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DE RUEHTV #1226/01 1591408
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P 081408Z JUN 09
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001226 
 
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 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
Mideast 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
The media reported on the elections in Lebanon and the apparent 
victory of the Qanti-SyrianQ camp led by Saad Hariri.  Israel Radio 
cited the satisfaction of senior Israeli diplomatic officials over 
the unofficial results of the poll.  The Jerusalem Post reported 
that, on the eve of the elections, a senior Israeli official told 
the newspaper that if Hizbullah formed the core of the next Lebanese 
government, QIsrael will no longer view a hostile action by 
Hizbullah as a Hizbullah attack, but as an attack by the Lebanese 
state. 
 
The media reported that PM Benjamin Netanyahu will lay out his 
political stance on peace with the Palestinians in a speech at Bar 
Ilan University next week.  Media quoted Netanyahu associates as 
saying that the address comes as a response to the historic address 
delivered by President Obama in Egypt last week.   Yediot cited the 
belief of associates of President Shimon Peres and Egyptian 
President Hosni Mubarak that Netanyahu will recognize the 
Qtwo-stateQ formula.  The Jerusalem Post quoted PA officials as 
saying yesterday that the PA will not return to the negotiating 
table with Israel until Netanyahu endorses the two-state solution 
and stops construction in the settlements.  HaQaretz reported that 
Israeli security officials are expected to meet this week to discuss 
easing the blockade of the Gaza Strip, following U.S. President 
Barack Obama's recent criticism of the "continuing humanitarian 
crisis" there.  Media reported that yesterday at the Erez Crossing, 
an American-Israeli fminist delegation and left-wing activists 
dressed like clowns held a rally to protest the ban on toy entering 
Gaza. 
 
HaQaretz reported that yesteray Interior Minister Eli Yishai (Shas) 
began to ake good on a pledge that he would exploit all the 
resources of his ministry, "its branches and its influences over 
local government," to expand settlements in the territories.  The 
(English-language) online articleQs headline reads: QIsraeli 
Ministry Wages Settlement War against U.S. 
 
Electronic media reported that this morning at the Karni Crossing, 
six to ten terrorists unsuccessfully attempted to kidnap an IDF 
soldier.  Fighting ensued, in which four of the assailants were 
killed.  Media reported that on Friday at NaQalin (West Bank), Ala 
Shafam, a demonstrator against the separation fence, was killed by 
IDF fire.  Maariv quoted IDF officials as saying that he was a 
wanted Hamas operative. 
 
The media quoted Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as saying in a 
taped interview aired yesterday on ABC-TVQs QThis WeekQ that Iran 
must expect full retaliation from "a battery of nuclear weapons 
countries" should it attack Israel.  HaQaretz quoted the Foreign 
Ministry as saying yesterday that a new report on Iran by the IAEA 
shows that the UN cannot be trusted to monitor the Islamic 
Republic's nuclear program. 
 
Yediot reported that Special Envoy for Middle East Peace Sen. George 
Mitchell will continue the discussion that began two weeks ago in 
London on freezing construction in the settlements.  Israel insists 
that it be permitted to continue construction for natural growth 
purposes within the existing lines of construction, on the basis of 
the agreements and understandings reached by the two countries in 
May 2003.  Yediot quoted senior Israeli diplomatic sources as saying 
that in casting aside these understandings, the Americans committed 
an inexcusable act, by QerasingQ history.  QCall Condoleezza Rice, 
her deputy Steve Hadley, and Elliott Abrams from the National 
Security Council, and ask them what took place.Q  Media quoted 
Secretary Clinton as saying over the weekend that there were records 
denying that there was even an oral agreement that Israel could 
continue to build in the settlement blocs.  The Jerusalem Post also 
reported that Israeli officials rejected ClintonQs assertion. 
Yediot quoted Dov Weisglass, formerly Ariel Sharon's senior aide, 
who was the one who conducted the negotiations with the Bush 
administration, as saying on Saturday: "Secretary of State Hillary 
Clinton is using general and inaccurate terms. 
 
