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STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD 
 
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM 
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TAGS: OPRC KMDR IS
 
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶1.  NIE Report on Iran 
 
¶2.  Mideast 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Ha'aretz (Hebrew Ed.) led with a comment made on Wednesday to the 
press by IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei that the National 
Intelligence Estimate (NIE) report "vindicated" Tehran.  Yediot 
reported that IDF Intelligence and the Mossad will review their own 
assessments following the differing conclusions in the NIE.  Yediot 
reported that on Friday FM Livni and Secretary of State Condoleezza 
Rice will meet with representatives from NATO countries and ask them 
not to give up sanctions against Iran.  Ha'aretz quoted President 
Shimon Peres as saying on Wednesday that the world should not be 
quiet. 
 
Israel Radio reported that PM Ehud Olmert, FM Tzipi Livni, and 
Defense Minister Ehud Barak will convene today to prepare for the 
peace negotiations that start in nine days.  Among the issues on the 
agenda is the Palestinian demand for full rights to water in their 
territory.  The Jerusalem Post quoted Livni as saying during a visit 
to Slovenia on Tuesday that international involvement in the 
bilateral track is undesirable.  In a different article, The 
Jerusalem Post quoted Palestinian Authority officials as threaten to 
boycott negotiations if the IDF invades Gaza. 
 
Speaking on IDF Radio on Wednesday, IDF Chief of Staff Gabi 
Ashkenazi said that the army is prepared for a large-scale operation 
in Gaza.  Makor Rishon-Hatzofe quoted Defense Minister Barak as 
saying during a visit to troops in Gaza that Israel will act only as 
a last resort.  Speaking on IDF Radio on Wednesday, IDF Chief of 
Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said that the army is prepared for a 
large-scale operation in Gaza.  Makor Rishon-Hatzofe quoted Defense 
Minister Barak as saying during a visit to troops in Gaza that 
Israel will act only as a last resort. 
 
Major media reported that on Wednesday undercover IDF troops 
mistakenly shot and killed a Palestinian policeman in Bethlehem. 
Three Hamas militants were killed by IDF fire in the Gaza Strip. 
The media reported that several Qassam rockets were fired at 
Israel. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that on Tuesday Hebron settlers 
petitioned the High Court of Justice to stop the army from evicting 
settlers who squatted in a building on the road between Kiryat Arba 
and the Cave of the Patriarchs. 
 
Ha'aretz and Yediot cited the fear of settlers that the IDF wants to 
gather all the weapons held by security officers in the 
settlements. 
 
Major media reported that on Wednesday undercover IDF troops 
mistakenly shot and killed a Palestinian policeman in Bethlehem. 
Three Hamas militants were killed by IDF fire in the Gaza Strip. 
The media reported that several Qassam rockets were fired at 
Israel. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that on Tuesday Hebron settlers 
petitioned the High Court of Justice to stop the army from evicting 
settlers who squatted in a building on the road between Kiryat Arba 
and the Cave of the Patriarchs. 
 
Ha'aretz and Yediot cited the fear of settlers that the IDF wants to 
gather all the weapons held by security officers in the 
settlements. 
 
The lead story in Ha'aretz (English Ed.) is on Internal Security 
Minister Avi Dichter's cancellation of a trip to the UK over fears 
that he may be arrested for his role in  the assassination of Salah 
Shehadeh, the head of Hamas's military wing, in July 2002. 
 
Maariv reported that the Israeli-Arab leaders have rejected the 
government's call to take part in the celebrations of Israel's 60th 
anniversary. 
 
Under the headline, "The Russians Are Returning to the 
Mediterranean," Maariv reported on the presence of Russian warships 
250 km from Israel's coast. 
 
Leading media reported that Israeli archeologists have uncovered a 
monumental Second Temple structure opposite the Temple Mount that 
was likely Queen Helena's palace (dating from the 1st century CE). 
 
Leading media reported that on Wednesday El Al announced plans to 
buy four Boeing planes and start a code-sharing program with 
American Airlines in an effort to cash in on  the increase in 
Israeli tourism to the U.S. and vice-versa.. 
 
----------------------- 
¶1.  NIE Report on Iran: 
----------------------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "While Iran 
continues threatening to annihilate Israel, what American 
intelligence thinks about Iran's nuclear capability is 
irrelevant.... Israel is the only country that cannot let its guard 
down." 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "Through 
a politically tainted effort to sow unwarranted complacency, the 
agencies charged with advancing America's security and interests 
have delivered a terrible blow to their own mandates." 
 
Dr. Avner Cohen, author of "Israel and the Bomb," and a senior 
research fellow at the United States Institute of Peace, wrote in 
Ha'aretz: "If the American intelligence community seeks to provide 
the public with an understanding of Iran's nuclear program, this 
report proved flimsy." 
 
The nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe editorialized: "The 
State Department and the CIA prefer to adopt a conciliatory, 
submissive policy vis-a-vis the Ayatollahs.  An authentic public, 
citizen groundswell could revive the Bush-Cheney spirit." 
 
