VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTV #1564/01 1971400
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 161400Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2621
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 5667
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 2246
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN PRIORITY 6221
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 6477
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 5710
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 4304
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 6540
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 3346
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 1549
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 0236
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 7745
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 2732
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 6739
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 8793
RUEHJI/AMCONSUL JEDDAH PRIORITY 1565
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM PRIORITY 2392
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHMFISS/COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/COMSIXTHFLT  PRIORITY

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001564 
 
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.  Iran 
 
¶2.  Mideast 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Major media (lead story in HaQaretz) reported that yesterday, in a 
policy address to the Council of Foreign Relations, Secretary of 
State Hillary Rodham Clinton gave Iran an ultimatum to accept the 
administration's offer for engagement and join the international 
community or to "continue down a path of further isolation."  She 
urged Arab states to take immediate steps to improve their ties with 
Israel in order to bolster Mideast peace hopes.  "We remain ready to 
engage with Iran, but the time for action is now.  The opportunity 
will not remain open indefinitely,Q she was quoted as saying. 
Clinton pledged that the U.S. will "not hesitate to defend our 
friends, our interests, and above all, our people vigorously and 
when necessary with the world's strongest military."  "Our 
 
willingness to talk is not a sign of weakness to be exploited," she 
was quoted as saying.  "This is not an option we seek nor is it a 
threat; it is a promise to all Americans."  Clinton said the U.S. 
administration was appalled by Iran's post-election crackdown on 
protesters.  Clinton did not set a deadline for penalties, but 
President Obama said last week that the U.S. wants to see a positive 
response by the fall or it will press for additional bilateral and 
UN sanctions.  Clinton also called on Arab states to live up to 
their stated support of a Saudi proposal for a comprehensive 
Arab-Israeli peace by supporting the weak Palestinian Authority and 
taking steps to improve relations with Israel.  Israel Radio quoted 
the Secretary as saying: QWe know that progress toward peace cannot 
be the responsibility of the United States -- or Israel -- alone. 
The Jerusalem Post commented that Clinton Qcarefully recalibrated 
the U.S. administrationQs statements on Israel, stressing the need 
for greater Palestinian and Arab action on the peace process. 
 
On an inside page, HaQaretz reported that President Obama is 
expected to announce a diplomatic plan soon for renewal of the 
Middle East peace process.  A central feature of the plan, which 
will be presented to PM Benjamin Netanyahu and to PA President 
Mahmoud Abbas, will be a binding timetable for negotiations on the 
core issues involved in a final resolution of the conflict.  It may 
also be precluded by an easing of pressure for a building freeze in 
the settlements on the part of the U.S.  HaQaretz noted that a 
senior Western diplomat closely involved in current contacts 
involving the U.S., Israel, the PA, and moderate Arab states 
indicated that the U.S. administration is currently developing the 
diplomatic plan but that it is only interested in pursuing it after 
the settlement issue and the matter of pro-Israel gestures from the 
Arab states are resolved.  The American plan will essentially 
restart negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians which have 
been deadlocked for over six months. The plan will not deal with all 
of the specific details of the negotiations and will not provide 
parameters for the resolution of core issues.  Rather it will 
provide a framework for negotiations, how they will be conducted, 
follow-up mechanisms and especially the timetable for negotiations. 
The senior diplomat was quoted as saying that Obama is interested in 
bringing talks to a conclusion "on time" as a way of obligating the 
parties to make progress.  Yediot and other media quoted President 
Obama as saying during his meeting on Monday with American Jewish 
leaders that he is disappointed in the leadership of the PA and 
other Arab states, given their lack of support for the peace process 
that he is trying to promote as he expected of them. 
 
Quartet envoy Tony Blair was quoted as saying in an interview with 
The Jerusalem Post that the PAQs security upgrade has led to 
IsraelQs easing of restrictions on the Palestinians. 
 
Israel Radio cited a report in LondonQs Times that quoted an Israeli 
defense source as saying that the passage of Israeli warships 
through the Suez Canal was part of preparations ahead of a possible 
attack on Iran.  The Israeli official was quoted as saying that the 
Israel NavyQs moves were a notice to Iran that Israel will carry out 
its warnings.  The radio reported that a senior British official 
told The Times that Western diplomats have offered support for an 
attack in Iran in exchange for concessions on the settlement issue. 
The British official was quoted as saying that, were an agreement be 
reached on the matter, an Israeli attack might become a reality 
within a few months.  The Jerusalem Post and Israel Radio cited the 
German weekly Stern that quoted an unidentified agent at the German 
intelligence agency BND as saying that Iran has the ability to build 
and test a nuclear weapon within six months. 
 