Maariv reported that U.S. Security Coordinator for Israel and the PA 
Lt. Gen. Keith DaytonQs plan to curb Hamas and to restore order in 
the PA includes the expansion of Palestinian policing forces to as 
many as ten battalions, compared to the three that operate today. 
 
Yediot reported that yesterday Minister-without-Portfolio Yossi 
Peled (Likud) recommended that the government consider applying a 
series of pressures on the Obama administration, proposing that 
Israel reconsider, among other options, its military and civilians 
purchases from the U.S., that it trade in sensitive military 
equipment, to whQh the U.S.is opposed, and to allow competing 
military forces and intelligence agencies a foothold in the Middle 
East. 
 
HaQaretz and The Jerusalem Post reported that, in an unprecedented 
move, the Defense Ministry has granted 50 Palestinian families from 
Hebron 250,000 shekels (around $62,500), taken from taxpayers 
money, as compensation for damages to their property by settler 
activists in December 2008. 
 
Leading media reported that prosecutors in a Jenin court requested 
that a Palestinian woman accused of spying for Israel be sentenced 
to death. 
 
Maariv reported that many Gazans are disappointed by the 
tunnel-smuggling enterprise, which reportedly robbed them of their 
livelihood. 
 
Yediot reported that India has placed Israel Military Industries on 
a blacklist of seven manufacturers of arms and ammunition that have 
worked in the past with India and are now suspected of illegalities, 
principally of paying bribes while working in India. 
 
Leading media reported that 12 residents of the Israeli Arab town of 
Shfaram (in Arabic: Shafaamer) were indicted yesterday over the 
August 2005 murder of Eden Natan-Zada, a Jewish military deserter 
who was lynched after opening fire on a bus heading to Shfaram, 
killing four Arabs and wounding more than a dozen. 
 
Electronic media reported that this morning the Tel Aviv District 
Court indicted former finance minister Abraham Hirchson on various 
charges.  He was on trial for allegedly stealing 2.5 million shekels 
(around $625,000) from the National Workers Organization while 
serving as its chairman. 
 
All media reported that thousands of ultra-Orthodox rioted in 
Jerusalem over the opening of a municipal parking lot on the 
Sabbath. 
 
Media reported that Yoav Tzur was appointed Editor-in-Chief of 
Maariv. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "NetanyahuQs Moment" 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (6/8): QFaster 
than expected, the Prime Minister has reached the moment when he 
must decide between adhering to his outdated political platform and 
advancing the national interest by achieving a peace deal with the 
Palestinians and maintaining good relations with the United States. 
The politicians who are considered Netanyahu's natural partners, 
both from Likud and the far right, will threaten to remove him from 
power and warn of a serious internal rift if he says yes to Obama. 
But Netanyahu must not be alarmed by them.  This is his moment to 
prove that he is a statesman of historic vision, who is capable of 
going beyond his old positions and taking advantage of 
opportunities, rather than missing them because of political 
fears. 
 
II.  "Building a Crisis" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote in the popular, pluralist 
Maariv (6/7): QPeople who are well versed on the matter say that the 
Americans aren't interested in giving Netanyahu any benefits after 
realizing that he did not intend to ratify the Roadmap and would not 
publicly endorse the two-state principle (despite the fact that in 
closed conversations that he held with Obama he said explicitly that 
ultimately a Palestinian state would be established).  That being 
the case, the Americans have no reason to recognize the oral 
understandings that existed.  What about the written understandings? 
Here things are a bit clearer. Dov Weisglass's letter to National 
Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, which turned into an appendix to 
the Roadmap and President Bush's letters, includes a clause that is 
defined as Qgrowth in the settlements.Q  That clause stipulates that 
Israel and the United States are to establish joint teams that will 
demarcate the confining lines of the existing settlements.  At that 
stage, says Weisglass, the term Qnatural growthQ was stricken from 
the document at the AmericansQ request and was replaced by the 
phrase Qexisting construction lineQ.... The problem is that the 
construction lines of the settlements were never marked on the 
ground. Either way, officials in Jerusalem are confounded. 
III.  "Why Obama Is Wrong on Israel and the Shoah" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (6/8): 
QBarack Obama has been terribly misinformed if he thinks Israel's 
legitimacy hinges on the Shoah.... What the Holocaust proved is that 
the world is too dangerous a place for Jews to be stateless and 
defenseless. But we Zionists were making that argument long before 
Hitler came to power.... However one chooses to understand Jewish 
civilization -- as sacred history, or through the modern lenses of 
secular history and archeology -- the ancient bond between the Jews 
and their land is indisputable.... When Obama implies that Jewish 
rights are essentially predicated on the Holocaust -- not once 
asserting they are far, far deeper and more ancient -- he is dooming 
the prospects for peace.  For why should the Arabs reconcile 
themselves to the presence of a Jewish state, organic to the region, 
when the U.S. President keeps insinuating that Israel was 
established to atone for Europe's crimes? 
 
IV.  QTimeQs A-Wasting 
 
Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in Ha'aretz (6/8): QAfter 
the expectations that Obama raised in Cairo, the Israeli-Palestinian 
problem is his problem, too.  We can only hope that when the 
President said that Qnow is the timeQ to move forward with a 
two-state solution -- he means that if, by the end of 2009, at the 
latest, on the eve of elections in the territories, the parties have 
not come to an arrangement on their own, he will force his solution 
upon them.  Time's a-wasting. 
 
 
 
 
¶V.  "DonQt Turn Obama into an Enemy" 
 
Former National Religious Party Knesset Member and former Deputy 
Foreign Minister Yehuda Ben-Meir wrote in HaQaretz (6/7): QThe 
attempt to turn Obama into Israel's enemy is mendacious, foolish, 
irresponsible and potentially disastrous.  There will probably be 
more disputes between Israel and the new President, not only because 
of his clear worldview and determination, but also because of the 
current Israeli government's shortsightedness.... [But] Obama's 
vehement denunciation of terrorism against Israel, referring to 
suicide bombings and Qassam rockets aimed at Sderot's children, and 
the firm demand that Palestinians disassociate themselves from this 
terrorism, were clear and unequivocal.... The dispute [between 
Washington and Jerusalem] is based mainly on Prime Minister Benjamin 
Netanyahu's refusal to recognize that the solution of two states for 
two peoples is an Israeli interest, an Israeli obligation and the 
expectation of the entire world, not to mention most Israelis.... 
Netanyahu is right in saying that a life-loving nation must identify 
the dangers threatening it, as well as its real and vital interests. 
 Today's Israel faces serious threats, and its alliance with the 
United States and its President are fundamental pillars of its 
security.  The Qspecial relationshipQ between Israel and America was 
forged through tremendous effort over decades, and the current Prime 
Minister will have abused his position and violated his obligations 
if he does not know how to cultivate and protect it. 
 
VI.  "Barack Obama Is Not QOurQ President" 
 
Correspondent Daniil Davidzon wrote on page one of the conservative 
Russian-language Vesty (6/7): QNever before ... in any of his 
speeches did the U.S. President stress the theme of his Muslim roots 
[the way he did in Cairo speech].  There was a strong impression 
that he was trying to convince the audience that he was one of them 
... and that he, as U.S. President, understood the Muslim world 
better than anybody else.  This may be true, but what right does it 
give Barack Hussein Obama to place on equal footing the Holocaust 
and the Qsufferings of the Palestinian peopleQ -- the way he 
described the situation in the Palestinian Authority?!.... The world 
must change, President Obama declared in his first speech as 
President immediately after taking the oath of office.  Now it is 
more or less clear in which direction.  In fact, Barack ObamaQs 
declarations convince us -- Israelis -- that in this world we can 
only trust ourselves and live and flourish despite everybody and 
everything. 
 
CUNNINGHAM