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DE RUEHTV #0812/01 0961038
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P 061038Z APR 09
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000812 
 
STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD 
 
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM 
NSC FOR NEA STAFF 
 
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JERUSALEM ALSO ICD 
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PARIS ALSO FOR POL 
ROME FOR MFO 
 
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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.  DPRK: Missile Launch 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the Netanyahu government is 
conducting a thorough policy review in which all diplomatic 
components -Q from the Roadmap to the Annapolis process -Q are being 
reevaluated.  The Jerusalem Post said that it is for this reason the 
Prime MinisterQs Office was unwilling to comment last week on 
Avigdor LiebermanQs first speech as foreign minister, in which he 
trashed the Annapolis process but said Israel was obligated by the 
Roadmap, a document whose final goal is a two-state solution.   The 
Jerusalem Post reported that Netanyahu has no intention of 
addressing in detail issues such as whether the government is bound 
by the Roadmap or the Annapolis process until the policy review is 
completed. 
 
The media reported that yesterday PM Netanyahu kicked off his new 
term by assembling a huge 15-member cabinet.  The Jerusalem Post 
reported that he gave equal representation to dovish ministers and 
to those considered Qin the middle,Q while the cabinet tilted 
slightly toward the Qhawks. 
 
HaQaretz quoted Israeli defense officials as saying over the weekend 
that they are concerned about the increased involvement of 
Fatah-affiliated militants in attacks against Jews in the West Bank 
in the past two months. 
 
All media reported that on Saturday afternoon a 16-year-old Bedouin 
girl launched a lone gun attack on a Border Police base at Tel 
Shoket junction in the Negev.  The base guard killed her. 
 
HaQaretz quoted U.S. special envoy to the Middle East George 
Mitchell as saying that the Arab peace initiative will be part of 
the Obama administrationQs policy toward the region. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel is expected to boycott the 
UN fact-finding mission to Gaza, which will be led by Jewish South 
African Justice Richard Goldstone. 
 
The media reported that on Saturday, for the second time in four 
days, IDF troops identified and killed two terrorists who were in 
the process of planting a bomb near the border fence in Gaza. 
 
Yediot reported that Iran has renewed the arms smuggling route to 
Hamas via Sudan. This time the arms smuggling is being done with the 
help of Iranians allies including Syrians and Hizbullah agents who 
operate in various countries in Africa and Yemen. 
 
HaQaretz reported that yesterday IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi 
Ashkenazi dismissed Israeli soldiers' accounts of wrongdoings during 
the recent offensive in Gaza as "completely unfounded." 
 
The Jerusalem Post and Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that on 
Saturday the U.S. Senate moved to fully fund aid for Israel in its 
budget. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the Mossawa Center, an Israeli-Arab 
advocacy center, is sounding the alarm against what it sees as 
potentially harmful policies that the new government may espouse. 
The organization's director Jafar Farah will leave for the U.S. on 
April 19 to meet with Obama administration members, Congressmen, and 
representatives of Jewish and Arab-American organizations. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted New York officials as saying on Friday 
that the New York Police Department has plans to beef up security at 
the cityQs synagogues and other Jewish sites amid escalating 
tensions between Israel and Iran. 
 
HaQaretz reported that Germany will host a summit in June that will 
include PM Netanyahu and about 10 other Israeli ministers. 
 
Israel Hayom reported that Chief of Staff Ashkenazi left on Friday 
for Strasbourg for a brief meeting with the U.S. Chairman of the 
Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen.  The meeting was held 
at Admiral Mullen's request.  The two men discussed military and 
security issues that are pertinent to the two armies.  HaQaretz 
cited the satisfaction of Israeli officials in Europe over the 
appointment of Danish PM Andreas Fogh Rasmussen as NATOQs new 
secretary general.  The Israeli officials noted that he has taken a 
very friendly approach to Israel in the past few years. 
E 
Today major Hebrew-language media led with socio-economic issues. 
The GOIQs National Employment Service reported yesterday that a 
record 20,072 people lost their jobs in March.  Yediot reported that 
PM Netanyahu plans a Qdramatic cutQ in social expenditures. 
 
HaQaretz reported that the director of the Aerospace Agency of the 
Republic of Kazakhstan, Talgat Amangeldyuly Musabayev, told the 
newspaper last week that Kazakhstan wants to buy surveillance 
satellites from Israel. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Generation Connect 
(www.smallplateradio.com), a new Internet radio show based in 
Portland, OR, is debuting with a focus on creating connections 
between American, Israeli, and Palestinian teens. 
 
Erratum: The poll cited here on Friday said that 35% (and not three 
quarters) of the world population view Israel as an aggressive 
country. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: QWhat if Washington decides to 
join the condemnation [of Israel]?  After all, it will have a good 
excuse: Lieberman. 
 
