Trump (still) trumps (almost) all

On the morning after Jerusalem Day, a day that’s usually fraught with tension, the Hebrew press gives relatively little attention to the nationalist holiday, focusing instead on the fallout from US President Donald Trump’s visit to the region, the Islamic State-claimed terror attack in Manchester and a disputed local labor union vote.

Haaretz leads its Thursday edition with the Tel Aviv District Court’s intervention in the the leadership elections of the Histadrut national labor union after candidate Zionist Union MK Shelly Yachimovich alleged “massive irregularities” in the voting process.

Like Haaretz, Yedioth Ahronoth leads its front page with the labor union vote with the headline: “Drama in the Histadrut.”

Yedioth says that while incumbent Histadrut leader Avi Nissenkorn appears to have a “significant” advantage over Yachimovich, he will have to postpone his victory celebrations until after the “stubborn” legal battle launched by his opponent is resolved.

Meanwhile, the pro-Netanyahu Israel Hayom dedicates the majority of its first page to the US leader, with its main headline quoting a Palestinian official saying Trump told Abbas that implementing the Arab Peace Initiative would precede the establishment of a Palestinian state.

The unnamed Ramallah official tells Israel Hayom that Trump’s plan to first grant Israel normalized ties with much of the Arab world before negotiating the specifics of a two-state solution is supported by Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Haaretz on its front page also features remarks by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson who said Wednesday night that Trump “pressured” both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to return to the negotiating table.

Yedioth gives less prominence to Trump, with one minor story on the US president’s stop in Rome to meet Pope Francis. With the headline “The new testament,” the daily reports the pope’s lighthearted quip to First Lady Melania Trump about her husband’s weight, before noting Tillerson’s latest comments on Abbas and Netanyahu.

Haaretz buries its coverage of Jerusalem Day on page 6, where it notes the scuffles between police and Palestinians joined by American-Jewish peace activists protesting against the annual “flag dance.”

The march — in which primarily religious teenagers march through the Old City decked in white and blue, the colors of the Israeli flag — has raised tensions over its route through the Old City’s Muslim Quarter.

In previous years, the march has sparked sporadic incidents of violence between Israeli revelers and local Palestinian residents.

Other than the minor scuffles outside Damascus Gate ahead of Wednesday’s march, this year’s event passed quietly, with no major security incidents reported.

Striking a markedly different tone from Haaretz, Israel Hayom celebrates the holiday with the headline “United in blue and white,” and notes Netanyahu’s assertion that the Western Wall and the Temple Mount will remain under Israeli control “forever.”

Yedioth’s coverage of Jerusalem Day features colorful interviews with Six Day War veterans and the daughter of beloved Jerusalem mayor Teddy Kollek. The daily reports that the government is poised to approve a NIS 117 billion economic development plan for East Jerusalem.

At the official Jerusalem Day ceremony Wednesday night, President Reuven Rivlin decried the significant economic disparity between the city’s Jewish and Arab residents, and called on the government to “urgently” improve the quality of life for East Jerusalem Palestinians.

According to the paper, the plan spearheaded by Environment Minister Zeev Elkin would revamp the waste management systems and garbage collection in East Jerusalem.

Meanwhile the Manchester bombing continues to make headlines in Israel. Haaretz’s front page prioritizes the announcement by British authorities who said they were searching for a “network of suspects” in connection with the suicide bombing at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester on Monday night that killed at least 22 people.

Underneath a photo of mourners at a makeshift vigil, the paper notes the suspected bomber recently visited Libya and Syria and that the government had deployed thousands of soldiers to guard key sites across the country.