Editoriais de quinta, 11 de maio *

The Jerusalem Post writes: "There is no doubt that State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss has correctly perceived the public's frustration over the recent burgeoning of government corruption, and his determination to combat this scourge is admirable. But given this week's headlines trumpeting the wrangling between Lindenstrauss and Civil Service Commissioner Shmuel Hollander over alleged corrupt practices, we would do well to remember that the State Comptroller's Office is also responsible for uncovering detrimental and wasteful practices in our public institutions, improprieties which can have a far greater impact on our daily lives. The highly public airing of disagreements between Lindenstrauss and Hollander was an unseemly business that diminished the standing of both their offices. Accused of tailoring a senior position at the CSC to match the qualifications of his personal assistant and of upgrading the job to that of deputy director-general after the assistant got it without a public tender, Hollander shot back with allegations of bias against him by the state comptroller's investigative team, and charged that the SCO had acted as investigator, prosecutor and hangman. Hollander should not have made his grievances public - and certainly not before the report was published - while Lindenstrauss should have let his report do the talking for him, rather than snapping back at Hollander via the media."

Haaretz comments: "The civil service commissioner's assistant was promoted twice in a short period of time, and she was appointed a senior department head for administration and human resources, a position whose rank and pay are comparable to those of a deputy director general. Even if that appointment deviated from the rules, we should not ignore the other findings involving the commission, which are no less important, and perhaps even more so... The report's findings confirm that which is already known: Matters are being conducted improperly in several spheres, including the health system, the police and the National Insurance Institute. As it does every year, the question arises of whether we can learn from the report that there has been a substantial improvement in public service compared to previous years. The answer is still 'No.' We must wait and see whether the new guidelines for critiques that Lindenstrauss has introduced in the Comptroller's Office will yield the desired results."

Hatzofeh declares that, "The criticism of State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss must be very sharply rejected," and says that not even Civil Service Commissioner Shmuel Hollander is entitled to be immune from the comptroller's oversight. The editors believe that while the State Comptroller's Office is not sacrosanct, criticism of it should be aired in the proper forums, such as the Knesset State Control Committee, and not in the media.

Yediot Aharonot says that despite the plethora of retired senior military officers - representing a broad spectrum of political views - who have entered politics in Israel over the years, Israeli democracy has never been under any sort of military-based threat. The editors note that the IDF is still a major engine of social mobility and suggest that, as the social composition of the senior officer corps changes over the years, so does - and so will - the social composition of ex-senior officers who go into politics.

Editoriais de quarta, 10 de maio *

Haaretz comments: "Even after the fence is completed, there still will be problematic settlers who will exhaust every legal and illegal mean in their struggle against the evacuation. There also will be complete settlements that will make life difficult for those who have come to evacuate them. An early evacuation-compensation plan does not relate to these people, but rather to the silent majority of settlers, thousands of Israeli citizens, who will want to build new lives inside the Green Line, and who may even be wise enough not to settle in Ariel or Immanuel - both currently included within the settlement blocs - on the assumption that the agreed-upon international border may not include them. Efforts should be made to limit the extent of suffering of those prepared to cooperate with the evacuation plan, and to that end, it is necessary to set up an active evacuation-compensation mechanism that will begin working immediately... There is no reason to repeat the mistakes of the previous evacuation."

Yediot Aharonot, in its second editorial, suggests that settler leaders will have to get used to far less hospitable treatment from the current government than they have received from previous governments over the past 30 years.

The Jerusalem Post writes: "The choice before Russia and China is unmistakable: Will they join the world in an attempt to peacefully prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, or will the US and Europe be forced to move ahead without them? Though Europeans tend to bristle at suggestions that it might be necessary to take the sanctions campaign outside the UN, or that military force might be necessary, we can only hope that - behind closed doors - Europe and the US are together presenting these options to Russia and China as the only alternatives to effective UN action... The Iranian threat is the greatest challenge to world peace since the end of the Cold War and, before that, the rise of fascism in Europe and East Asia. There are many ways the much-stronger West can defeat this unpopular and belligerent dictatorship. There is only one way we can lose: by failing to lift a finger - diplomatic, economic or military - in our collective self-defense."

Yediot Aharonot commends the conduct of State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss, whom the editors laud as "the Dutch boy with his finger in the dam of corruption," but urge him to be sure of himself in taking on Civil Service Commissioner Shmuel Hollander.

Hatzofeh discusses the recent annual report of the IDF Ombudsman and says that, "This report necessitates a thorough house-cleaning in the IDF." The editors note that 60% of the over 6,000 complaints were deemed to be justified and suggest that, "The uprooting of Gush Katif by IDF soldiers has affected the behavior of the military."

Yediot Aharonot, in its third editorial, notes that the soldier who refused to shake IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz's hand at the Independence Day award ceremony for outstanding soldiers recently said, in a Yediot Aharonot interview, "I am the emissary of the Holy One, Blessed be He, the emissary of the Divine Presence," and wonders how he was ever issued a weapon. The editors urge the IDF to refer him to a mental health officer.