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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001855 
 
STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD 
 
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM 
NSC FOR NEA STAFF 
 
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PARIS ALSO FOR POL 
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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 cited the White House as saying yesterday that 
President Obama wants Israel and the Palestinians to restart stalled 
peace talks as soon as possible and that he urged both sides and 
Arab states to take steps to advance the process. 
 
Leading media reported that last night Vice PM and Strategic Affairs 
Minister Moshe Ya'alon issued a statement clarifying his criticism 
earlier in the week of the Qelites" and the Peace Now movement.  His 
latest remarks come after a meeting with PM Benjamin Netanyahu at 
the defense compound in Tel Aviv.  At the end of the discussion, 
Ya'alon said that he "recognized the importance of democratic 
discourse and respecting other opinions."  Major media reported that 
YaQalon told Netanyahu his words had been misunderstood.  While 
Yediot noted that Netanyahu refrained from reprimanding YaQalon, 
other media differed.   Israel Radio reported that Likud Knesset 
Member Danny Danon suggested that Peace Now be dismantled or even 
outlawed due to its funding by foreign governments.  Danon claimed 
that Peace Now does not divulge its financial doings on the 
Internet.  Former Peace Now secretary-general Mossi Raz retorted 
that his movementQs accounts are publicly posted on the Web. 
 
HaQaretz and other media reported that FM Avigdor Lieberman 
yesterday harshly criticized Sweden's foreign ministry for holding 
back condemnation for a newspaper article claiming IDF troops killed 
Palestinian youths and harvested their organs.  "Sweden's decision 
not to interfere with blood libels against Jews is reminiscent of 
Sweden's non-interventionist stance in World War II," Lieberman 
said.  (HaQaretz said that his comment could embarrass PM Netanyahu, 
given the fact that Sweden saved Jews during the Holocaust.) 
Lieberman was commenting on the Swedish government's statement 
yesterday in which it distanced itself from an angry reaction to the 
article by Sweden's ambassador to Israel: a statement by the Swedish 
Foreign Ministry said that the Qcondemnation was solely the judgment 
of the embassy [in Tel Aviv], and designed for an Israeli audience." 
 HaQaretz reported that today Lieberman is scheduled to talk over 
the phone with his Swedish counterpart, Carl Bildt, and demand that 
Stockholm condemn the article.  Israel's Ambassador to Stockholm, 
Benny Dagan, will meet with Bildt's deputy and raise the same 
demand.  If Sweden refuses to do so, the Foreign Ministry is 
considering postponing Bildt's visit to Israel, scheduled to take 
place in 10 days.  Senior Foreign Ministry sources are quoted as 
saying that another plan of action is to turn the visit into a 
publicized affair that will embarrass Bildt. 
 
Israel Radio reported that the U.S., Britain, France, and Germany 
are urging the U.N.Qs International Atomic Energy Agency to reveal 
all the information it has that suggests Tehran is pursuing nuclear 
weapons.  Media reported that Iran has seemingly lifted its ban on 
allowing IAEA inspectors to nuclear sites. 
 
HaQaretz (Akiva Eldar) reported that a delegation of former global 
leaders is to arrive in Israel and the West Bank on Monday to garner 
public support for peace between Israel and its neighbors.  The 
delegation is part of an organization known as the Elders, founded 
in 2007 by former South African president Nelson Mandela.  The 
purpose of the organization is to utilize the experience of 
prominent world leaders to support peace-making efforts and dealing 
with humanitarian problems and human suffering in crisis regions. 
Due to security concerns, the group had to cancel its visit to the 
Gaza Strip. The organization said the visit to Gaza was an important 
priority for them to highlight the situation in the Strip and to 
call for an end to the Israeli blockade.  The delegation will be led 
by Fernando Cardoso, former president of Brazil, and will include 
former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate; the 
South African Bishop Desmond Tutu; former Norwegian PM Gro 
Brundtland; former president of Ireland and United Nations high 
commissioner for human rights Mary Robinson; and former Indian 
parliamentarian and activist for grassroots women's 
entrepreneurship, Ela Bhatt.  The delegation will meet with 
President Shimon Peres and with senior leaders of the Palestinian 
Authority in Ramallah, including PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. 
The group said their purpose was to encourage the parties to move 
ahead toward peace and reconciliation, and that they did not intend 
to fulfill any diplomatic function.  They noted that they were aware 
of the people's disappointment in the region from the failure to 
achieve peace, although the Israelis and the Palestinians both 
support a two-state solution.  Because they believe there can be no 
peace without popular support, they will focus during their visit on 
meetings with young people, business people and independent experts. 
 They said they would listen to the concerns of people on both sides 
hurt by the conflict. 
 
