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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000267 
 
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E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR IS
 
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶1.  Israel: Governance 
 
¶2.  Syria 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Major electronic media cited the State of the Union Address that 
President Bush delivered on Tuesday.  The media reported that the 
President dedicated roughly half of his speech to domestic issues 
and that he asked Congress for support for his new Iraq strategy. 
The leading Internet news service Ynet said that the speech produced 
an oppressive silence instead of answers.  Bush mentioned Israel 
once during his speech, when he reaffirmed America's commitment to 
the peace process.  He was quoted as saying that the US was taking 
diplomatic steps to ensure peace in the Holy Land, with a 
Palestinian state existing in peace and security alongside Israel. 
 
 
All media, except the ultra-Orthodox newspapers, led with an 
announcement by Attorney General Menachem Mazuz on Tuesday that 
Israel's President Moshe Katsav will be indicted for rape and a 
series of other sexual offenses against four different women.  This 
morning Israel Radio cited Mazuz's belief that Katsav must suspend 
himself as he had pledged to the High Court of Justice.  Knesset 
Speaker Dalia Itzik will stand in for Katsav if he suspends himself. 
 Noting that 90 votes in the Knesset are needed to depose Katsav, 
the media reported that such a majority cannot be garnered.  Israel 
Radio reported that 27 Knesset members will lodge a complaint to the 
Knesset's House Committee against the President to start an 
impeachment procedure.  Leading media expect Katsav to announce such 
a decision today.  Yediot bannered: "Resign!"  The Jerusalem Post 
quoted sources close to Vice PM Shimon Peres as saying there is a 
majority in the Knesset to end secret ballot voting, ahead of the 
race to succeed Katsav, which they believe would allow Peres to win 
the Presidency. 
 
This morning Israel Radio cited London's Daily Telegraph as saying 
that North Korea is helping Iran to prepare an underground nuclear 
test similar to the one Pyongyang carried out last year.  Yediot 
reported that on Monday Likud Chairman MK Binyamin Netanyahu left 
for a trip to Boston and London in a campaign against Iran's nuclear 
policy.  The newspaper quoted Netanyahu associates as saying that he 
is supposed to meet with State Treasurers in various US states, who 
hold a sway on large pension funds that invest in companies involved 
in huge projects in Iran.  Yediot reported that Olmert is opposed to 
drives on the Iranian issue that are not officially under GOI 
policy.   Leading media reported that Russia announced today that it 
has completed the sale of Tor-M1 anti-aircraft missiles to Iran. 
 
Ha'aretz interviewed three American experts on Iran's nuclear 
weapons program, all former senior administration officials, who 
believe that the US must consider striking Iran in order to 
eliminate its nuclear threat.  The experts -- Dr. Gary Samore, Vice 
President of the Council on Foreign Relations, Dr. Robert Einhorn, 
currently a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and 
International Studies in Washington, and Richard Perle, a 
"neoconservative pillar" -- are participants in the Herzliya 
Conference.  The Jerusalem Post reported that at the Herzliya 
Conference four US presidential aspirants -- Republicans (former 
Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and former House Speaker Newt 
Gingrich) and Democratic Senators John Edwards (South Carolina) and 
John McCain (Arizona) called for stopping Iran's nuclear 
aspirations.  Gingrich and McCain addressed the gathering via 
videoconference. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted a senior officer in the IDF's General Staff as 
saying that during last summer's war in Lebanon, the option of a 
large-scale ground operation in southern Lebanon was not seriously 
discussed by the General Staff or by the political establishment 
until July 27, more than two weeks after the war broke out. 
 
The Jerusalem Post and Israel Radio reported that on Tuesday the US 
presented a resolution condemning Holocaust denial to the UN General 
Assembly.  The radio reported that at present 40 states support the 
proposed resolution, and that the US hopes that a total of 104 
states will endorse him -- the number of states that supported the 
designation of an International Day of Commemoration for Victims of 
the Holocaust every January 27. 
 
The media continued to report on opposition protests in Lebanon, in 
which three people were killed and over 100 wounded. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that on Tuesday Palestinian gunmen from Fatah's 
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades abducted a French diplomat and two of his 
bodyguards.  The three were released a few hours later, after it 
became clear that they were not undercover IDF troops.  Leading 
media reported that on Tuesday gunmen who identified themselves as 
Al-Qaida militants blew up several buildings in vacant Al-Waha 
resort on a northern Gaza Strip beach.  Media said that the 
militants are believed, however, to actually be Hamas members. 
 
