Shake, rattle and row

For what it’s worth to the Hebrew newspapers, Hillary Clinton might as well have coughed up blood and started trying to bite people. Instead of marking the memorial of the Twin Towers felled by terrorists in New York City, the Hebrew press marks 9/11 its own way with the Democratic presidential candidate’s “collapse” and “breakdown,” as the tabloids call it.

Clinton left the official 9/11 memorial ceremony at Ground Zero on Sunday after a reported “medical episode” and, an hour and a half later, her campaign issued a statement saying she felt “overheated” but had fully recovered. A video clip from the scene showed her apparently stumble and fall into her van with the assistance of her aides. The subsequent debate about Clinton’s health in the run-up to the November election is the main issue in Monday’s papers, eclipsing 9/11 memorial coverage completely.

Israel Hayom, which has struck a clear pro-Donald Trump agenda in recent months, states unequivocally on its front page that the incident raises “questions,” and reports that Clinton was given antibiotics Friday for pneumonia, but had suffered heat stroke.

“At the moment it’s not clear what will happen if it turns out that Clinton’s health condition doesn’t allow her to continue in the presidential race,” the paper says, immediately jumping to the conclusion that Clinton — or at least her election campaign — is at death’s door. Immediately the paper looks to whom Trump might face if she drops out. “If it will indeed be the case, it could be that Democratic leaders will appoint an alternative candidate that won’t necessarily be Tim Kaine, whom Clinton appointed her vice presidential running mate.”

The event, writes Yedioth Ahronoth, sparing no hyperbole, “turned into the [terror] attack of Hillary Clinton’s election campaign.”

“Even if Hillary recovers, it’s really uncertain that [her] campaign will recover,” it says.

Haaretz relies entirely on the wires for its coverage of the issue, but brings in Chemi Shalev to comment on the matter. He writes that Clinton suffered “another serious, possibly fatal, blow… after feeling ill during the memorial ceremony for the terror attack.”

“The videos documenting those moments turned viral within minutes, and this virus, if not eradicated quickly, could prove fatal,” he says. “We’ve always said that Clinton would most probably be elected, barring some unforeseen catastrophe. Though it’s too early to tell, these video clips could meet the criteria.”

He suggests that if Clinton bows out of the race, Bernie Sanders might insist he run in her stead. “Of course, the reports of Clinton’s political demise could be premature, exaggerated or completely baseless, especially in an election season in which the only thing that can be reasonably be expected is a big surprise,” Shalev says, hedging his bets just before his conclusion.

Boaz Bismuth, for his part, jumps on the pro-Trump bandwagon once again in Israel Hayom and calls into question Clinton’s qualification for the presidency due to her health. “Perhaps that’s correct, and therefore all the negative things that we said about her are also true,” he says. “That’s the worst case scenario.”

“And the most important thing, with all due respect to the presidency, it’s health first. For both candidates alike,” he says.

Speaking of health coming first, Haaretz highlights the High Court of Justice’s decision to approve the force-feeding of hunger striking prisoners held in Israeli prisons, striking down appeals filed in the past year by human rights and medical union groups. Readers paying close attention might find a tiny blurb reporting on it in Israel Hayom on Page 11, overwhelmed by a more prominently placed article about a letter written by the father (who died just over a week ago) of a soldier whose remains are held in Gaza in which he calls his son a hero.

As for Moran Samuel’s bronze medal victory at the Paralympics in Rio, the front page, wall-to-wall treatment given to Olympic athletes in the tabloids and Haaretz isn’t extended to a rower left paralyzed by a spinal stroke. Sure, she won a bronze just like Yarden Gerbi and that guy with the massive hairy chest, but whereas the Olympic athletes got major coverage as if Israelis live and die for judo, Samuel’s performance in the Paralympic games is relegated to Page 5 in Israel Hayom, Page 13 in Haaretz, and an embarrassing Page 16 in Yedioth Ahronoth.

Let me get this straight, an American woman feeling slightly unwell in 80°F heat gets hundreds of words of news coverage, but an Israeli woman who lost the use of her legs and took bronze in a global sports competition gets punted behind yet another boring article covering the Elor Azaria trial, Yedioth Ahronoth?