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P 111118Z MAR 09
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000597 
 
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E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR IS
 
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶1.  Mideast 
 
¶2.  Iran 
 
¶3.  Muslims in European Society 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted former Israeli ambassador to the UN Dore 
Gold, one of PM-designate Benjamin NetanyahuQs top foreign policy 
advisers, as saying yesterday that Netanyahu has no intention of 
sidelining the Palestinian track in favor of a Syrian one. 
 
All media highlighted the role of Gilad ShalitQs family in efforts 
to secure his release.  DM Ehud Barak and relatives of MIA or killed 
IDF soldiers visited them yesterday.  The media quoted the Kuwaiti 
daily Al-Jarida as saying that, during his visit to Gaza, Deputy 
Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzouk allegedly received a videotape of 
Shalit and a letter hand-written by him.  The media quoted Gilad 
ShalitQs father Noam as saying that his family has not received 
information about this development. 
 
The media reported that yesterday Netanyahu tried to head off a 
revolt within his party, as his fellow Likud members complained that 
he is breaking promises by giving away senior cabinet posts to 
coalition partners.   HaQaretz reported that he told Likud Knesset 
members that the Qcoalition talks have not ended.  They are at their 
apex, in terms of both principles and portfolios."  HaQaretz quoted 
Netanyahu's aides as sayng that he hopes to present his new cabinet 
next Wednesday or Thursday, and that he fears that his faction may 
rebel.  Since the narrow right-wing government will lean on a 
coalition of 61-65 MKs, internal opposition could topple it. 
Meanwhile, Yisrael Beiteinu's leader MK Avigdor Lieberman is adamant 
in demanding that Daniel Friedmann be kept as justice minister and 
that his party chair the Knesset Constitution Committee.  Israel 
Radio reported that Netanyahu wants to reach an agreement with 
Lieberman according to which Yisrael Beiteinu would be entrusted 
with the justice portfolio, but that it would not be in FriedmannQs 
hands.  HaQaretz reported that the police will summon Lieberman for 
an investigation next week.  The media reported that yesterday the 
LikudQs Knesset faction nominated Likud MK Reuven QRubyQ Rivlin to 
be Knesset Speaker, a post he held from 2003 until 2006. 
 
HaQaretz quoted Hizbullah Deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem as saying 
yesterday that there is little prospect of another conflict with 
Israel in the short term.  But "in the distant future all things are 
possible," he warned. 
 
HaQaretz quoted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying that 
hostile unmanned aerial vehicles overflew Iran last month and 
disrupted the communications systems at the launch site of a missile 
carrying Iran's first satellite to space.  The newspaper reported 
that Meir Jabandafar, an expert on Iran, told HaQaretz on Monday 
that Israel is presumed to be the No. 1 suspect for this operation. 
"The intelligence war against Iran is intensifying and becoming more 
public. It seems that the aim is not only to foil Iran's military 
developments but also to embarrass the leadership and put pressure 
on it. This may be an important tool for Ahmadinejad in the coming 
presidential elections," Jabandafar was quoted as saying. 
 
HaQaretz reported that the recent refusal to grant construction 
permits to the residents of JerusalemQs Bustan quarter (in the 
village of Silwan) could lead to violent reactions similar to those 
caused by the excavation of the Western Wall Tunnel in 1996. 
 
Yediot cited the assessment of senior diplomatic sources in 
Jerusalem that Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, the Czech 
Republic, and Australia will boycott the Durban 2 conference. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday the left-wing group Yesh 
Din filed a petition with the High Court of Justice claiming that 
IsraelQs practice of transferring 75% of the rock and gravel it 
mines in the West Bank into areas within the Green Line is illegal. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Yad Vashem, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and 
Bethlehem will be among the sites that Pope Benedict XVI will visit 
in May.  HaQaretz reported that yesterday, in conjunction with the 
Vatican, Yad Vashem began a seminar on the role of Pope Pius XII 
during the Holocaust. 
 
