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DE RUEHTV #0941/01 1181112
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 281112Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1554
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RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI PRIORITY 5339
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 1928
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN PRIORITY 5853
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 6149
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 5378
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 3907
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 6194
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 3005
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 1212
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 9917
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 7422
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 2388
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 6420
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 8464
RUEHJI/AMCONSUL JEDDAH PRIORITY 1247
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM PRIORITY 1913
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHMFISS/COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/COMSIXTHFLT  PRIORITY

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000941 
 
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 
HQ USAF FOR XOXX 
DA WASHDC FOR SASA 
JOINT STAFF WASHDC FOR PA 
CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL FOR POLAD/USIA ADVISOR 
COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE FOR PAO/POLAD 
COMSIXTHFLT FOR 019 
 
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 
 
Please note: There will be no Israel Media Reaction on Wednesday, 
April 29, Israeli Independence Day Holiday. 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
Mideast 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media highlighted events and issues related to Memorial Day and 
Independence Day.  The media quoted President Shimon Peres as saying 
at a Memorial Day ceremony yesterday that Israel wants peace but is 
ready for war.  IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi said: 
"The IDF is committed to saving human life, and our enemies take 
advantage of our high morals when firing at us from within centers 
of civilian population."  PM Benjamin Netanyahu earlier urged the 
country to maintain the unity it feels during Memorial Day every day 
of the year.  DM Ehud Barak was quoted as saying in an interview 
with HaQaretz that there is no existential threat to Israel.  QNo 
one will dare try to annihilate Israel,Q he said.  Makor 
Rishon-Hatzofe reported that yesterday, during a press conference, 
Barak hinted that Israel should develop defense systems that will 
allow it to give up land. 
 
The Jerusalem Post, Maariv, and Israel Hayom quoted senior Israeli 
officials as saying yesterday that they were "concerned" at the 
prospect that the U.S. may approve funding for a Palestinian 
Authority government that includes Hamas.   HaQaretz reported that 
Israel was QsurprisedQ by the report.  The concern arose after it 
became known that the Obama administration had asked Congress for 
minor changes in U.S. law that would allow the continued provision 
of funds to the PA even if Hamas officials became part of a 
Palestinian unity government. 
 
Israel Radio reported that Netanyahu will not meet with PA President 
Mahmoud Abbas before his visit to Washington.  The media continued 
to report on the dispute between Israel and the PA on the issue of 
the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. Israel Radio quoted a 
senior PA source as saying that Mahmoud Abbas had presented former 
President Bush with the written draft of a peace plan with Israel, 
to which previous PM Ehud Olmert never replied in writing -Q he 
started the military operation in Gaza soon after. 
Israel Radio quoted the PA newspaper Al-Ayyam as saying that 
American officials will inspect new Israeli construction plans 
around MaQaleh Adumim. The Palestinian daily cited a senior official 
in the American Consulate-General in Jerusalem. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman 
(ID-CT) told the newspaper yesterday that any engagement with Iran 
must come with Qnot just carrots and sticksQ and that he is 
introducing legislation to deliver just that. 
 
The Jerusalem Post and Makor Rishon-Hatzofe quoted DM Barak as 
saying yesterday that the Syrian-Turkish maneuvers constitute a 
Qworrisome development.Q  The Jerusalem Post reported that a senior 
Israeli strategic analyst told the daily yesterday that the drill 
not only disturbed Jerusalem, but that it has also riled the Turkish 
military.  Israel Radio quoted Syrian President Bashar Assad as 
saying in the London-based Ash Sharq Al-Awsat that his country was 
closer to reaching peace with OlmertQs government than with Ehud 
BarakQs in 1990. 
 
Media reported that Kadima MK Tzachi Hanegbi will retain his 
position as chairman of the KnessetQs Foreign Affairs and Defense 
Committee despite being in the opposition. 
 
HaQaretz reported that yesterday two former Border Police officers 
were sentenced to several years in prison for their role in killing 
a Palestinian teen in Hebron in 2002. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that members of the Foreign Press 
Association in Israel are complaining of harassment and 
discrimination at Israeli airports and other locations. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that a new movement to unite trade 
unions and other NGOs from Australia, Europe, and North America 
working against boycotts of Israel -- Trade Unions Linking Israel 
and Palestine (Tulip) -- began operation last week. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Palestinians in a refugee camp near 
Bethlehem that Pope Benedict XVI will visit next month want him to 
get a close-up look at the security barrier. 
 
