1.
If last weekend's press was mourning press, this week's was war press. "Wartime," "Country under fire" - were just some of the headlines that put readers in the right mood. Even those whose communities haven't yet been hit by the alarms.
The dailies combined calls for encouragement and strength, between the war cries and the color articles: in the Hamodia with the reading of the Council of Torah Scholars; in Beit Ne'eman with the reading of Lithuanian Torah Scholars. The topics of encouragement are many and varied: from studying Torah, through abstinence from the dangers of technology, to the coming of guarding the tongue. The Council of Torah Scholars of America also issued a call to recite chapters of Psalms and the "Achinu" prayer.
In between, the pages were filled with 'miracles' and 'miracles.' Or, as the 'informer' put it best – in one word: a miracle. In two words: a great miracle.
The dailies, which are published on Fridays (compared to the weeklies, which are distributed on Thursdays and were, naturally, much less up-to-date), already knew how to report on political sources saying that "there is no escape from a ground operation" and on the army's announcements to residents of the southern and eastern Gaza Strip to evacuate their homes.
Which created a rumor mill on Shabbat itself that "a ground operation will probably start tonight." Added to this was the quiet wave that did not really update with each fall, and created a feeling of relative calm. As Shabbat ended, we were informed that nothing. There was no ground operation, and in about half an hour we all had an ultimatum from Hamas: "Rockets at nine in the evening.".
Is there no escape from ground action, said political sources? It turns out, there is.
2.
With slight changes, all the newspapers repeated the Lieberman-Netanyahu rants.
The story began at the government meeting on Sunday, a week ago. It began in front of the cameras, when reporters were in the government meeting room and heard Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's mutual barbs against Yisrael Beytenu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman and Jewish Home Chairman Naftali Bennett. During the previous week, the two parties repeatedly called for a large-scale operation in Gaza, while Netanyahu hesitated and delayed any movement of forces.
When the photographers left, the leaked saga continued, as expected and usual.
Netanyahu: Anyone who criticizes me and the government is irresponsible and does so for political purposes.
Lieberman: You're the one who held a press conference after the funeral of the hostages and shouted slogans without backing them up. You promised to strike a blow at Hamas, and here they are shooting and there's no strike.
Netanyahu: First of all, you will come to the cabinet meetings, then you will speak to the media about policy.
Lieberman: Don't give me grades. I was on a diplomatic visit to Germany, I returned immediately after the bodies were found, at least I can't be accused of leaks from the cabinet.
The 'show' ended with Lieberman's censoring of something like "there will be further consequences to this," and in a well-publicized press conference held the very next day, at 12:30 p.m., during which Lieberman announced the dissolution of the Likud and Bayitnu parties from each other.
It didn't work from the start, he discovered what was known.
For some reason, this time I tend to agree with the opinion that was expressed on "Good Time": This is a well-timed, carefully planned debate. For years, Netanyahu and Lieberman have been coordinating, and it's all talk.
When they are running with two heads, Netanyahu can move slightly to the left, to the center, and push back against Moshe Kahlon, who is standing as a competitor opposite him. Lieberman will lean to the right and straighten out the leftward turn he has shown during the recent period, while hitting Naftali Bennett, the competitor from the right. After the elections, the two of them together will re-establish the united Likud-Beitu, until further notice.
3.
In general, I am a die-hard fan, even an admirer, of field articles. The kind that take the reader in and place them as if their feet were in the field at that moment.
That's why I praised the inclusion of field articles in the Yated Ne'eman newspaper, while being quite surprised to discover that there are also some in the daily, which is considered relatively conservative. "It's Avrimy Rosenthal," a knowledgeable journalist at Yated Ne'eman whispered to me this week, mentioning the arrival of the legendary editor, who edited 'Mishpacha' for years, to the ranks of the Lithuanian publication. He is the one who brought with him a refreshing breath of air of a 'real' weekly, while upgrading the articles.
