.

Aside from Likud members whining, Israel Hayom focuses on the new government and provides a list of some of its agenda items. At the top of the list is getting the budget approved, followed by passing Yesh Atid’s pet project of draft equality, and then Jewish Home’s desire to pass a Basic Law about the Jewish character of Israel.

That last one (whose passage was included in the negotiation agreements between Likud and Jewish Home) is the focus of Haaretz’s front-page headline. Haaretz highlights parts of the bill including support for Jewish settlement activity but not for other ethnic groups and making Israel’s democratic character secondary to its Jewish character. The paper also points out that the original bill, proposed by then-Kadima Knesset member Avi Dichter, included a provision to remove Arabic as an official language. That clause was later removed but the paper points out that sources in Jewish Home aren’t sure which version of the bill would be put forward.

Whichever version is put forward, one wonders whether Yesh Atid will vote for it as well. As Maariv reports on its front page, sources in both parties agree that the covenant that held the parties together during coalition negotiations will stay in place through legislation. A Yesh Atid source told Maariv, “There is deep and real coordination and cooperation. There is a lot of agreement on more than a few subjects.” A Jewish Home echoed Yesh Atid’s sentiments: “Something has been created here that is very unique.”

Yedioth Ahronoth’s coverage of the coalition includes a two-page spread on the six major initiatives facing the government. The subjects included are: draft equality, education, raising the threshold to enter the Knesset to 4% of the total number of votes, fixing housing prices, the basic law regarding the Jewish character of Israel (which Yedioth calls “the problematic law”), and how any agreement that Tzipi Livni might achieve with the Palestinians would be approved. Yedioth points out that on the government’s agenda, “There is one subject almost completely left out: the peace process.”

Marathon tragedy

The death of Michael Michaelovitch, an IDF sergeant who died Friday morning during the Tel Aviv half marathon, is also top news. Yedioth gives the story four pages, covering every angle of the disaster including a special article about how Tel Aviv mayor Ron Huldai went out for breakfast after Michaelovitch died. Despite the heat wave that day, the race was allowed to go on, and the paper shows that there was a half hour window where the heat was at its height and there were runners still completing the race.

Yedioth includes a profile of the 29-year-old Michaelovitch, who was a sergeant in the elite dog unit “Oketz.” Michaelovitch was a father of a toddler and was also an experienced runner, who was in shape and had previously competed in other races. His uncle told the paper, “once his child was born, family was his whole world. He was always a man with a caring heart, full of love for life.”

Haaretz’s op-ed calls for an investigation into why the tragedy occurred, but concedes that “the question of responsibility is complex.” It cites the division of labor between the organizers and advisers as “an opening to deny responsibility.” The paper urges Huldai and the Health Ministry to explain why they recommended that the race go on despite the extreme heat. But more than that, the paper urges that the goal of the investigation should be to set, once and for all, where the responsibility lies for these types of events so there is a clear chain of command.

Israel Hayom reports on another untimely passing, that of former Knesset member Marina Solodkin. Solodkin was in Riga, Latvia  where she spoke at a conference about the prevention of fascism. After she had delivered her address, she complained of not feeling well and returned to her room, where she died of a stroke. Solodkin immigrated to Israel in 1991 from the Soviet Union and served in the Knesset as a member of Natan Sharansky’s Israel BaAliyah party.