HaQaretz reported that several days ago 10 people from southern 
Sudan boarded a plane at Ben-Gurion Airport bound for an African 
country, from which they would continue toward Sudan.  The daily 
quoted the Foreign Ministry as saying that the refugees were 
repatriated out of their own free will.  However, southern Sudanese 
community leaders in Israel said that the move endangered the 
refugeesQ lives and criticized the QInternational Christian Embassy 
Jerusalem,Q which supported the action. 
 
HaQaretz reported that the only state-run Jewish-Arab school in 
Israel (in Jaffa) might close down.  While the Tel Aviv Municipality 
cited the departure of Jews from Jaffa, the school claimed that the 
municipality was drying it up. 
 
The media reported that a second traveler was quarantined after his 
return from Mexico, to which health officials urge Israelis to avoid 
travel. 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: QOn 
Independence Day, we belabor the obvious: The State of Israel was 
established to fulfill dreams, not to arm itself ahead of the coming 
of the Messiah. 
 
Editor-in-Chief David Horovitz wrote on page one of the 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: QNetanyahu will tell Obama 
next month that, in an improved climate... he's prepared for 
far-reaching concessions, though not as dramatic as previous 
governments have entertained. 
 
The nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe editorialized: QAbu 
Mazen, the Palestinian AuthorityQs moderate figure, has just 
rejected NetanyahuQs demand that he recognize Israel as a Jewish 
state. 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Israel Time, 5769 [2009]" 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (4/28): QLast 
year, Israel marked its 60th anniversary with great pomp.  Perhaps 
now the time is ripe to let go of the euphoria over the country's 
very existence, the flip side of existential fear.... Israel is not 
the only party responsible for its anomalous situation.  Not only 
are enemies near and far who question the state's legitimacy not 
dissipating with the passage of time, they're becoming stronger. 
But the answer does not lie in entrenchment and a contrarian 
approach to the whole world, but rather the opposite: remobilization 
of the same creative energies that drew Israel admiration in its 
early years.  Unfortunately, however, stagnation has taken the place 
of change when it comes to matters within our control as well.  The 
new government is not only not heralding change and hope; it is 
calling for steps backward -- in its approach to both Israel's Arabs 
and to our neighbors and the world.  Those who have embraced 
Qconflict managementQ and have despaired of a solution, and those 
for whom governing is an end in itself rather than a means for 
change and improvement, will find themselves marking time and 
treading water with us all, driven by crises instead of growing and 
renewing.  On Independence Day, we belabor the obvious: The State of 
Israel was established to fulfill dreams, not to arm itself ahead of 
the coming of the Messiah. 
 
II.  "NetanyahuQs Bid to Change" 
 
Editor-in-Chief David Horovitz wrote on page one of the 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (4/28): QNetanyahu will 
tell Obama next month that, in an improved climate, with the Iranian 
threat defused and Palestinian readiness for reconciliation 
encouraged by an improved economy, he's prepared for far-reaching 
concessions, though not as dramatic as previous governments have 
entertained.  He'll stress that Israel has no desire to govern the 
Palestinians, and make plain that his reservations about Palestinian 
statehood are practical, not ideological.  He'll also doubtless 
indicate to Obama his conviction that diplomacy isn't going to work 
with Tehran -- that stringent economic sanctions, and the threat of 
worse, hold the key.  His overall message won over the Israeli 
public, just about. Obama is going to be a much tougher sell. 
 
III.  "The World Has Not Yet Accepted IsraelQs Essence" 
 
The nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe editorialized (4/28): 
QAbu Mazen, the Palestinian AuthorityQs moderate figure, has just 
rejected NetanyahuQs demand that he recognize Israel as a Jewish 
state.... In plain words, [Abu Mazen wants] two states for two 
peoples: an Arab-Palestinian one and another common one for Jews and 
Arabs.  IsraelQs 61 years, its enormous successes, its great 
humanitarian enterprise in absorbing, the admiration it has earned 
around the world and the very fact of its being the realization of 
biblical prophecies in which billions believe, have not been enough 
to grant it the simple legitimacy enjoyed by other nations.  The 
Durban II conference -Q the world hypocrisy conference Q- in which 
the worldQs greatest oppressors of human rights took place, debated 
IsraelQs very existence.... If anyone celebrating IsraelQs 
independence has any doubt about the historic, dramatic significance 
of the realization of the Zionist vision, it is enough to look at 
the way the world still does not accept the simple point carried by 
these words: a Jewish state. 
 
CUNNINGHAM