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DE RUEHTV #1632/01 2041100
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 231100Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
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RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 3385
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 1588
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001632 
 
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 Jerusalem Post and Maariv reported that, amid growing tension 
between Jerusalem and Washington, the IDF and Defense Ministry have 
held brainstorming sessions to discuss the possibility that the U.S. 
would cut military aid to Israel.  The Jerusalem Post reported that 
last night, IDF officers gathered in Tel Aviv for a discussion on 
U.S.-Israel relations, during which they talked about new Pentagon 
regulations regarding the way Israel can use the almost $3 billion 
in military aid.   According to defense officials, the Pentagon 
informed the Defense Ministry that the foreign military financing 
(FMF) needed to be used strictly for weaponry and defense-related 
projects.  In past years the Pentagon had made exceptions and 
allowed the IDF to purchase nonessential items such as covers for 
trucks, uniforms and even food for soldiers.  During the discussion, 
the officials also discussed the possibility that the US would cut 
the FMF due to the political tension between the countries or 
because of the global financial crisis.  Maariv quoted a senior 
Israeli defense source as saying: QThe partnership of interests 
between Israel and the U.S. sustains the link [between the 
countries] and the mutual pledges.  A cut in defense aid would 
indeed be a blow in the short term, but, in the long run, we shall 
be able to expand income from worldwide cooperation and sales that 
are not currently being carried out because of the U.S.  The 
Americans insist at this time that deals and sales that involved 
technologies that were jointly developed by Israel and the U.S harm 
interests they were engaged in. 
 
The media emphasized that many members of PM Benjamin NetanyahuQs 
governing coalition voted in the Knesset against the land reform 
bill desired by the PM -- according to some media, the Qfirst 
political crisis of the Netanyahu government.Q  Next week Netanyahu 
plans to bring another bill to the Knesset for a vote that is no 
less important to him -- the so-called Mofaz law.  This legislation 
would make it much easier to split up Kadima's Knesset faction, but 
the bill has also been fiercely opposed by senior Likud members. 
The leader of the fight against the Mofaz law is Improvement of 
Government Services Minister Michael Eitan (Likud). 
 
HaQaretz cited newswire stories quoting the Institute for National 
Security Studies (INSS), a Tel Aviv-based think tank, as saying 
yesterday in a report -- QThe 2009 Strategic Assessment for Israel 
-- that Netanyahu's recent qualified and conditional commitment to 
the establishment of a Palestinian state may not be enough to avert 
a clash with Washington, unless it "substantiates its desire to 
settle its conflicts with the Arab world with practical measures." 
Presenting its annual Israeli strategic survey, the INNS said a 
stalemate on the Israeli-Palestinian issue "is the potential for 
tensions between the U.S. and Israel."  Israel, a summary of the 
survey said, had to formulate a strategy for negotiations with the 
Palestinians and with Syria and had to establish a "constructive 
exchange" with the U.S. on how to deal with Iran's nuclear 
ambitions.  Possible regional developments, such as the withdrawal 
of U.S. forces from Iraq or challenges to moderate Arab regimes, 
could force Israel to grapple with new threats and sources of 
instability, the institute said.  The Jerusalem Post cited the INSS 
report as saying that interim solutions are the best bet for 
regional stability. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that RussiaQs special Middle East envoy 
Alexander Saltanov, who is on a regional tour, told the newspaper 
yesterday that Russia hopes to begin preparatory talks Qin the next 
few monthsQ  with hey regional and international players to 
determine the parameters of a Middle East peace conference it hopes 
to hold in Moscow.  The newspaper quoted Saltanov as saying that the 
conference Qneeded to be prepared thoroughly, properly, with an 
elaborate agenda, with the determination of the participants, and 
with at least a prognosis of what the results will be.  The daily 
recalled that both Israel and the PA recently dropped objections to 
the conference, if it is properly planned, and cited speculation 
that it might even be a venue for President Obama to put forward a 
detailed plan for a regional agreement. 
 
