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P 021240Z FEB 09
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000266 
 
STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD 
 
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM 
NSC FOR NEA STAFF 
 
SECDEF WASHDC FOR USDP/ASD-PA/ASD-ISA 
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DA WASHDC FOR SASA 
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CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL FOR POLAD/USIA ADVISOR 
COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE FOR PAO/POLAD 
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JERUSALEM ALSO ICD 
LONDON ALSO FOR HKANONA AND POL 
PARIS ALSO FOR POL 
ROME FOR MFO 
 
SIPDIS 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR IS
 
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
Mideast 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media reported that last night the IDF struck Hamas targets in 
central and southern Gaza, including smuggling tunnels.  The media 
reported that over 15 rockets and mortar shells landed in Israel 
over the weekend.  Three Israelis were lightly wounded.  This 
morning the IAF bombed a car in Rafah, killing a militant of the 
Popular Resistance Committees after the launching of a rocket.  The 
media reported that PM Ehud Olmert and FM Tzipi Livni are pushing 
for tougher actions, while DM Ehud Barak criticized the idle talk of 
people who Qhave never held weapons in their hands.Q  According to 
HaQaretz, Barak is clashing with Olmert and Livni on whether to 
strike a deal with Hamas. 
 
HaQaretz reported that, in parallel with talks between Egypt and 
Hamas, Israel is holding intensive negotiations with Egypt.  The 
head of the security-political bureau at the Defense Ministry, Amos 
Gilad, told Egyptian intelligence chief Gen. Omar Suleiman that 
Israel rejects the Egypt-Hamas idea of a new time-limited 
cease-fire.  The current proposal is for a cease-fire lasting 
between 12 to 18 months.  Israel also has rejected verbal accords 
with Egypt on the character of the response to violations of a 
cease-fire, including attacks and arms smuggling.  Israel Radio 
reported that Hamas is demanding the release of 1,000 Palestinian 
prisoners, including those with blood on their hands, in exchange 
for Gilad Shalit.  Maariv reported that Hamas leader Khaled Mashal 
told French-Jewish author Marek Halter before the Gaza operation 
that Hamas is willing to enter into negotiations with Israel on the 
basis of a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders. 
 
Yesterday The Jerusalem Post reported that a senior Israeli 
diplomatic official told the daily on Saturday that Turkish PM Recep 
Tayyip Erdogan Qhas lost credibility as an honest broker in peace 
discussions.Q  HaQaretz reported that Israeli and Turkish officials 
are engaged in behind-the-scenes discussions aimed at easing 
tensions between the two countries in the wake of Israel's Gaza 
operation.  Yesterday HaQaretz quoted European officials as saying: 
QErdogan wants to be part of the EU, but now he can forget about 
it.Q  The Jerusalem Post reported that officials told the newspaper 
yesterday that the Defense Ministry is considering rejecting a 
number of requests by Turkey to purchase advanced Israeli military 
platforms.  Yediot reported that Turkish hoteliers are trying to 
return Israeli tourists to their country.  Yesterday HaQaretz quoted 
a Belgian minister as saying on Thursday that the Belgian government 
has agreed to ban the export to Israel of weapons that Qstrengthen 
its militarily.Q  The Jerusalem Post reported that Iceland might 
sever ties with Israel. 
 
Yesterday leading media reported that Egypt has installed 
tunnel-detection devices along the Philadelphi Corridor.  This 
morning, Israel Radio reported that Egypt has destroyed several such 
tunnels. 
 
HaQaretz reported that a secret seven-year investigation at the 
Defense Ministry has raised concerns that senior ministry officials 
used inside information to help certain American companies win more 
than $100 million in security-equipment tenders advertised in the 
U.S.  However, the state prosecution closed the investigation in 
late 2007, citing insufficient evidence, after the ministry stalled 
the probe due to fears it would harm Israel-U.S. ties. 
 
 
The media reported that IsraelQs security forces are on high alert 
ahead of next weekQs anniversary of the killing of senior Hizbullah 
operative Imad Mughniyah. 
 
