Cooking with gas

Things are broken in Wednesday’s newspapers. From gas monopolies to diplomatic plans (or lack thereof) to a shroud of secrecy surrounding an extreme right-wing group to Europe’s understand of “Arab terror,” the media plays up the fissures and uncertainties that defined the previous day.

Haaretz leads off coverage by detailing a speech made by Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman in a “closed forum” in which he lambastes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s management of peace talks with the Palestinians, in what seems to be his first full-fledged election campaign broadside.

The paper notes that Liberman struck out at Netanyahu’s “sanctification” of the status quo and told audience members at the Tel Aviv University conference that the country needed to do more to make sure the European Union does not impose sanctions, which could seriously hurt the economy.

“What’s happening now is that we aren’t doing anything,” he’s quoted saying. “There’s no initiative. I favor initiative. We must initiate. When you don’t initiate, you lose. … I respect Netanyahu, but the approach I’m presenting is more correct at this time.”

Israel Hayom doesn’t have the Liberman story, and instead plays up the decision by Israel’s antitrust authority to break up a monopoly held by an energy consortium over Israel’s largest off-shore gas field.

The paper reports that in the wake of the decision, which still must be approved by the state, Netanyahu asked his economic adviser to “prepare administrative work,” (Yedioth Ahronoth reports he asked for a second opinion,) but quickly notes that the Prime Minister’s Office does not necessarily intend to intervene.

“Sources in the office noted that they need to find the correct balance between allowing for the quick exploitation of the gas and to allow for it to be distributed at a competitive price to all of Israel’s citizens,” the paper writes.

In Yedioth, financial columnist Sever Plotzker refrains from weighing in on whether the regulator’s decision was good or bad, but notes that mistakes made years ago will now have a deleterious effect on the economy, delaying gas extraction by three years and spreading uncertainty. If only they had listened to him.

“Four years ago I suggested here to nationalize the Leviathan field – at full price – and to pay its owners the full market price, which then stood at $7 billion. The suggestion was rejected outright,” he writes. “Instead, the government began a long process of arm-twisting with Delek and Noble Energy, which today still seem far from being finished. Changes and zigzags in the process set off warning lights that kept serious multinational firms from investing in the search for gas off Israel’s continental shelf, and this also carries a price that needs to be taken into account. The decision of the antitrust regulator has wide and deep implications on the economy and society, which the country needs to grapple with.”

Four years ago also saw the start of the Syrian civil war, which seems no closer to a conclusion today, though Haaretz, looking back, reports that IDF Military Intelligence believes Assad is gaining the upper hand and becoming stable again.

However, MI also says there is a growing danger of attacks on Israel from groups in the Golan – both from Sunni rebels linked to al-Qaeda and from Hezbollah, which is building a terror infrastructure in the area.

According to the report, two terror groups have been set up there by Hezbollah, one led by archterrorist Samir Kuntar, who was released from Israeli prison in a 2008 swap deal, and a second larger group headed by Jihad Mughniyeh, son of assassinated Hezbollah leader Imad Mughniyeh.

“In Israel they assess that Hezbollah will soon take advantage of the small area held by the regime in the northern Heights in order to initiate attacks against Israel, as revenge for airstrikes in Syria and Lebanon blamed on Israel,” the paper’s Amos Harel writes.

As if Israel didn’t have enough trouble, Yedioth previews a weekend expose on anti-Arab extremist group Lehava, after sending a reporter to infiltrate the group for a month and a half. While Lehava has never been shy about its stances, holding rallies outside mixed-weddings, the group has recently come under increased scrutiny after being linked to an arson attack on a bilingual Jewish-Arab school in Jerusalem despite claims of nonviolence by its leader. While the preview doesn’t include any smoking guns of illegal or violent activity (meaning they are probably not in the full story either) there’s enough hate speech and threats of violence to make one worry.

“Don’t let anyone make provocations,” the writer says he was told by an organizer when dispatched to an anti-assimilation “activity” in Petah Tikva. “If people come to our stand and start yelling, you tell them ’if you get close, we’ll break your bones.’ And if they get close, break their bones. It’s no biggie.”

Broken bones are a biggie in France, where a series of car-ramming incidents have set people on edge, though at least one attack was ruled the act of a mentally ill driver and not terror. But Israel Hayom’s Dan Margalit writes that he’s not buying it, and neither should Europe.

“Maybe [the prosecutor] hopes a message like this will calm the Parisian public, if they are talking about insanity that’s temporary, coincidental and acute. But just like geometry, a line is the sum of its points, and this is what is happening in countries with a Muslim minority that is growing and not assimilating into the culture,” he writes. “At the end of the day, the European police along with their governments will understand that the running-over attacks are another type of Arab terror. There is Islamic State, and there is Hamas, and there is al-Qaeda and Hezbollah and even a threat from the Palestine Liberation Organization; and they are spread across at least two continents and maybe the US as well.”