On December 26, "Ha'aretz’s" weekend supplement published a long article by Ari Shavit, a card carrying left-winger, about "Hatred of Netanyahu". Shavit castigated the left-wing and the media for their unremitting hostility to the Prime Minister. He put this phenomenon down to the disappointment of "left-wing Messianism", which believed the peace process would cure all Israel’s ills. Shavit accompanied Netanyahu for some time, and portrayed him as thoughtful, responsible, capable of admitting error - all qualities his critics deny him - and, above all, imbued with a sense of mission.
Shavit’s article raised quite a stir, but failed to convince most commentators. Some called him a stooge, while others, such as Amnon Dankner ("Ma'ariv" December 29) pointed out that bitter criticism is directed against Netanyahu from within his own camp. Dan Meridor and Benny Begin are no peaceniks. Their charge is that Netanyahu is simply untrustworthy.
Out of touch elites
On January 9, Shavit replied to his critics. He did not whitewash Netanyahu, he said, but the discrepancy between the supportive calls he received and the articles that appeared in the press only confirmed how utterly out of touch the elites that write newspaper columns are with the human reality that surrounds them. "The mass of Israelis, who are quite prepared to withdraw from most of the Territories, have not recovered from the traumatic experience they underwent at the time of the previous administration... and are still scared to death of the fanatical glint they see dancing in the eyes of the left, and the left’s constant tendency to shut them up, to lord it over them, to dismiss their fears, to despise their concerns."
Round the corner, Shavit said, is a nuclear armed Middle East. We cannot meet this challenge "as long as the Israeli elite continues to behave as though the Jewish-Palestinian conflict began on June 5, 1967, and as though it will be resolved the minute the IDF withdraws to the June 4, 1967 borders. We cannot meet it as long as the Israeli elite won’t open its eyes to the complex and tragic dimensions of the conflict, which are not limited to the problem, severe enough in itself, of continuing occupation in the Territories."
No "hate media"
Yoel Marcus ("Ha’aretz January 13) defended his profession. He recalled the US press’s treatment of President Nixon, and said: "There is no "hate media". The media do what they are supposed to do. With collective wisdom, with sensitive fingers on the pulse, they are the first to sense a leader with a warped character and realise what is to come.. then they do the only thing they can do - expose the truth and warn."
Meanwhile, Yisrael Harel ("Ha'aretz" January 15) had some advice for Netanyahu as he prepares to meet President Clinton next week. Previous prime ministers, including Levy Eshkol, Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin, Menahem Begin, and Yitzhak Shamir, stood firm in the face of what they saw as unacceptable US demands, and Israel-US relations did not collapse as a result. Netanyahu, says Harel, should show the same backbone.
Race for Office
Jerusalem naturally attracts most attention, but Israel’s other major cities have their interesting times too. Amram Mitzna, mayor of Haifa, which has a substantial Arab minority, came under fire recently when his Labour party scuppered the election of an Arab, Jassan Abu-Varda, as chairman of the city’s education committee. The Meretz party, Labour’s partner on the city council, and Abu-Varda’s sponsor, cried racism, and marched out of the coalition in protest.
Mitzna put ads in the national press in which he defended his record on inter-community relations, and claimed Labour’s vote was on the grounds of the Abu-Varda’s unsuitability. Nonsense, said Ha’aretz’s leader (January 11). "It has never been known in the past for suitability to be a selection criterion for Jewish public office holders. Mayor Mitzna’s denial is of no avail, and there is no escaping the conclusion that the main reason for preventing Abu-Varda’s election to the post was his Arab origin."
In the end, Mitzna outflanked Meretz (and "Ha’aretz"?) by appointing another Arab, a Dr. Issa Nicola, to the sensitive post, with unanimous Labour Party support.
Neglected Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv Mayor Roni Milo aspires to higher things. He was a leader of the Likud rebels against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the party conference in November, and talked of a new centre party. The party, called Atid (Future), has now been formed.
Milo sits pretty in Tel Aviv. Labour has so far failed to put up a candidate against him in the forthcoming municipal elections, prompting Ron Huldai, a local school head, to run as an independent. But does the incumbent deserve to reign unchallenged?
Not according to Yigal Sarna ("Yediot Aharonot" January 14). Tel Aviv, he claims, is neglected and ugly. In the absence of adequate public transport (Milo promised an underground railway) it is full of cars, that park on sidewalks and make them impassable. Developers run amok. "In a Tel Aviv cafe," Sarna wrote, "you always face inside, because what’s outside is depressing... To manage a city is a great art, not a sideline on the way to somewhere else."
Meanwhile, "Ha'aretz’s" leader of January 14 saw the local situation as having wider import. "Ha'aretz" derided Labour leader Ehud Barak’s claim that his party was prepared for national elections at any time, and rebuked Labour for failing to contest Likud rule in either Tel Aviv or Jerusalem, seeing this as a symptom of the party’s general lassitude. Labour has failed to cultivate potential local leaders. Its approach "empties the municipal elections of democratic significance, and enervates the party. Many candidates are running on independent lists. Labour could identify the best among them, support them, and through them refresh its ranks in readiness for general elections."
Published by Israel's Business Arena January 15, 1998
Responses to Press Cuttings are welcome. Please send comments to davidg@globes.co.il
Israel’s Main Hebrew Dailies:
| Readership as % of population |
| | Weekday | Weekend |
| Yediot Aharonot | 48.4% | 62.5% |
| Ma’ariv | 23.5% | 33.3% |
| Ha’aretz | 7.1% | 9.8% |
| Globes | 3.5% | 2.8% |
The above figures are based on a survey carried out by the Israel Advertising Association in November 1996. The survey covered a sample of 2,500 people representing a cross-section of the population of Israel.
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