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P 211014Z APR 09
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TAGS: OPRC KMDR IS
 
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶1.  Mideast 
 
¶2.  Ahmadinejad Speech at QDurban 2 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Most media reporting and comments are focused on Holocaust Martyrs' 
and Heroes' Memorial Day. 
 
All media underscored Iranian President Mahmoud AhmadinejadQs speech 
at the UN anti-racism conference in Geneva (QDurban 2Q), in which he 
called Israel the Qmost cruel and oppressive, racist regime.Q  He 
accused the West of dispossessing the Palestinians Qon the pretext 
of Jewish suffering from World War II.Q  The media reported that 
some 40 diplomats from more than 20 countries, mostly Europeans but 
including Morocco and perhaps Jordan, walked out of the hall.  The 
media quoted PM Benjamin Netanyahu as saying yesterday: QThe sad 
fact that as we mark the events of the Holocaust here at Yad Vashem 
in Jerusalem, there are those who choose to participate in a display 
of hatred of Israel in the very heart of Europe."  Netanyahu also 
criticized the president of Switzerland for meeting Iranian 
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday, and praised the diplomats 
who walked out of the conference hall.  President Shimon Peres 
called the conference "the acceptance of racism rather than a fight 
against it."  He condemned those who would "attack the only country 
in the world that was established as a haven for Holocaust 
survivors, the only country that will prevent another Holocaust." 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that PM Netanyahu used yesterdayQs 
cabinet meeting to reiterate IsraelQs belief that recognition of its 
Jewishness would be an integral part of any final settlement. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that instituting another cease-fire with 
Hamas will be at the focus of talks tomorrow between DM Barak and 
visiting Egyptian Intelligence Minister Omar Suleiman. 
 
HaQaretz quoted IDF Intelligence head Amos Yadlin as saying 
yesterday that President ObamaQs Middle East policy could endanger 
Israel.  "The Obama administration is determined to take initiative 
and move forward central processes in the Middle East," Yadlin told 
ministers at a special cabinet meeting.  "Obama wants to advance the 
peace process in the direction of realistic discussions with 
extremist elements," Yadlin said, adding that the struggle between 
extremist and moderate elements in the region was worsening. 
Shifting his previous stance, Yadlin was quoted as saying that Hamas 
has been deterred and is now interested in reaching a peace 
settlement with Israel.  Yadlin said the struggle between moderates 
and extremists in the Middle East is intensifying, and that moderate 
Arab states understand that Iran is a threat to the region.  He said 
Hizbullah's operations reach well beyond those uncovered recently in 
Egypt.  The Jerusalem Post quoted Yadlin as saying that the 
worldwide economic crisis is hurting IranQs progress towards an 
indigenous nuclear weapon. 
 
HaQaretz reported that, fearing that it might upset Egypt, Hamas has 
reduced the number of rockets it is firing into Israel. 
 
HaQaretz reported that DM Ehud Barak has ordered his ministry to buy 
the Vulcan-Phalanx system from the U.S. for the protection of 
southern towns and strategic facilities.  The systems will provide 
early warning and interception of short-range Qassam rockets and 
mortar shells fired from Gaza.  "The Vulcan-Phalanx cannons and 
radar will be part of a multi-layer defense to intercept rockets," 
Barak told HaQaretz yesterday.  "Such defense, as far as I am 
concerned, is a strategic goal.  The goal is to create a situation 
where as many rockets as possible launched at Israel are 
intercepted." 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted UN officials in New York and Jerusalem as 
saying yesterday that they were frustrated by the continued lack of 
access to Gaza in the wake of last winterQs Operation Cast Lead. 
Lynn Pascoe, the UNQs Under-Secretary General for Political Affairs, 
was quoted as saying that he found the slow progress toward 
reconstruction Qdeeply frustratingQ and blamed the situation equally 
on the absence of progress toward political reconciliation among 
Palestinian factions and on IsraelQs refusal to lift the border 
restrictions. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted Canadian PM Stephen Harper as saying 
yesterday: QTime limits on negotiations with Iran could be 
effective.Q  Harper was responding to a question from the 
newspaper. 
 
