Israeli media to the US: ‘Told you so’
From the left to the right, Hebrew newspapers seem to relish the schadenfreude of the 10 American sailors captured then released by Iran
Judah Ari Gross is The Times of Israel's religions and Diaspora affairs correspondent.
If the Hebrew media is any indication, there is nothing better than saying, “I told you so!” — especially as it relates to Iran.
On every front page Thursday morning appear the grainy photographs of the 10 American sailors, kneeling on the ground with their hands on their heads as Iranian soldiers boarded their ships.
“‘Friendship,’ the Iranian version,” the Israel Hayom tabloid gloats.
“Humiliation,” Yedioth Ahronoth writes in big letters above its photograph of the scene.
Even the “newspaper for people who think,” Haaretz, can’t pass up the opportunity for schadenfreude. “Iran published photos of American soldiers surrendering and being arrested,” the broadsheet writes above the fold, with an accompanying picture.
The right-wing Israel Hayom takes US President Barack Obama and US Secretary of State John Kerry to task for the capture of American sailors, juxtaposing its report on the embarrassing Iranian incident with its story and commentaries about the State of the Union address. (Due to the time difference between Washington and Israel, Thursday’s papers were the first to deal with Obama’s Tuesday night speech.)
“At the same time that US President Barack Obama claimed that ‘America is the strongest nation in the world. Period’ during his final State of the Union address, the US already knew that 10 of its sailors had been captured by Iran, when two of their ships were swept into its territorial waters. The president opted not to discuss the incident, and instead decided to praise the nuclear deal that was reached with Tehran,” the tabloid’s US reporter Yoni Hirsch writes.
Israel Hayom’s Boaz Bismuth, in his commentary, further derides the US president for living in a fantasy world. “In the world, according to Obama, this Islamic State does not present a threat. It’s a ‘dangerous’ organization, but America is stronger as always,” Bismuth writes.
Yedioth Ahronoth also drives home the unfortunate timing of events, putting its coverage of the captured and released American sailors alongside its stories about Obama’s speech.
Its mostly photographic coverage of the incident between the US and Iranian navies conveys nothing but smug glee. “America on its knees” is stamped across the four photos from the arrest Yedioth chose to run, and the photos’ captions only drive home the point further.
The caption “Hands up” accompanies the photo of the beginning of the raid; “Embarrassment for the USA — soldier surrender to the revolutionary guard,” is printed on a photograph of eight US sailors on their knees; “Showing off the loot,” appears next to a picture of the US guns captured in the raid; and “Not secret anymore” is plastered over an image of an Iranian soldier leafing through American documents.
Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli envoy to New York, writes a rather glowing analysis of Obama’s speech, noting the successful programs and initiatives the president introduced during his two terms. Pinkas notes the Iranian incident at the tail end of his commentary, as an afterthought instead of an indictment.
Chemi Shalev, writing for Haaretz, stands by John Kerry’s decision to thank Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif for securing the release of the American sailors.
Though Shalev supports the “mature” response by the secretary of state, as Zarif referred to it in a tweet, the long-time Haaretz commentator recognizes that Kerry’s restraint is not what this incident will be remembered for.
He writes: “But Kerry’s words, intelligent and measured as they were, could not erase the sense of humiliation that overtook the USA with the broadcast of the pictures and videos, showing American soldiers at the moment of their capture, sitting on the deck of their boat, hands on their heads and their eyes darting from side to side in fear. The images sparked fury on the right, discomfort on the left and great embarrassment in the halls of the administration: they will be marked on the flesh of the US, as a symbol of the incident.”
North Korea is here — again
From the leader of the free world, the Hebrew media jumps to the (again) leader of the Likud party, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who remains the head of his party without the need for primaries, the Likud’s internal court decided, as no other candidates threw their hat in the ring.
For Yedioth, Sima Kadmon calls Netanyahu’s win a “victory of fear” and again compares the non-election to North Korea. (She first levied the dictatorship accusations against Bibi on Tuesday, writing: “So the elections will happen, Bibi will beat Bibi and Benjamin Jung-Il will be elected again to the head of the Baath, sorry Likud, party.”)
Initially, the Likud party was going to hold “yay or nay” elections for the leadership of party, but decided in the end that there was no need.
“In the beginning of the week, I wrote ‘North Korea is here,’ but that was an understatement,” she writes on Thursday. “It seems the leader of North Korea has more to learn from his Israeli fellow.”
Yossi Verter in Haaretz, the left-wing paper of note, refers to the non-election as a “farce.” Verter sarcastically mocks Bibi’s convoluted route to the leadership — bouncing between being in favor of elections and then opposing them.
“The Via Dolorosa, the deliberations and the zigzags that Netanyahu has gone through over the past few days, ought to be investigated meticulously by experts in a variety of fields, not just political science,” Verter writes.
“In the beginning he demanded a full election process, with ballot boxes and observers and guards, as he feared a ‘proclamation’ alone would leave him exposed and vulnerable to another, actual contest in a general election,” he writes.
Israel Hayom, oft considered a blindly pro-Bibi publication, buries Netanyahu’s victory deep in the paper, leaving front page room for a local story about an Israeli grocery chain, Mega, that stands to close and put some 3,500 people out of work.