The ultra-Orthodox Hamodi'a editorialized: "As long as it enriches 
uranium, Iran remains under suspicion that it will use it for 
military purposes." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "The World's Nudnik" 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (12/6): "While 
Iran continues threatening to annihilate Israel, what American 
intelligence thinks about Iran's nuclear capability is irrelevant. 
It is not fantasy or paranoia when we hear regular, concrete threats 
from Tehran.  The threats may be just a familiar background hum in 
the world's ears, but it is Israel's duty to persuade the world to 
listen.... Israel may now seem like the world's nudnik, now that 
American intelligence has sounded the all clear.  But Israel is the 
only country that cannot let its guard down.... There is no 
information allowing us to judge Iran's intentions, but there is 
cumulative information that Iran has been enriching uranium to make 
nuclear weapons at various secret sites and has both the 
manufacturing capability and scientific expertise to produce nuclear 
arms at any time.  The American intelligence report neither 
increases nor reduces the fear.  It cannot justify a policy change 
or a calming down. The report establishes that if Iran wants to 
produce a bomb it can do so, and if it doesn't want to, it won't. 
This evaluation may have a restraining effect in internal American 
politics. But in Israeli politics it should cause the opposite 
reaction because any weakness in the American approach, which is 
bound to affect Europe, endangers Israel." 
 
II.  "A Political Reversal" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (12/6): 
"Either Iran is 'determined' to develop nukes, as the ... US 
intelligence community said 11 months ago, or it has 'halted' its 
weapons program.... Actually, there is nothing in January's dire 
intelligence assessment that could not have been repeated in the 
current NIE.  The choice not to do so seems a political one, 
designed to take the US military option off the table.... [The NIE 
report] even argues that sanctions, which were non-existent then, 
persuaded Iran to drop its weapons program in 2003.  President 
George Bush highlighted this aspect and called for redoubling the 
sanctions effort.  The problem, of course, is that the NIE's rather 
incredible efforts to declare Iran's nuclear threat non-existent 
could have the collateral effect of taking the wind out of the 
international sanctions campaign as well.... The NIE may obscure but 
does not change the fact that the Iranian menace will grow, and the 
world will become a more dangerous place, until the regime falls or 
is forced to back down.  Through a politically tainted effort to sow 
unwarranted complacency, the agencies charged with advancing 
America's security and interests have delivered a terrible blow to 
their own mandates.  So this, too, will be added to the challenges 
that democracies must now overcome. " 
 
III.  "Not the Best Intelligence" 
 
Dr. Avner Cohen, author of "Israel and the Bomb," and a senior 
research fellow at the United States Institute of Peace, wrote in 
Ha'aretz (12/6): "It is understandable that the [NIE] report reveals 
nothing directly regarding U.S. intelligence's capability to quickly 
pinpoint significant developments and changes in Iran's nuclear 
program.  But indirectly, it is clear that American capability is 
feeble in this critical realm.  The report itself provides proof of 
this.  If one assumes that the American intelligence community 
recognized only last summer that some four years ago, Iran suspended 
or halted its work on weaponization, it is clear that the United 
States' aptitude in the realm of intelligence is suboptimal.  If the 
American intelligence community seeks to provide the public with an 
understanding of Iran's nuclear program, this report proved 
flimsy." 
 
IV.  "Don't Trust the Americans" 
 
The nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe editorialized (12/6): 
"One does not have to be in the CIA ... to decipher the violent 
anti-Semitic speeches of Iranian President Ahmadinejad, who publicly 
calls for genocide and speaks about the destruction of Israel.... 
But the views of the American leadership are not monolithic. 
Whereas Bush and Cheney have sworn not to allow Iran to acquire 
capabilities that could bring about a world war, administration 
branches such as the State Department and the CIA prefer to adopt a 
conciliatory, submissive policy vis-a-vis the Ayatollahs.  An 
authentic public, citizen groundswell could revive the Bush-Cheney 
spirit.  Anyway, Israel should muster the courage to face the 
Iranian threat alone.  Israel can do it." 
 
¶V.  "American Intelligence in Iran" 
 
The ultra-Orthodox Hamodi'a editorialized (12/6): "Not every country 
in the world views the U.S. report as soothing material.  All the 
more, unlike the U.S., a distant country beyond the ocean, European 
countries, which are within the range of the Iranian missiles, have 
not been placated by the American report.  As long as it enriches 
uranium, Iran remains under suspicion that it will use it for 
military purposes." 
 
------------ 
¶2.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
The ultra-Orthodox Yated Ne'eman editorialized: "The news that U.S. 
President George Bush is expected to come to Israel on an official 
visit in a few weeks, as part of a broad diplomatic tour of the 
region, is considered an additional milestone in Bush's ever growing 
involvement in Mideast diplomatic processes." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"Bush's Visit" 
 
The ultra-Orthodox Yated Ne'eman editorialized (12/6): "The news 
that U.S. President George Bush is expected to come to Israel on an 
official visit in a few weeks, as part of a broad diplomatic tour of 
the region, is considered an additional milestone in Bush's ever 
growing involvement in Mideast diplomatic processes... The stalemate 
in the diplomatic process is hampering Israel-U.S. relations.  But 
this is not a real crisis. It may be assumed that the strong 
connection between the two countries, which is based on common 
interests, is established enough to withstand fleeting 
confrontations and crises." 
 
JONES