Syrian diplomats given the boot and non-Orthodox rabbis get their foot in the door

While the story didn’t garner huge headlines on the front pages, all the papers gave prominent coverage to the expulsion of Syrian ambassadors from Western countries.

Maariv summed up the reaction perfectly, “What thousands of dead did not do, disturbing pictures from Houla did.” On Page 2, Maariv features a list of the 11 countries that expelled Syrian diplomats yesterday and an article quoting Israel’s military intelligence stating that “Assad is willing to suffer for years.” The assessment contradicts previous statements by Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who had previously said that Assad would fall within weeks.

Israel Hayom’s main headline focuses on the fallout from the massacre in Houla and the expulsion of Syrian diplomats across Europe and North America. Inside, there’s a picture of a calm-looking Bashar Assad with former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, while the article details how France’s new president Francoise Hollande led the charge to expel Syria’s diplomats. The front page also includes a tiny article about Netanyahu asserting that Hezbollah and Iran are helping Assad massacre his own people.

Haaretz’s main headline focused on the attorney general’s statement that Israel would add Reform and Conservative rabbis to the state payroll. The statement came in response to a lawsuit filed in 2005, and has caused some controversy. Shas politician and Minister of Religious Affairs Yaakov Margi said that if the state forces him to pay non-Orthodox rabbis’ salaries, he will submit his resignation to Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovida Yosef.

Israel Hayom also covered the story (albeit on Page 13) and included two opinion pieces on the inclusion of alternative streams of Judaism in Israel. Roey Lachmanovitz is in favor of the move, saying working with these communities will actually prove the strength of Orthodox Judaism. Writing against the move is Yaakov Margi who explains his opposition: “Their goal is to undermine and erode the rabbinate… and reach a point where they are the majority, like in the Diaspora.” He goes on to compare Orthodox rabbis to other professionals, stating, “A pilot who is not truly a pilot cannot fly a plane.”

Yedioth Ahronoth’s front page features an excerpt from a full-length article to be released this weekend about the situation in south Tel Aviv from the viewpoint of a refugee. The article is written by Israeli journalist Dani Adinu Abba, who went undercover as an Eritrean refugee for a week in south Tel Aviv. During the week he slept on a bench in Levinsky Park and was told that the quickest way to earn money for rent is to steal mobile phones. His week undercover ended with last week’s demonstration and in the excerpt he describes the uneasiness among the refugee community before the demonstration.

Flame continues to spread

The Flame virus is still making waves in the Israeli newspapers with Israel Hayom reporting on Page 5 that Iran is accusing Israel of being its author. What convinced the Iranians? They point to Moshe Ya’alon’s statements to Army Radio yesterday in which he praised Israel’s technological capabilities. The Iranian news agency Fars stated that “Ya’alon confirmed a cyberattack by the Zionist regime, including the development of spyware designed to harm Iran’s sensitive systems.”

Haaretz also follows up on the Flame story by reporting that the Shin Bet is working to reinforce the security of the Bank of Israel to prevent future cyberattacks. The article points out that the Bank of Israel opposed such a move in the past for fear that being under the Shin Bet’s eyes may ward off potential investors. But in the recent months the bank has softened its stance, paving the way for the agreement.

OT Chess

The World Chess Championship made the front pages of Yedioth Ahronoth and Maariv, with the latter featuring a large picture of Israeli Grandmaster Boris Gelfand staring at current world champion Viswanathan Anand. While Maariv gave the large front-page picture to Gelfand, Yedioth has the most extensive coverage with a full-page article describing the final day’s schedule and supporting articles about Gelfand’s family and how the Israeli chess world is watching with high hopes.

In the opinion pages, Haaretz’s editorial revisits the Gaza flotilla incident from May 2010. “Use intelligence when dealing with Turkey,” urges the headline of the piece and then goes on to state that both parties share responsibility in the incident. While the editors don’t state that Israel should apologize in order to repair relations with Turkey, they write that Netanyahu should sign the Turkish-American Agreement in which Israel would apologize for operational errors that it has already admitted to publicly.

Chaim Shein writes in Israel Hayom about the recent attention given to what he labels the “Middle East virus war.” Shein believes that Jews have an advantage in this computer war because as a people, Jews have focused on developing minds and not muscles. “This is why we are strong at chess and weak at soccer,” he writes. He concludes the piece by reminding readers that while Israelis may be busy dealing with violence, social alienation and infiltrators, they should take pridein thir advanced science and technology. “There is a lot of light that outshines those disturbing points.”