Quiet in the south and silence on Syria

Four days and scores of rockets after the recent flare-up began, Hebrew papers report on the nearing ceasefire between Israel and Gazan terrorist organizations.

Mediation between Israel and Hamas by Egyptian officials, headed by Egyptian intelligence chief General Murad Mawafi, achieved an impromptu ceasefire, Israel Hayom reports. Yedioth Ahronoth reports that a senior Egyptian security official said that a ceasefire was agreed upon at midnight and that he hopes both sides will honor the agreement. Egypt denies claims that the ceasefire was leveraged by threats to cut off fuel to Gaza, but Yedioth Ahronoth calls the energy factor “a significant economic card” used in negotiations.

Both Israel and Palestinian factions tried to save face and appear the victorious party, denying any agreement. Haaretz quotes Yassir Othman, the Egyptian ambassador to the PA, saying that Israel refuses to cease its strikes in Gaza. Nonetheless, Maariv quotes Israeli officials saying, “Silence will be repaid with silence,” and various newspaper quote Al-Arabiya saying that Palestinian factions agreed to “a hudna [temporary ceasefire] with Israel.”

Haaretz, Israel Hayom, and Maariv publish optimistic reports hoping for a cessation of hostilities by both sides. Yedioth Ahronoth stands apart, publishing a skeptical lead column which says that Islamic Jihad — who is responsible for most of the rockets thus far and has suffered most of the 28 killed — is far from finished. Alex Fishman writes that neither Israel nor Egypt nor Hamas can effectively pressure Islamic Jihad, nor can they force them to stop firing rockets. Their orders come from headquarters in Damascus and their patrons in Tehran.

Haaretz’s Avi Issacharoff maintains that Islamic Jihad will refrain from striking deep into Israel’s center so as to keep Israeli reprisals to a minimum and therefore keep Hamas from entering the conflict. At the moment, Hamas’s restraint and Islamic Jihad’s unrelenting attacks are swaying popular opinion in Gaza in favor of the Islamic Jihad. Islamic Jihad hopes to keep the conflict at a simmer and continue to garner public support at Hamas’s expense.

Israel Hayom devotes a third of its paper — almost 20 pages — to the escalating conflict in Israel’s south. Amid the coverage, Dan Margalit calls for an increase in Israeli violence. “There is no sense in wasting precious time in pointless waiting” until a real ceasefire is agreed upon, he says. “Without a general ceasefire, the IDF still has room to up the aerial response.” He even calls for reprisals against Hamas officials in Gaza to push the government there into putting pressure on Islamic Jihad to stop rocket fire.

Iron Dome Syndrome

Israel’s papers differ in their estimations of how many rockets have landed in Israel since the escalation began Friday afternoon. Haaretz reports that “over 170” rockets and mortars have been fired; Maariv and Yedioth Ahronoth put the figure above 200.

One thing is certain. Everyone loves the Iron Dome. It is a confidence-boosting showcase of Israeli technology. Whereas less than a month ago there were talks of cutbacks, the Iron Dome has become Israel’s sweetheart in the past four days. All four Israeli papers published an AFP photo showing an Iron Dome battery launching an impressive — almost majestic — missile heavenward.

Eleven Grad rockets were intercepted en route to Ashkelon, Ashdod, and Beersheba by Iron Dome batteries on Monday, Yedioth Ahronoth writes. Maariv proudly reports that the Iron Dome downed 85% of its targets, but Haaretz cites that figure as 80%. The air force reminds Haaretz’s readers that the percentage is impressive, and that no system can successfully destroy 100% of its targets.

At a cost of roughly $40,000 per missile, Monday’s 18 attempted interceptions alone cost the taxpayers $720,000.

For this reason, Uri Misgav is unenthusiastic about the Iron Dome. He points out in Haaretz that while more batteries are being deployed, and more mayors of cities within Kassam-range are asking for them, “the cost of operating the Iron Dome batteries already runs into the millions of dollars.” Furthermore, Misgav notes, no one is talking about the cost of the air force strikes in Gaza. Southerners might complain of “Tel Aviv apathy,” he says, but why is there so much southern and national apathy towards the big picture?

Silence on Syrian slaughter

Blood-drenched alleys and rooms filled with the corpses of women and children shocked people who bothered reading past the first several pages in Israeli newspapers. For more casual readers, the fact that 26 children and 21 women were murdered — according to rebels, by Assad forces — went unnoticed.

Haaretz’s headline, “Dozens of women and children murdered in Homs; opposition asks for military intervention” only appears on Page 8. Yedioth’s more succinct title, “Genocide,” only made it to Page 16, and Maariv’s coverage was on Page 14. Inexplicably, Israel Hayom devoted a mere half-page article on Page 31 to the massacre of women and children in Homs.