Electioneering or posturing?

At some level it must be fun for politicians to be out on the campaign trail: shaking hands, kissing babies, and making outrageous promises. Perhaps Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman misses all that, which may be the real reason behind his comments about preferring new elections to releasing prisoners and continuing with the current peace talks.

Haaretz succinctly sums up the situation with the headline, “Liberman: Elections are preferable to returning to Kerry’s plan.” Liberman, speaking in New York, also attacked the Palestinians, saying the recent moves by the Palestinian Authority were “blackmail, plain and simple.”

Haaretz’s Yossi Verter writes that Liberman’s statements were more about proving he’s still a factor rather than actually calling for new elections. Verter thinks that most people blame the Palestinians for the failure of the talks and if the ruling party goes to elections willy-nilly, then parties like Yesh Atid and Hatnua would reap the rewards. Why? Because voters would punish a ruling party that can’t keep a coalition together and declares new elections even when Israel isn’t even to blame.

Over in Israel Hayom, Dan Margalit writes that everyone should calm down and take stock of the situation. Liberman’s call for elections has distracted from the fact that there is a real morass with the Palestinians. Margalit suggests the only way to extricate everyone from this situation is for Kerry to speak to both Netanyahu and Abbas on the phone on the same time and hammer something out. Margalit writes, “Any negotiations, even those that seem like an imaginary formality, are better than each side withdrawing to its own corner.”

Yedioth Ahronoth reports that all might not be lost between the two sides as Tzipi Livni and Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat had a “serious and good meeting” late Sunday. The two met with US envoy Martin Indyk and were trying to find a “creative solution” on how to continue negotiations. The three met late into the night, but if they found a solution, they’re not telling.

The failure of talks may have one positive effect: a good concert. Yedioth reports that Israeli musicians are coming together to give a concert in support of peace talks. Big names in Israeli music have already signed up, like the band Ethnix and the musician Mooki, with others considering joining the lineup. Mooki told the paper why he was planning to perform: “The world we leave to future generations needs to be better, cleaner, and more just. We have to do everything we can for peace.”

Lows and highs

While there were four pages of political coverage, Yedioth’s top story is about how Israel’s middle class is facing a difficult Passover. The paper reports a 47% increase in the number of middle class families requesting assistance this Passover, and an increase of 15% overall. According to the paper there are 532,000 families in Israel who suffer from food insecurity, meaning they cannot provide all the food they need for their families. 67% of those requesting help this year said their situation worsened because of this year’s budget cuts.

Israel Hayom reports on another initiative from the Finance Ministry, but this one is targeting the upper class. Lapid wants to limit executive pay at banks, insurance companies, and investment firms to 3.5 million shekels a year (about $1 million). Lapid’s proposal calculates the yearly figure to include all bonuses and incentive pay. The paper reports only about 150 CEOs in Israel would be affected if the plan goes into effect, like Bank Hapoalim’s CEO Zion Kenan, who earned NIS 9.9 million in 2013.

While Lapid is looking to take down high CEO salaries, Haaretz reports that the police are trying to take down pot-smoking actors. Actress Keren Mor was called in and questioned after her name was found on a phone of a suspected drug dealer. Police searched her house but didn’t find anything. Mor said of the questioning, “I’m waiting for this stupid episode to pass. It was nothing. They just called me in to hear what I had to say. I wasn’t a suspect and they didn’t find anything.”

The Haaretz editors take the pot-pursuing police to task for “spending an exorbitant amount of resources chasing marijuana users.” They write that 11 Knesset members have admitted to smoking pot and “in a world where US presidents have admitted to using soft drugs, there’s no reason to treat marijuana smokers as criminals.” Saying there are more urgent issues for the police to deal with (mob war, perhaps?), the government should push through legislation that decriminalizes pot to prevent “disgracing the names of otherwise law-abiding citizens.”