Sounding the alarm on Iran deal

The aftershock of Tuesday’s nuclear deal between Tehran and major world powers is still prevalent among many Israelis this weekend, and the country’s major papers express a sense of frustration with the US government, as well as anxiety and dread over the Islamic Republic’s potentially sinister intentions.

Israel Hayom, sympathetic as ever to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his vehement opposition to the nuclear agreement, leads with a quote by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif from a recent New York Times interview, in which he says his country is grateful to have negotiated with the Obama administration. It is hard to miss the daily’s critical tone as it reports that Zarif and his fellow Iranian negotiators decided to seal the nuclear deal after assessing that future US governments would likely be less accommodating to Iran’s demands.

Almost every other article and op-ed in Israel Hayom covering the accord has a similar, unsatisfied ring to it. The paper quotes experts from a Wall Street Journal piece which posits that US President Barack Obama did in fact have several better alternatives to signing the deal in its current form, such as imposing harsher sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

One of the paper’s prominent contributors Haim Shain brands the nuclear agreement a threat to the entire Jewish people, no less, and urges worldwide “Jewish unity” in face of the difficulties posed by the deal. “We Jews must not belittle the threats [uttered by Iranian officials against Israel], even those which seem ridiculous,” Shain warns. “The 20th century has taught us not to underestimate those who call to exterminate us.”

Yedioth Ahronoth focuses more on the technical and practical aspects of the nuclear accord, reporting that several European ministers are already heading to Iran in the hopes of reestablishing economic ties with the regime. But an unmistakable alarmist tone seeps from this paper’s headlines as well. “The billion [dollars’ worth] race to Iran begins,” the daily boldly states. Analyst Alex Fishman warns that the accord means “big money for terrorists” supported by Iran, as the Islamic Republic is set to immediately receive $150 billion in assets that had been frozen by sanctions.

Fellow Yedioth writers Yoaz Hendel and Yossi Yehoshua, however, attempt to reassure the public that while the Iranian deal is by no means a small blip on Israel’s security radar, the Jewish state is nevertheless capable of coping with the threats posed to it.

“Iran can turn the region into a boiling pot that can potentially burn,” Hendel writes. “But it cannot destroy us.” Yehoshua, on his part, asserts that recent statements by the Israeli leadership indicate that the army is gearing up towards confrontation with Iran. “The military option is back on the table,” Yehoshua states. “That is the clear message coming from government officials this week.”

In Haaretz, the implications of the Iranian deal are pushed back to the paper’s inner pages, and the daily instead leads with an article covering recent rumors that Zionist Union head Isaac Herzog is prepared to enter the Likud-led coalition. According to Haaretz, at least six Zionist Union MKs are pushing Herzog to leave the opposition in order to join forces with Netanyahu.

Yedioth also covers an ugly incident involving fans of Israeli soccer team Beitar Jerusalem, who in a recent mach against Belgium’s Royal Charleroi club hurled firecrackers into the field and injured the rival team’s goalkeeper. Beitar owner Eli Tabib has already vowed to resign from his position following the upheaval, while Culture Minister Miri Regev said the “fans have shamed Israeli soccer in the eyes of the entire world.” To add insult to injury, literally, Beiter lost to the Belgian team 5-1.

Finally, the Israeli papers name the rabbi from Safed accused of rape and molestation as Ezra Sheinberg, after weeks of complying with a gag order over the details of the case. Sheinberg has been accused by police of sexually assaulting several women who had approached him for religious guidance over the past 13 years. The rabbi had recently resigned from his position and left his hometown of Safed, under pressure from a committee of local rabbis.