The Front Pages
Unsurprisingly, the Israelis and their crazy, gun-slinging shenanigans are dominating the front pages this morning.
Here’s how some of the main headlines read:
‘Wave of fury erupts over Israeli killings’ – The Irish Independent.
‘Seven Irish citizens detained after raid on flotilla’ – The Irish Times.
‘Kidnapped – Martin calls for Israel to release Irish citizens’ – The Irish Examiner.
The Irish Independent opted to lead with the world’s reaction to Israel’s storming of an aid flotilla which left a still unknown number of people dead and injured. The majority of the victims are believed to have been Turkish, and the Turks have been leading the condemnation. They have described it as a ‘massacre’ and an act of ‘state terrorism’.
Naturally, the Israelis have been stout in their defence of the actions of their special forces. Apparently, if a small army of men carrying assault rifles jumps out of helicopters onto your boat in international waters in the middle of the night, you are not permitted to act in self defence by picking up a stick or whatever. If you do, they can act in self defence by shooting you. Makes perfect sense once they explain it all.
The Irish Times managed to get a hold of some figures on the number of Irish people who have been caught up in the attack. Apparently, seven of our own have been arrested and hauled back to Israel where they are currently detained.
The Examiner leads with the reaction of Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin who has demanded the release of the Irish people detained by the Israelis.
Tales from the Tabs
It’s getting to the stage where if I never hear of another celeb break-up story again it will be too soon. Just joking – we in the media love other peoples’ misery. Anyway, there was a little glimmer of light on the topic of celebrity relationships splattered across the front page of The Irish Sun this morning.
Apparently ‘It’s all back Yvonne for Ro’, whatever that’s supposed to mean. There might be a pun or a song reference in there somewhere that I’m not getting. Anyway, the gist of the story is that Ronan has appologised to his missus for doing the dirt on her with a dancer and she’s forgiven him. Good man yourself Ro.
The Irish Sun also has a bit of a ‘scoop’ on page 2 – apparently bin fees are going to be hiked by 400%. You see what I did there? Bins? Scoop? Eh, eh? Oh.
The paper has decided to relegate what is probably one of the biggest scandals in international relations in the past decade, to page 7. They reckon that an Irish activist is among those to have been shot in what is described as Israel’s ‘Act of Piracy’.
The Irish Daily Mail has done the decent thing by running the story of Israeli special forces attacking a flotilla of aid ships bound for Gaza, resulting in somewhere between nine and 19 deaths, as its lead. ‘Bloodbath on the High Seas’ is the headline.
That strange little paper which always seems to find a spot on the shelves of Irish newsagents despite the fact that you never see anyone either buying or reading it, The Daily Express, has lead with a story about how the British taxpayer is paying out £44m on drug substitutes for imprisoned addicts. ‘£44m scandal of jail junkies’ is the suitably outraged headline. Sucks to be them.
The Mirror meanwhile has decided to go with the Israeli raid story. They are focusing on how protests have been sparked in cities across the world as people take to the streets to vent their anger over the deadly attack. Â This one might run for a while.
The Sports Pages
We are definitely into silly season as most of the sports pages are dominated by transfer rumours.
The Irish Sun reckons it has got its hands on an exclusive – ‘Inter’s Benitez swoop’. Apparently the Serie A champions have ditched efforts to secure the signature of Fabio Capello and are moving on Liverpool’s free-spending minge-faced dynamo, Rafa Benitez.
The sport section of the Irish Daily Mail leads with ‘Ready to Go’. Apparently Villa’s move for Kevin Doyle is on, due in part to the news that Wolves are in the final stages of securing the signature of Steven Fletcher from Burnley.
The paper also carries a tasty Championship story on page 70 – apparently Cork full-back Eoin Cadogan has said it would be foolish to write off the Premier county based on their performance against the rebels.
In one of those strange situations in which two people find themselves contradicting each other on the same subject at the same time without knowing they are doing so, Tipp’s former manager Michael ‘Babs’ Keating has written of the county’s All-Ireland prospects in an angry outburst in the wake of Sunday’s crushing Munster SHC defeat to Cork. ‘Babs points finger at Tipp ‘failures’’ is the headline in the Irish Independent.
The Daily Express seems to be a bit off the pace with their transfer news – ‘Hands off Fabio’ is the headline. According to The Irish Sun, that is, like, so yesterday news?
