VZCZCXYZ0003
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTV #1547/01 1961014
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 151014Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2584
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 5659
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 2238
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN PRIORITY 6213
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 6469
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 5702
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 4296
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 6532
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 3338
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 1541
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 0228
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 7737
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 2724
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 6731
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 8785
RUEHJI/AMCONSUL JEDDAH PRIORITY 1557
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM PRIORITY 2381
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHMFISS/COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/COMSIXTHFLT  PRIORITY

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001547 
 
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: 
------------------------- 
 
HaQaretz and other media reported that, in an interview with CNN, 
President Obama hinted that the Iranian elections and the ensuing 
violent demonstrations could adversely affect the negotiations over 
Iran's nuclear program.  HaQaretz also reported that American Jewish 
leaders who met with Obama on Tuesday expressed great satisfaction 
with their discussion.  Conversely, The Jerusalem Post quoted 
several Jewish leaders -- from the Orthodox Union and mainstream 
groups -- who participated in the meeting as saying yesterday that 
the PresidentQs efforts to reassure them on U.S. policy towards 
Israel had not assuaged their concerns.  The Post quoted an official 
from one such organization, who spoke on condition of anonymity, as 
saying: QI am concerned that the Obama administration is falling 
into the trap of blaming all the problems with the peace process and 
region generally on Israel. 
 
The media reported that police are nearing the end of their 
investigation into FM Avigdor Lieberman and that they are 
considering charging him with several offenses, including bribery. 
Officials were quoted as saying yesterday that they have completed 
their investigation into accusations of money laundering, fraud, and 
breach of trust, and have also collected evidence of obstruction of 
justice.  If the probe is completed in the coming days as planned, 
the team will hand their recommendations to Attorney General 
Menachem Mazuz next week, including recommended indictments.  The 
indictment taking shape suggests Lieberman managed a well-oiled 
business machine through front men even after taking public office, 
and made millions of dollars. 
 
Maariv and Israel Radio reported that Haggai Hadas, PM NetanyahuQs 
point man on the issue of Gilad ShalitQs release, met with Egyptian 
intelligence chief Omar Suleiman in Cairo yesterday. 
 
Media reported that yesterday, for the second time in as many weeks, 
two Israel Navy gunboats openly sailed through the Suez Canal into 
the Red Sea.  The media said that the move, which was apparently 
coordinated with Egypt, is seen as a warning message to Middle 
Eastern radicals, first and foremost Iran. Media reported that 
Egyptian FM Ahmed Abu al-Gheit, when asked Tuesday about the boats' 
passage through Suez, confirmed the report and said that Egypt's 
agreements with Israel permit Israeli military ships to transit the 
canal.  He declined to speculate on whether the voyage was meant as 
a warning to Iran or anyone else.  Israel Radio reported that the 
London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi harshly condemned EgyptQs approval of 
the boats' passage. 
 
Major media quoted a Golani Brigade soldier as saying that the IDF 
used Palestinians as human shields during Operation Cast Lead last 
January despite a 2005 High Court ruling outlawing the practice.  He 
was quoted as saying that he did not see Palestinians being used as 
human shields but was told by his commanders that this occurred. 
The soldier was quoted as saying that his unit employed a variation 
of the practice, the so-called "neighbor procedure," when it checked 
homes for Palestinian militants.  The soldier's testimony appears in 
a collection of accounts being published this week by Breaking the 
Silence, an organization that collects IDF soldiers' testimony on 
human rights abuses by the military.  HaQaretz reported that the 
soldier gave similar testimony in an interview with the newspaper. 
Israel Radio cited the report as saying that soldiers opened fire in 
order to hit innocent Palestinians in order to avoid being harmed. 
One of the soldiers was quoted as saying that it is better to harm 
innocent people than to hesitate to fire at the enemy.  The media 
quoted the IDF as saying that the report lacked details and 
reliability, and that the IDF was not given the opportunity to 
respond to the allegations before publication.  The Jerusalem Post 
quoted the IDF as saying that it was committed to investigating 
every complaint based on information that allows a thorough probe. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted sources in the IDFQs Central Command as 
saying yesterday that the army has started using undercover elite 
border policemen to quell anti-fence demonstrations in the West 
Bank.  In an unrelated matter, leading media quoted the State 
Prosecutor as saying yesterday that it was dropping charges against 
Ze'ev Braude, a resident of the settlement of Kiryat Arba who was 
caught on film shooting at two Palestinians in Hebron last December. 
 The prosecution said it made the decision not to try Braude because 
such a move could expose classified information that might harm 
state security. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday, under the slogan, QNot 
ObamaQs.  Not the worldQs.  Settlement activity is an Israeli 
problem,Q Peace Now launched a new campaign designed to show how the 
settlements are a stumbling block to peace.  Peace Now 
Secretary-General Yariv Oppenheimer was quoted as saying that the 
group plans to take out billboard and newspaper ads against the 
settlements, presenting them as a financial, diplomatic, and 
security problem.  Such a paid ad already appeared in HaQaretz 
today. 
 