Citing the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Jerusalem Post reported on 
local attempts at Muslim-Jewish dialogue in Paris. 
 
HaQaretz reported that the Governor of the Bank of Israel, Stanley 
Fischer, will recommend a stimulus package that seeks to stem the 
effects of long-term unemployment and recession, in a presentation 
scheduled to take place in Jerusalem. 
 
HaQaretz reported that, in a report delivered to Minister Benjamin 
Ben-Eliezer, the Gas Authority at the Ministry of National 
Infrastructure recommended that the state should abandon its 
intention to publish a tender for the construction of a liquefied 
natural gas (LNG) storage facility. The Authority said that the 
state should rely on reaching a comprehensive deal regarding both 
the offshore field Tamar-1, found near Haifa, and the Tethys Sea 
field off Ashkelon. 
 
Citing the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Jerusalem Post reported 
that several U.S. Jewish groups applauded President ObamaQs decision 
to lift the executive order restricting federal funding for 
embryonic stem cell research. 
 
The Jerusalem Post cited the results of a poll conducted last 
weekend by the West Bank-based Palestinian Center for Policy and 
Survey Research: If elections were held today in the West Bank and 
Gaza, Hamas PM Ismail Haniyeh would defeat PA President Mahmoud 
Abbas, but Marwan Barghouti would beat Haniyeh.  The survey also 
showed that HamasQs popularity among Palestinians had increased in 
the aftermath of Operation Cast Lead. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Military correspondent Amos Harel wrote on page one of the 
independent, left-leaning HaQaretz: QIsrael must decide whether to 
accept the [Palestinian prisonersQ] list, but as things stand now, 
it doesnQt seem to intend even to discuss it. 
 
Former Meretz leader Dr. Yossi Beilin wrote in the independent 
Israel Hayom: QFayyad is one of the only people who knew what to ask 
of Israel and of the world, and how to get it.... It is not only the 
Palestinians who will pay the price for his leaving. 
 
Liberal columnist Prof. Aviad Kleinberg wrote in the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: QThe true makeover of 
the recent elections was not the rise of the Right, but the Israeli 
middle classQs turning away from the parties that represented it 
over the past decades -Q Labor and Meretz. 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Fading by the Day" 
 
Military correspondent Amos Harel wrote on page one of the 
independent, left-leaning HaQaretz (3/10): QDefense Minister Ehud 
Barak timed his visit to the Shalits' protest tent yesterday to 
coincide with the evening news broadcast.  That visit is as close as 
Barak has gotten in expressing public support for paying what Hamas 
is demanding: the release of 450 serious offenders in exchange for 
the abducted soldier Gilad Shalit.... If there are no dramatic 
last-minute moves, the Olmert government will dissolve before the 
cabinet even sees which prisoners Hamas is demanding.  The group is 
insisting on the overwhelming majority of those prisoners.  Israel 
must decide whether to accept the list, but as things stand now, it 
doesnQt seem to intend even to discuss it.... [OlmertQs] successor, 
Benjamin Netanyahu, will be even less committed to GiladQs fate. 
After all, the solider wasnQt abducted on his watch.  As head of a 
narrow, right-wing government, Netanyahu will also have trouble 
concluding a deal that demands such great concessions. 
 
II.  QSalam Fayyad's Resignation 
 
Former Meretz leader Dr. Yossi Beilin wrote in the independent 
Israel Hayom (3/10): QIn contrast to many of his colleagues, 
[outgoing Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad] is always 
cautious not to blame Israel for everything.... Fayyad is one of the 
only people who knew what to ask of Israel and of the world, and how 
to get it.... Hamas does not forgive him for his good relations with 
the Americans, the Israelis, and the world, and he himself, three 
years ago, became caught up in forming a new social-democratic party 
that did not win more than three seats out of 128-which quickly put 
him back in being in the position of not belonging to any party. 
There are threats to his life, there is criticism of various 
franchise holders for his QdryingQ them up after poring seriously 
over the account books of the PA and discovering worrisome 
corruption reservoirs.  The temptation to go into academia, into 
business, or to return to the U.S., was enormous for him. But it is 
not only the Palestinians who will pay the price for his leaving. 
 
