Base accusations

A myriad of issues plaguing Israel are on full display on Hebrew-language front pages Sunday morning, from Iranian meddling in Syria (Israel Hayom) to an alleged campaign against the police chief by the party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Yedioth Ahronoth) to good ol’ injustice against the poor and downtrodden (Haaretz).

It’s not problems within Israel’s borders that have Israel Hayom in a tizzy, but those outside, with a front page headline shouting “Iran, 50 kilometers from the border” along with satellite pictures that show an Iranian military base being built in Syria.

Even though the only thing that’s really new is the pictures showing the extent of the base that has been built, the paper plays up the satellite photos as a game-changer.

“The fear in Israel that Iran will base a permanent military presence in Syria, thanks to the civil war in the divided country, is becoming a reality: Over the weekend a Western intelligence source told the BBC that the ayatollah regime is taking advantage of its support for Assad to build a military base 50 kilometers from the border with Israel,” the paper reports.

Israel Hayom columnist Yoav Limor connects the reveal of the base to Israel shooting down a drone nearing the border in Syria, and Iran and Hezbollah claiming that Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri has been kidnapped by the Saudis, saying that they are all part of a larger battle over who will control that part of the northern Levant.

“Seemingly there’s no linkage between the three events,” he writes. “But in practice, there’s much more: The message to Syria (and Iran, Hezbollah and their supporters) is that Israel is not prepared to play games in the Golan.”

In Yedioth Ahronoth, writer Yossi Yehoshua draws a similar conclusion that Israel doesn’t want to mess around, pointing to Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman’s threat that Israel will not allow a forward operating base for a Shiite crescent.

“The statement is very reminiscent of what he said regarding advanced Iranian missiles in Syria. At that time Liberman said Israel would not allow them and in the end, according to foreign reports, the IDF attacked and destroyed them two months ago,” he writes.

In Haaretz, though, which also covers the goings on, columnist Amos Harel writes that the signal he is getting is that Israel is not in any hurry to start fighting on behalf of Saudi Arabia in their proxy war with Iran, despite claims to the contrary by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

“For now, it seems it’s the Saudis who may seek [a fight], while Israel has no interest in a military confrontation. One should note that Saudi Arabia has counted on Israeli military action twice in the past, first hoping that Israel would attack Iran’s nuclear installations, and then counting on the IDF’s intervention against the Assad regime in the Syrian civil war. Both times it was disappointed, but vigorous Saudi actions are fueling tensions in an arena where Israel and Hezbollah are often only two mutual missteps away from war,” he writes.

Not wanting a fight is also the theme of Yedioth’s lead story, which is an interview with police commissioner Roni Alsheich, against the background of flak he has been getting from politicians loyal to Netanyahu angry over the police investigations against the premier.

“I’m not saying anything. I’ve put up a wall,” Alsheich is quoted telling the paper in a softball interview, it’s saccharine quality cranked up to 11 by the front page picture of him receiving a bouquet of flowers in his kitchen before Shabbat. “This is a rational decision that in the end influences your mentality. In the end you build a wall and know you are in control.”

Columnist Shlomo Petrofsky, though, has more to say, employing a different civil engineering analogy to accuse MK David Amsalem, who has led the charge against the police, of crossing one bridge too many in his campaign against the cops by proposing a law that would slash Alsheich’s salary while raising Netanyahu’s.

“A proposal like this sends a clear message to Alsheich: We will come after you and will not let up until you let up on the prime minister. We won’t let you rest until you order your investigators to let Netanyahu and his family rest,” he writes. “A threat like this is not just a danger to investigators trying to get to the bottom off the suspicions around the prime minister, it’s a danger to the independence of law enforcement in the country.”

Haaretz’s lead stories don’t deal with the people in power under attack, but rather the powerless. One story details the fact that poor people end up serving longer jail sentences than the rich because they don’t have money to pay damages to their victims, which is often a requirement of the parole board when granting early release.

The other main story reports that Israel has threatened to evict hundreds of Palestinians from their homes in the northern Jordan Valley, which is not unique in and of itself. However, the method used, by citing illegal building — the same reason used to evacuate illegal Israeli outposts — and the fact that it was given to a whole area at once without delineating each home to be evacuated, marks it as a shift for the army.

To make matters worse, the paper’s Amira Hass reports, the order is based on the families not being registered with the Palestinian Authority because Israel forces them to register elsewhere, and the notice of eviction not even being delivered to anybody.

“Nabil Daragmeh told Haaretz that last Thursday he saw soldiers putting something under a rock on the road in front of the hill where he lives. He also saw them photographing whatever it was they had left by the road. After they had gone, he went to see what it was,” Hass reports.

“He found one Hebrew-language order that was signed and dated, another Hebrew-language order that was neither signed nor dated, and a third order in Arabic that was also neither signed nor dated. He immediately told the other residents, who were frightened and confused.”