"I walked around the army training grounds with a hole in my pants. For that, I served more time in military prison than Brigadier General (Ofek Buchris) who raped someone under his command."
–A soldier named Hed Einav was one of hundreds of Israeli men and women who have posted on Facebook a personal story in protest of the plea bargain which Buchris receive and adding the Hebrew hashtag #morethanBuchris.*

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You Must Be Kidding: 
“We’re all fighting for this country, but maybe not in the same way. I hope that ultimately, despite it being on the verge of collapse, the state will rise above disputes. It’s OK not to agree and to come out of this with different opinions, since we’re not a herd…This was a meeting that stemmed from common concern for the future of this country and anyone who believes that democracy is important should invite Breaking the Silence to their school.”
--Ze'ev Degani, principal of Tel Aviv's Gymnasia Herzliya High School, told students why he invited Breaking the Silence to speak with them, despite pressure by the Education Ministry to cancel the invitation.

Who Would You Sooner Believe: Santa Claus or Israeli Police? (Sayed Kashua, Haaretz+) Santa said he'd bring my kid what he wants, the car mechanic said the heater was fixed and Israel's police said they'd check all possible causes of last week's fires. Who will keep their promise?
Roaring Silence: Where are the leaders of the national-religious sector this week? (Dr. Revital Amiran, Maariv) Women like Ayelet Shaked, Shuli Muallem and Tzipi Hotovely should have been the first to cry out in the face of the exclusion of women's or in the sexual harassment scandals. But their voices were not heard. 
The Life and Death of a Palestinian (Amira Hass, Haaretz+) The mourners have all inhaled tear gas more often than the average Israeli drinks wine, and have spent more days under curfew than the average Israeli spends abroad.
America moves right, Jewish groups move left (Richard Baehr, Israel Hayom) After the Democratic defeat, several major Jewish groups have chosen to identify with those who seem panicked by the election results, mainly Donald Trump's election.
Liberal Values as a Jewish Defense Weapon (Zeev Sternhell, Haaretz+) The face of Israel nowadays is that of settlement thugs behind whom a cowardly Benjamin Netanyahu hides. 
Trump’s "Mad Dog": Should we worry about the appointed Secretary of Defense? (Shmuel Rosner, Maariv) He is known for zero tolerance for political correctness, his blunt style, a reputation for not bending to his superiors and not a small amount of criticism against us (Israel). Is James Mattis good for Israel? President Obama, who strove for an agreement with Iran, did not like that the militant general saw Iran as undermining stability and showed suspicion towards measures of appeasement towards Iran. "Every morning I would wake up, and the three first questions I had were related to Iran, and Iran and Iran," said Mattis in the past. "It remains the most aggressive player in the Middle East.” Obama released him from his job, which probably made him one of the leading candidates to serve in any Republican administration imaginable…. He opposed the nuclear agreement with Iran, and believed it was not well made, but today he is not calling to cancel it. Mattis is a man of the military establishment; his code name in the Iraq war may have been "chaos," but Mattis is not a general looking for wars, and is not one who is interested in the use of force or imposing ideology and American values on the rest of the world. Mattis seeks stability. And if that requires that the US make a brave alliance with dictators, he would stop at nothing to do it. His gave forces that entered Iraq workshops for cultural sensitivity, so that they did not act in a way that would harm the dignity of the locals. He also encouraged his soldiers to grow mustaches, so as not to stand out. In the Israeli context, Mattis made past statements that might provoke some concern in Jerusalem. Mattis testified that as the commander of the  Central Command “I paid the price every day” because "Americans appear biased in favor of Israel." Mattis also warned that without achieving a two-state solution, Israel will cease to be a Jewish state or it will become an apartheid state. "It did not work that the last time I saw this happening in a particular country" – i.e. South Africa, he said. Mattis visited Israel many times, and Israel’s security leadership have several acquaintances who speak highly of him…
America Is Irrelevant to Israel's Settlement Policies (Haaretz Editorial) It still isn’t clear what Trump will propose, but relying on him to give Israel permission to continue building in the settlements is akin to hoping to find a doctor who will prescribe desperately-sought but illegal drugs. 
The knitted skullcap is unraveling: the priorities of religious Zionism have been crushed for the sake of politics (Shlomo Shamir, Maariv) The principles of Judaism have turned from a goal to idol worship and the improving human virtues has turned into cranes for promoting national and political goals. And no one says a word. 
The Damage Caused by Israel Fires Goes Beyond the Material (Moshe Arens, Haaretz+) Israel must be prepared for a recurrence of the distrust between Jews and Arabs that accompanies periods of violence such as last month's fires. 
Aren’t You Sick and Tired Yet of Netanyahu's Scare Tactics? (Uri Misgav, Haaretz+) The prime minister launched a preemptive strike against both the submarine affair that threatened to drown him and against the firefighting failures that quickly surfaced.
The word according to Abbas (Prof. Eyal Zisser, Israel Hayom) At last week's Fatah conference, Mahmoud Abbas announced that, thanks to the Oslo Accords, 600,000 Palestinians had "returned" to the West Bank.
Abbas the Politician Spoils It for Abbas the Statesman (Amira Hass, Haaretz+) In his speech to Fatah delegates, the Palestinian president implied that his people should abandon armed struggle and focus on attainable goals. Yet his power doesn't stem from this stance but from his control of funds and jobs.