A correspondent in Washington for the ultra-Orthodox HamodiQa 
interviewed U.S. administration officials and Representative Eric 
Cantor, and wrapped up views voiced by prominent Americans and 
Israelis analyzing the reasons for U.S. pressure on Israel. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted the Saudi newspaper Al-Watan as saying 
yesterday that that the Saudi Minister of Water and Electricity, 
Abdullah al-Hosain, said that the kingdom was working on plans for 
its first nuclear power plan.  Israel had no official response to 
the Saudi ministerQs announcement. 
 
HaQaretz quoted the Norwegian electronic news service Norwatch as 
saying yesterday that the British investment bank BlackRock has 
divested from the major Israeli company Africa Israel Investments 
because of the latterQs involvement in construction in settlements, 
in particular in MaQaleh Adumim. 
 
HaQaretz reported that, despite the video footage and the 
international public outcry it generated, the Judea and Samaria 
(i.e. West Bank) police are closing the case of a severe beating in 
June 2008 of three Palestinians by masked settlers, without having 
managed to produce even a single suspect, according to the complete 
investigation file obtained by the newspaper. 
 
 
Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin (Likud) was quoted as saying in an 
interview with The Jerusalem Post that he will push for direct, 
regional elections for half the Knesset, and for a constitution. 
 
The ultra-Orthodox Yated NeQeman reported that a new 
Raytheon-manufactured American anti-missile system could be 
operational in Israel within four years. 
 
Israel Radio reported on a PA government decision to punish its 
citizens who publicly breach the Ramadan fast with a three months 
imprisonment sentence. 
 
Yediot reported that hundreds of Iraqi-born Israelis have already 
made a pilgrimage to northern Iraq. 
 
An article in The Jerusalem Post suggests that genetic similarities 
between Jews and Palestinian Arabs could be the key to peace. 
 
HaQaretz reported that the U.S.-Israeli businessman and 
philanthropist Guma Aguiar asserted this week that he was abused by 
anti-Semitic policemen in Florida, after a newspaper reported that 
Aguiar had been arrested on charges of driving under the influence 
and drug possession in Broward County in June.  Earlier this week, 
Aguiar told Yediot that his uncleQs family had framed him.  Last 
month, Aguiar invested over $4 million in support of the 
cash-strapped Beitar Jerusalem Football Club.  Maariv quoted him as 
saying that one of his great dreams is to build the Third Jewish 
Temple. 
 
Maariv ran a feature about the economic recovery of New York City, 
saying that it is more ostentatious than ever. 
 
