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Carol X Weakley  11/14/2006 02:06:48 PM  From  DB/Inbox:  Carol X Weakley

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TAGS: IS KMDR
 
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶1.  Mideast 
 
¶2.  Global War on Terror 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Major media (lead story in Ha'aretz) reported that President Bush, 
speaking after a meeting at that White House with PM Ehud Olmert, 
called Monday for the world to unite in isolating Iran until it 
"gives up its nuclear ambitions."  In addition, Olmert publicly 
praised the American operation in Iraq, which he said brought 
stability to the Middle East.  Ha'aretz quoted politicians from the 
Democratic Party as saying they wanted to speak to Olmert about his 
comments on the Iraq war before responding publicly, but that they 
were uncomfortable with the comments.  If Olmert planned his remarks 
and intended them to come out as they did, a Democratic official 
said, then they are not acceptable and can be seen as an attempt to 
influence the American political arena.  Maariv and Israel Radio 
reported that the two leaders agreed that Syria could become a 
partner in the peace process if it renounced sponsorship of 
terrorism.  Leading media noted that both leaders' countries enjoyed 
economic prosperity but that the men's domestic public image was 
negative. 
 
While, akin to other leading media, The Jerusalem Post cited 
President Bush's call on Monday for worldwide isolation of Iran 
until it "gives up its nuclear ambitions," the newspaper, as well as 
other media, said he gave no hint of a willingness to stop the 
Iranian nuclear march.  Yediot reported that Olmert told the 
influential Baker/Hamilton committee in Washington on Monday that 
the US should talk with Iran and Syria.  Leading media reported 
that, in an interview with NBC-TV, which was recorded in Israel on 
Friday and broadcast Monday, when asked if he would accept direct 
negotiations between Washington and Tehran, Olmert said any 
compromise preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons would be 
acceptable to Israel.  Israel Radio quoted US Permanent 
Representative to the UN Ambassador John Bolton as saying Monday 
that Russian changes to a draft U.N. resolution on Iran's nuclear 
program would "cut back substantially" on restrictions the US and 
its allies are seeking. 
 
Israel Radio quoted State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack as 
saying Monday: "We would call upon the Arab states as well as other 
states to continue with their adherence to the principles and the 
spirit that were outlined in the Quartet statement [on conditioning 
aid to the PA upon recognition of Israel and the end of violence]." 
The Jerusalem Post quoted a senior PA official in Ramallah as saying 
that PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas, who arrived in Amman 
Monday, is scheduled to hold secret talks with Israeli, Egyptian, 
and Jordanian security officials on ways to resolve the case of 
resolving the case of kidnapped IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit.  Maariv 
quoted Olmert as telling Al-Quds that he will keep his promise to 
release Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Shalit's release. 
Israel Radio quoted the London-based Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat as saying 
that the composition of the new Palestinian government will be made 
public only after a breakthrough in negotiations over Shalit's 
release.  Yediot reported that the Israeli defense establishment and 
the Justice Ministry are considering withholding information from 
families of Palestinian prisoners to put pressure on Hamas to 
accelerate the deal for Shalit's release. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted Olmert as saying Monday in an interview with the 
East Jerusalem daily Al-Quds that he would be willing to meet with 
Hamas cabinet ministers.  This would become possible if the new 
Palestinian government adopted the Quartet's principles.   Ha'aretz, 
The Jerusalem Post, and other media reported that a Hamas official 
told AP Monday that Dr. Mohammed Shabir, the US-educated university 
professor favored to be the next Palestinian PM, has accepted the 
offer.  Shabir was quoted as saying in remarks to Ha'aretz that he 
has no problem with any party, including the US, and that that he 
maintains "sound relations with all."  However, he was quoted as 
saying he would only be willing to address his views on Israel after 
he was officially named to the post.  Shabir told Ha'aretz that he 
was not affiliated with any organization and is an independent. 
However, Ha'aretz quoted an Israeli source who claims to know Shabir 
that he is identified with Hamas. 
 