And yet, this week I was disappointed. To send a reporter all the way to Wadi Ara, just to say that there is a real danger of entering the Arab settlements themselves, and that is why the interviewees were invited to the intersection or on the road? The article in Hamodia is much better, the one that did not pretend to send the reporter 'into the field' (when it's dangerous, it's dangerous), but conducted a comprehensive review of the 'problematic' roads, including the Jewish settlements adjacent to them and which suffer from violations of order. From small settlements like Misgav to larger ones like Omer in the south or Rechsim in the north.
Sometimes, there is no escape from a comprehensive telephone review. Go out into the field when you can move around freely, not when you bring your interviewee to your air-conditioned car...
4.
I liked the original cover of the newspaper 'Kol Yisrael' (from 'Kav Press'), where they chose the "War of Peace in the South.".
Perhaps to remind us all that after years of fighting for 'Peace in Galilee', of killing many soldiers, the result was quite disappointing: returning home while the forces withdrew south. Attention all those who demand 'Gaza occupation – NOW...
5.
I didn't really like the illusion that emerged from the pages of most newspapers this weekend: an emergency government in which Shas Chairman Aryeh Deri would star.
So it's true that Netanyahu is talking to Deri, his friend since Simchat Sheva, congratulations to his daughter, but the hype about entering the government is a bit excessive and ahead of its time. Yated Ne'eman was the only newspaper that didn't swallow the bait, some say that the hype came from sources in the bureau (who said Nathan), and some point to Deri's people as having worked overtime, in an effort to compete with the PR announcements that came from MK Eli Yishai (how many tickets did he get for Nachshonit Park for residents of the south? I think, 300).
It seems that since the government was formed, every week a journalist on duty has emerged who tries to predict that the Haredim are on their way in. The only one who didn't buy the legend and thought soberly was Ariel Atias, who went to do his homework, understanding that the days of the current government are not so short.
On the other hand, I also really didn't like the opposite of the illusion. It's okay to mention that Netanyahu supported the conscription law, that he didn't side with the ultra-Orthodox public in the last government, and that he "bears responsibility for all decisions" of the government. We would all understand the ultra-Orthodox politicians if they refused to join his government, in an emergency or in a routine situation, because they want to take revenge on him. It makes sense and is understandable.
But from here to exceptional trials, exceptional in their severity, the road is long. Especially since we are dealing with times of emergency and war, when it is customary to put the knives aside and, more or less, back the government and its leader.
Pay attention to the sentences that appeared in a family newspaper about the Prime Minister of Israel:
""There is an empty chair in the Prime Minister's office. The important position in Israel is not filled by the right person, and even a monkey could manage it in such a imitative and dragging manner.".
""Tomorrow morning's headline is more important to him than the actual dismantling of Hamas.".
""He doesn't have a single supporter in Likud or outside it... The Israeli government, led by the elusive eel at its head... comes to the current conflict with its military bases completely empty.".
Excessive, in my opinion.
6.
If we need to award a prize for the coverage of the first days of the Protective Edge War, then there is no doubt that it belongs to a family weekly.
They sat there on a map of the Haredi cities where the missiles reach and divided the work – in such a way that almost every Haredi concentration was carefully surveyed. They did more with the city of Sderot, where a reporter was sent to talk to public figures and ordinary residents, some of whom experienced some kind of miracle.
Hold the newspaper in your hand, and get a live map of the events.
I would give up the part where reporters sat in conversation with Haredi VIPs, mayors and/or deputies. Who needs slick PR articles, when the newspaper is full of attractive material straight from the field. In these turbulent days, the ordinary citizen is not interested in the beautiful words of the leaders of Haredi cities about "we do everything" and there is no one like us. He is interested in human stories, fascinating descriptions from the places of the fall and the places designated for the fall. He wants to know how others go through the experience, just before it reaches him, his own neighborhood.
By the way, shortly after the issue closed, Modi'in Illit also entered the firing line. For the attention of whoever will edit the next newspaper – and please, without a mayor and his deputy – simply do what you know how to do best: send a reporter to the field, talk on the phone with people who experienced the alarm, that's all the reader wants.
Unless, and we pray that it will be so, by next Saturday, Operation Protective Edge will be behind us.
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