Lamenting Netanyahu’s likely re-election
The Arab media focuses, fairly bleakly, on voting in Israel, France and the US
Arab news sources Sunday debate the wave of recent election news, including the expected announcement of early Israeli elections, the beginning of President Obama’s re-election campaign, and today’s French presidential vote.
Israel: Egyptian daily Al Masry al Youm reports that Netanyahu is scheduled to announce early elections tonight at the national Likud conference. According to the article, Netanyahu would receive a “comfortable majority in the Knesset if a general election were held now.”
An editorial in the international Arab newspaper Dar el Hayat posits that “Netanyahu has been planning for early elections for several months, ever since the Shalit deal.” Author Amal Shehada describes Netanyahu’s promising odds, attributing them to the divide amongst leftist voters between Yair Lapid and Shaul Mofaz.
Jerusalem based Al Quds publishes an article entitled “Early elections in Israel…what about Palestine?” Oraib al Rantawi laments the likely Likud victory and sees another term for Netanyahu as a guarantee of continued “political paralysis” in the peace process.
The calls for early elections come amid mounting criticism of Netanyahu’s Iran policy. Al Quds Al Arabi, the UK-based Palestinian daily cites Shelly Yachimovich, the president of the Labor party, criticizing Netanyahu for being “mistaken on Iran.” She is also quoted as saying, “[it is a] most serious mistake to turn the issue of defense against Iran into Israel’s biggest problem.”
United States: Qatar’s Al Jazeera leads with a photo of Obama standing against the backdrop of his new campaign slogan “Forward.” The article discusses campaign strategy and highlights key issues dividing Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney, including “immigration” and “the economy.”
Al Jazeera also features a related article entitled, “[American] Jews Favor Obama in Election.” Citing the results of a recent poll, the article writes that “62% of voters would re-elect Obama,” furthermore detailing that “only 4% of American Jews say Israel is the most important issue” in choosing their presidential pick.
France: Egypt’s Al Masry Al Youm wonders how the next presidential candidate will affect the Arab Spring and relations with Egypt. The article weighs in on Hollande’s stance that “he would support military intervention in Syria.” Nuances between the candidate’s Middle East policies are described as negligible, as Sarkozy told Al Masry Al Youm that “France supported the demands of the people in Egypt and Tunisia,” and also cites his active track record in attacking Libya.
Friends again
Following Saudi Arabia’s decision last week to recall its ambassador to Egypt, Al Jazeera reports today that Ambassador Ahmed Khattan has returned to Cairo “accompanied by a group of embassy staff.” The relationship seems to have been mended by “nearly daily” contact between the leaders of both countries, and the “keenness by both parties to overcome the crisis.”
This news comes with a sigh of relief for Egyptians, as Al Jazeera notes that yesterday Saudi Arabia agreed to “allocate the financial assistance package” previously promised to Egypt. Part of this deal includes “a one billion dollar cash deposit into the Central Bank of Egypt,” and hundreds of millions of dollars to finance economic and entrepreneurial projects. The financial support is part of a larger 2.7 billion dollar deal meant to help kick-start Egypt’s economy after the revolution.
One commentator writing for Saudi based Al Arabiya, Ali Salem, sees the quick resolution of this crisis as a crucial reminder of the need to expand Saudi-Egyptian economic relations, and “the next stage in the relationship…is business.”
Criticizing the failure of the Saudi-Egyptian Causeway project intended to connect the two countries over the Red Sea, he asks Saudi and Egyptian businessmen to “think of a new phase of cooperation” between the two, and further, “to pressure both governments” to finance the project.
Free media battle on two fronts
Bahrain’s Al Jazeera reports that just two days ago, staff from Al Jazeera’s “human rights team,” and the Doha Centre for Media freedom were sent to Libya for a conference on World Press Freedom Day. The director of the program spoke to a crowd of activists and journalists, criticizing the fact that “Al Jazeera is still restricted in some countries” by even some “mature democracies.” He also chastised the Libyan constitution for not providing enough “legal protection” to journalists.
Today in Bahrain, Hezbollah’s Al Manar reports that Bahraini dissident and Director of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, Nabeel Rajab, was arrested under allegations “of participating in an illegal meeting.” This is the second time that Rajab has been arrested in the last year.