A HaQaretz headline reads: QThe End of Obamania?  At Home and 
Abroad, the Presidential Magic Begins to Wane. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted defense officials as saying yesterday that 
United States Air Force Commander Gen. Norton A. Schwartz held talks 
in Israel over the past week.  SchwartzQs visit came on the heels of 
a similar visit IAF Commander Ido Nehushtan made to the U.S. last 
month.  The newspaper noted that Schwartz is the first Jewish 
commander of the USAF. 
 
Maariv reported that senior PA negotiator Saeb Erekat asked to meet 
with National Security Adviser Dr. Uzi Arad, who subsequently 
refused to accept ErekatQs request. 
 
The Jerusalem Post and Israel Hayom reported that yesterday, 
speaking on IDF Radio, Intelligence Agencies Minister Dan Meridor 
criticized Secretary of State Hillary ClintonQs warning to Tehran 
that the U.S. has a plan on how to safeguard the region with a 
Qdefensive umbrellaQ should Iran go nuclear.  Meridor was quoted as 
saying that it seemed that the U.S. had accepted the inevitability 
of a nuclear Iran. 
 
QIDF Radio reported that hundreds of right wingers intend to visit 
JerusalemQs Temple Mount prior to Tisha B'Av, the day commemorating 
the fall of the two Temples, in defiance of the U.S. demand to stop 
construction in East Jerusalem. 
 
Maariv reported that the Israeli defense establishment, which fears 
violent clashes with right-wing youth, will postpone evacuation of 
outposts until after the summer school vacations.  The newspaper 
quoted a senior defense source as saying that pictures of wounded 
children would negatively influence any move. 
 
Leading media quoted Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan as saying in 
Syria yesterday that he might restart mediating Israel-Syria 
negotiations.  However, HaQaretz quoted Western sources as saying 
that Syrian President Bashar Assad is not currently prepared to go 
ahead on talks with Israel. 
 
Israel Radio reported that yesterday the 18th test-launching of the 
Arrow missile defense system in U.S. failed.  During the test off 
the California coast, the improved Arrow was supposed to intercept a 
missile mimicking an Iranian ballistic missile.  The radio said that 
the ArrowQs communication systems did not function. 
 
HaQaretz reported that, although official Israel has asked the world 
to stop dealing with outfits that work with Iran, it continues to 
contract with those same firms -- notably the giant German company 
Siemens. 
 
HaQaretz reported that Palestinian stoneworkers and Israeli traders 
are joining hands against swindlers, many of them settlers, who sell 
fictitious permits to expedite the passage of stone products from 
Palestinian workshops in the West Bank into Israel. Trucks with 
waybills bearing the names of Israeli factories can pass through 
crossing. 
 
Maariv reported that FBI-released transcripts of the interrogation 
of the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein include his comment that 
he ordered Scud missiles fired on Israel in 1991 as retribution for 
the bombing of the Osirak reactor ten years earlier. 
 
The Jerusalem Post and other media reported that 11 people have been 
arrested in Israel -- and a twelfth at Newark Liberty Airport on his 
way to Israel -- for allegedly running a phony lottery scam and 
bilking elderly Americans out of $25 million. Targeting wealthy 
victims, mostly 75 and older, the suspects supposedly pretended to 
be calling from lottery sweepstakes companies and convinced people 
to send thousands of dollars in fees and taxes associated with their 
victims.  Victims were plied with gift baskets and phony QInternal 
Revenue ServiceQ documents to convince them of the sweepstakes 
legitimacy. 
 