Israel Radio quoted Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near 
Eastern Affairs Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman as saying in an interview 
with the London-based Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat that there is no agreement 
with Israel on the settlement issue. 
 
Israel Radio reported that the main task of U.S. envoy Frederick 
Hoff in Damascus will be to convince Syria to stamp out infiltration 
of militants into Iraq.  Yediot quoted senior sources in NetanyahuQs 
government coalition as saying that, contrary to media reports, the 
PM is exerting Qmassive pressureQ on Likud Knesset members to delay 
the passage of laws meant to make it harder for Israel to withdraw 
from the Golan.  The newspaper quoted a source cognizant of the 
issue as saying that the GOI needs time to study the matter. 
 
Yediot reported that Netanyahu weighs speaking before the UN General 
Assembly in the fall.  President Obama and Iranian President Mahmoud 
Ahmadinejad will deliver addresses to the assembly. 
 
Leading media quoted an Israeli defense official as saying that 
QIron Dome,Q an interceptor system developed to shoot down the 
short-range rockets favored by Palestinian and Lebanese guerrillas, 
passed its first live trial yesterday.  Reuters wrote that the 
systemQs success could improve the prospects of Israel eventually 
ceding West Bank land to the Palestinians, as Israeli officials have 
said that any withdrawals should be conditional on the deployment of 
a reliable defense against rocket attacks.  Designed by state-owned 
Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd., Iron Dome uses small guided 
missiles to blow up Katyusha-style rockets.  Israel plans to station 
the first working unit outside Gaza next year. 
 
Major media cited estimates in the IDFQs Northern Command that 
Hizbullah has turned hundreds of homes in southern Lebanese villages 
into warehouses to store short- and medium-range Katyusha rockets. 
Yesterday, the IDF released video footage taken from an Israeli 
aircraft, showing a home that had exploded a day earlier in the 
village of Hirbet Selm -- located some 20 km north of the Israeli 
border.  HaQaretz reported that a senior Israeli military source 
told the newspaper yesterday that residents of southern Lebanon must 
realize that renewed conflict between Israel and Hizbullah is likely 
to cause much more extensive damage to their communities than they 
incurred in the 2006 Second Lebanon War. 
 
Yediot reported that a drug developed by Jewish American scientists 
in cooperation with the Pentagon, which is being manufactured with 
swift FDA approval, will make it possible for Israelis to be 
protected from radiation in case of a nuclear attack. 
HaQaretz and Maariv reported that a serious dispute has broken out 
between Foreign Ministry staff and FM Avigdor Lieberman in the wake 
of a series of articles published on IzRus, an Israeli, 
Russian-language Internet site.  A number of ministry deputy 
directors general asked Director-General Yossi Gal to come out 
publicly in support of his staff.  Several very negative reports 
about the ministry appeared on IzRus, considered one of Israel's 
five leading Russian-language Web sites, in the past few days. 
HaQaretz and Maariv reported that diplomats' anger reached its peak 
yesterday morning, after the publication of an uncredited article, 
with the headline: "Orgies, bribery and fights in the Foreign 
Ministry: The Liebermans would not be accepted there."  The editor 
of the site is Michael Falkov, who was Lieberman's media advisor 
between 2003 and 2004. 
 
Yediot and Israel Radio reported that former Shas leader Aryeh Deri 
told confidants that he considers running for PM in the future, 
possibly in the next general elections.  Deri reportedly stated his 
disappointment with Qnarrow-mindedQ Shas.  The media reported that 
Deri intends to form a new political movement -- QNeshamaQ (Soul) -- 
aiming to reach the heart of the consensus and act in the domains of 
social welfare, the narrowing of social gaps, and unity among 
Israelis. 
 