The Jerusalem Post and HaQaretz cited the results of a poll released 
yesterday and conducted by the Palestinian Center for Police and 
Survey Research and the Hebrew University of JerusalemQs Harry S 
Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace: 
- Only 12 percent of Israelis believe that President Obama's 
policies are supportive of Israel. 
- The poll also found that 64 percent of Palestinians still feel 
Obama's policy is more supportive of Israel, while 40 percent of 
Israelis think it is more support of the Palestinians. 
- The poll found that 59 percent of Israelis believe the Fatah 
conference showed that Israel does not have a partner for peace 
negotiations. 
- The Jerusalem Post reported that the poll shows that 54% of 
Israelis oppose the QU.S.-backedQ Saudi peace initiative, while 58% 
of Palestinians favor it. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Out of Context" 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (8/21): QThere is no 
moral flaw in the decision to cross the lines, to become newly 
religious or newly secular, to move from left to right or from right 
to left, to convert one's faith, to stop smoking, or to begin a 
diet.  The problem only comes up when the person who crosses the 
lines begins to preach morals to others, and like new converts do, 
becomes holier than the pope, more radical than [Moshe] Feiglin, 
[the leader of LikudQs far-RightQs faction].  YaQalon is not an 
opportunist.  He believes in what he says.  What he lacks is 
humility, finesse, sophistication.  It seems there are some things 
that the quartermaster cannot issue.  In the forum of six ministers, 
which in this government plays the role of security cabinet, he has 
taken an extreme right wing position, to the right of Lieberman, to 
the right of [Benny] Begin.  Begin, from time to time, supports 
peace process steps, perhaps in the belief that in any case, nothing 
will come of them, and it is better not to have an unnecessary clash 
with the U.S. administration; Begin also believes in the rule of 
law: if an outpost is illegal, it must be removed.  YaQalon is 
presenting the positions of the rejectionist front in the security 
cabinet, the position that brought the Likud to 12 seats [in 
2006].... Netanyahu can take consolation in the fact that YaQalon's 
positions will help him explain to George Mitchell, in their meeting 
in London next week, how difficult it is for him to be flexible. 
Last night he met with YaQalon to reprimand him.  It was a pretend 
reprimand: neither side has any interest in creating a crisis over 
this affair.  YaQalon did not apologize.  It seems he was content 
with saying something along the lines of Qmy words were taken out of 
context.Q  A fairly groundless excuse, but enough.  The person who 
is out of context is YaQalon, never to return. 
 
 
II.  "Verbal Rioting" 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (8/21): QViews 
[such as those of Vice Premier Moshe YaQalon] usually find a voice 
in leaflets of extremist synagogues or in reckless sermons by 
religious-national rabbis and speakers, some of whom have urged 
young men not to serve in the IDF and refuse orders to evacuate 
settlements.  The right wing usually writes them off as QweedsQ with 
little clout.  But Ya'alon, a former chief of staff who has been 
parachuted into the top political echelon, is no weed.  He is deputy 
prime minister.  His decision to adopt the tired attack on the 
QelitesQ is ridiculous and repugnant.  Ya'alon is also a member of 
the forum of six ministers that is supposed to decide on fateful 
issues.  If Netanyahu settles for a clarification and condemnation 
rather than immediately removing Ya'alon from decision-making 
positions, the Israeli public and the rest of the world -- mainly 
the U.S. administration -- will conclude that such bizarre verbal 
E 
attacks represent the stance of Netanyahu's government. 
 
III.  "YaQalonQs Misstep" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (8/21): 
QThe Prime Minister's Office announced [this week] that QMinister 
Ya'alon's statements are unacceptable to the Prime Minister, both in 
substance and in style, and do not represent the government's 
position.Q  Speaking at Bar-Ilan University in June, the Premier 
outlined the peace policies of this government.  He noted that Qin 
the heart of our Jewish homeland [there] now lives a large 
population of Palestinians.  We do not want to rule over them.  We 
do not want to run their lives.Q  He offered to negotiate the 
creation of a demilitarized state for the Palestinians, insisting 
that they recognize Israel as a Jewish state and renounce the Qright 
of returnQ to Israel proper for refugees and their descendants.  A 
pullback to the 1949 Armistice Lines is out of the question. 
Ya'alon heard that speech -- some reports suggested he participated 
in drafting it -- and the next day told IDF Radio that he could live 
with a Palestinian state under the conditions defined by Netanyahu. 
If heQs changed his mind and lost faith in the Prime Minister, the 
honorable thing to do would be to resign.  YaQalon needs to make 
some tough choices. 
 
