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DE RUEHTV #1529/01 1940947
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P 130947Z JUL 09
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001529 
 
STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD 
 
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM 
NSC FOR NEA STAFF 
 
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HQ USAF FOR XOXX 
DA WASHDC FOR SASA 
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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 
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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 reported that yesterday, during a special cabinet 
session in Beersheva, PM Benjamin Netanyahu called on PA President 
Mahmoud Abbas and other Palestinian leaders to meet. 
 
Yediot reported that Haggai Hadas, PM NetanyahuQs point man on the 
issue of Gilad ShalitQs release, , will leave for Cairo for another 
round of talks. 
 
Yediot reported that senior State Department official Fred Hof, an 
assistant to Special Envoy George Mitchell, is trying to renew 
Israel-Syria negotiations.  The newspaper reported that Hof will 
present a map that was worked out in Washington together with a 
proposal for future borders and security arrangements on the Golan. 
Leading media reported that French FM Bernard Kouchner, who met 
yesterday with Syrian President Bashar Assad and FM Walid Muallem, 
called on Israel and Syria to waste no time in renewing their peace 
negotiations and to mark 2009 as the year of peace. 
 
HaQaretz reported that the UK has slapped a partial arms embargo on 
Israel, refusing to supply replacement parts and other equipment for 
Sa'ar 4.5 gunships because they participated in Operation Cast Lead 
in the Gaza Strip earlier this year.  Britain's Foreign Office 
informed Israel's embassy in London of the sanctions a few days ago. 
The embassy, in a classified telegram to the Foreign Ministry in 
Jerusalem, said the decision stemmed from heavy pressure by both 
members of Parliament and human rights organizations.  The embargo 
followed a government review of all British defense exports to 
Israel, which was announced three months ago. 
 
Expanding on previous media reports, The Jerusalem Post reported 
that President Obama will meet today with over a dozen heads of 
influential American Jewish organizations and is expected to respond 
to concerns that the White House is pressuring Israel over West Bank 
settlements while it is soft-pedaling with some of Israel's worst 
enemies.  An organization leader who will be attending the meeting 
was quoted as saying. "American Jews more or less agree with the 
president on settlements, but it's the focus on criticizing Israel 
that's disconcerting."  The daily quoted another participating 
leader as saying: QThere's no single monolithic voice speaking for 
American Jewry It's important not to appear divided." 
 
HaQaretz and Israel Radio quoted EU foreign policy chief Javier 
Solana as saying in London that the UN should recognize a 
Palestinian state even if no agreement is reached with Israel.  The 
radio cited the GOIQs rejection of SolanaQs assertion and quoted FM 
Avigdor Lieberman as saying that SolanaQs comment was a parting 
statement.  Israel Radio also cited the PAQs satisfaction over 
SolanaQs remarks. 
 
The media quoted DM Ehud Barak and IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi 
as saying on Friday that the IDFQs next deputy chief of staff will 
be Benny Ganz.  The media speculated on the role that OC Southern 
Command Maj. Gen. Yoav Galant, who was a candidate for the post, 
will play in the IDF the future.  Major media reported that Dan 
Halutz, the Chief of Staff during the Second Lebanon War, sharply 
criticized DM Barak for saying a few days ago that the courage of 
soldiers repeatedly compensated for the mistakes of decision-makers 
during that war. 
 
HaQaretz reported that PM Benjamin Netanyahu has distanced himself 
from statements by National Security Advisor Uzi Arad that the 
Netanyahu government inherited a "scorched earth" policy on the 
Iranian nuclear threat from the last administration.  Yesterday 
Yediot reported that Colonel Ofer of the IDF Intelligence Branch, 
who was lent to the National Security Council, quit after just two 
days on the job.  Sources within the council were quoted as saying 
that the reason for the colonel's departure was clashes with Arad. 
 
Yesterday leading media reported that police have given the Samaria 
(northern West Bank) regional council a list of eleven illegal 
buildings that it intends to demolish in the near future.  Today, 
Makor Rishon-Hatzofe cited the concern of local settler leaders that 
the authorities may carry out a massive evacuation of outposts in 
the region. 
 
