Suspects and suspicions

Images of a handcuffed Shushan Baraby, the prime suspect in Friday’s deadly hit-and-run in Netanya who was captured Monday night, were splashed across the front pages of the Israeli press.

The headlines were simple and similar across the papers with Maariv and Yedioth Ahronoth going with “Captured” and Israel Hayom using “Caught.” Only Haaretz (the only paper not to put Baraby’s picture on its front page) goes with the more informative headline, “After a chase, the main suspect is arrested in the hit-and-run in Netanya.”

The papers were abuzz with details of the little cubby that Baraby was holed up in at a warehouse reportedly run by his family. After a brief chase the police captured the suspect. Maariv includes coverage of the reactions from the family of the victims of Friday’s hit-and-run. “I was very moved when the police official came to break the news,” said the son of one of the victims. “When he came to break the news, he hugged us like family and told us that we got him. We got that criminal.”

While most of the papers restricted their coverage to news of Baraby’s capture, Israel Hayom included two opinion pieces, one from Dan Margalit titled “Just don’t let this end in a plea bargain” and another by Yitzhik Saban, “Respect the police: They want and they can.” The titles of both pieces pretty much sums them up, with Margalit hoping that this arrest breaks the pattern of mild sentences that followed Baraby’s other arrests. Saban is delighted by the arrest and urges harsher punishment for hit-and-run drivers because “in the end the public pays the price for mercy.”

Syria or Sinai?

Haaretz and Yedioth both report on their respective front pages on US President Obama’s warning to Syria about moving its chemical weapons. Haaretz sums up the warning and uses it as its headline, “Obama warns Assad: Moving chemical weapons – a red line.” Haaretz uses the article to catch up on all that is occurring in Syria, including the unconfirmed report that Assad’s brother, Maher, has died as a result of his wounds from the July 18 Damascus blast that killed several high-ranking members of the Syrian defense establishment.

Maariv uses its front page to paint the picture that all that Egyptian might currently flowing into the Sinai might not be sitting well with Israel. “Israel requests from Egypt: Remove your tanks from the Sinai,” reads the front-page headline. The Page 7 article describes how the Prime Minister’s Office has requested via the White House that Egypt to stop deploying forces to the Sinai without first coordinating with Israel. An Israeli official told the paper, “This is a flagrant violation of peace agreement.” No Egyptian response was reported.

The Iran question only made the front page of one paper (Israel Hayom) but never fear – the subject is alive and well inside all the papers. Israel Hayom’s cover story is a statement from David Wurmser, who was the Middle East adviser to former American vice president Dick Cheney: “Israel – don’t wait for the American cavalry.” Wurmser told Israel Hayom, “All my life I trusted American greatness and its message to do the right thing, but now the cavalry is not ready to ride by Israel’s side even at the last minute.”

America may not be ready to go war alongside Israel, but Israel may not attack if it doesn’t get the approval of one key supporter: Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. Maariv notes: “The road to an attack passes by Rabbi Ovadia.” The article reports that Netanyahu has sent advisers to brief the rabbi about the attack plan in order to get his approval. According to the article, this is not unprecedented as the rabbi has been consulted on past government decisions, including the deal to free Gilad Shalit. If the Rabbi has issued an opinion about attacking Iran, he hasn’t stated it publically.

Outrage continues

Yedioth puts on its front page the comments of one of the youths arrested with the mob attack against an Arab youth, “He’s an Arab, he deserves to die.” Inside the article expands on the statement, quoting the teenage as saying, “If it were up to me, I would murder him.” The statements were made Monday at the first hearing of three youths arrested in connection to the attack. Yedioth also recounts how the mob attack occurred and provides a small bio on the medical student, Amit, who rescued Jamal Julani from the attack.

The statements by the youth shocked the country and the opinion pages were filled with articles and editorial cartoons relating to the statement. Yedioth includes an editorial cartoon showing a member of the Ku Kulx Klan asking another member if they opened a branch in Jerusalem.

Haaretz’s op-ed piece points out that while 40 to 50 people participated in the attack, hundreds watched and did nothing. The editors go on to state that the youths were translating political incitement against Arabs into violence. “When rabbis call on the public to be racist against Arabs and are not fired from their jobs, when the Knesset enacts laws with the nationalist and racist flag flying overhead, when the minister of education celebrates the superiority of Jewish Palestinian in Hebron — you cannot just blame the boys. They translated all of these violent statements.” The op-ed concludes by urging the government to enact a vigorous policy of integrating Arabs into Israel society or else, it warns, “these symptoms will only get worse.”