IV.  "The Feiglinites Will Not Decide" 
 
Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in Ha'aretz 
(8/21): QObama created the impression that he believed the walls of 
Jericho would fall after his breathtaking speech.  Instead of coming 
to Israel immediately afterward, he dispatched his emissaries who, 
compared to his grandiose address in Cairo, dealt with minor issues 
-- yes or no to construction in settlements, enclosing balconies, 
adding rooms to apartments, and the like.  This trivial discussion 
roused the extremists out of their coma -- the Feiglinites [after 
Moshe Feiglin, the leader of the LikudQs most right-wing faction], 
headed by Vice Premier Moshe Ya'alon. Chills run down my spine when 
I think about how this man is Vice Premier and a member of the 
defense Qcouncil of six,Q which makes decisions that affect our 
lives.  But the government responded in kind, verbally at least, to 
the principles raised by Obama, and it has no reason to recant.  The 
Palestinians' silence mandates a cogent, implementable American 
peace plan.  Otherwise, the Cairo speech will be just another 
dust-gathering document in the White House archives. 
 
¶V.  QNetanyahuQs Perilous Statecraft 
 
Deputy Managing Editor and right-wing columnist Caroline B. Glick 
wrote in The Jerusalem Post (8/21): QIn 1999, the Right brought down 
the first Netanyahu government and gave Israel Camp David and the 
Palestinian terror war.  There is another way.  It is being forged 
by the likes of Vice Premier Moshe YaQalon on the one hand and 
former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee on the other.  YaQalon argues 
that not capitulating to American pressure is a viable policy option 
for Israel.  There is no reason to reach an agreement with Mitchell 
on the administrationQs bigoted demand that Jews not build in Judea, 
Samaria [i.e. the West Bank], and Jerusalem.  If the U.S. wants a 
fight with Israel, a fight against American anti-Jewish 
discrimination is not a bad one for Israel to have.  YaQalonQs 
argument was borne out by HuckabeeQs visit this week to Jerusalem, 
Judea, and Samaria.  HuckabeeQs trip showed that the administration 
is not operating in a policy vacuum.  There  is plenty of strong 
American support for an Israeli government that would stand up to 
the administration on the Palestinian issue and Iran alike. 
NetanyahuQs policies have taken a wrong turn.  But Netanyahu is not 
Tzipi Livni or Ehud Olmert.  He is neither an ideologue nor an 
opportunist.  He understands why what he is doing is wrong.  He just 
needs to be convinced that he has another option. 
 
 
 
 
 
--------- 
¶2.  Iran: 
--------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"If Iran Sets the Agenda" 
 
Emily B. Landau, Director of the Arms Control and Regional Security 
program at the Institute for National Security Studies, Tel Aviv 
University, wrote in the independent, left-leaning HaQaretz (8/21): 
QFrom a regional perspective, the Iranian challenge must be dealt 
with on its own, without problematic and irrelevant linkages.  Iran 
is not going nuclear because of Israel, and will not become less 
dangerous if Israel is placed in the limelight.  More likely, the 
opposite will happen. The U.S.-Iran talks will be more challenging 
because unlike in the Arms Control and Regional Security talks, 
failure spells an immediate and critical deterioration in regional 
security.  While this is all the more reason for swift action, 
America's strong interest in reaching a deal with Iran -- alongside 
Obama's embrace of nuclear disarmament -- could obfuscate the 
regional picture and render the United States dangerously vulnerable 
to Iranian rhetoric and pressure.  Preparation is essential to avoid 
this pitfall.  Western NPT-based norms that advocate equal treatment 
of all nuclear states, regardless of their significant differences, 
must be qualified in light of a hostile regional hegemon.  The 
United States would be well advised to listen carefully to the 
voices coming from the region, even if they sometimes speak softly. 
Regional states understand where the real danger lies, and the 
urgency of dealing with Iran's regional threats -- as soon as 
possible. 
 
MORENO