Maariv reported that the Netanyahu government is giving a green 
light to hold a referendum on the future of the Golan.  A special 
Knesset committee will convene tomorrow to revive the issue.  The 
newspaper notes that the move is a signal to Obama, as 
Washington-Damascus relations are warming up. 
 
HaQaretz reported that the Foreign Ministry is furious over news 
that Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas official based in Gaza, recently 
headed a Hamas delegation to Switzerland for talks with Swiss 
diplomats.  A senior Foreign Ministry official was quoted as saying 
that the visit will further destabilize already shaky relations 
between Jerusalem and Bern, after Iranian President Mahmoud 
Ahmadinejad visited Switzerland in April for the "Durban II" UN 
anti-racism conference. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday Israel accused Lebanon of 
violating UN Security Council Resolution 1701 after a Hizbullah arms 
cache hidden inside a southern Lebanese town accidentally exploded. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday, Qin the opening shot of 
a battle Jerusalem has decided to wage with NGOs it deems biased 
against Israel,Q the Prime Minister's Office slammed a recent Human 
Rights Watch (HRW) fundraising delegation to Saudi Arabia as 
evidence the organization has lost its "moral compass."  PM 
Netanyahu's spokesman Mark Regev was quoted as saying on Monday: "A 
human rights organization raising money in Saudi Arabia is like a 
women's rights group asking the Taliban for a donation.  If you can 
fundraise in Saudi Arabia, why not move on to Somalia, Libya and 
North Korea?  For an organization that claims to offer moral 
direction, it appears that Human Rights Watch has seriously lost its 
moral compass."  Sarah Leah Whitson, director of HRW's Middle East 
and North Africa Division, responded by telling The Jerusalem Post 
that there was a need to distinguish between a government and its 
people, and to conflate the two was "misguided at best." 
 
Leading media cited a Pentagon announcement yesterday that Israel 
will soon test an Arrow interceptor missile on a U.S. missile range 
in the Pacific Ocean in a joint exercise that also will involve 
three U.S. missile defense systems.  HaQaretz and Maariv quoted U.S. 
Army Lt. Gen. Patrick O'Reilly, director of the Pentagon's Missile 
Defense Agency, as saying the test will allow Israel to measure its 
advanced Arrow system against a target with a range of more than 
1,000 km, too long for previous Arrow test sites in the eastern 
Mediterranean.  Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that Israel has given 
up on placing electronic systems manufactured by the Israeli company 
Elisra and other equipment in the F-35 stealth fighter planes it 
will purchase from the U.S.  The newspaper recalls that the U.S. has 
allowed Israel limited access to the planesQ software systems. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday the World Bank announced 
plans to spend an additional $33.5 million on Palestinian 
infrastructure initiatives, including $21.5 million for Gaza 
projects. 
 
Yediot cited the concern of International Atomic Energy Agency 
inspectors that Iran is trying to conceal banned building at its 
nuclear reactor of Arak, which is under construction.  Citing 
Reuters, The Jerusalem Post quoted a Russian Foreign Ministry source 
as saying yesterday that Moscow would not impose tougher sanctions 
against Iran over its nuclear program in exchange for a new nuclear 
arms cuts deal with Washington. 
 
Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that a senior source in the PMQs 
Bureau told the newspaper that, contrary to media reports that 
National Security Adviser Uzi Arad might soon resign his position, 
he will be retained. 
 
Leading media reported that Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger 
appealed to JordanQs King Abdullah II in a letter sent this week to 
stop his countryQs policy of preventing Israeli tourists from 
crossing the border with religious books and other artifacts. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that, in a new study, Prof. Moshe Sharon 
of the Hebrew University claims that the Islamic tradition of the 
Prophet MuhammadQs night journey and ascension to heaven were 
invented to legitimize Arab presence in Jerusalem. 
 
The Jerusalem Post and other media reported that former Shas leader 
Aryeh Deri has hinted to confidants that he will soon form a new 
socioeconomic movement that will work to bridge gaps between rich 
and poor and among Jews of all levels of religious observance. 
HaQaretz quoted police as saying that the Interpol request 
concerning Micky Louis Mayon, Qone of the FBI's 100 most wanted 
criminals,Q who was arrested in Tel Aviv on Sunday, does not include 
charges of neo-Nazi crimes.  The Jerusalem Post reported that 
MayonQs pregnant girlfriend was the one who turned him in to 
police. 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Speak to Us, Mr. President" 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (7/15) QIn 
QclosedQ talks with associates and foreign visitors, Netanyahu has 
blasted Obama, asserting that the President's pressure on Israel is 
aimed at placating the Arabs at Israel's expense.... Netanyahu is 
erring twice: by entering into an unnecessary and harmful conflict 
with the U.S. administration, and by rejecting Obama's fundamental 
desire to break through the stalemate in the peace process and 
complete the process of Israel's acceptance into the Middle East. 
The election of Obama and his popularity in the Arab world create a 
unique opportunity for a breakthrough in the peace process, and it 
would be a shame to miss it.  Now the U.S. administration must 
convince the Israeli public that it has a friend in the White House, 
and that the administration's positions correspond with Israel's 
national interests.  The President promised the Jewish leaders that 
he will speak to the Israelis candidly, Qas a true friend,Q so they 
will understand where he is coming from.  After talking to the 
Arabs, the Muslims and the Iranians, in speeches and on television, 
it is only right that Obama address the Israeli public and persuade 
the people to support reviving the peace process with the 
Palestinians and Syrians and halting the destructive settlement 
enterprise in the West Bank. 
 
II.  QWhat He Needs to Hear 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (7/15): 
QWe're not suggesting that Obama is substantively less pro-Israel 
than most of his predecessors.  But we are concerned over his 
refusal to embrace the 1967-plus strategy enunciated by his 
predecessor, at a time when his administration is demanding a freeze 
even to Israeli construction in Jerusalem areas captured in 1967. 
The furthest he seems willing to go is to hint that changes which 
have occurred since 1967 will inevitably influence final-status 
negotiations.  If the administration feels it faces no 
countervailing pressure, it will go on deepening the erroneous 
perception that settlements are the obstacle to peace.  This 
alienates Israel's majority, which is willing to make painful 
territorial concessions, yet believes that ill-tempered calls for an 
unconditional freeze everywhere only encourage Palestinian 
intransigence.  Pro-Israel Americans should caution Obama not to 
lose the Israeli QstreetQ as he seeks favor with the Arab one.  They 
need to say, loud and clear, that the principles enunciated by Prime 
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Bar-Ilan University -- essentially 
supporting Palestinian statehood within parameters that do not 
endanger Israel -- deserve the administration's strong backing. 
 
III.  "After OlmertQs Last Peace Proposal to the PA" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in Ha'aretz (7/15): 
QPolitical debate aside, the essential lesson from Olmert's [peace] 
proposal [to Mahmoud Abbas] is that the parties' stances have hardly 
changed since the failures of Camp David and Taba.... Apparently a 
compromise can be reached on borders, but Israel does not want 
Palestinians to return to its territory and the Palestinians want 
the Temple Mount.  Neither side is prepared to give up its national 
symbols and tell its people that the pledges of the past -- QWe will 
return to our villages in PalestineQ and QUnited Jerusalem in 
Israel's hands foreverQ -- were just illusions.  The second lesson 
is procedural.  Left to their own devices, the parties cannot reach 
an agreement.  They need close oversight by an external mediator, 
preferably American, to bridge the gaps and propose incentives in 
exchange for painful concessions.  That needs to be the role of U.S. 
President Barack Obama and his emissary, Mitchell. 
 
