From Today's Israeli Press
WIBBLE WOBBLE
NO END IN SIGHT: Yoav Limor asserts in Israel Hayom that Israel is drowning in strategic mud, and turning its back on the residents of the North, as Hezbollah ups the ante.
FORGET RAFAH: Shelly Yachimovich claims in Yedioth Ahronoth that the U.S. is saving Israel from itself.
IT'S UP TO US: Zaki Shalom argues in Makor Rishon that there is no need to get worked up about the diplomatic crisis, as Biden is not interested in escalation.
AN ALTERNATIVE TO HAMAS: Yoni Ben Menachem stresses in ArabExpert that Hamas has thwarted all Netanyahu's efforts to replace it.
TENSIONS BOILING OVER: Amos Harel proclaims in Haaretz that stagnation in Israel/Hamas talks could turn the conflict with Hezbollah into a full-scale war.
HAMAS IS PLAYING THE WEST: Yaara Segal contends in The Jerusalem Post that those pressuring Israel to stay out of Rafah are showing no concern for the fate of our 134 hostages.
From Today's Arabic Press
THE ISRAELI TITANIC
A SEMI-VICTORY: The U.S.'s abstention from voting on UNSCR 2728 sends mixed messages – a warning message to Israel expressing serious anger at Netanyahu, but also a message that the U.S. will continue to support the Israeli war if it abides by U.S. constraints, contends Palestinian commentator Talal 'Awkal in Thursday's leading Palestinian daily al-Ayyam. Netanyahu, however, is defying the U.S., but this is placing him in a predicament both at home and abroad.
MORE COMPLICATED THAN EVER: Despite the disagreements within the Israeli government regarding many issues, there is no real sign that the consensus on persisting with the war is under threat, with a campaign on Rafah being the next step in that war, maintains Lebanese commentator Yahiya Dabouq in Monday's left-leaning pro-Hezbollah Beirut daily al-Akhbar. But in this phase at least, the threat to invade Rafah seems more a tool used by the Israeli negotiators in the indirect talks with Hamas than an actual impending likelihood.
RAFAH ATTACK: Despite Netanyahu's continuous saber-rattling, many factors indicate that an Israeli military campaign in Rafah is unlikely in the foreseeable future, argues Palestinian commentator Nabhan Khreisheh in Thursday's Qatari-owned London-based, pan-Arab daily al-Quds al-Arabi. In addition to U.S. and Egyptian opposition to such a campaign, the Israeli army does not seem militarily ready and its deployment in the West Bank and the threat from the Northern front diminish its ability to launch an operation in Rafah.
A PRECEDENT-SETTING MOVE: By announcing his country's intention to sever diplomatic ties with Israel if it does not comply with the UNSCR 2728, the Columbian president has put to shame several Arab countries that still maintain diplomatic and economic ties with the occupation state, proclaims Jordanian commentator Hazem 'Ayyad in Thursday's Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Amman daily al-Sabeel. The hope is that this will spur these Arab states to follow in Colombia and other states' footsteps instead of confining themselves to verbal denunciations.
SAVING SUDAN: While the RSF, which controls Darfur, has no right to reject an agreement between Sudan's military government and UN agencies to deliver humanitarian aid into the region, the government's Darfur Regional Government is not in a position to demand that it be put in charge of delivering this aid, insists Sudanese commentator Safa al-Fahl on Sudanese www.rakobanews.com. Neither side to the conflict is trustworthy and both sides will sell that aid as a means of generating revenue for their war.