Iran not so far away

Not surprisingly, Iran is on Israeli papers’ minds this morning. All four dailies lead off with stories detailing the botched attack in Bangkok and play up the Iranian connection. Israel Hayom lays out the facts clear as day in their lead headline: “The Iranian passport, the magnetic bomb, the target – Israel.” Tabloid Maariv takes a wider lens with its headline “Wave of terror against Israel: Iranian connection exposed.” It is also the only paper to use a picture of the bomber (his legs, or where they used to be, blurred out) while the other three used pictures of the scene from a bit later. Yedioth Ahronoth, another tabloid, goes even more analytical with the headline “Iran avenges,” and lefty broadsheet Haaretz, as is its wont, goes the critical route with “The Mossad, the Shin Bet and Military Intelligence didn’t uncover the Iranian attack plans.”

Yedioth has a story about Israeli officials (unnamed, of course) claiming “we are in the midst of a wave of Iranian terror, and not necessarily at the beginning,” adding that there have been several terror plots foiled that didn’t make the news. No news on what those terror plots were, though.

In Maariv, an analysis by Gen. (Res.) Yisrael Ziv claims that the attacks show that Iran is beginning to feel the pressure and getting desperate, adding that risking its important relationship with India is a big mistake (India is one of the few countries not going along with sanctions on Iran). “If the Indians indeed discover an Iranian hand in the bombing, whether by themselves or with the help of Israeli or Western intelligence sources, this bit of mischief is liable to cost [Tehran] dearly.”

Wildcats on the tracks

The other big story dominating coverage this morning is the train strike, or rather what the strikers did: take a vacation up North while travelers were stranded outside rail stations. All four papers have stories on the front page detailing how the head of train union, Gila Edrey, and her coterie were found in contempt of court and fined for failing to end the wildcat strike when the court ruled it should be called off (9 a.m.).

Instead they were having a gay old time in Nahariya, and even showed up late to a second court hearing in the afternoon. “We called the strike and we left for vacation up North,” Maariv quotes Edrey as saying. “This vacation is the only time we have to be together.”

As for showing up late, Yedioth highlights Edrey’s choice quote,” I don’t have wings. It takes time.” Maybe she should have taken the train. Oh, wait.

Nahum Barnea, writing in Yedioth, opines that it may be time for Edrey to grow a pair (of wings) and fly the heck out of Dodge. “If they break the laws and show contempt for the court’s staff, they’ll be cutting off the very branch they are sitting on.” The mixed metaphor works better in Hebrew, where “branch” and “contempt” both have bird connections. You’ll have to trust me.

Parents speak out

Yedioth’s big scoop of the day is an exclusive interview with the parents accused of shaking their infant to death. The heartbreaking story was a media fixture in the last few weeks and this is the first time the parents have spoken to the press. The piece is mostly sympathetic, which the Israeli press has not been to date, and gives them wide latitude to proclaim their innocence and exclaim shock over being accused. “How am I, who always feared for the wellbeing of my kids, suddenly a murder suspect,” the father asks. His choice of the word “hareid” which means fear for, but also shake, is a strange one.

Haaretz has an interview with former Obama adviser and current peace process policy wonk Dennis Ross, in which he says the sanctions on Iran are working. He also responds to criticism that he is responsible for the loggerheads in Israeli-Palestinian talks because of his long involvement in the peace process, interviewing himself in the process. “Have I done everything perfectly? No. Does anyone do everything perfectly? No. Are there some things I could do differently? Sure. Do I think I am the reason there is no peace? No. I think some of the progress made was because of me. Getting criticized, it comes with the territory. It’s worth trying,” he tells Natasha Mozgovaya.

Israel Hayom has an interview with new ambassador to China Matan Vilnai, who until recently was the Home Front Defense minister, in which he says it’s ridiculous to think he is running away to Beijing. Instead, he says, there’s just nothing left for him here. “After 50 years of working in security and five years of setting up a successful home front system, I’d felt that I had exhausted [my service in the field].”

Whitney and Davidi

On the op-eds page Shmuel Hollander laments in Maariv that too many Jewish youth don’t know their own history, and keeping them away from the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron will only worsen that. “Many Jews in Israel don’t know the history of their nation. And not just our ancient history. Even the beginnings of Zionism and settlement of the land, the war of independence,  they barely know, if at all. Many soldiers visit the Western Wall for the first time during educational tours in the army.”

In Haaretz, Avirama Golan slams the right-wing group Yisrael Sheli, (“My Israel”) for being unhappy that the death of paratroop hero Aharon Davidi got less coverage than Whitney Houston’s own demise. The group only wants to play up its rightist heroes, and Whitney Houston has every right to be mourned, she says: “Houston was not a paratrooper hero, but neither was she ‘some American singer who died from a drug overdose.’ She was a human being and an artist. Even Israelis may be permitted to mourn her, remember her and cling to her wonderful music.”

In Israel Hayom, Zalman Shoval questions why the White House would agree not to oppose the Palestinian unity deal between Fatah and Hamas, which he says gives de facto recognition to the latter. “It seems that in this, as in other Middle Eastern subjects, American policy refuses to see the correct picture.”