Above-the-fold treatment for terror down under

There is shock on the front pages of Tuesday’s Hebrew newspapers as they examine the tragic terror attack in Sydney, Australia.

“Terror at the edge of the world,” read Yedioth Ahronoth’s headline, while Israel Hayom seems more surprised, with “Terror even in Australia.” Haaretz plays it straight on its front page with, “Two hostages and the terrorist killed in rescue attempt.” While the papers frame it differently on their front pages, inside they all use opinion pieces to try to understand what happened and what this could mean for the future.

Israel Hayom’s Boaz Bismuth writes that terrorists like Man Haron Monis, who carried out the Sydney attack, are modern anarchists, “those that give themselves license to kill. And today it is very easy to get such a license, provided you have a black flag.” Munis was a refugee who didn’t appreciate the shelter given to him by Australia, Bismuth writes. “The problem is that there are many more like him.”

In Haaretz, Anshel Pfeffer writes that Monis was a complete amateur who seemingly did zero planning for the attack (even asking authorities for an Islamic State flag). The larger issue, though, is the question it raises for authorities of how to deal with “lone-wolf” attacks. The recent spate of these attacks don’t seem to have any guidance from global jihad movements at all, with Monis only connected to Islamic State by reading about them on the internet. This “do-it-yourself jihad” makes it much harder for authorities to connect the dots and prevent the next attack.

Writing in Yedioth, Ben-Dror Yemini says, “The majority of Muslims, including in Australia, do not support jihad. The problem, like always, is a radical minority is trying to force a nightmare on everyone.” He goes on to write that the problem is that it’s the minority who sign up to fight with Islamic State. And on the flip side, “There is not one Muslim from the West who has gone to fight against Islamic State,” he writes.

Yedioth also carries an article on Man Haron Monis, detailing all the legal problems he had before yesterday. Monis was facing charges of sexually assaulting tens of women, was convicted of helping to kill his ex-wife, and served time for mailing offensive letters to the families of Australian soldiers killed in Afghanistan. The paper writes, “Yesterday he completed the circle of extremism and evil.”

Another party joins the circus

The field for the upcoming election just got a little more crowded as Eli Yishai, the former Shas party head, decided to break away from Shas and form his own party. Yedioth reports on the event, which instead of a humdrum press conference became a three-ring circus. Supporters of Shas head Aryeh Deri insulted Yishai, shouting “Traitor” at him, and tried to take the large picture of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef that was next to the stage. Yedioth characterizes the whole incident as a “riot” by Deri supporters.

In Israel Hayom, Dan Margalit writes that the violence at the press conference is deeply troubling and not accidental. “Anyone who seriously intends that Israel will be “Jewish and democratic” must not accept a situation in which a political leader was forced to take refuge behind the police because of his legitimate views, even if they are controversial,” he writes.

Yair Ettinger comments on the new party in Haaretz, saying that it would have been wise for Eli Yishai to wait and have Jewish Home heavyweight Uri Ariel join him. Instead he risks being a lone voice against Shas and the focus of Deri’s attacks.

He writes that Yishai’s message will be, “I, Eli Yishai, contrary to the Orthodox elite who mingled with the left and supported the Oslo accords, am the true representative of ordinary Orthodox. I will not only take care of making food prices affordable, but also want the government to deport foreign workers and act with an iron fist against the Palestinians.” And this message may be a nightmare for Shas to combat.

Haaretz also reports that another new party, that of former communications minister Moshe Kahlon, is making waves at the expense of Yair Lapid. Lapid has been trying to lobby Kahlon to merge his party with his Yesh Atid party after internal polling showed that both parties would gain from the merger. However, Kahlon isn’t convinced and refused Lapid’s offers, preferring to go it alone.

Scandal in Ramat Gan

Ramat Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv, is known around the world for having a world-class diamond market, a safari, and now, a possibly corrupt mayor. Israel Hayom reports that Mayor Israel Singer was remanded to house arrest after being charged with a number of offenses including bribery and fraud. He is accused of giving out jobs in exchange for people supporting him in his October 2013 bid for mayor. Singer’s lawyer responded to the charges, saying that his client will continue to cooperate with the investigation and hopes the police will realize the truth that Singer has nothing to do with these charges.

Finally, get your menorahs ready, as Hanukkah begins on Tuesday night. Both Yedioth and Israel have a friendly reminder on their respective mastheads with one candle lit. To get in the holiday spirit, Israel Hayom has a story about volunteers from the Mishmar Haemek kibbutz going to the children’s oncology department at Emek Medical Center and bringing them jelly filled doughnuts. The children loved the special doughnuts and the director of the Children’s Oncology Unit, Dr. Herzl Gabriel, said, “It is excites me every time to see the reaction on the faces of the children in our patients. And on behalf of the children, I thank Mishmar Haemek for thinking of us.”