Free speech, real crisis

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Friday was divisive, to say the least. In it, he accused Israel of genocide in Gaza and declared that he would go to the Security Council to guarantee Palestinian statehood. And in the first editions since the speech, the Israeli papers both report and lament Abbas’s choice of words.

Left-leaning Haaretz plays it straight in its headline, “The crisis between Israel and the Palestinian Authority deepens following Abbas’s General Assembly speech.” Why the crisis? The paper highlights the Abbas’s charge of genocide and his statement that Palestinians “will not forget and will not forgive.” The paper also includes a greatest hits list of the statements from the speech including, “Israel is responsible for war crimes committed in the last war in Gaza, which were broadcast live around the world.”

The paper’s Chemi Shalev writes that Abbas’s audience wasn’t the West, but rather Ramallah, Gaza, and across the Muslim world. Abbas was trying to show that he too could be a “bulldog” like Hamas’s leaders. Shalev writes that “undoubtedly the speech reflects pent-up rage in the wake of the carnage in Gaza, as well as his own opinion that in Netanyahu he has no partner for peace.”

Over in Yedioth Ahronoth, former ambassador to the United States Michael Oren writes that Abbas’s speech proves that Israel doesn’t have a partner. “We now have to look at a new fact: that Abu Mazen [Abbas] could emerge as a strategic danger worse than the tactics he gleaned from Hamas.”

But Yedioth’s Shimon Shiffer insists that “Abbas is still a partner, despite it all.” Shiffer says that considering the alternatives of Ismail Hayineh or Khaled Mashaal, Abbas is the best Israel can get. There are two ways, according to Shiffer, to deal with the speech: say that Israel has no partner and give up, or test Abbas and say if you’re serious about peace, let’s sit down. “The decision about our future is not only in Abbas’s hands. It also rests in the hands of the Israeli government. Too bad that Netanyahu isn’t wise enough to realize this and do something about it.”

Israel Hayom reports that Israel will be responding in the form of Netanyahu’s own speech, set for Monday 7 p.m. (Jerusalem time). Netanyahu said he plans to use his speech to “represent the citizens of Israel and refute the lies and slander being told about our country.”

One thing apparently not on the agenda in New York is the peace process, which according to columnist Dan Margalit, Abbas destroyed in his speech. Surprisingly, Margalit leans toward understanding Abbas’s frustrations. He writes that the average Israeli who agrees with “two states for two peoples” also agrees with Abbas that Netanyahu wasn’t seriously negotiating. Margalit writes, “I’m also afraid that the prime minister does not want a solution of ‘two states for two peoples,’ but so what? Mahmoud Abbas went ahead and deleted the whole idea.”

Military matters

Israel Hayom reports on the growing coalition against the Islamic State, and profiles Mariam Al Mansouri, the female fighter pilot from the UAE. Mansouri made headlines last week when she led the first bombing raids against the Islamic State. The paper reports that she told CNN earlier in the year that even in high school she wanted to be a fighter pilot but had to wait 10 years before the UAE allowed it. But as the paper notes, not everyone is happy. The Al Mansouri clan issued a statement saying that they criticized the bombing and they deny that Mariam is a part of the family.

The paper’s Boaz Bismuth writes that after a slow start, the world is finally moving in the right direction on the Islamic State. Bismuth is happy that not only the West but also Sunni Arab countries have joined in against IS, that they too realize the danger and are willing to fight it. While the fight won’t be quick, “there are enough positive elements in recent days to start the new year with hope for a change.”

Haaretz’s Amos Harel tackles the agreement in Gaza that allows the PA to run the Rafah crossing. Harel writes that the good news from the agreement is that it makes a return to violence less likely. The deal also signals that Hamas wants to make life in the Gaza Strip easier for the civilian population and even though ceasefire negotiations won’t resume for another few weeks, it looks like Hamas doesn’t have an interest to returning to conflict.

New celebrations

With the beginning of the New Year 5775 now behind us, the papers report on some of the celebrations over the weekend. Yedioth has an article on what will not hopefully be a yearly tradition: food poisoning. Eighty vacationers who spent the weekend at the Leonardo Club and Bali hotels in Tiberias came down with some bad cases of food poisoning after eating the hotel fare. While all 80 are expected to make a full recovery, Yedioth does provide some tips on how to avoid food poisoning, like “take a small bite, if it tastes bad, it’s probably rotten,“ or “if the food looks like it has been in the buffet for a long time, best not to eat it.”

On a happier note, Israel Hayom reports that southern tourist destinations were relatively full over the holiday. Plus, the Nature and Parks Authority reported that a half a million Israelis visited nature reserves and national parks across the country. And the honor of bearing the first baby of 5775 goes to Oshrat Shimoni from Petah Tikva, who told the paper, “We didn’t eat apples and honey this new year, but instead we got a baby as sweet as honey.”