All the news that’s fit to RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!

There’s nothing wrong with public service journalism. Letting readers know practical information is in fact quite laudable, but when that information is liable to scare people or incite a panic, it’s important for a paper, especially one prone to sensationalism, to balance the desire to drum up interest with making sure you don’t do a disservice by blowing things out of proportion.

Or you can just say screw it and blast “LEAVE TURKEY NOW” across your front page, as if there is a volley of nuclear warheads headed for Istanbul RIGHT THIS VERY SECOND. RUN!

The basis for this panic-inducing headline? An Israeli warning of a possible impending attack and a US statement to citizens that there are “credible threats” to tourist areas in Istanbul and Antalya.

In Israel Hayom, that measured advice translates into the massive headline “Immediate danger” accompanied by bloody pictures of terror attacks in Turkey over the last months, including an Istanbul bombing in March that left three Israelis dead.

“Turkey is dangerous for foreigners,” the paper quotes Israeli anti-terror head Danny Arditi saying. “The reason behind this is the country is overflowing deeply and widely with elements of Islamic State who are difficult to uncover and stop.”

That’s not to say the story is not worthy of being reported. Haaretz, for instance, also plays up the Turkey threat, but makes do with a plain-Jane report on the warnings. Instead, the paper puts more drama into a report on a draft resolution circulated by the Palestinians at the UN, and published by the blog UN report, which it says calls for an permanent arrangement within a year, and declares settlements to be illegal.

The paper reports that top Palestinian official Saeb Erekat plans to fly to New York on April 21 to be present at the UN for the vote on April 22.

“The Palestinian bid to push a UN resolution against the settlements at the Security Council has continued while keeping a low profile over 2016,” the paper reports. “The Palestinians have convened over the past months consultations with several members of the Security Council, including France, Spain and Egypt to see if they have support for the move.”

Sympathy for the Palestinians may have been dented by the uptick in attacks on Israelis over the last several months, but Haaretz’s Amos Harel notes that violence seems to be on the wane. He writes, though, as if he is afraid simply mentioning it will undo the trend, and the result is a column with more hems and haws than a Sesame Street episode brought to you by the letter “H.”

“When we speak of a decline in violence we must do so cautiously,” he writes. “Since the current intifada is conducted from the grassroots and is not directed by a central leadership, it is difficult to analyze and predict in what direction it will go. However, the large West Bank demonstrations which attracted at most a few thousand participants have not only stopped almost entirely, but the rate of ‘lone wolf’ attacks has decreased considerably.”

In the crosshairs

Israelis are still under attack, but increasingly it seems they are eating their own. Consider Yedioth’s two top stories: The paper’s exclusive report that the real estate magnate at the center of a scandal involving tax fraud went to the police herself to clear her name, and a report that the Shin Bet security service will start investigating “incitement” against Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon.

The incitement involves the publication of posters showing Ya’alon sporting a Hitler-esque nose rug and another one of him in the crosshairs of a gun or crossbow. “He’s become a victim of harsh incitement on social media, raising fears that the threat he’s exposed to is not only political,” the paper writes.

The paper also slaps Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the wrist for not being quick enough to condemn the posters, which came in response to the army’s investigation of a soldier who killed a wounded Palestinian attacker in Hebron, an idea echoed by former Likud minister Dan Meridor.

“The Likud has changed. This is not the same Likud. This isn’t the Likud of Menachem Begin, this isn’t the Likud that passed the Basic Law on human rights, this is not the Likud that knows how to balance security and national interests to protect democracy and liberal values. People in Likud today speak a different language and that’s very bad,” he writes in a commentary. “The attack on Ya’alon is worrying, but what’s more worrying is the silence of the other ministers. Leaders need to lead and not be led. We all saw the video of the soldier shooting the terrorist lying on the street and after that go and shake the hands of right-wing extremist Baruch Marzel. These images, alongside the racist statements heard everywhere – the latest of which were the comments by MK [Bezalel] Smotrich to separate Arab and Jewish maternity wards – are difficult, and the silence of the other ministers leaves the defense minister alone on the front.”

One only need look at Zionist Union MK Zouheir Bahloul to see a picture of somebody actually abandoned by his so-called political allies. Bahloul, under attack since saying Thursday that the Hebron stabber wasn’t a terrorist, continues to suffer the slings and arrows of an indignant Israeli press inflamed that he would say someone attacking military personnel occupying a military position is not a mere attacker.

This time up to bat is Israel Hayom’s Haim Shine, who accuses Bahloul of no less than allowing the bloodshed of Israeli troops.

“Israeli democracy needs to wake up and respond if it wants to live. Democracy cannot be used as an instrument of suicide,” he writes, apparently confused about what democracy is. “You can’t advise Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas, get on the Marmara, demand kibbutz land and support terror, and at the same time be a member of the Knesset. Whoever wants to start an underground should do so and not wave the flags of respect for Israeli democracy from inside the Knesset building.”

At least one person has Bahloul’s back: Haaretz’s Gideon Levy, who comforts Bahloul over his failure to be the “good Arab” Israeli society so much wanted him to be.

“You don’t have a chance, Zoheir. Not in the party you’ve chosen. You don’t have a chance to be a good Arab in Israeli eyes. They want you to broadcast soccer, not to tell the truth. As long as you describe the events on the field in your magnificent Hebrew, you’ll be invited to conferences in Rishon Lezion. But don’t you dare exceed the lines of your allocated field,” he writes. “However, the ball is round and it isn’t over till it’s over, as they say in sports. You can’t remain silent forever. You’ve come out of the closet, don’t try to get back in it.”