Leading media reported that on Tuesday PM Ehud Olmert promoted the 
Lachish region between Jerusalem and Beersheva as a new home for the 
evacuees form the Gaza Strip. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that 12 of Kadima's 29 Knesset members 
signed a petition of 61 MKs that Likud MK Yisrael Katz drafted, 
opposing any future withdrawal from the Golan Heights.  The 
newspaper quoted Katz as saying that the breakup of Kadima would 
"come soon." 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Hebrew Union College President 
Rabbi David Ellenson told the Herzliya Conference on Tuesday that he 
is concerned about a situation in which the grandchildren of 
American and Israeli Jews will not have a "common language." 
 
Maariv reported that the US Congress is working on a bill that would 
limit to US soil the handling the granting of US citizenship to 
relatives of US citizens.  The newspaper wrote that the applicants 
might consequently have to wait for two years until they get green 
cards.  Maariv cited the US Embassy in Tel Aviv as saying that the 
change is a worldwide one and based on a change of legislation. 
 
Yediot and Maariv quoted National Infrastructure Minister Binyamin 
Ben-Eliezer as saying at the Herzliya Conference on Tuesday that 
Israel should explore the possibility of building a nuclear reactor 
to produce energy.  Ben-Eliezer was quoted as saying that, due to 
the regional situation, Israel is unable to rely on regular energy 
alone. 
 
Yediot reported that the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Watan has suggested 
that Environment Minister Gideon Ezra take up the parallel post in 
Kuwait. 
 
Yediot quoted a former Science Ministry official as saying on 
Tuesday that "someone in the Science Ministry forgot that the 
Science Minister is privy to state secrets."  The official was 
referring to the expected appointment of Israeli Arab MK Raleb 
Majadele to the post of minister of science, technology, culture, 
and sports. 
 
Ha'aretz cited an AP story that last night, at heavily Jewish 
Brandeis University in Massachusetts, former US President Jimmy 
Carter was about to respond to the critics of his controversial 
book, "Palestine: Peace not Apartheid"  AP wrote that Carter 
declined to debate Harvard Law Prof. Alan Dershowitz at the 
University. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Jewish American  billionaire Ronald Lauder 
told the newspaper on Tuesday that he is "very interested" in 
running for president of the World Jewish Congress, but that he will 
not consider himself a candidate until elections are announced.  The 
newspaper noted that the sitting President, Canadian billionaire 
Edgar Bronfman, has reportedly been planning to hand the reins to 
his son Matthew in the summer. 
 
Maariv reported that FM Tzipi Livni has entered an agreement with 
Akira Amari, Japan's Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry, to 
open a direct El Al route between Tel Aviv and Tokyo. 
 
----------------------- 
¶1.  Israel: Governance: 
----------------------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "The hope is, 
and this has a good chance of happening, that the IDF will regain 
its composure and will renew the public's faith in it." 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one of the 
popular, pluralist Maariv: "Justice, in Moshe Katsav's case, should 
be done and seen immediately.  Here and now." 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "[Israel's] President 
will resign.  If not today -- tomorrow.  If not tomorrow -- the day 
after." 
 
Chief Economic Editor Sever Plotker wrote from the World Economic 
Forum in Davos in Yediot Aharonot: "A heavy shadow has fallen over 
Israel's image around the world.... It is unpleasant, but we deserve 
it." 
 
Columnist and former Meretz Party Chairman Yossi Sarid wrote in 
Ha'aretz: "The issue at hand is no longer the dignity of the 
President, but the dignity due to an entire nation." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Restoring the IDF to Itself" 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (1/24): "The 
quick decision by Amir Peretz to appoint Major General (res.) Gabi 
Ashkenazi as the next Israel Defense Forces chief of staff is his 
most important decision as Defense Minister.  Prime Minister Ehud 
Olmert's consent to the recommendation allows the IDF to turn over a 
new leaf.... Time is of the essence because the threats facing 
Israel did not disappear with the cease-fire ending the second 
Lebanon war.... Ashkenazi knows the North very well, including the 
other side of the border with Lebanon and Syria.  Among his first 
tasks will be to scrutinize the IDF's new plan of operation and the 
reorganization that was implemented before the war.  He will have to 
recommend a prioritized plan to protect the area around the Gaza 
Strip against rockets, as well as the means to intercept Katyusha 
rockets.  The hope is, and this has a good chance of happening, that 
the IDF will regain its composure and will renew the public's faith 
in it." 
 