 
Leading media reported that Farouk Qaddoumi, a Fatah founder 
currently living in Tunis and the Secretary-General of the Fatah 
Central Committee, accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and 
former Gaza security chief Mohammed Dahlan of collaborating with 
Israel and the U.S. to assassinate former Palestinian leader Yasser 
Arafat, as well as Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders.  The remarks by 
Qaddoumi at a press conference he convened in Amman on Tuesday 
provoked furious responses from Fatah officials allied with Mahmoud 
Abbas.  Qaddoumi said he was in possession of the minutes of a 
secret meeting held in 2004 among PM Ariel Sharon, DM Shaul Mofaz, 
U.S. envoy William J. Burns, Abbas, and Dahlan, at which the 
officials spoke of assassinating the Palestinian figures.  Kaddoumi 
became one of Arafat's fiercest critics after the Palestinian leader 
signed the 1993 Oslo Accords with Israel.  He was subsequently 
distanced from the central decision-making apparatus, and in recent 
years his influence in the movement has waned.   Leading media 
reported that yesterday the PA government suspended the West Bank 
operations of Al Jazeera-TV, a day after Qaddoumi aired his 
accusations as a guest on the station. 
HaQaretz cited a report by the German press agency DPA that Abdul 
Wahab Zughailat, the Chairman of the Jordanian Press Association 
(JPA), told the Jordanian daily Ad-Dustour yesterday that the 
International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has endorsed a move by 
the JPA to exclude Israel from attending the IFJ meeting scheduled 
to be held in Amman in October. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted Deputy FM Danny Ayalon as saying yesterday 
that a State Department report lumping Israel together with states 
like Afghanistan, Jordan, and Botswana regarding its relative 
success in combating human trafficking has troubling political 
implications for Israel. 
 
Maariv reported that newly-elected Jewish Agency Chairman Natan 
Sharansky will try to enlist Jewish oligarchs -- principally Roman 
Abramovich -- in raising funds for the organization. 
 
All media reported that yesterday Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat froze 
all municipal services to the ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods of Geula 
and Mea Shearim following violent protests by extremists following 
the arrest of an ultra-Orthodox mother, who the media said suffers 
from the QMunchausen SyndromeQ -- a type of factitious disorder, or 
mental illness, in which a person repeatedly acts as if he or she 
has a physical or mental disorder when, in truth, they have caused 
the symptoms.  The woman, whom security cameras at JerusalemQs 
Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital caught disconnecting her son from a 
feeding tube, reportedly starved her three-year-old son over the 
course of two years.  She is suspected of starving at least one more 
of her five children. 
 
The media noted a tendency towards inflation, as the June C-O-L 
index increased by 0.9% over the previous month.  Israel Radio 
reported that the U.S. dollar subsequently slightly weakened on the 
Tel Aviv financial market this morning.  The media reported that 
yesterday the Knesset approved the state budget for 2009-2010, 58 to 
¶36.  Maariv commented that this was a victory for Netanyahu. 
 
Leading media reported on the passing yesterday of Avraham Ahituv 
(born Avraham Gottfried), who served as head of the Shin Bet from 
1974 to 1980.  He was 79 years old. 
 
--------- 
¶1.  Iran: 
--------- 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"AradQs Summer" 
 
Senior commentator Ari Shavit wrote in the independent, left-leaning 
Ha'aretz (7/16): QIsrael's real task earlier in the decade was to 
make Washington, Brussels, Moscow and Beijing understand [the need 
for tough diplomacy vis-a-vis Iran].  True, it wasn't an easy task, 
but it was an essential task, and one which the Israeli governments 
did not meet.  But the question now is not what the mistakes and 
failures of former prime ministers were, but rather what can be done 
at this late hour to turn the situation around.  In this respect, 
the Netanyahu government has a distinct advantage: It understands 
the problem in depth. Behind closed doors, it is conducting 
impressive deliberations.  It is working seriously, responsibly and 
in an orderly fashion.  The Netanyahu administration also has a 
distinct disadvantage: It is perceived in the West as suspect.  It 
only gets limited attention.  Netanyahu therefore has no choice.  To 
achieve a strategic breakthrough on the Iranian front, he will have 
to make a creative and daring diplomatic proposal on the Palestinian 
front.  The proposal will have to be developed -- this summer even 
-- by his trusted strategic adviser, Uzi Arad. 
 
