Pride v. prejudice

The Jerusalem gay pride parade that consumed public discourse for days and entangled the capital for much of Thursday went off without a hitch. An estimated record-breaking 25,000 people took part in the march through central Jerusalem, but the manner in which the papers treat the event differs.

Haaretz and Yedioth Ahronoth display the historic turnout figure prominently on their front pages, with the former hailing it as “a protest against hatred and homophobia,” and the latter pointing out that the crowds included “gays, straights, religious and secular” alike.

Israel Hayom, on the other hand, shunts the historic march, which by all parameters was a major news story, to Page 11 and gives it no consideration on the front page. Of the aspects of the story it opts to highlight, contrasting with the other two papers, it notes the heavy police presence, the arrest of 48 people, and the deputy mayor of Jerusalem’s vow to try and prevent next year’s pride parade.

Instead of the pride parade being the main event, Israel Hayom — paper of Republican donor Sheldon Adelson — continues its Trumpathon, leading with its exclusive comment from the GOP nominee himself: “I love Israel.”

Snagging a brief interview with the nominee, Boaz Bismuth opens with an obsequious remark to the presidential hopeful as he passes. “Would you let me congratulate you, Mr. Trump?” he says, noting that this is their fifth encounter since the businessman threw his hat in the ring. “It’s the first time that I’ve seen you now that you’re the official nominee.”

The paper also quotes Trump supporter and former House speaker Newt Gingrich as vowing that the day after the Republicans take the White House, he’ll advise the new president to move the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

As always, Boaz Bismuth is photographed as he does his job, but this time the paper also got its editor Amos Regev into the pics for good measure.

One man does make it to all three front pages of the Hebrew newspapers Friday morning, but it’s an ignominious distinction for Ofek Buchris. The brigadier general’s appearance is a stain on the Israel Defense Forces after being charged with committing rape and several other sexual offenses against inferiors. The former Golani Brigade commander was accused of 16 different incidents involving two women, accusations which he has denied.

Yedioth Ahronoth acts as judge, jury and executioner, not waiting for the military tribunal to assess the charges. Military analyst Yossi Yehoshua says that the most disturbing description in the charge sheet is that of Buchris standing naked before a junior officer he sexually assaulted, wearing just his dog tags and prayer shawl — “two of the strongest symbols of Judaism and the army.”

“This humiliating position is the saddest and clearest shattering of the symbol of this esteemed commander, a man who was considered the great hope of religious Zionism, who now finds himself facing grave charges without peer,” he says. What sets apart the Buchris case is that neither his superiors nor his subordinates had heard any rumors, and were “completely shocked” by the charges.

With these charges, Yehoshua writes, “the days in which female soldiers suffered from constant harassment and it was swept under the rug are over. No man is immune — heroic and valued commander though he may be.”

Haaretz reports on a proposed bill that would cut back on ad space in Israeli newspapers with 50,000 readers or more, which it says would specifically impact Yedioth Ahronoth — the chief rival to the pro-Netanyahu Israel Hayom. Cutting ad space in the tabloids would slash income for Yedioth Ahronoth, but leave Israel Hayom relatively afloat, since it’s funded by gambling tycoon and billionaire Adelson. The paper goes into exhaustive detail about how Netanyahu is trying to undermine the free press in Israel and knock out competition critical of the government.

Yedioth Ahronoth would be expected to report on such a measure. It is, after all, mentioned explicitly on Haaretz’s front page. Instead, the paper has a fascinating exposé on the discovery of three sets of triplets, all living in northern Israel, with the same names: Or, Dor and Mor. One sibling from one set of triplets learned about the existence of the other two sets, and the nine brothers and sisters have set up Facebook and WhatsApp groups.

“I thought we were the only ones in the world,” the paper quotes one set of triples saying. Perhaps in unison, it’s unclear.

With such hard-hitting reporting in its pages, perhaps Netanyahu’s anti-Yedioth bill wouldn’t be such a great loss.