Not so quiet on the Golan front

A stark warning from the United Nations about the fragility of the Israeli-Syrian ceasefire along the Golan Heights frontier dominates Thursday’s front pages.

Israel Hayom’s headline puts it bluntly: “The ceasefire in the Golan is in danger.” The paper focuses on a report submitted by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to the Security Council, which stated that continued fighting between Syrian rebels and regime forces endangers the ceasefire. The report also recommended increasing the number of peacekeepers from 1,000 to 1,250 soldiers.

Haaretz focuses its front page on the possible increase in UN forces along the Golan Heights, with Sweden possibly stepping in to take over for recently departed Austrian troops, who completed their exit on Wednesday. According to the paper, Sweden is requesting to command the international force and wants to increase its capabilities so it can defend itself in case of attack. The paper also reports that Ban was furious at the Austrian government for withdrawing so quickly and not in an orderly fashion.

Maariv reports on a first in the Syrian civil war: helicopters fire into Lebanon. The Lebanese army reported that a Syrian helicopter fired two missiles into Lebanon, supposedly at rebel positions. While the paper doesn’t report on any casualties, it ends its article with a foreboding statement from the Lebanese Army: “We will respond immediately to any further Syrian attack.”

Foreign affairs

Yedioth Ahronoth is the only paper not to put the Golan on its front page, instead focusing on a new push by the government to punish migrants. The initiative, by Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich, proposes sending migrants to holding facilities for any offenses, including minor infractions. The paper describes the new push as “one law for Israelis, another for foreigners.”

Yedioth runs two opinion pieces about the new effort, one for and one against. Writing in favor, the head of the Workers Committee on the Struggle of Infiltrators, Shlomo Maslawi, says that withholding punishment for minor offenses sends “infiltrators” the message that anything is allowed.

On the other side, refugee Oscar Olibeya writes that he, like most people, are for law and order, but “the law must be uniform for everyone.” Like the paper, he writes that there are two systems of laws, one for white people and one for Africans. Referring to the persecution of Jews throughout history, he concludes, “It’s awful because the State of Israel is doing to itself what others in history have done to them.”

A feature by Haaretz’s Amira Hass discusses the checkpoint at Tarqumia and reports that passing through it isn’t quite as efficient or humane as the Defense Ministry claims. About 5,000 Palestinians pass through the checkpoint daily as they travel to their jobs in Israel. According to the Defense Ministry it takes an average of seven minutes for a person to pass through the checkpoint, but the article states that it can take anywhere from 28 to 71 minutes. The Defense Ministry rejected any claims of mismanagement, and an unmanned official Crossing Authority official told the paper, “This is the most humane crossing system.”

Maariv takes a look at the upcoming reforms in the rights given to elderly people to hire caregivers. Until now, elderly citizens would apply for a caregiver and one would be hired for them, but under the Finance Ministry’s new regulations, which take effect on January 1, 2014, they will be given stipends to hire a caregiver instead. The paper reports that this would make the seniors de facto employers and that the money allotted to the care is currently 20 percent lower that necessary. In a pilot program, 91% of the participants didn’t understand the rules and regulations of hiring caregivers and needed assistance navigating the bureaucracy. Social workers worry that these new reforms will actually end up harming elder care in Israel.

Nothing to see here

Maariv reports on a meeting between Israeli spy chief Tamir Pardo and his Turkish counterpart in Turkey earlier in the week. The paper interviews Agamennoni Bagis, the Turkish minister for European affairs, who says, “If such a meeting occurred, it is only natural.” He goes on to explain that both Turkey and Israel are fighting terrorism and describes “continued economic and personal ties between the two countries” despite the “diplomatic crisis.”

Meanwhile, Israel Hayom reports on Netanyahu’s visit to Poland, where he stated that he “won’t allow a second Holocaust.” On Wednesday, Netanyahu warned of Iran genocidal intentions while asserting that this time around, there’s “an Israeli military force that can protect us physically… [and] Israel has a voice that clearly warns of the danger.” The paper also reports that on Thursday’s agenda for the prime minister is a visit to a new exhibit at Auschwitz, which was partially funded by Israel’s Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem.