The eleventh plague

Beautiful spring weather during the Passover vacation in Israel was marred by tragedy as seven people were killed in traffic accidents around the country. Israel Hayom calls the string of accidents on Wednesday the “11th plague.”

The paper describes one accident in which a youth en route to his bar mitzvah was traveling with a family friend when the car flipped over, seriously injuring the boy and the 21-year-old driver. The owner of the car, the driver’s father, was wanted for questioning on suspicion of negligence but evaded police, delaying the investigation by a number of hours until he was apprehended by police in Rehovot.

Yedioth Ahronoth focuses its coverage on an accident in which two mothers — one returning from a trip and the other just beginning a vacation — were killed as their cars collided in the south of the country. Between them, the two women leave six children. Yedioth also profiles some of Wednesday’s other accidents, including deadly crashes in Nazareth and Rishon Letzion.

Maariv calls on the new government to make traffic safety a priority.

Also making front-page news in Maariv is the establishment of an Israeli field hospital along the Syrian border. The news comes via the French news agency, AFP, and after two more Syrians were treated in Israeli hospitals on Wednesday. Over the past month eleven Syrians have been treated in Israel for wounds sustained in Syria’s civil war.

Haaretz devotes part of its front page to an article showing that the division of state land in the West Bank heavily favors settlements. The article shows that 30% of state land in the West Bank was allocated for settlement development, while only 0.7% was given to Palestinians. The article looks all the way back to 1967, when Israel captured the territory, finding that most of the land was given to settlements after 1979. Aside from the 30% allocated to settlements, 11% was used for government buildings and industry, and 7% was designated for public buildings or given to cellular companies.

Gun control

A grisly murder Tuesday, in which a father shot his wife in front of their 14-year-old daughter, continues to draw reaction. Israel Hayom prints the daughter’s statement, which contradicts her father’s claim that the gun went off accidentally. “Dad grabbed mom’s head, spun her around and shot her in the forehead,” read her statement.

According to the paper, it was the 30th murder in 11 years by security guards licensed to carry firearms. In an opinion piece, Dr. Aviad Hacohen writes: “Do not let them have guns.” The bureaucracy is too complex, and too many people who shouldn’t be armed get permits, he writes. “Even in United States they have come to the conclusion that with over 10,000 cases of murder every year, many of them committed by people who legally own a gun, this figure is too high.”

Israel’s apology to Turkey is still ruffling some feathers, this time those of Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett. Bennett has avoided criticizing the apology itself, Maariv reports, but has instead attacked Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan’s response. “Since the moment the apology was publicized he has done everything to make us regret it,” Bennett said. He accused Erdogan of waging a personal campaign against Israel and damaging Turkish-Israeli relations.

While Bennett may be angry at Erdogan, Ehud Barak is smarting at being left out of Obama’s recent visit. Barak, who served as defense minister for the last four years, left his post only 24 hours before the Obama visit, but was not invited to participate in any of the talks or ceremonies. Netanyahu called Barak on Saturday morning and personally apologized for the snub.

We’re #1

With Passover in full swing, Yedioth is already preparing for the next major holiday — Israeli Independence Day — by releasing preliminary population numbers showing where the largest Jewish populations are in the world. Leading the way is Israel with a population of 6 million Jews, followed by the United States with 5.5 million Jews. In third place is France, home to a Jewish population of 500,000.

Finally, Israelis are going to get a little less sleep Thursday night: The papers remind readers that daylight savings time takes effect at 2 a.m. Friday. As Israel Hayom says: “Winter is over.”