VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTV #1353/01 1750956
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 240956Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2292
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAHQA/HQ USAF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEADWD/DA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/CNO WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI PRIORITY 5580
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 2159
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN PRIORITY 6124
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 6390
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 5623
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 4188
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 6447
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 3257
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 1459
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 0149
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 7658
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 2639
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 6652
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 8705
RUEHJI/AMCONSUL JEDDAH PRIORITY 1478
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM PRIORITY 2234
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHMFISS/COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/COMSIXTHFLT  PRIORITY

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001353 
 
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: 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶1.  Mideast 
 
¶2.  Iran 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Leading media quoted PM Benjamin Netanyahu as saying yesterday in 
Rome that he would not rule out the renewal of Egyptian-brokered 
negotiations with Hamas in an attempt to secure the release of Gilad 
Shalit.  Netanyahu denied Arab media reports that Shalit would be 
transferred to Egypt in the coming days and said that "I cannot 
confirm that I heard such information and if such a thing was about 
to happen, I would be informed about it."  The reports claimed that 
the abducted soldier would be transferred from the Gaza Strip, where 
he has been held for nearly three years, to Egypt "within the hour." 
 Yediot quoted Egyptian sources as saying that they have received a 
sign of life from Shalit.  Leading media reported that yesterday 
Israel released Aziz Dweik, the speaker of the Palestinian 
Legislative Council, from prison, ending his three-year 
incarceration. Dweik, who is considered a relatively moderate Hamas 
leader in the West Bank, was one of several Palestinian leaders 
arrested after the June 2006 abduction of Shalit. 
 
HaQaretz reported that Qrecent weeks have seen a dramatic change in 
Israel's roadblock policy in the West BankQ: Right under the nose of 
NetanyahuQs right-wing government, the IDF has lifted some of the 
main, permanent roadblocks, which have played a central role in 
restricting the movement of Palestinians, mostly between the main 
Palestinian cities. HaQaretz noted that the decision of the defense 
establishment to ease Palestinian travel very much reflects the 
steps the PA security forces have taken against the Hamas and 
Islamic Jihad terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank.  According 
to HaQaretz, American pressure and demands that the Palestinians be 
allowed to move freely in areas where there is no security risk are 
also a factor. 
 
HaQaretz reported that an Israeli government source has told the 
newspaper that Israel is considering enacting a temporary freeze on 
settlement construction, excluding projects already underway, if the 
U.S. agrees to continued construction for natural growth once the 
freeze ends.  The GOI official was quoted as saying that U.S. 
Mideast envoy George Mitchell has been conducting low-profile talks 
with Israel in a bid to reach an agreement on the settlement issue. 
HaQaretz quoted the source as saying that Mitchell was due to meet 
with Netanyahu in Paris on Friday, but that Netanyahu postponed the 
meeting and sent DM Ehud Barak to Washington for talks.  (Yediot 
reported that Mitchell was the one who canceled the meeting and 
that, in a Washington meting with Netanyahu envoy Yitzhak Molcho, 
the Americans clarified that there is no purpose in meeting as long 
as Israel does not freeze settlement construction.)  The government 
official was quoted as saying that Barak believes that any progress 
on either the Palestinian or the regional peace tracks will render 
the settlement issue considerably less important.  Electronic media 
quoted sources close to the PM as saying that the meeting was 
canceled at NetanyahuQs request: Before his departure for Europe, 
Netanyahu convened a meeting in which it was decided to postpone the 
meeting until clarifications could be reached on several issues 
between Jerusalem and Washington.  IDF Radio reported that the 
spokesman for the State Department explained the postponement by 
saying that the U.S. administration wanted Mitchell to meet Defense 
Minister Ehud Barak first.  The Jerusalem Post quoted diplomatic 
officials as saying that Israel and the U.S. are continuing to 
negotiate the parameters of a settlement construction freeze. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday Internal Security 
Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch (Yisrael Beiteinu) visited the Temple 
Mount, drawing condemnations from Arab Knesset members and the Waqf 
Islamic trust, who labeled the tour a Qprovocation. 
 
Electronic media reported that President Obama has given 
instructions to reinstate the U.S. Ambassador to Damascus.  Leading 
media reported that Obama has appointed Sam Kaplan, a Jew and a 
supporter of the President, as Ambassador to Morocco. 
 
Leading media reported that Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi told 
Netanyahu that he supports the concept of a demilitarized 
Palestinian state. 
 
Israel Hayom reported that President Shimon Peres used a 
particularly gross expression to depict the Iranian regime.  Leading 
media reported that President Obama and UN Secretary-General Ban 
Ki-moon expressed outrage over the violent repression of riots in 
Iran Q according to Yediot, Qtoo little and too late.Q  Major media 
reported that several dozen Israeli Jews of Iranian origin held a 
mourning vigil yesterday next to the American Embassy in Tel Aviv. 
Maariv quoted former Mossad station chief in Tehran Eliezer Tzafrir 
as saying that the Shah had asked the Israeli spying organization to 
assassinate the Ayatollah Khomeini. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that a deal is close to completion for 
the purchase of the F-35 stealth fighter jet after the Defense 
Ministry and the Pentagon recently reached understandings on a 
number of IAF demands to integrate Israeli technology into the 
plane.   The apparent breakthrough was made following a series of 
visits to Washington recently by senior Israel defense officials and 
DM Barak. 
 
HaQaretz reported that the Jewish Agency is set to nominate former 
cabinet minster Natan Sharansky as its new chairman.  He is 
NetanyahuQs candidate for the post.  However, a Jewish Agency 
committee passed controversial reforms that strip the Israeli PM of 
the power to recommend its chairman. The reform will not apply to 
SharanskyQs appointment. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"To Your Attention, Netanyahu" 
 
Liberal columnist Gideon Samet, a former consul in Philadelphia, 
wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv (6/24): QThis awful chaos in 
Iran, the flames of hatred and repression, the regime police that 
kills in the streets, and the isolation of a pariah state -- 
represent the most common kind of war in the world today: lethal 
domestic, not external, conflicts.  IsraelQs situation belongs to 
this type.... This must be restated: Israel is also being drawn into 
the fire because of Arab terrorism and rejectionism.  But it is far 
from doing what it should to get off that cursed list.  This is a 
bitter lesson from Tehran.  Looking at pictures from the territories 
and Wadi Ara [an Israeli-Arab area], you can see Iran.  It sometimes 
is difficult to believe in the existence of a connection between the 
atmosphere of violence in Israel and that of the darkest 
countries.... Benjamin Netanyahu is not doing what is needed for his 
country.  Barak Obama has also done too little so far.  If he does 
not demand that Israel and the Palestinians present their 
concessions without delay, weQll repeatedly look like Iran -- on the 
sidelines of history, far from the national dream, in a kind of war 
in which only the worst states are still trapped. 
 
--------- 
¶2.  Iran: 
--------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"The Time of the Revolutionary Guards" 
 
Former Mossad Director Ephraim Halevy wrote in the mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot (6/24): QA lot now depends on the behavior 
of the players on the [Iranian] scene.  Will the freedom lovers (the 
reformists) resume the protests after a short lull?  If the 
Revolutionary Guard engages in a bloody fight with them, how will 
Iran look the next day?  Will the reformists carry  Moussavi to 
victory?  Will he be arrested or killed?  Will Khamenei use more 
force until the bitter end?  Until the bitter end?  The only thing 
we can do is hope for the best -- the uprooting of the current 
regime -- or watch a worse development: IranQs takeover by the 
Revolutionary Guard. 
 
CUNNINGHAM