Israel Radio quoted the British daily The Times as saying that the 
International Court of Justice is looking into ways to prosecute 
Israeli officers for war crimes. 
 
Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview with Channel 
2-TV on Saturday that Iran will not obtain a nuclear weapon. 
Yesterday The Jerusalem Post quoted former minister Natan Sharansky 
as saying that Netanyahu will not clash with President Obama. 
 
Maariv reported that  a meeting will take place today at the Prime 
MinisterQs Office to discuss the enforcement of patent law on 
Israeli pharmaceutical companies.  The health establishment is 
afraid that the decision that will emerge from the meeting, which is 
being held at the request of the U.S. Trade Representative, might 
harm IsraelQs drug companies, first and foremost Teva. 
Major media reported that yesterday PM Olmert excoriated opposition 
to the appointment of Col. Pnina Sharvit-Baruch as a lecturer for 
Tel Aviv University's Law Faculty because she allegedly gave the 
legal go-ahead for the IDF to perpetrate "war crimes" during the 
recent operation in Gaza. Olmert responded to such criticism by 
saying that Israel would not support state-funded institutions that 
discriminate against IDF officers because of their military 
service. 
 
Media reported that over the weekend a synagogue in Caracas was 
vandalized and its guard beaten up.  Israel Radio reported that 
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez condemned the attack.  Yesterday 
The Jerusalem Post reported that local Jews speak openly of 
government-sponsored anti-Semitism and an unprecedented hate 
campaign. 
 
Yesterday Maariv cited the American magazine Aviation Weekly as 
saying that the U.S. prevented Israel from raiding the Iranian 
vessel that was allegedly carrying a great deal of arms and hundreds 
of tons of explosives intended for terrorist organizations in Gaza. 
 
Yesterday The Jerusalem Post cited a State Department announcement 
on Friday that it is contributing an additional $20 million to 
humanitarian relief efforts in Gaza. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that in an interview with The Washington 
Post, IAEA Director Mohamed ElBaradei refused to take a position on 
whether Israel should exist as a Jewish state. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that, two years after the model first 
arrived in Israel, the last batch of four F16-I fighter jets were 
delivered last week, bringing the total number of the advanced 
aircraft in the air forceQs fleet to 101. 
 
HaQaretz reported that yesterday senior Cypriot diplomats told the 
newspaper that Cyprus' detention and investigation of a ship 
carrying weapons in Limassol is a gesture to the U.S. 
 
Maariv quoted senior Labor officials as saying that they will not 
let Ehud Barak sit in a Netanyahu-Lieberman government. 
 
Yesterday HaQaretz cited a new study by the Jewish Peoplehood that 
although American Jews and Israelis share a strong and mutual 
feeling of solidarity, U.S. coreligionists have a very low 
willingness to strengthen the relationship. 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz: QA pledge to topple Hamas by military means 
is like a pledge to make Qeconomic peaceQ with the Palestinians.  It 
seems anything but needless to point out that we are dealing with a 
political conflict, not a military or economic one. 
 
HaQaretz editorialized: QEven more worrying than the harming of U.S. 
interests or the pouring of public funds into a project whose future 
is uncertain are the serious contradictions between the government's 
declared policies and its actions. 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: QCan the 
[Israeli-Turkish] relationship survive Erdogan's term, which expires 
in 2011?  Ankara may well have forfeited its role as honest broker 
for a long time to come.  Still, those who care about the bond 
between Turkey and Israel want to see relations back on an even 
keel. 
 
Raphael Israeli, conservative Professor of Islamic, Middle Eastern, 
and Chinese history at Hebrew University , wrote in the nationalist, 
Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe: Q[TurkeyQs secular circles] 
understand that Israel ... might ... cause untold damage to TurkeyQs 
image and interests -Q simply because of Gaza. 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Not War by Other Means" 
 
Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz (2/2): QWhen it comes to the policies in the 
territories in general and in the Gaza Strip in particular, the sole 
difference between Livni and Barak and the right is that the right 
proposes using a bigger club.  Much to their surprise, not only does 
Hamas refuse to be dismantled, its standing in Arab public opinion 
and the territories was strengthened by Operation Cast Lead.  And 
that is just the beginning.... A pledge to topple Hamas by military 
means is like a pledge to make Qeconomic peaceQ with the 
Palestinians.  It seems anything but needless to point out that we 
are dealing with a political conflict, not a military or economic 
one.  Hamas is not a Qterror organization,Q but a movement that won 
an election held with the international community's blessing, and 
with Israel's permission.  When the adversary is a political party, 
no matter how violent, it is impossible to turn on its head the rule 
of famous military philosopher Carl von Clausewitz, changing it to 
Qpolitics is a continuation of war by other means.Q  Or, as Livni 
put it in her recent HaQaretz interview, QOperation Cast Lead should 
be treated as a military operation with military goals. 
 
II.  "Bad News from a New Neighborhood" 
 
HaQaretz editorialized (2/2): QThe news that Israel has invested 
close to 200 million shekels [around $50 million] in Mevasseret 
Adumim, a new Jewish neighborhood east of Jerusalem where 3,500 
housing units are slated to be built, reveals the real intentions of 
the outgoing government.  As Amos Harel reported in HaQaretz 
yesterday, for the past two years, Israel has invested massive 
amounts of money on infrastructure for the construction of housing 
units to create a contiguous bloc between Ma'aleh Adumim and East 
Jerusalem.  Over the past decade, the U.S. government has objected 
to any Israeli construction in the area.  But even more worrying 
than the harming of U.S. interests or the pouring of public funds 
into a project whose future is uncertain are the serious 
contradictions between the government's declared policies and its 
actions.  Most disturbingly, the construction reveals that the 
government sought to entrench the Israeli occupation of the West 
Bank at the same time that it spoke about reaching a settlement with 
the Palestinians.... The chances of creating a Palestinian state 
amid the Jewish settlements in the West Bank are dim even without 
the added complication of Mevasseret Adumim.  Such government 
hypocrisy and contradictions between stated policies and actions 
need to be halted before the new U.S. administration gets involved. 
If you want peace, you don't invest in the construction of 
Mevasseret Adumim. 
 
III.  "Turkey: The Longer View" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (2/2): 
QIn considering the Israel-Turkey relationship, Israelis have reason 
to feel let down by the behavior of the Turkish government and 
people. From the start of Operation Cast Lead on December 27, Prime 
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been on a diplomatic rampage. His 
words -- coupled with the unbalanced media coverage prevalent 
worldwide -- incited the Turkish masses into an anti-Israel, 
anti-Jewish frenzy. Turkish leaders declared that Israel was 
committing atrocities against Gaza and would be punished by 
Allah.... In the old days the army might have intervened; the 
generals saw themselves as Turkey's Qconstitution,Q charged with 
defending Kemal Ataturk's legacy in the face of tyranny, 
governmental incompetence, or threats to civil liberties. 
Paradoxically, as Turkey has moved closer to EU membership -- a 
prospect now on hold -- the army's overt role as the system's final 
arbiter has diminished.  Nowadays the army has pro-Iranian elements, 
and the Islamist government is suspected of trying to discredit 
pro-Western generals.  The state of play is truly Byzantine.... Can 
the relationship survive Erdogan's term, which expires in 2011? 
Ankara may well have forfeited its role as honest broker for a long 
time to come.  Still, those who care about the bond between Turkey 
and Israel want to see relations back on an even keel. 
 
IV.  "From Ally to Islamic Enemy" 
 
Raphael Israeli, conservative Professor of Islamic, Middle Eastern, 
and Chinese history at Hebrew University , wrote in the nationalist, 
Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe (2/2): Q[TurkeyQs secular circles] 
understand the Israel, which is strangely keeping mum about the 
Armenian genocide and the abuse and extermination  of Kurds in 
Anatolia, and covers up those atrocities before American public 
opinion, might recant and cause untold damage to TurkeyQs image and 
interests -Q simply because of Gaza.  However painful the latter 
issue, it is minute and marginal compared with the burden of 
atrocities weighing on TurkeyQs conscience -Q due both to the past 
and the present. 
 
CUNNINGHAM