Run, Olmert, run
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by David Landau - (Opinion) October 11, 2012 - 12:00am

The worst thing that could happen to Ehud Olmert – if he chooses to run against Netanyahu in the Israeli general elections that have just been announced – the most demeaning, the cruelest, is that the High Court disqualifies him, before or after the election, amid outpourings of joy from the righteous hypocrisy crowd.

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Aides: Israel's ex-PM Olmert considering comeback
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Aron Heller - October 10, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is considering a political comeback to challenge incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu in the upcoming elections, aides said Wednesday.

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61 seats - mission possible
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Sefi Rachlevsky - (Opinion) October 10, 2012 - 12:00am

A year ago, in private conversations, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak marked the winter of 2013 as the time for elections - and not because of the budget. The reason was U.S. President Barack Obama. Netanyahu wanted Obama to have as little time as possible to take revenge on him. The thing is, now Republican candidate Mitt Romney might win. To risk losing eight months with him as president - months so decisive for a war with Iran - is a tough gamble for Netanyahu.

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Arab World Greets Israel’s Elections with a Yawn
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Linda Gradstein - October 10, 2012 - 12:00am

Arab newspapers barely mentioned Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s decision to go to early elections, some nine months ahead of schedule.  

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Why has Israel's PM called an early election?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
by Yolande Knell - (Analysis) October 10, 2012 - 12:00am

The announcement of an early Israeli general election by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came just in time for the main evening news bulletin on Tuesday but the public was already prepared. Last week, as Mr Netanyahu met the leaders of his coalition partners, it became clear that he did not have their support for the 2013 budget, which must be passed by the end of this year.

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Netanyahu Planted Seeds for Early Vote at U.N.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Jeffay - (Opinion) October 10, 2012 - 12:00am

Tel Aviv — Nobody outside his inner circle knew it yet, but when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the United Nations late last month, it was the start of his election campaign. He talked tough on Iran in the September 27 speech, presenting himself to Israelis as a leader who has the confidence to make demands for their security, and the guts to take out a red pen and draw the “red line” he is setting for the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program on a cartoon-style picture of a bomb.

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Netanyahu Calls for Early Elections in Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Jodi Rudoren - October 9, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Tuesday called for elections early next year instead of as scheduled in October 2013, saying that conversations with his coalition partners had proved it would be impossible to pass “a responsible budget” with deep cuts.

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Enough Already
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) October 9, 2012 - 12:00am

Once every four years, rational, right-thinking Americans get crazy. Election ads clearly hype up an already polarized electorate. And right about now, on the hot-button issues of the day -- debt, deficit, who's leading from behind in foreign policy and who's not -- many Americans seem to lose the capacity to think for themselves.

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Are Israelis truly a peace-seeking people?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Ravit Hecht - (Interview) October 3, 2012 - 12:00am

The yearning for peace, purportedly one of the fundamental components of Israeli society and culture, takes several forms: prayer (“May He who makes peace in the supernal regions bestow peace upon us and upon all Israel”), Zionist statements (the Scroll of Independence), songs and more.

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Wither The Israeli Press?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Noam Sheizaf - (Opinion) October 3, 2012 - 12:00am

On the Thursday before Yom Kippur, several hundred employees of the Israeli newspaper Maariv left their desks and marched under the hot Tel Aviv sun toward one of three buildings towering over Azrieli mall. They occupied the building's lobby, determined to make their way to the offices of IDB Holdings. Guards shut down the elevators, but about two dozen employees broke into the emergency stairwell and climbed to the 41st floor.

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