General shock

After the obvious shock expressed by Wednesday’s Hebrew papers regarding allegations of rape and sexual harassment against the much loved and highly decorated Brig. Gen. Ofek Buchris, Thursday’s coverage, coming after fresh complaints, reads much more like news than the previous day’s determined accounts of how wonderful the war hero really is.

A second former soldier came forward to accuse Buchris of sexual assault on Wednesday night, adding to the allegations against the high-ranking officer.

“My daughter doesn’t want revenge, she just wants the truth,” reads the huge headline on the front of Yedioth Aharonoth, which has evidently regained its ability to sensationalize a scandal.

“The Buchris scandal: More allegations,” shouts the similarly stark front page of Israel Hayom.

The two tabloids still both contain stories of Buchris’s heroism as told by those who served with him but also give detailed accounts of the allegations (at least the details they are allowed to publish), with each paper devoting their first seven pages to the story.

Israel Hayom senior analyst Dan Margalit summarizes the duality felt by both the papers and the public, but says the army must pursue the case with all possible rigor and must do so as publicly as possible.

“Success requires an effective procedure to deal with these incidents, and not just in theory — recent events surrounding Brig. Gen. Ofek Buchris (who is suspected of five counts of rape, sodomy, sexual assault, indecent acts, and abuse of authority) prove this. It is not enough that justice be done, it must also be seen,” he writes. “That does not mean that Buchris (or anyone else who has had a complaint filed against them) is automatically guilty. As the public knows, complaints of this nature have been used in the past for revenge, or have later been found out to have been grossly exaggerated. This all creates a need for investigations that are fair and cautious, avoiding sticking to one version of the story or another — especially when the two contradicting sides each have several supporters.”

Haaretz does not join the tabloid papers in spreading coverage of the scandal across its pages, referring to the story in a small but prominent box on its front page and expanding on the details in a modest report by its military correspondent.

Nonetheless, in the spirit of “trial by media,” the broadsheet does give apparent prominence to one piece of information that cannot be used in court but still helps build a picture of the man and the case, presenting in relative detail a polygraph test commissioned, taken and released by Buchris.

“Buchris took a polygraph test a few days ago and was asked two different questions on the issue: whether he had slept with the soldier under his command, and whether he had full sexual relations with her. He answered no to both questions. The technician who conducted the test, Shlomo Brook, wrote in his report that he believed ‘the subject was telling the truth,’ and that ‘the version of the examinee, who categorically denies having full sexual relations with the complainant, is correct,’” the paper reports.

But instead of emotional defenses of Buchris’s sterling record or sensational headlines about the trauma he may have caused, Haaretz reserves its opinions page for a compilation of op-eds attacking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government’s polices in a medley of criticism over a range of issues.

The main op-ed laments the practice of Israeli law enforcement in treating Palestinian minors suspected of anything from small disturbances to terrorist attacks as adults, provocatively titled, “Also toddlers,” despite the article referring only to case of a 16-year-old.

“Just as in East Jerusalem minors are not always questioned by juvenile crime investigators, the regulations regarding the use of sponge-tipped bullets are not always followed, and the rights of those arrested and of their children are not consistently upheld,” the piece reads.

Haaretz senior correspondent Ari Shavit’s piece titled “Abomination in Jerusalem” takes up the baton, broadly summing up what he views as the true path of Zionism compared to the disgrace he sees in the current government, which, he says, is “cursing leftists all day long… silencing every criticism… contaminating Israeli democracy… censoring books and intimidating theaters.”

But don’t get downhearted, it’s not all gloom. Shavit has a message for these “hoodlums” and “ignorant hooligans”: “Zionism will rise up and strike you. Israel will purge itself of the idol you place today in its temple.”

“An impotent law,” is contributor Yisrael Harel’s description of Arab-Israeli resolve in spite of the prime minister’s bill — directed at Arab MKs who met with the families of terrorists — that would allow Knesset members to oust their colleagues for certain actions directed against the state.

“The prime minister must understand that the solidarity stems from the depth of the Arab soul and no law will stop it,” he writes.

Regular contributor Iris Leal uses Donald Trump’s surge in the US Republican presidential primaries to express wonder at Netanyahu’s popularity.

“The support for Trump doesn’t express faith but rather a general harshness. Similarly, Israelis vote for Netanyahu with revulsion. Their support stems directly from a loss of hope, which both have generated and from which they have benefited the most. The Americans can still put an end to the age of cynicism. For us, it’s far too late,” she laments.

With the final results from Super Tuesday’s primaries announced after Wednesday’s print deadline, details of the candidates’s wins and losses and analysis on the developing races appear in Thursday’s papers.

While not featuring smiling photos of Clinton and Trump on its front page like Haaretz and Yedioth Ahronoth, a prominent op-ed in Israel Hayom offers punditry by political science Professor Abraham Ben-Zvi on coming to terms with Trump’s seemingly unstoppable path to victory.

“The overall results on Tuesday essentially dashed the party leaders’ hopes of seeing Trump crash and burn,” he writes. “Those party bigwigs, especially the Republican governors and congressional leaders, expected Trump’s candidacy to fizzle out and disappear into oblivion soon after it lighted up the night’s sky, like a shooting star.”