III.  "We Showed Them" 
 
Liberal columnist Prof. Aviad Kleinberg wrote in the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (3/10): Q[Through their 
votes,] the Israelis wished to show their might to the Arabs, and at 
the same time to reach some arrangement that would dispense us from 
being so busy with them.... The true makeover of the recent 
elections was not the rise of the Right, but the Israeli middle 
classQs turning away from the parties that represented it over the 
past decades -Q Labor and Meretz.  Labor was punished for not being 
fuzzy enough and Meretz for being too fuzzy. Israel is desperately 
in need of a voice that it gave up in the last elections, a voice 
that would demand serious criticism of the defense establishment and 
its brawny way of thinking that has become the national religion, a 
voice that would again demand the insertion of social considerations 
in the order of national priorities.  Israel urgently needs the 
offended to abandon their domestic fights, to get rid of those 
trying to maintain the old order, to merge forces, and offer Israel 
a real alternative. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
--------- 
¶2.  Iran: 
--------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: QEspecially now, when it seems 
we are on our way to a narrow and extreme coalition, it is important 
for Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu to be cautious and 
more aware of the limitations of Israel's power. 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"DonQt Jum In Headfirst" 
 
Senior columnist and longtime doe Yoel Marcus wrote in the 
independent, left-leaing Ha'aretz (3/10): QWe are prattling on too 
muh about the Iranian threat.  If jabbering could kill, no doubt we 
would have been at war with Iran long ago.... With unnecessary talk 
we burden ourselves with the Iranian threat and make it easier for 
countries that do not want to get involved, former Israel Air Force 
chief Eitan Ben-Eliyahu said.  The risk to Europe and to American 
interests in moderate Islamic countries in our region is no greater 
than the risk to Israel.  It is no coincidence that one of the first 
acts of President Obama was to propose to Russia's Putin: We will 
not place missiles in Eastern Europe and you will stop assisting 
Iran.... Especially now, when it seems we are on our way to a narrow 
and extreme coalition, it is important for Prime Minister-designate 
Benjamin Netanyahu to be cautious and more aware of the limitations 
of Israel's power.  Don't prattle on and don't jump in headfirst. 
 
-------------------------------- 
¶3.  Muslims in European Society: 
-------------------------------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Conservative Op-Ed Page Editor Ben-Dror Yemini wrote in the popular, 
pluralist Maariv: QThere is no connection between last SaturdayQs 
violence [outside MalmoQs tennis courts] and QIsraeli policy in 
GazaQ.... This is SwedenQs problem, EuropeQs problem. 
 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"Because They Are Fanatics" 
 
Conservative Op-Ed Page Editor Ben-Dror Yemini wrote in the popular, 
pluralist Maariv (3/10): QA recent study indicates increasing 
Islamization among MalmoQs Muslims.  A violent minority has taken 
over.... In Malmo, but not only there, radicals rule under the cover 
of openness and enlightenment.  The Islamists find allies among the 
radical Left.  Any argument, including that study, is countered by 
claims against QIslamophobia.Q  It is not that Israel is the victim 
of that crazy coalition of radicals -Q not at all.  In general, the 
victims are young Muslim women who are forced to marry against their 
will with a cousin who needs a Swedish visa.... [Such a woman] was 
murdered by her father and brother.  It would have been the fate of 
the Israeli tennis players, had the demonstrators been given that 
chance.  Thus there is no connection between last SaturdayQs 
violence and QIsraeli policy in GazaQ -Q none whatsoever.  This is 
SwedenQs problem, EuropeQs problem.  As long as various Qexperts 
continue to nurture the most perverted version of 
Qmulticulturalism,Q which turns women into victims, and progressive 
people continue to encourage hatred of Israel, the result will be 
comparable. 
 
CUNNINGHAM