------------ 
¶2.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Now Is the Time to Disengage" 
 
Middle East affairs commentator Dr. Guy Bechor, a lecturer at the 
Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist 
Yediot Aharonot (7/16): QIsrael's power of deterrence has been 
restored. Fatah, Hamas, and Hizbullah have no interest in a new war 
with the IDF.  Israel is no longer perceived as a submissive 
pushover.  All of the hot air has been let out of the balloons that 
were inflated here over the past 20 years.  Hamas, Hizbullah and 
Fatah have all shrunken back to their natural proportion: 
organizations of no great import that were inflated thanks to their 
struggle against Israel.... Now we're facing that dilemma all over 
again. Political negotiations cast us as weak and submissive, as if 
inviting a blow, since in the Middle East one attacks the weak.  But 
 
then we stand strong and are victorious, and then the Arab world 
says: Okay, let's negotiate with them. So we negotiate and are 
perceived, once again, as weak and submissive. So how do we break 
free of that satanic cycle?  The solution is to steer clear of 
extremes.  Not to go near either negotiations or war and strife. We 
have no interest in either. The only way that is going to work is by 
means of disengagement.  It worked in Lebanon, it is working in Gaza 
and it has to work in Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank]. 
Negotiations are going to fail because then the Palestinians are 
going to drown us with questions about Jerusalem, the refugees and 
what not, and will tie us and the future of our children to their 
existential dilemmas.  Only disengagement will save us from them and 
from their agonized world.  Now is the time for a dramatic 
initiative by the Israeli government. 
 
II.  "The Case against Obama" 
 
Columnist and conservative international Jewish leader Isi Leibler 
wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (7/16): 
QPresident Obama is adept at warming the cockles of the hearts of 
his Jewish constituents, many of whom seem as mesmerized by him as 
their forebears were by Franklin D Roosevelt.  He repeatedly 
articulates his commitment to the welfare of Israel and admiration 
for American Jewry.  Yet if one probes beneath the veneer of 
bonhomie and analyzes the substance of his policies, they reflect an 
unprecedented downturn in relations towards Israel with hints of 
worse to come.  This was reaffirmed by Obama in the course of his 
recent meeting with Jewish leaders (which included representatives 
of extremist fringe groups like Peace Now and J Street but excluded 
those likely to be critical of his approach).  In an extraordinary 
patronizing manner with his Jewish aides beaming at him he told 
Israelis to Qengage in self reflectionQ and made it clear that he 
believed he had a better understanding of what is best for them than 
their democratically elected government.  Alas, with the exception 
of Malcolm Hoenlein and Abe Foxman, it appears that the majority of 
the others endorsed his position or remained silent.  Yet only a few 
days earlier even a passionate Democrat like Alan Dershowitz had 
expressed concern Qthat the coming changes in the Obama 
administration's policies could weaken the security of the Jewish 
stateQ.... Not surprisingly, the Palestinians and Arabs are 
delighted with ObamaQs humiliation of Israel.... Israel is not a 
superpower and needs to retain the support of the United States.... 
Netanyahu is doing his utmost to achieve a compromise and has 
already offered to totally freeze all settlement activity beyond 
Jerusalem and the major settlement blocs, which the vast majority of 
Israelis agree must be retained.  But if the Americans remain 
bloody-minded and refuse to compromise, Netanyahu will stand firm on 
this issue and will be overwhelmingly supported by the people who 
are outraged by the double standards applied against them. 
 
III.  "Our Sons Are Lying Again" 
 
Liberal columnist Larry Derfner wrote in The Jerusalem Post (7/16): 
QQHow do you know it's true?Q an IDF spokesman told me over the 
phone [referring to the report on Operation Cast Lead issued this 
week by Breaking the Silence, an organization of IDF reservists]. 
The soldiers' identities are hidden, there's no way the army can 
check their stories.... Breaking the Silence has an Qagenda,Q said 
the spokesman.  I asked him if the IDF considered these fighters' 
accounts of the war to have any meaning, any value.  The spokesman 
couldn't think of any; instead, he just repeated what he'd said 
about how the stories couldn't be checked, how Breaking the Silence 
was Qhiding behind the anonymityQ of the soldiers, how it has an 
agenda.  He's right.  Breaking the Silence has an agenda -- to tell 
the truth about what the IDF is doing to the Palestinians, worst of 
all during Operation Cast Lead.  The IDF has an agenda, too -- to 
hide it.... In a few weeks we'll be denying another report, that one 
by a UN committee headed by South Africa's Judge Richard Goldstone, 
one of the bravest, finest Jewish fighters for justice in modern 
times.  It doesn't matter who tells us the truth about what we did 
in Gaza -- we'll deny it.  If the entire IDF General Staff called a 
news conference and admitted that the evidence were true, we'd say 
they're leftists, they're kissing up to Obama, they're lying.  Even 
if our own sons tell us it's true, we'll tell them they're lying. 
 
CUNNINGHAM