IV.  "A National Consensus?" 
 
Former Ambassador to the U.S., former Minister of Foreign Affairs, 
and former Minister of Defense Moshe Arens wrote in Ha'aretz (7/15): 
QQWe have achieved a national consensus on the concept of two states 
for two peoples,Q announced our prime minister at the opening of 
last week's cabinet meeting As a matter of fact, a national 
consensus is not in the nature of things in a democratic society, 
except at a time of national emergency and mortal danger.... As for 
past commitments by American and Israeli governments, written or 
unwritten, on settlements and Qsettlement blocsQ in Judea and 
Samaria [i.e. the West Bank], they do not carry the weight of 
international agreements and are liable to change as new governments 
take office following elections.  This is the case in the United 
States, where a Democratic candidate has won an election after 
promising a change from the policies of his Republican predecessor, 
and is equally true in Israel, where a Likud candidate has won an 
election on a promise that he will not follow the policies of the 
previous Kadima-led government.  The fact of the matter is that 
there is no national agreement in Israel on the establishment of a 
Palestinian state at this time.... [Palestinian statehood] may or 
may not become a practical option in the future, and it would be 
appropriate for the Israeli government to make clear that it does 
not preclude the establishment of a Palestinian state if and when 
this becomes possible.  By the looks of it, a lot of water will flow 
down the Jordan River before that happens. 
 
¶V.  QFor Our Own Good 
 
Yossi Alpher, Co-Editor of the bitterlemons.org family of 
Israeli-Palestinian Internet publications and former director of the 
Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, wrote in 
the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (7/15): QDespite 
[Mahmoud] Abbas's avowed refusal, Israeli-Palestinian peace 
negotiations will resume even without a settlement freeze if and 
when Washington and Ramallah are convinced that Netanyahu is serious 
about negotiating a final-status agreement with the Palestinians. 
Thus far they are not convinced and for good reason.  Perhaps of 
greatest importance, precisely because the entire settlement 
enterprise since 1968 constitutes a major strategic blunder on 
Israel's part,  Obama is justified in presenting the settlement 
freeze idea to the Arab world in strategic terms.  When a succession 
of Israeli prime ministers who are negotiating peace allow 
settlement expansion to go on, the message the Arab world is getting 
is that Israel really seeks to swallow the territories and erase the 
Palestinian issue from the Middle East agenda.  True, that is not 
the message Rabin, Barak or Olmert sought to project. But it is the 
message the Arabs got.  When Israeli leaders who purport to be 
concerned with the demographic existential threat to Israel as a 
Jewish state mindlessly allow the proliferation of hilltop 
settlements that lock three million West Bank Palestinians in 
Israel's embrace, our Arab neighbors can be forgiven if they get 
confused regarding our true intentions. 
 
VI.  QObama: Unilateral Objectivity 
Columnist A. Ben Aharon wrote in the ultra-Orthodox Yated NeQeman 
(7/15): QIt is only with one country that Obama is demonstrating 
extra obduracy.  It is not Russia, as Obama has relinquished the 
positioning of anti-ballistic defense devices in Eastern Europe.  It 
is not Iran, which brutally and blatantly anti-democratically 
represses its protesters, and pursues nuclear development.  It is 
not Syria, which was declared a terror[-sponsoring] state and has 
not changed since.  American envoys constantly visit that country, 
making new proposals.  What happens with Hamas is unclear, but Obama 
has already made clear that he will be willing, under certain 
circumstances, to recognize it and bring it to the negotiations. 
Obama views everybody as okay.  The only country of which Obama and 
his representatives are demanding unheard-of concessions is Israel, 
of course. 
CUNNINGHAM 
M