Shlomo Avineri, Hebrew University Professor of Political Science and 
former director-general of the Foreign Ministry, wrote in Ha'aretz: 
QPerhaps Hamas is the key [to peace in the region].  If that's the 
case, it's difficult to expect that peace can be established in our 
region. 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "LiebermanQs Paradoxical Strength" 
 
 
Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (4/5): QWhat will happen if 
Washington does not automatically veto every resolution condemning 
Israel in the Security Council?  Or worse, what if Washington 
decides to join the condemnation?  After all, it will have a good 
excuse: Lieberman.  Paradoxically, Lieberman is likely to become a 
part of Obama's new doctrine of global arrangements: the 
Israeli-Palestinian conflict will not end, but Israeli obduracy will 
enhance, not diminish, the United States' standing in the Middle 
East.  While Lieberman can continue to bang on his tom-toms every 
time somebody mentions the phrase Qdiplomatic process,Q he will not 
be able to direct forces much larger than him or Israel.  He will be 
the perfect excuse for these forces to act.  This is his strength, 
nothing more. 
 
II.  "What to Speak with Hamas about" 
 
Shlomo Avineri, Hebrew University Professor of Political Science and 
former director-general of the Foreign Ministry, wrote in Ha'aretz 
(4/6): QPerhaps it is  worthwhile talking to Hamas -- not about its 
contribution to peace but rather about what is stated in its 
covenant.  Perhaps those who espouse the view that we must talk with 
Hamas will first talk with it about these subjects?  Who knows, 
perhaps it will change its principles?  I do not expect this to 
happen exactly, but I am certainly curious to know what those who 
think Hamas is the key to peace in the Middle East will say about 
these things.  And perhaps they are actually correct, perhaps Hamas 
is the key.  If that's the case, it's difficult to expect that peace 
can be established in our region. 
 
------------------------- 
¶2.  DPRK: Missile Launch: 
------------------------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Military correspondent Amos Harel wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning HaQaretz: QThe country that will be watching the United 
StatesQ behavior [vis-`-vis North Korea] with a particular interest 
will be Iran. 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: QNorth 
Korea, Hamas, and Iran cannot exchange their belligerency for 
normalcy.  Why?  Because, paradoxically, they derive their 
legitimacy from a constant state of confrontation and threat. 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Iran -- a Side Observer" 
 
Military correspondent Amos Harel wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning HaQaretz (4/6): QThe launching of the Northern Korean 
missile into space yesterday, even if most Western intelligence 
branches agree that it failed, is an act of blatant defiance by 
Pyongyang against the U.S.... The country that will be watching the 
United StatesQ behavior with a particular interest will be Iran.  In 
a few months Washington is supposed to start a diplomatic dialogue 
with Tehran, whose ultimate purpose will be to contain the Iranian 
nuclear program.... A little more than a year ago the previous 
Israeli leadership nourished the hope that the U.S. might give 
Israel the green light to act in its place.... The connection 
between North Korea and Iran is a deep one.  Dr. Efraim Kam, the 
deputy chief of IsraelQs National Defense Research Institute, says 
that IranQs missile program is based on technical know-how from 
Pyongyang. 
 
II.  "Learning form Pyongyang" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (4/6): 
QThere's a lesson to be learned about North Korea's launching over 
the weekend of a Taepodong II rocket -- and it isn't just that the 
more treacherous the crisis, the less likely it is that 
multilateralism will provide a solution.    The launching was yet 
another step in North Korea's march toward building and perfecting a 
nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile. North Korea is a 
unique case. But beyond Korea's benighted borders, the overarching 
lesson to Western leaders is: Don't threaten what you can't deliver. 
 This is because despotic regimes like North Korea -- but also Iran 
and Hamas in Gaza -- use Western failure to follow through to 
bolster their position.  More than that: North Korea, Iran and Hamas 
relish crises because they invariably demonstrate (a) that their 
people are under siege by pitiless foreigners; and (b) that only 
their leadership and the people's willingness to sacrifice can 
ultimately protect them from the alien threat. The people of North 
Korea, Gaza and, arguably, Iran, know they would be economically 
better off if their leaders played by civilized rules. And yet there 
is every reason to believe - certainly in the case of Gaza and North 
Korea -- that given a genuinely free choice, the masses would still 
opt for the current leadership.  The lesson, therefore, is: North 
Korea, Hamas, and Iran cannot exchange their belligerency for 
E 
normalcy.  Why?  Because, paradoxically, they derive their 
legitimacy from a constant state of confrontation and threat. 
 
CUNNINGHAM