Leading media reported on FM Avigdor Lieberman's intent to appoint 
his close associate, Yisrael Beiteinu party member Shaul Kemisa, as 
Israel's ambassador to Cairo.  Maariv, among others, quoted Foreign 
Ministry officials as saying that this appointment will lead to the 
Qisolation of the Israeli embassy in Cairo both because of Kemisa's 
close relationship with Lieberman and because of his being a 
military man rather than a professional diplomat."  Yesterday Maariv 
reported that former Consul-General in New York Alon Pinkas may be 
appointed as responsible for the governmentQs public relations in 
the U.S. and Europe. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Getting Authority from the PA" 
 
Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz (7/13): QNetanyahu has just pledged to renew 
direct negotiations with the Palestinians based on the two-state 
solution.  That is the outline for discussions on all points of 
dispute including the request to expand construction to account for 
natural population growth, the demand to demilitarize the West Bank, 
and the expectation that the Palestinians will recognize Israel as a 
Jewish state.  In these discussions, issues such as roadblocks, the 
route of the security fence and prisoners can also be hammered out. 
Instead of wasting presidential prestige and valuable time 
pathetically bargaining with Netanyahu over another kindergarten, 
Obama should give him the phone number of the Muqata government 
headquarters [in Ramallah] and demand that [Mahmoud] Abbas keep a 
line free.  If in a reasonable period of time, say two or three 
months, the two leaders cannot reach understandings on all core 
issues, the time will come for the President to put the Obama plan 
on the table. 
 
II.  "AradQs Jerusalem" 
 
Ha'aretz editorialized (7/13): Q[National Security Adviser Uzi] 
Arad's argument [in an interview with HaQaretz Magazine on Friday] 
that previous governments used a Qscorched earthQ policy regarding 
the Palestinian and Iranian nuclear issues raises the suspicion that 
he is preparing an alibi for a failure by Netanyahu's government on 
these key matters.... Arad worries about Iran's impact on the 
nuclearization of the Arab Middle East.  Does he have a better way 
to deal with this threat than an American umbrella?  Instead, he 
heaps contempt on the United States, bluntly calling it QRome,Q and 
crediting Netanyahu with the phrase.  Can it be that one who 
purports to be a historian does not know what happenedto the Jewish 
people after the fateful clash with Rome?  Perhaps Arad believes 
that QRomeQ will bow its head before Arad's Jerusalem?  Netanyahu 
must distance himself from Arad if he expects Israelis and the 
international community to trust the policy he recently presented. 
An official who espouses such positions has no place in a 
peace-seeking Prime Minister's Bureau. 
 
III.  "They Don't Know How to Decide" 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in the mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot (7/13): QYesterday marked three years 
since the Second Lebanon War: not exactly cause for celebration. 
Some things have changed here since July 12, 2006, and some things 
haven't changed at all.  In at least one sphere, there has been a 
veritable turnabout: in the national leadership. We ousted the 
political echelon that made overly hasty decisions, and in its place 
we have a political echelon that is incapable of deciding at all. 
We wanted Julius Caesar and we got two Hamlets, princes of 
Denmark.... Two and a half years after the war, a new government 
came to power with two people at its center: Benjamin Netanyahu and 
Ehud Barak.  They reached the summit of power after trying 
everything else in government and in the opposition, as prime 
ministers and in running its most senior ministries.  There is no 
position in which they haven't been, there is no process that they 
did not closely observe.  Their accumulated experience should be 
able to serve them in their new-old positions today.  However, going 
through an experience and being experienced are two different 
things.  Experience is something one learns from; living through an 
experience is a biographical detail that adorns the paper on which 
one's resume is written.... Netanyahu concluded, from his 
experience, that the role of the prime minister is to be good and do 
good by others.... Barak is known for having trouble making 
decisions back from his previous government, including decisions 
that are vital to security.  Last week he made a speech at a 
memorial marking three years since the Second Lebanon War.  In his 
speech, he drew a distinction between the combatants, whose heroism 
he praised, and their superiors, whom he criticized.  Had Barak 
learned anything from experience, he would know that those who live 
in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.  For months, Barak could not 
decide whom to appoint to the position of deputy chief of staff. 
This decision has ramifications not only for whoever should become 
the next chief of staff, but also for the one who will be chief of 
staff after him.  In the end he made a decision which is neither 
coffee nor tea. 
 
--------- 
¶2.  Iran: 
--------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"At the Traffic Lights of U.S.-Israel Relations" 
 
Visiting Professor of Political Science at Haifa University Avraham 
Ben-Zvi, an expert in U.S.-Israeli relations, wrote in the 
independent Israel Hayom (7/13): QAt first sight, ObamaQs remark 
that the administrationQs aspiration has been and still is to settle 
the Qnuclear crisisQ with Iran through diplomatic ways, can be 
interpreted as a clear presidential expression of reservation about 
the Qgreen lightQ to Israel statement made by Vice President Joe 
Biden a few days earlier.... But it is also possible that Washington 
is conducting a deliberate strategy of doubletalk in order to 
produce a deterrent effect of uncertainty regarding its positions, 
thus adding a more robust dimension to its conciliatory 
deportment.... Over four decades after the six fateful days in June 
1967, the same signals [from the U.S. administration] are blinking. 
The coming months will make clear whether they are ... deliberate 
and meant to convey various messages to different target audiences, 
or whether -- behind the curtain of ambiguity and the double talk -- 
a bright, blinding red light is dawning, as President Obama has 
declared. 
 
CUNNINGHAM