Terror trumps all in today’s press coverage

A day after the terrorist attack that injured the wife of an Israeli defense attache in the Israeli Embassy in India and the attempted explosion of an Israeli Embassy vehicle in Georgia, the front pages of the local newspapers look nearly identical. All four lead the paper with coverage on the attacks and all display a similar photo of the burning car in central New Delhi, taken minutes after the explosion.

“Embassies under attack,” reads the top headline in Maariv. “The envoy’s wife injured in a terror attack,” reads Israel Hayom. Haaretz writes: “Double terror attack against Israel embassies: Netanyahu: Iran is responsible.” Yedioth Ahronoth features a quote by the diplomat’s wife who was injured in the attack reading: “Luckily I didn’t have the children with me,” underneath the headline: “Assessments: A wave of terror attacks against Israel has begun.”

All four dailies provide in-depth coverage and analysis of the attacks on their inside pages.

Another issue making all the front pages this morning is the train workers’ strike, which is expected to wreak havoc on Israel’s traffic system. The strike, the tenth of its kind in the last six months, is over the workers’ fear of outsourcing by Israel Railways management. The headlines reflect the public’s weariness with the inconsistent service offered by this key public transportation provider.

Maariv reports on an unspecified breakthrough in the police’s attempts to track down the drivers of a hit-and-run accident that took place on Friday, resulting in the death of a 19-year-old woman. The case has been cloaked under a media ban for fear that the drivers will attempt to flee the country.

Yedioth Ahronoth promotes on its front page an expose on a 19-year-old single mother, who is pregnant and homeless. The headline: “Mother lives in hell.”

Israel Hayom features a quote by a former Syrian Army officer who claims: “Assad used chemical weapons.” The officer, who recently defected, says state forces used Russian-made nerve gas on citizens in Homs.

Haaretz features a legal story about Israel demanding kosher prison meals for a convict scheduled to be extradited to the US. According to the story, a Jerusalem District Court judge has conditioned a prisoner’s transfer to a Florida jail on the availability of kosher food at the target facility. Also on Haaretz’s front page is a story about Israelis launching a new cable channel in the US for a very specific target audience. The new channel, called Dog-TV, is meant to be watched by canines left alone at home by their owners.

Beyond the headlines

Maariv reports on two West Bank sites being removed from the list of National Heritage Conservation Plan sites. The plan, which was touted by the Netanyahu government when it was first launched two years ago, is meant to ensure proper care for sites that are central to the Jewish heritage of the state and originally included the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem. The two sites’ absence from the plan, which is to be presented in full to the ministers today, has raised the ire of right-wing activists and politicians. The paper quotes sources in the Prime Minister’s Office who explain that the sites in question were recently renovated and don’t need to be part of the special plan, and deny that Netanyahu took them off the list to ward off controversy.

Haaretz reports on the first hearing taking place in the Tel Aviv District Court in the Holyland affair. The hearing follows the issuing of 16 indictments in one of the most famous corruption cases in Israel. Haaretz notes that former prime minister Ehud Olmert, one of the central figures in the affair, did not attend the hearing as he appeared at another hearing on corruption and fraud charges in the Jerusalem District Court. Olmert is one of the state officials who is accused of taking bribes in order to approve the construction of the luxury housing project in the capital.

Israel Hayom, which tends to cover the prime minister’s schedule closely, reports on his successful meeting with a teenage hunger striker, whom he convinced to resume eating and leave the protest tent she had pitched opposite the Knesset last week. The 14-year-old girl, the daughter of a South Lebanon Army soldier, was demonstrating against the state’s treatment of her family and the other SLA families she claims were neglected by Israel after its 2000 withdrawal from Lebanon.

While keeping track of road death tolls on Israel’s highways is a common feature in the Hebrew press, Yedioth Ahronoth gives a particular twist to the usual reporting this morning, by mapping out the roads that are most dangerous to animals. According to the report, jackals are the animals that turn up as roadkill most often, with more than 1,000 of them run over between 2008 and 2011. Porcupines come in second; foxes, third. The road that sees the most animal carnage, according to the statistics, is Highway 40 between Beersheba and Mitzpeh Ramon. One hundred forty-one animals were reported killed on the desert stretch over the past three years.

In light of the terror attacks, Valentine’s Day is relegated to the inside pages of the papers this morning, but all the papers feature articles on the celebration of the Christian holiday in the Jewish state, most addressing the shopping frenzy that the day inspires.

Haaretz praises new government-backed bill

Haaretz dedicates its editorial this morning to a bill approved by the Cabinet Sunday that assigns criminal responsibility to the clients of prostitutes. The paper comes out in favor of the law, arguing: “Imposing responsibility on the clients signals a deep-seated change in the relationship between the legislature and the prostitution industry. Whereas arresting and jailing the prostitutes essentially punishes them twice without affecting the chain of exploitation, Scandinavian and French laws assigning criminal responsibility to the clients have succeeded in significantly reducing prostitution.”

Maariv’s Nadav Ha’etzni writes, in the paper’s opinion pages, on what he considers the hypocrisy of the Israeli Left when it comes to human rights violations and its sole desire to besmirch Israel. “If it is truly humane conscience that guides the ‘peace’ and ‘human rights’ activists and organizations, why don’t they take a plane to Damascus or Haleb? Why are they not currently on the Turkish border, helping those fleeing the Syrian atrocities in the camps? How come they are not marching in the streets of London and Paris? Why aren’t they at the Red Square or Tiananmen Square — the halls of the massacre’s accomplices?” Ha’etzni writes.

In Yedioth Ahronoth, Tali Ben-Ovadya raises questions over the prime minister’s handling of the sexual harassment scandal that rocked his office and the message his actions regarding the three staff members who exposed the case to the authorities will have on the public’s willingness to do the same. “Clearly the three will not receive the honor they deserve for their brave deed, but will Netanyahu be able to overcome his frustration at losing [bureau chief Natan] Eshel and allow the three to continue working in the office until the end of the term? And if not, will we defend them or remain passive and enable those who would erase all remnants of good citizenship?” she asks.

Amit Barak reminds Israel Hayom’s readers of Israel’s obligations to the soldiers and families of the South Lebanon Army. “As a small country and a small people surrounded by those who would like to see us wiped off the map, we must show that Israel knows how to stand behind its Middle Eastern allies and does not abandon or neglect them after their job is done.”