Israel Radio quoted Palestinian sources as saying that an armed PFLP 
militant was killed by IDF fire in Nablus.  Ha'aretz and Yediot 
reported that the IDF denied claims by the human rights organization 
B'Tselem that last week's shooting deaths of two Palestinian 
militants in the West Bank village of Kafr al-Yamin was an 
"execution." 
 
Jerusalem Post correspondent Jacey Herman, who recently visited 
Beirut, said that support for Hizbullah in Lebanon is stronger than 
ever. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted Haifa University communications expert 
Prof. Gabriel Weimann as saying that Wednesday's launch of 
Qatar-based Al Jazeera International, a 24/7 English-language 
satellite network, will make the "information war" harder for 
Israel.  The Jerusalem Post quoted Foreign Ministry Director of 
Public Affairs Amir Gissin as saying that Israel lost the media war 
this summer because it sent spokesmen with sound bites to combat 
photographs of destruction and despair that dominated TV and 
newspapers. 
 
Yediot reported that, because of Robert Gates' alleged unfriendly 
attitude toward Israel, American Jewish leaders are concerned about 
his appointment as defense secretary.  The Jerusalem Post reported 
that FM Tzipi Livni told the United Jewish Communities General 
Assembly in Los Angeles on Sunday that Israel thanks US Jews for 
their support during the war in Lebanon.  The Jerusalem Post cited 
criticism by several leading Jewish American leaders that Jewish 
Agency Chairman Zeev Bielski's comments that US Jews have no 
future. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Israeli President Moshe Katsav will not be 
charged with rape but that he will face charges for other sexual 
offenses.  Charges against Katsav will be brought to court no later 
than March 2007. 
 
Yediot reported that on Monday, Olmert introduced President Bush to 
Sallai Meridor, Israeli nominee as ambassador to the US. 
 
Leading media reported that settler leader Bentzi Lieberman 
announced on Monday that he plans to resign from his post as the 
head of the Council of Jewish Settlements in the Territories as of 
January.  Ha'aretz wrote that it is likely that Lieberman will try 
to finalize the question of illegal settler outposts with the 
government before leaving his post, and that he will agree to the 
evacuation of outposts set up on private lands in return for having 
others recognized. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan as saying 
in Istanbul on Monday that any effort to stop growing violence 
between Islamic and Western societies must include an end to the 
Arab-Israeli conflict. 
 
Ha'aretz cited the "vicious legacy" in Lebanon of the IDF's 
"budget-saving, American-made cluster bombs." 
 
Both Yediot and Maariv bannered the debate on the continuation of 
Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz's service as IDF Chief of Staff.  Yediot 
reported that Olmert has declined to back Halutz.  Maariv reported 
that Halutz has conveyed a message to the IDF's top brass that he is 
not resigning. 
 
The Jerusalem Post cited AP as saying that former New York Times 
reporter Judith Miller told a federal court jury on Monday that she 
secretly witnessed the 1993 interrogation by Israeli agents of a 
 
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Palestinian-American grocer charged with providing money and 
recruits to a terrorist group. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that on Monday the High Court of Justice rejected 
a petition by convicted spy Jonathan Pollard and his wife Esther 
which asked the court to force Pensioner Affairs Minister Rafi Eitan 
to resign.  The couple had argued that the appointment of Eitan, who 
was Pollard's control officer in the 1980s, eliminated any chance 
Pollard will be released from prison in the US. 
 
Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post reported that on Monday El Al 
canceled options to buy eight to 10 Boeing 787 Dreamliners in a deal 
that was worth as much as USD 1.5 billion. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote on page one of the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Now Olmert heads the list of 
the opponents of an American withdrawal from Iraq." 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "[One-on-one meetings} 
oblige the listener far more than they do the speaker." 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one of the 
popular, pluralist Maariv: "If Olmert should want to say in the 
future that the President promised him something, what is he going 
to use to prove that?" 
 
Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in Ha'aretz: "Like [former 
Secretary of State James] Baker, [Robert Gates] believes that ending 
 
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the Israeli occupation and the Arab-Israeli conflict are vital to 
the United States' Middle East agenda." 
Journalist and far-Left peace activist Uri Avnery wrote in NRG, 
Maariv's Internet site: "More important than Bush was the fact that 
the exciting news out of the United States pushed to the sidelines 
the awful reports about the incident in Beit Hanun." 
 
Palestinian columnist Daoud Kuttab wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post: "Historically, progress on the 
Arab-Israeli conflict has often been made during the last years of a 
two-term president." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "45 Minutes of Smile" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote on page one of the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (11/14): "The only headline 
[regarding the Bush-Olmert meeting] was Olmert's declaration the war 
in Iraq had brought stability to the region and made a 'dramatic 
positive contribution' to the strategic position of Israel and 
moderate Arab states.  His public thanks to Bush for invading Iraq 
joins Olmert's public call of a few days ago for the Americans not 
to withdraw from there in haste.  Thus Olmert broke the taboo 
imposed by his predecessor, Ariel Sharon, on Israeli statements 
about Iraq.... Now Olmert heads the list of the opponents of an 
American withdrawal from Iraq.  His position is not without reason. 
From the point of view of Israel and the 'axis of the moderate' Arab 
states -- Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt -- it is better to have an 
American army in Iraq, albeit beaten and wounded, than an extremist 
Shi'ite state operating under the influence of Iran and exporting 
experienced terrorists to the entire region.  But by coming out 
publicly on the matter, Olmert has taken Bush's side in the internal 
American debate, and has placed himself in opposition to the new 
Democratic leaders in Congress, who last week won the midterm 
elections because of their opposition to the war in Iraq.  How to 
block the Iranian threat was at the top of the agenda in the 
Bush-Olmert meeting, and the Prime Minister said, as he is wont, he 
was very satisfied with this part of their discussion. It is not 
clear from what exactly.... Olmert can be satisfied with the public 
promises he heard from Bush, which strengthen the Israeli stand on 
the road map and the demands on the Palestinian government; reject 
the Syrian overtures for peace talks before Damascus changes its 
ways; and make a dialogue with Iran conditional on its stopping 
uranium enrichment." 
II.  "The Blind and the Lame" 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (11/14): "At the end of 
their orchestrated performance before the journalists, the two men 
rose from their seats.  Olmert embraced Bush at the shoulder.  Bush 
returned the embrace....  I do not know exactly what Olmert and Bush 
decided on with respect to the Iranian issue.  The two held a 
one-on-one discussion, which, on the one hand, lends a certain 
dramatic effect to the conversation between them but, on the other, 
leaves the task of interpretation to each party on its own. 
Experience with those kinds of conversations has not been good. 
They oblige the listener far more than they do the speaker.... 
Everything else is on hold: The Palestinian issue is on hold, 
pending the replacement of the Palestinian government.  The Iraqi 
issue is on hold, pending the crystallization of a new, bipartisan 
policy in the United States.  The Syrian issue is on hold, pending 
good will gestures that Assad is to make. Currently none of the 
above is visible on the horizon." 
 
 
 
III.  "One-on-One With President Bush" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one of the 
popular, pluralist Maariv (11/14): "Olmert's visit to Washington can 
be recorded as a strange event.  The meeting with the President was 
held almost entirely one-on-one.  That is an irregular, 
unconventional way of handling meetings of this type that are held 
about subjects of this type.  If Olmert should want to say in the 
future that the President promised him something, what is he going 
to use to prove that?....  In summary?  On the one hand, a meeting 
that was hardly crucial. On the other, it could be that it will 
prove to have been fruitful.  The first buds of a new initiative on 
the Palestinian front, the agreements about Syria, the coordination 
with regard to Iran.  The Prime Minister was received warmly, 
enjoyed every minute and can commend himself for not having wasted 
his time on his way to Los Angeles." 
 
