On a wing and a prayer

Details of the Germanwings flight which crashed in the Alps, killing 150, dominate the headlines in the Israeli press as investigators dig into the background of the co-pilot allegedly responsible for its demise.

The Israeli tabloids variously call what appears to have been the intentional collision of the plane a “nightmare” and “madness” after investigators say the co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, who was alone in the cabin as it began descending to earth, had a personal crisis and a history of depression. (The Israeli media apparently ignores calls by pilots’ associations worldwide not to judge Lubitz too hastily.) Israel Hayom says the black box yielded a “horror,” that Lubitz committed a “premeditated” crash and took 149 others with him. Yedioth Ahronoth calls Lubitz “a murderer in the cockpit” and says he “betrayed” the passengers and crew.

“Not a technical failure, not a human error, nor weather. Investigation of the crash of flight 4U9525 in the French Alps found yesterday that it was all intentional: the German copilot deliberately plunged the plane into the side of the mountain — and thus essentially murdered 149 passengers and crew,” the paper writes.

Haaretz gives Lubitz a semblance of the benefit of the doubt, pointing out in its headline that “the motive is unclear.” It quotes friends of Lubitz saying that he ended his pilot’s training in 2009 for several months because of “exhaustion or depression.”

The paper also points out in a brief article that the intentional crashing of a commercial jet by a pilot is not a new phenomenon. It cites the EgyptAir Flight 990 crash in 1999, in which the pilot was said to have intentionally crashed the plane because of “revenge,” killing 217. It also points to a more recent flight from Mozambique to Angola in 2013 in which the pilot “deliberately crashed the plane” in Namibia. What may have drove Lubitz to crash Germanwings Flight 4U9525, however, Haaretz gives no suggestions.

Yedioth Ahronoth speaks to the family of Eyal Baum, 39, of Hod Hasharon, who was killed aboard the flight. The family received notification and condolences from Lufthansa, and said that “we now hope that Eyal’s remains will be found, along with his personal effects, so that we can bring him to rest immediately in Israel. Our pain is great.”

Playing second fiddle to the Germanwings disaster comes the outbreak of full-on war in Yemen, following Saudi Arabia’s airstrikes targeting Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in the restive Arabian country.

Joined by Egypt, Jordan and the Gulf emirates, Riyadh launched an air campaign against the Shiite rebels backed by Iran, targeting “military and strategic installations” and killing “dozens of rebels and civilians,” Israel Hayom reports. “The destruction in Yemen is immense.”

Haaretz pulls its coverage from the news wires, reporting that the Saudi-led campaign aims “to protect the regime of President Abed Rabo Mansur Hadi, who fled to Saudi Arabia” in January. Yedioth Ahronoth points out that while Secretary of State John Kerry meets with his Iranian counterpart to hammer out a nuclear deal before the end of the month, US President Barack Obama announced that he received advance warning about the operation and pledged intelligence and logistic assistance to his allies in the Gulf.

Boaz Bismuth writes in Israel Hayom that “with all due respect to Washington, the Arab states didn’t wait for Obama, but launched their campaign alone. The conflict in Yemen is no longer just Yemeni, rather a regional conflict in which a lot of players are taking part. The regional conflagration already broke out.”

Bismuth says the Obama administration “abandoned its allies” and prefers to “lead from behind” in this conflict, as it did in Libya. He says Riyadh “already understand the administration well and don’t rely on Obama.”

He points out that the conflict is not just one of the Saudis against Shiite rebels on their southern flank, but a proxy war between Riyadh and Tehran. “This is a battle between Sunnis and Shiites, which marks a new chapter in its history. It has a potential to become a far greater war,” he warns.

Meanwhile on the home front, a battle over ministerial positions is underway between members of a future governing coalition. Haaretz reports that after the first week of jostling, “it looks as though Netanyahu is not going to uproot [Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor] Liberman from the Foreign Ministry.” The paper says that although the Jewish Home party’s been offered the Education Ministry, which it equates to “cool water to someone who’s just survived a week in the Sahara in 50-degree heat with a perforated canteen,” party leader Naftali Bennett wants the out-of-reach Defense or Foreign Ministries.

Yedioth Ahronoth says negotiations got off to a rocky start after Kulanu party leader Moshe Kahlon bailed on coalition talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after catching wind of the PM’s intention to give the United Torah Judaism party the chair of the Knesset Finance Committee.

“The Likud party needs to internalize that Kahlon is not in [Netanyahu’s] pocket,” sources close to the Kulanu leader are quoted saying. They charged that Netanyahu is trying to preemptively torpedo the aspiring financial reformers attempt to lower housing costs.