HaQaretz reported that the performances of a play by veteran Israeli 
author Amos Kenan, "Friends Talk about Jesus," scheduled for next 
week at the Arab-Hebrew Theater of Jaffa, have been canceled due to 
opposition from Christian Jaffa residents. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Working on Their Relationship" 
 
Senior commentator Ari Shavit wrote in the independent, left-leaning 
Ha'aretz (7/23): QPresident Barack Obama made two bad mistakes in 
his treatment of Israel: He lost the trust of both the Israeli 
public and the Israeli prime minister.  Neither mistake was really 
necessary.... If Obama had embraced Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu, 
he would have achieved what Anwar Sadat, Bill Clinton and King 
Hussein did.  He would have melted the right, conquered the center 
and brought Israel to the left.  An Israel-loving Obama truly 
committed to Israel's security would have easily become the king of 
Israel. But for some reason Obama chose to take the opposite 
approach.  His meeting with Netanyahu in the Oval Office several 
months ago was an ambush.  Without any preparation or advance 
warning, Obama placed his ultimatum in front of Netanyahu.  Instead 
of acting as a good friend or counselor, he became the bad cop. 
That is how he turned Netanyahu from an admirer into an adversary in 
the blink of an eye.  But Obama did not settle for that.... Barack 
Hussein Obama trashed the letter written by George W. Bush and the 
policies of William Jefferson Clinton.  That is how he taught the 
Israelis a lesson they will not quickly forget: The word of a U.S. 
president is not worth much.  A pre-withdrawal promise is only a 
promise.  Obama is not hostile toward Israel.  Quite the opposite. 
But his mistaken behavior has paralyzed the Israeli public's 
willingness to support the next large-scale withdrawal.  Because of 
Obama's actions and failures, only a few Israelis view him as a true 
friend of Israel.  In his dealings with the U.S., Netanyahu made two 
bad mistakes: He did not take the initiative and did not make an 
effort to explain himself.... Obama and Netanyahu must start 
speaking to each other directly and intimately.... Without them 
nothing good can happen in the Middle East.  Their relationship 
means the future of us all. 
 
II.  "Listen to the Left" 
 
Veteran journalist Evelyn Gordon wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post (7/23): QWhat is genuinely puzzling ... 
is why Obama supporters appear  deaf to the anguished cries of 
IsraelQs left, which has long advocated precisely [settlement 
freeze, withdrawal, and division of Jerusalem] policies.  When the 
editorial staff of HaQaretz, a bastion of IsraelQs hard left, pens 
three opinion pieces criticizing Obama in the space of 10, days, it 
ought to be clear even to left-of-center American Jews that Obama 
has an Israeli problem.... When even the hard-core leftists of 
HaQaretzQs editorial board that a) Obama seems hostile to Israel and 
b) his policies actually undermine the peace process, his American 
Jewish supporters ought to take note.  Because no matter how 
sincerely Obama wants peace, a president who has lost even IsraelQs 
hard left has no chance of delivering it. 
 
III.  "Around the Obama Peace Plan" 
 
Veteran journalist and television anchor Dan Margalit wrote in the 
independent Israel Hayom (7/23): QIn view of the stormy 
confrontation that the Obama [peace] plan is expected to generate, 
the fight over the construction of a Jewish neighborhood in the 
Sheikh Jarrah [neighborhood of East Jerusalem] is negligible. 
There will be a diplomatic confrontation over the next year.  Saudi 
Arabia and EgyptQs cool response to ObamaQs demand for some gestures 
to reassure Israel calls into question his ability to overcome 
objections in the Arab world to the recognition of Israel as a 
Jewish state. 
 
IV.  "The Jewish Question" 
 
Editor-in-Chief Amnon Lord wrote in the nationalist, Orthodox Makor 
Rishon-Hatzofe (7/23): QThe tendency to focus IsraelQs anger on 
ObamaQs QJewish advisersQ in the current crisis is an erroneous 
step.  It may be unfair, but it is inevitable to note that the 
identity of the Jewish strategic advisers gives them a twisted sense 
of understanding the adversary -- in this case: Israel.  But what 
characterizes people like [Rahm] Emanuel and [David] Axelrod is not 
a feeling that they have an intimate understanding of Israel, but a 
partisan perception that also gushes onto international 
relations.... [On a general level] there are indications at this 
stage that the onus of the useless confrontation has moved to the 
White HouseQs staff.... The latterQs recognition that the settlement 
issue has harmed the diplomatic process is intensifying. 
 
CUNNINGHAM