HaQaretz reported that half of the Jews in the U.S. support direct 
American negotiations with Iran without preconditions, according to 
a new Anti-Defamation League survey.  The poll results, released 
Monday, show that 45 percent of Jews in the U.S. think that the U.S. 
administration should engage Iran in negotiations only if Iran 
suspends its enrichment of uranium.  Fifty-five percent of 
respondents support a U.S. military assault on Iran if negotiations 
and sanctions don't result in a halt to the country's nuclear 
program, while 27 percent oppose such an attack.  By a slightly 
larger margin (58 percent), American Jews support Israeli military 
action against the Iranians if the Islamic Republic persists in 
moving toward the development of a nuclear bomb.  Twenty-seven 
percent of those surveyed opposed such an Israeli assault. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz: QIt will be interesting to see [Mahmoud] 
Abbas's expression when Netanyahu presents him with his very own map 
of Palestine, covering some 40 percent of the West Bank.  No less. 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Forever Stalling" 
 
Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz (4/21): QAfter shaking Obama's hand -- as a 
sign of agreement to the immediate renewal of negotiations with the 
Palestinians -- the Prime Minister will pull out the Clinton-Barak 
and the Bush-Olmert understandings, according to which Qnothing is 
agreed upon until everything is agreed upon.Q  Netanyahu will claim 
that since his predecessors' contacts failed to bring about an 
agreement, he is entitled to start from scratch.  He will demand 
that the map of Palestine covering more than 90 percent of the West 
Bank's area -- the map Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert presented to both 
Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas -- be removed from the negotiating 
table.  It will be interesting to see Abbas's expression when 
Netanyahu presents him with his very own map of Palestine, covering 
some 40 percent of the West Bank.  No less. 
 
------------------------------------- 
¶2.  Ahmadinejad Speech at QDurban 2Q: 
------------------------------------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Nobel Peace Prizewinner Elie Wiesel wrote on page one of the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: QIsrael isnQt a country 
of saints.  But compared with what others -Q including the great 
powers -Q did in similar circumstances, Israel isnQt the worst 
offender. 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: QIt's 
hard to decide which is worse -- outright Holocaust-denial of the 
Ahmadinejad variety, or insidious assertions by Euro-leftists and 
anti-Zionists that would lull Israelis into letting down our guard 
and robbing us of the will to fight for our survival. 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Today WeQre Fighting with Words" 
 
Nobel Peace Prizewinner Elie Wiesel wrote on page one of the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (4/21): QIs the Israeli 
government always blameless?  Certainly not.  Israel isnQt a country 
of saints.  But compared with what others -Q including the great 
powers -Q did in similar circumstances, Israel isnQt the worst 
offender.... Israel-hating orators at QDurban 2Q made their 
customary accusations against Israel, hoping that we wouldnQt 
remember, but we do remember.  Sixty-five years ago, on April 19, 
the last fighters began a rebellion against the then-strongest army 
in Europe.  They fought with weapons that were bought with gold. 
Today weQre fighting with words -Q because we remember. 
 
II.  "The New Deniers" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (4/21): 
QWe watched in distress as many in the audience and galleries 
applauded [Ahmadinejad].  Such barefaced anti-Zionism is, however, 
offensive to Western governments and we were gratified that dozens 
of EU delegates -- including those from France, Finland and the UK 
-- walked out as Ahmadinejad spewed forth his venom.  Of course, the 
real heatbreak was that these countries were represented i the 
hall in the first place.  Yesterday's farcein Geneva proved again 
how the charge of "racism has been cheapened to the point of having 
lost much of its meaning.  The same holds true for the words 
Qgenocide,Q Qwar crimes,Q Qapartheid,Q and Qghetto.Q  Those who 
distort -- willfully or through ignorance -- the meanings of the 
dreadful vocabulary of hate for tawdry political purposes commit an 
unpardonable injustice.... A variation on the theme that Israel uses 
the Holocaust as a battering ram against the Palestinians is the 
disingenuous argument that it's time for us Israelis to move on: We 
need Qclosure,Q runs this line of more subtle attack, because 
Zionism's guiding principle of QNever AgainQ supposedly deludes us 
into thinking that we face existential threats (from Iran, Hamas, 
Hizbullah) or demographic threats (posed by the Palestinian demand 
for the "right of return").  None of these factors, these 
manipulators would have the world believe, really threatens our 
existence.... It's hard to decide which is worse -- outright 
Holocaust-denial of the Ahmadinejad variety, or insidious assertions 
by Euro-leftists and anti-Zionists that would lull Israelis into 
letting down our guard and robbing us of the will to fight for our 
survival. 
 
CUNNINGHAM