The axis strikes back

Over a decade has passed since former American president George W. Bush labeled Iraq, Iran, and North Korea as the “Axis of Evil,” but two of the three are still making the front pages, as evidenced by Friday’s Hebrew dailies.

Iran is the lead story in Yedioth Ahronoth, after Egyptian authorities captured a ship in the Red Sea with 60,000 weapons aboard. The ship originated from Iran and the large cache of weapons were believed to be destined for Gaza. The seizure off the coast of the Sinai Peninsula took Israel by surprise, and the paper reports that Israel is trying to find out what exactly happened. Yedioth bases its own reporting heavily on foreign sources but is sympathetic to the Egyptians’ silence on the matter; citing Egypt and Iran’s renewal of relations, Cairo may not want to make a big deal out of this.

The Friday front page of Haaretz focuses on North Korea and how the rogue nation stole the spotlight this week from Iran’s nuclear talks with the US. The paper also includes a profile of Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader, which includes recent highlights from his regime, including a marriage, a nuclear test, and a visit from former NBA star Dennis Rodman. Haaretz also includes a short article about American sources stating that North Korea has moved missiles and could be preparing a launch.

That movement of missiles may not have raised alarm bells at Haaretz, but it is the top story over at Israel Hayom — “At the push of a button,” reads the article headline. The paper includes an opinion piece by Boaz Bismuth, who tries to explain the recent rise in tensions on the Korean peninsula. “What North Korea really wants is recognition, not war,” Bismuth writes. He goes on to state that the balance of power between North Korea and the United States is laughable, but the Americans aren’t laughing, partly because they don’t have a clear intelligence picture on the country. He writes that North Korea is using the nuclear option to ensure the survival of the regime, just like Iran.

Yedioth Ahronoth gives two pages to the situation in North Korea and offers its readers a couple of graphics about the North Korean army. “A reason to worry,” is how the paper labels the graphic, and then follows it up with some statistics: 1.2-million-strong standing army (with up to 8 million in the reserves), 3,500 tanks, 541 fighter jets, chemical weapons, and, of course, nuclear weapons.

Maariv is the only paper that decides not to put any member of the Axis of Evil on its front page: It opts instead to go with the news from the West Bank and focuses on new diplomatic efforts by the US and the PA. The paper reports that the Palestinian Authority is putting on hold its efforts for a UN-recognized state in hopes of a restarted peace process. The move came after Mahmoud Abbas spoke with US Secretary of State John Kerry and agreed to freeze the process in order to let the Americans try to restart peace talks.

While there may be an opportunity to restart peace talks, all eyes were on the West Bank on Thursday to see if there would be an outbreak of violence during the burial of Maysara Abuhamdia, who died of cancer while serving a jail sentence in an Israeli prison. Israel Hayom reports that, despite the heightened tension, the day passed relatively quietly. The IDF bolstered forces in the West Bank and the army is still on alert for possible outbreaks of violence on Friday. Mahmoud Abbas appealed for calm, stating, “The Palestinians want stability, security, and peace.”

Guess who’s coming to assassinate?

Aside from its West Bank coverage, Maariv also includes a report that members of the Druze community in the Golan Heights may have been added to a Syrian government hit list. The 10 residents who were added to the list support the rebellion against the Assad regime. Masade resident Fahd Safdie told the paper, “Syrian intelligence has never forgotten the Golan Heights.” Liam Amash, a Golan resident who is on the list, put the list in context by saying, “Every region in Syria has such lists, but this is the first time these lists also included people from the occupied Golan Heights.”

Residents of the Golan may be targets of the Syrian government, but Israeli websites are also targets of the hacker group “Anonymous.” Yedioth includes an update on the preparations by the government and companies to defend Israel from a cyber-attack. Anonymous stated that it wants to “wipe Israel off the Internet” and the attack is expected to begin Saturday night. Websites and institutions that may be targeted are the electric company, government agencies, cellular agencies and the IDF. The paper recommends that people change their passwords and update to the latest software. If you think you have been attacked, you can call the government’s Internet Abuse Hotline, which will be open on Saturday night (Tel. 03-970-0911).

Finally, in honor of the upcoming Holocaust Remembrance Day, which begins on Sunday night, Israel Hayom includes the six stories of the Holocaust survivors who will light the six candles at Yad Vashem on Sunday. In addition to the six stories, the paper provides a bit of community service for survivors by printing some frequently asked questions about rights to which Holocaust survivors are entitled, including the procedure for receiving ambulance refunds and benefits for electricity bills.

Some survivors may not realize that they are entitled to compensation — an example is Francine Bernstein, who was hidden on a farm in France until the war ended and then moved to Israel in 1960. Bernstein was eligible for compensation for being persecuted by the Nazis. “I never thought I deserved something, because I was not in a camp or a ghetto,” she said. She told Israel Hayom that she tried to flee to Spain, but had to return to France and hide on the farm, and the whole experience led to lifelong health problems.