Preventive measures

While summer break is in full swing, Israeli children will be getting something this week that they didn’t expect — a polio vaccination. A lot has changed since the days when Jonas Salk created the vaccine, and the papers take the time to answer all your questions.

Both Israel Hayom and Yedioth Ahronoth provide a Q&A with information for parents (and maybe even precocious children) about the vaccine. Yedioth starts with some basic background info about what polio is and how it can harm children: “One out of 200 infected with polio will experience significant symptoms that could attack the nervous system and cause paralysis.”

The questions go on from there to inquiries like Why not just vaccinate children in Ramle or Lod? (because it has spread to other parts of the country) to Can I give the vaccination to my newborn? (no, the child must be at least 4 months old).

Aside from the questions, Yedioth goes the whole nine yards and finds three families, one of whom will vaccinate their child, one which is undecided, and one which will not vaccinate. The reason? They are afraid that the vaccination could give their son polio and don’t want to take that chance.

The idea of not vaccinating your child is inconceivable to Ron Reznik, who writes an op-ed in Israel Hayom that accompanies their question-and-answer section. “The bottom line is you need to vaccinate,” he starts off, then goes on to say that by doing so you are acting in the interests of public health. He writes that communal health and safety can only be maintained if everyone participates in the system.

Maariv takes a different tack in reporting on the vaccination mission, calling it “Operation two drops” (the vaccination is no longer a shot in the arm but rather two drops by mouth). The article, which despite front-page billing is buried on page nine, gives some hard facts about the scope of the campaign, as the Health Ministry aims to immunize 1 million Israeli children. So far the ministry has found 28 cases of people carrying the disease, with 26 of those being children. Professor Eli Somekh, chairman of the Israeli Pediatric Association, summed up the goal succinctly: “The intention is to intervene and remove the threat that has been hanging over us for several months.”

Haaretz provides a few more facts as to the current state of inoculation in the south. Leading the way is the town of Yeruham, which has already vaccinated 31.8% of its children, while Rahat has the lowest number vaccinated with only 12.3% so far.

Border crossing

The other major story taking up front-page real estate is the possible IDF drone strike on terrorists in the Sinai Peninsula. Haaretz has the Egyptian military denying that Israel carried out a strike or that there was any bilateral coordination for such an action. Four terrorists, member of a jihadist group, were killed on Friday as they were preparing to launch rockets at Israel from inside the Sinai. Spokesmen for the group told reporters that an Israeli drone attacked them., and that moments before the strike an Egyptian helicopter was seen over the site, thus fueling reports of coordination.

Writing in Israel Hayom, columnist Yoav Limor thinks that if the IDF was responsible it probably didn’t coordinate with Egypt. Why not? For one, Limor thinks, Israel doesn’t like to share information with foreigners. The second reason is that despite all its issues, Egypt wouldn’t allow Israel to attack within its territory. He points out that while this tactic of bombing and saying nothing may have worked well in Syria, Egypt is not Syria and peace is not a ceasefire. Limor concludes “Israel should act now (quietly) to ensure that the common strategic interest of both countries will be maintained — despite the threats — as it has for the last four decades.”

Yedioth reports on 26 terrorists who are about be set free as part of a renewal of negotiations with the Palestinians. Yedioth frames the release as merely part of an equation with its headline, “26 prisoners in exchange for hundreds of homes in the territories.” The government is expected to release the list of prisoners Sunday evening. Around the same time the prisoners are released, Netanyahu is expected to announce building of hundreds of units in the major settlement blocs in the West Bank and Jerusalem, with only a few dozen to be built outside of those areas.

The prisoner release is also front-page news at Maariv, which reports that the exchange of prisoners for settlements has been approved by the American negotiating team. Using the tired “carrot and stick” metaphor, the Americans have allowed this formula to be introduced in order to keep the coalition government intact and negotiations moving.

Finally, Israel Hayom reports on the reopening Sunday of 18 of the 19 American embassies worldwide that were shut down due to a terrorist threat. Only the embassy in the capital city of Yemen, Sanaa, will remain closed due to the threats there. There was no official word of what caused the closures but leaks in the media speculated it was due to intercepted messages of al-Qaeda leaders.