“Opposition to the extreme right is grounded in moral and ethical principles, not considerations of comfort and a desire to raise the happiness level of Israel’s Jews. Integrity, not joy, weighs in the balance.”
—Haaretz commentator Rogel Alpher examines Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s accusation that those who oppose his rule are ‘sourpusses.’

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Front Page:

News Summary:
Catalonia declared independence and was taken over by Spain, the Israeli government coalition is in a crisis because the (Likud) coalition whip, David Bitan, insisted on voting over the ‘French bill,’ which would prohibit investigating a sitting prime minister and he won’t agree to bring to vote any coalition bills until the French (Bibi) bill is voted on, and text messages sent by a young woman who is suing Sara Netanyahu described what she claimed to have suffered while working for Mrs. Netanyahu at the Prime Minister’s Residence (she was not the first to make such claims) - making top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers.

Also in the news, the head of the Hamas security forces was injured in an assassination attempt, but Israeli reporters said that it was likely the work of ISIS/Salafists, who wanted to see the man dead (also Haaretz+).

And, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu sought to postpone a vote on the ‘Greater Jerusalem’ bill (proposed by MK Yoav Kish of Likud), which would make a “municipal annexation” of some West Bank settlements to Jerusalem, what some are calling a ‘crawling annexation' (Maariv). Meanwhile, Jerusalem Affairs Minister Zeev Elkin wants to cut out several Arab neighborhoods from the Jerusalem municipality and put them under the jurisdiction of other administrations. Together, the plans would increase the number of Jews in Jerusalem and reduce the number of Arabs.