II.  "Go Home!" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one of the 
popular, pluralist Maariv (1/24): "The State of Israel vs. the 
President of the State of Israel.  The number one citizen turns into 
the number one defendant.  If the suspicions against him are proven, 
it will be necessary to send Moshe Katsav to prison, and for a long 
time.... If what is attributed to him is true, if indeed Moshe 
Katsav was a predatory and trampling sex machine that exploited, 
humiliated and wounded women throughout his political career, if all 
these things are proven in court, it will be necessary to remove the 
man from human society and to prosecute him to the full extent of 
the law, and perhaps even more.  He should resign, the attorney 
general should conduct a quick hearing for him, the indictment 
should be filed quickly and the trial should be held efficiently, 
without undue red tape or time wasting.  Justice, in Moshe Katsav's 
case, should be done and seen immediately.  Here and now." 
 
III.  "He Will Go" 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (1/24): "[Israel's] 
President will resign.  If not today -- tomorrow.  If not tomorrow 
-- the day after.  Resignation, not temporary incapacitation or any 
other trick, is what is needed now in order to save what is left of 
the institution of the presidency, and in order to return the affair 
to its proper proportions.  In doing so, Moshe Katsav the man will 
do a great service, perhaps a final service, to Israeli society and 
its sanity.  The country will thank him.... I am Dreyfus, Katsav 
says, and hopes for someone like Emile Zola, to stand up and cry: 
'J'accuse.'  Luckily for us, Israel of the 21st century is not 
France of the 19th century.  The prosecution in Israel sometimes 
commits the sin of over-zealousness and sometimes the sin of 
carelessness, but no serious person believes that it is conspiring 
against the President." 
 
IV.  "Shame to be an Israeli" 
 
Chief Economic Editor Sever Plotker wrote from the World Economic 
Forum in Davos in Yediot Aharonot (1/24): "Israel's image is worse 
than it has ever been.... What kind of Israel is depicted in the 
pages [of the European newspapers]?  A country of rapists and 
corrupt figures in the leadership, which is sinking to a moral low. 
The report of the indictment against IsraelQs president opens all 
the news bulletins in Europe, and the anchors sound as if they 
cannot believe the text they have read out: The State of Israel and 
sex scandals in the leadership?  Jews and rape?  Jews and 
corruption?  A heavy shadow has fallen over Israel's image around 
the world.  Until we remove it, decent people will hesitate to shake 
our hands, to identify with us and to invest here.  They are already 
hesitating.... It is very unpleasant to be an Israeli in Davos of 
¶2007.  It is unpleasant, but we deserve it." 
 
¶V.  "The Saddest Day" 
 
Columnist and former Meretz Party Chairman Yossi Sarid wrote in 
Ha'aretz (1/24): "It is a sad day, possibly the saddest day for 
statesmanship in Israel.... Now the cloud is descending not just 
over the President, but over the entire government..... Since the 
accusations came to light some six months ago, I have refrained from 
writing about the subject or expressing my opinion on it.  I gave 
Katsav the benefit of the doubt.  But in the current situation, even 
if there is a doubt, there is no more doubt.  The issue at hand is 
no longer the dignity of the President, but the dignity due to an 
entire nation." 
 
---------- 
¶2.  Syria: 
---------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Shlomo Avineri, Hebrew University Professor of Political Science and 
former director-general of the Foreign Ministry, wrote in the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "In the private 
negotiations conducted by Dr. Liel and his supporters, the Syrian 
territorial approach was accepted completely and without question. 
This should have been told to the Israeli public." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"Where Will the Border Pass?" 
 
Shlomo Avineri, Hebrew University Professor of Political Science and 
former director-general of the Foreign Ministry, wrote in the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (1/24): "The public 
debate currently being conducted with regard to the issue of 
negotiations with Syria is accompanied by a great deal of passion 
and ideology, but it sometimes ignores the simple facts of the 
history of the talks with Syria so far.  This also applies to the 
manner in which the details of the private talks recently held 
between [former Foreign Ministry director general] Dr. Alon Liel 
with an American-Syrian figure were presented to the public.  The 
main disputed issue in the past talks with Syria was the problem of 
the future border.... In a report on what was supposed to be agreed 
upon in the private talks conducted by Dr. Liel, it was stated 
laconically that there would be a withdrawal from the Golan Heights 
and a return to the June 4 borders.... Perhaps some would agree that 
this is a proper price for peace with Syria; this is a matter that 
is open to debate.  What is not open to debate is that in the 
private negotiations conducted by Dr. Liel and his supporters, the 
Syrian territorial approach was accepted completely and without 
question.  This should have been told to the Israeli public." 
 
JONES