IV.  "An Iraq Withdrawal, Via Palestine" 
 
Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in Ha'aretz (11/14): 
"Robert Gates, the CIA chief in the early 1990s, is now a candidate 
to replace Rumsfeld.  He belongs to the school that believes that if 
something cannot be obtained by force, more force will not help. 
Gates is willing to offer carrots to even the Iranian monster.  Like 
[former Secretary of State James] Baker, he believes that ending the 
Israeli occupation and the Arab-Israeli conflict are vital to the 
United States' Middle East agenda.  This is not just mere 
speculation regarding Gates.  All this appears in a report by an 
independent task force on Iran, sponsored by the Council on Foreign 
Relations in New York.  Gates and Zbigniew Brzezinski, the Carter 
administration's national security adviser, chaired the task force, 
which also included the Jewish-American activist and media baron 
Mort Zuckerman.  One of the first recommendations of the report, 
which was published in June 2004 under the title 'Iran: Time for a 
New Approach,' was that the US resume active involvement in the 
Middle East peace process and press Arab countries to support it." 
 
¶V.  "It's Called a Massacre" 
 
Journalist and far-Left peace activist Uri Avnery wrote in NRG, 
Maariv's Internet site (11/14): "'Thank God for the elections in 
America,' said [Israel's] ministers and generals last week with a 
sigh of relief.  It wasn't the kick the American people gave George 
Bush's behind that they were so pleased with because, after all, 
they like Bush.  More important than Bush was the fact that the 
exciting news out of the United States pushed to the sidelines the 
awful reports about the incident in Beit Hanun.  Those reports, 
instead of receiving the top headlines, made their way to the bottom 
of the page.... Olmert can continue to do that, he said, because the 
governments of the world are silent.  The US imposed a veto on a 
gentle condemnation resolution by the UN Security Council against 
Israel in the wake of the artillery fire. Does that mean that the 
governments of the world -- America, Europe and the Arab world, are 
party to the crime of Beit Hanun?  That is a question that the 
citizens of those countries are going to have to answer." 
 
VI.  "Lame-Duck Potential" 
 
Palestinian columnist Daoud Kuttab wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post (11/14): "With US mid-term elections 
behind us and President George W. Bush not able to run for another 
term, American foreign policy (which is the responsibility of the 
White House) in the region may become more invigorated.  The fact 
that Bush boasts that he publicly supports the idea of a Palestinian 
state may incline him to pay closer attention to how history will 
record his government.  In his last two years in government, and 
with so many failures in the region (read Iraq), the Bush 
administration will likely try to make a last-ditch effort to solve 
the Palestinian problem. Historically, progress on the Arab-Israeli 
conflict has often been made during the last years of a two-term 
president.... Palestinian suffering continues to poison the air in 
the entire region.  It is high time that the Palestinians and other 
Arabs were given a reason for optimism and hope." 
------------------------- 
¶2.  Global War on Terror: 
------------------------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Deputy Managing Editor and right-wing columnist Caroline B. Glick 
wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "Reasonably, 
the world is now assessing the US through the prism of its 
non-action against Iran and North Korea rather than through the 
prism of Iraq." 
 
 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"The Second-Worst Option" 
 
Deputy Managing Editor and right-wing columnist Caroline B. Glick 
wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (11/14): 
"Iran, North Korea and al-Qaida have all been quick to interpret the 
Democratic victory in last Tuesday's Congressional elections as a 
sign that the US has chosen to turn its back on the threat they pose 
to America.  By firing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and 
replacing him with Robert Gates, who supports appeasing the mullahs 
in Teheran and finding a fig-leaf excuse to vacate Iraq, Bush has 
done everything to prove America's enemies right.  Moreover, Bush 
administration officials' statements ahead of the president's trip 
to Asia this week indicate that Bush will seek to contend with North 
Korea by ratcheting up US engagement with Pyongyang in the six-party 
talks.... Reasonably, the world is now assessing the US through the 
prism of its non-action against Iran and North Korea rather than 
through the prism of Iraq.  And the consequence of the view that 
Iraq was a deviation from a norm of US passivity is nothing less 
than the complete breakdown of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation 
Treaty." 
 
CRETZ