The roads not taken to end violence

Israel’s three leading newspapers each focus on different developments from the past days as they editorialize recent events in an effort, it seems, to make a point about the upsurge in terrorist attacks, the factors that may have contributed to the ongoing surge, and the ways in which to best curb the violence.

Israel Hayom, characteristically critical of the Israeli justice system’s perceived lean to the left, relay the growing frustration among right-wing parliamentarians at the Supreme Court’s delay on terrorist home demolitions. The ruling came following appeals by the terrorists’ families, and a demand of the court from the state to reply to the appeals in order to justify the demolitions.

Not so subtly, the paper attempts in its coverage to advance the theory — which has previously been challenged by the court — that carrying out home demolitions is a necessary and effective deterrent against terrorist activities. As such, it comes as no surprise that the headline chosen for the article on Justice Uzi Vogelman’s decision to temporarily halt the demolitions labels the move as no less than “dangerous.”

While the headline is placed within quotation marks, it is unclear at first sight — and even after reading the article in its entirety — who exactly the quote is attributed to, making it seem as if the assertions regarding the dangers posed by the court’s ruling were universally accepted.

Haim Shain, one of the paper’s more prominent writers, says the court’s moves are weakening its stance in the eyes of Israeli civilians, and causing distrust in the justice system that will be increasingly difficult to amend.

“The decision of the Supreme Court [to delay the demolitions]… raises serious and complicated questions regarding the authority and responsibility to protect the well-being of the public and the court’s function at a time of emergency,” Shain writes. “The Supreme Court draws its strength from public trust, it cannot be that this trust is harmed due to wheels of justice turning too slowly.”

Haaretz, in line with its generally favorable views on the need to restart peace negotiations, leads with the grim prediction that IDF expects terrorist activities to continue for as long as there is no concrete plan to deal with Palestinian demands for statehood. At the same time, the daily also reports that the IDF is prepared to call up reservist soldiers — a move usually indicative of a severe escalation in the threats to Israel’s security — if the current round of violence does not subside within the coming weeks.

Also on Haaretz’s front page comes a surprising report from the Israel Atomic Energy Commission, that the controversial nuclear deal signed between Iran and leading world powers actually distances Tehran from acquiring weapons of mass destruction. The IAEC’s position on the matter runs counter to the government’s official stance on the nuclear deal, which the Israeli leadership has repeatedly branded as an unprecedented threat to the security of the Jewish state.

But according to the Haaretz report, based on anonymous sources from within the IAEC, the Israeli organization is convinced that international monitoring of Iran’s nuclear facilities will prove effective. However, the IAEC only discussed the terms of the deal itself, and did not comment on the possibility that the Islamic Republic would exploit the upcoming lifting of sanctions against it in order to advance its nuclear aspirations and build an atomic bomb.

Yedioth Ahronoth leads with a surprising plea by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to Arab Israeli MKs, urging them not to ascend to the Temple Mount at the current time so as not to ignite tensions in the region. The paper quotes an unnamed member of Knesset, who asserts that Abbas is determined to do anything he can in order to stop the escalation of violence. Yedioth notes, however, that despite Abbas’s newly adopted conciliatory tone, incitement against Israel has not suddenly halted in the Palestinian Authority, as just yesterday the PA’s foreign minister accused the Jewish state of “killing children and attacking the Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

This confusion about Abbas’s true colors and Israel’s attitude toward him is reflected in an op-ed by analyst Yoaz Hendel, who urges the government to decide now whether it views the Palestinian leader as friend or foe. “In essence, Abbas only survives because of the IDF,” Hendel writes. “It is no problem to topple Abbas. But Israel… does not want to.”

Abbas remains to Hendel, as to many Israelis, a sort of enigma, spitting vicious lies against Israel on the one hand, but working behind the scenes to calm things down. The question that remains unanswered, and the one which will ultimately determine Israel’s approach to the PA leader, is will Abbas’s low-key orchestrations to end the violence win out over his implied public empathy for young Palestinians in their armed resistance against the Jewish state?