Cereal negligence

It’s not every day that cornflakes are the focal point of the leading Hebrew-language papers, but when 240 salmonella-tainted cereal boxes cannot be accounted for by manufacturer Unilever Israel, the media might be justified in turning its attention to the issue.

“The suspicion: Tainted cornflakes have reached the supermarkets,” reads Yedioth Ahronoth‘s dramatic headline, which is accompanied by illustrative photos of cereal boxes. According to Channel 10 television, a Unilever inspection early Friday morning showed that 240 packets of the cereal are neither on supermarket shelves nor in storerooms, and are thought to have been sold by the Shufersal chain around the country. The boxes are reportedly from the same shipment as the tainted package that sparked the recall.

“Mishap follows mishap,” says Yedioth contributor Shoshana Chen of the cornflake affair. “For already more than a week, one of the biggest food companies in Israel, the company that made cereal a must-have component of every Israeli breakfast, is making fools of its loyal customers, of the Health Ministry, and of the media.”

Chen is referring to the fact that Unilever originally said that none of the affected products ever reached store shelves.

“The cereal market has undergone a major and unprecedented shake-up, with thousands of customers not knowing whether they brought home tainted products, and yet [Unilever’s] PR department sends out statements that stress time and again that the company is trustworthy, as if we do not pay from our hard-earned cash in order to receive the right to know which products are infected with germs.”

Israel Hayom leads with a parole board’s decision to deny the early release of former president and convicted rapist Moshe Katsav, who was subsequently placed under closer monitoring in prison over fears he may try to harm himself. The Israel Prisons Service Parole Board rejected a plea for his early release after a two-hour deliberation. The board ruled Thursday that the 70-year-old former president will be eligible to file a new request for commutation after he completes six months of in-prison rehabilitation.

In its unanimous decision, the board acknowledged that it had observed “seeds” of repentance in Katsav, who has throughout his incarceration professed his innocence. Israel Hayom reports that upon receiving the news, Katsav stated that the Israeli judiciary system would never “unhand him,” until “they saw my body bleeding.” Katsav has served five years of a seven-year sentence, and in recent months has been seeking to have his jail time reduced by one-third for good behavior.

Katsav was denied parole in April after the rehabilitation authority and state prosecutors recommended against it. At the time, the Prisoner Rehabilitation Authority told the parole board Katsav had not acknowledged or expressed remorse for his crimes, showed no empathy for his victims and saw himself as the victim in the case, while state prosecutors noted Katsav had not participated in any rehabilitative programs offered by the prison. Diverging from its stance on Katsav’s previous request for commutation, this time the Prisoner Rehabilitation Authority and State Attorney’s Office did not oppose the early release of the ex-president.

Haaretz‘s front page is dominated by a report claiming that the police’s internal investigation unit in the West Bank deliberately dismisses cases regarding suspected unlawful opening of fire at Palestinians. According to the paper, police guidelines state that in every case where a Palestinian — whether a terrorist or a civilian — is shot dead by an officer, a probe into the shooting must take place. However, Haaretz writes, in several cases, police shut down probes following such shootings without even questioning the officers involved or calling in witnesses to testify.

In response to Haaretz’s claims, police stated that “the terror wave that has engulfed the country in recent months has included a number of cases of lethal use of force by police officers who found themselves in the middle of a terror scene, facing those who chose to come out to cities armed with weapons and show a willingness to murder Israeli civilians on nationalistic grounds. In a number of these cases, the officer involved was not a fully trained fighter, but someone who as part of his service for the first time stumbled upon a serious incident and responded instinctively.”

Yedioth, in what is starting to become a weekly routine, focuses once again on US President Barack Obama’s family, this time reporting on Sasha Obama’s job as a waitress at a restaurant in Martha’s Vineyard in the US state of Massachusetts. According to the paper, Sasha, 15, chose to work at the restaurant, which also happens to be one of her parents’ personal favorite spots, in order to save some money for herself over the summer. Sasha began working at Nancy’s several days after returning from the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago. According to the paper, she serves as a cashier, is in charge of deliveries and also often cleans tables. Good luck, Sasha. But, er, why does Yedioth care?