Here’s to surviving another 25 years

The country’s skies are still painted a murky yellowish-brown as a massive sandstorm refuses to die down, but though the weather dominated headlines Wednesday, the Hebrew press on Thursday seems to have grown bored with the unusual meteorological phenomenon, and the all-too familiar existential threats, heartbreaking reports, and political developments are back on the agenda.

Israel Hayom, for example, plays up Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s Twitter rant in which he assessed that the Jewish state won’t survive the next 25 years. “The face of the [nuclear] agreement: Khamenei vows to destroy Israel,” reads the daily’s front page. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the paper notes, points to the supreme leader’s utterances as yet another piece of evidence that the Iranians cannot be trusted to uphold the terms of the nuclear deal they signed with major world powers. “Khamenei does not even leave room for an illusion for those who support the agreement,” the Israeli prime minister is quoted by the news daily as saying.

The paper also presents a recent poll conducted in the US by the Pew Research Center, according to which only 21% of Americans support the deal, while 49% oppose it.

Boaz Bismuth, one of Israel Hayom’s leading analysts, writes that despite the fact that the White House has clinched the necessary Senate votes to ensure that Congress will uphold the nuclear deal, the American public should continue to fight the contentious and divisive agreement.

“The nuclear deal with Iran must not be a black hole into which we are sucked in just because [US President Barack] Obama decided so,” Bismuth says. “In the face of such an agreement, and in the face of such a reality, we cannot accept it as business as usual just because the American president managed to force the deal against the will of the people, not just ours – his as well.”

Bismuth, however, offers no practical advice on how to thwart the implementation of the agreement at this point.

In Haaretz, State Attorney Shai Nitzan’s fresh directive to increase punishment for stone throwers leads the newspaper’s front page. Reporter Nir Hasson writes that the new directives call on authorities to request an extended remand — until the conclusion of legal procedures — in any case of suspected rock throwing. “The phenomenon of rock throwing is characterized by the creation of a real threat of physical and financial harm,” Nitzan writes in a legal publication, according to Haaretz. “In many cases the offense is committed on ideological grounds, and may be a first step toward more serious terrorist activities.”

Netanyahu has been pushing for heavier punishments for rock-throwers, in light of the deteriorating security situation in Jerusalem and along Route 443, following several incidents of stone-hurling and firebombing attacks on vehicles and passerby in recent weeks.

Yedioth Ahronoth leads with the reaction to a life sentence handed to taxi driver Yousef Hussein Halifa over the murder of Afula resident Shelley Dadon last year in a high-profile case. The daily focuses on Dadon’s parents, and presents her mother’s reaction to the court decision. “My Shelley was a beautiful girl, delicate and pure, who always loved to give to every person, regardless of their religion, gender, or race,” Dadon said. “[The murderer] deserves to suffer as we are suffering, to imprison him for the rest of his life in difficult conditions. I request that he be seen as a terrorist in every regard, not to allow him visits, not to give his family allowances, to demolish his home just like he destroyed my home.”

The paper also presents an interesting yet troubling report on the number of Israeli citizens — both Jewish and Arab — arrested by the Shin Bet security service over the past six months, which has jumped from an average of about 60 in the past to 165 currently. According to Yedioth, five of those arrested spent extended amounts of time in Shin Bet facilities without being brought before a judge.

Israel Hayom reports that a record number of Israelis — 3,977,800, to be exact– have already traveled abroad via the Ben Gurion Airport this year, a 12.9% rise compared to the the previous year. By the end of 2015, the paper writes, 5.8 million Israelis are expected to have left the country for at least some period of time.