VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTV #2101/01 2661053
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 231053Z SEP 09
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3554
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 6001
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 2575
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN PRIORITY 6595
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 6811
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 6058
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 4687
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 6905
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 3681
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 1896
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 0565
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 8081
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 3089
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 7071
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 9129
RUEHJI/AMCONSUL JEDDAH PRIORITY 1894
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM PRIORITY 2833
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHMFISS/COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/COMSIXTHFLT  PRIORITY

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002101 
 
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.  Mideast 
 
¶2.  Iran 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media viewed President ObamaQs QcoldQ announcement after his 
meeting yesterday with PM Benjamin Netanyahu and PA President 
Mahmoud Abbas at New YorkQs Waldorf Astoria Hotel as a sign of 
impatience with the pace of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. 
Similarly, HaQaretz reported that yesterday a senior White House 
official told that newspaper that Qduring the tripartite meeting 
Obama strongly expressed his impatience.Q  The President told 
reporters: QSimply put, it is past time to talk about starting 
negotiations.  It is time to move forward.Q  The media noted that he 
softened his regular language on a settlement "freeze," saying that 
Israel has had meaningful discussions about "restraining" settlement 
activity.  The media cited satisfaction in NetanyahuQs government 
coalition.  Israel Radio quoted FM Avigdor Lieberman as saying that 
U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Peace Senator George Mitchell 
will return to the region next week, Qbut without a timer in his 
hand.Q  HaQaretz and Israel Radio quoted PM Netanyahu as saying: 
"There was general agreement, including on the part of the 
Palestinians, that the peace process has to be resumed as soon as 
possible with no preconditions."  Palestinian spokesmen contested 
the PMQs statement.  Leading media quoted President Abbas as saying 
that the renewal of negotiations Qdepends on a definition of the 
negotiating process.Q  Abbas was further quoted as saying: QThat 
means basing [the talks] on recognizing the need to withdrawto the 
1967 borders.Q  Speaking on Israel Radio this morning, senior Fatah 
politician Jibril Rajoub said that there will never be peace without 
the removal of the settlements. 
 
Nahum Barnea of Yediot reported that a U.S. official told him in New 
York that the U.S. administrationQs renouncing of a total settlement 
freeze means an almost certain end to efforts at eliciting goodwill 
gestures from Arab states towards Israel. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted Labor QrebelQ Knesset Member Ophir 
 
Pines-Paz as saying that the summit was a Qshameful farceQ that made 
a show of the stalemate in the peace process and that it was 
unfortunate that his party Qis a partner in this charade.Q  National 
Union Knesset Member Michael Ben-Ari accused the PM of Qhumiliating 
IsraelQ by Qdropping his head toward Obama in submission.Q  The 
daily quoted Vice PM Silvan Shalom (Likud) as saying on a visit to 
the settlersQ protest tent near the Knesset, QThe Palestinians must 
make a strategic decision to reach peace with Israel and not in 
spite of Israel.Q  Speaking to settlers in the tent, Likud Knesset 
Member Tzipi Hotovely said that QIsrael doesnQt have to prove to the 
world anymore that it is willing to take steps for peace.  We can 
say that we tried everything and we will no longer make any 
concessions. 
 
Israel Radio quoted PM Netanyahu as saying that heavy pressure 
should be applied on Iran, which he said is weak domestically.   The 
media quoted President Shimon Peres as saying yesterday to an 
audience of high-school students that Iranian President Mahmoud 
Ahmadinejad is an Qevil, horribleQ person who Qlies about the 
Holocaust.Q  All media quoted Ahmadinejad as saying at a military 
parade in Tehran yesterday that Iran is stronger than ever, warning 
that its military will "cut the hand" of anyone who attacks his 
country. 
 
Yesterday, Israel Radio quoted Palestinian media as saying that, in 
a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Hamas PM Ismail 
Haniyeh wrote that his group would support any step that would lead 
to the establishment of a Palestinian state within the 1967 
borders. 
 
Leading media reported that yesterday Irina Bokova, BulgariaQs 
Ambassador to France, defeated Egyptian Culture Minister Farouq 
Hosni in the contest for the post of Director-General of the United 
NationsQ Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization 
(UNESCO).  Hosni was a controversial candidate whose one-time threat 
to burn Israeli books had galvanized opposition.   The Jerusalem 
Post reported that HosniQs failure Qquietly pleases Israel.Q  The 
vote among UNESCO board members was 31 to 27.  Israel Radio reported 
that the Egyptian daily Al-Ahram accuses QJewish circlesQ of 
engineering HosniQs loss. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday in Jerusalem LikudQs 
far-Right politicians Shmuel Sackett and Moshe Zalman Feiglin told a 
group of English-speaking immigrants that prisoners on HamasQs 
negotiation list should be executed until Gilad Shalit is released. 
 
Maariv reported that the IDF is freezing the promotion of officers 
who allowed the beating of Palestinians.  In an unrelated story, 
HaQaretz reported that the Military Police are investigating the 
death of Rabia Tawil, 23, of East Jerusalem, who was shot dead by 
IDF soldiers early yesterday morning near the settlement of Mevo 
Beitar, south of Jerusalem -- and not in Beitar Illit, as we wrote 
yesterday. 
 
Yediot reported that tonight New YorkQs Carnegie Hall will host a 
duo of pianists (one Jewish and one Arab) from Israel -- David 
Feffer from the northern city of Migdal Haemek and Bishara Harouni 
from Nazareth -- who will perform a recital for peace. 
 
Yediot, The Jerusalem Post, and Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that a 
QgreenQ architectural model designed by students from the West 
BankQs Ariel University Center of Samaria reached the final stage of 
a QprestigiousQ competition in Spain.  However, the newspapers 
reported that this month the competitionQs director-general removed 
the studentsQ exhibit from the contest, citing the fact that the 
Israeli institution is located on occupied territory. 
 
Major media reported that Israel is instituting a witness protection 
program. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "ObamaQs Chiding WonQt Be Enough" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning HaQaretz (9/23): QObama's real test still awaits him. 
It is not enough to display toughness on live television.  Abbas and 
Netanyahu have for many years starred in the long-running media show 
 
QWho's to Blame for the Lack of Peace?Q  They will certainly try to 
absorb Obama's reprimand and continue as if nothing had happened. 
It is apparent that neither of them wants either negotiations or a 
final-status agreement.  If Obama really believes what he said 
yesterday, he will have to be much tougher down the road.  Then, the 
stakes will not be a mere meeting devoid of content in a New York 
hotel, but the future of Jerusalem. 
 
II.  QAlmost Embarrassing 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in the mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot (9/23): QNetanyahu can feel that he did 
it: He shook off the American pressure, made it through the summit, 
and can return home safely.  QThere are no winners and no losers, 
he said last night with a winnerQs generosity.  He should remember 
the lesson that the Middle East gives all its winners: In this 
region, the short-term winner loses in the long term.  In the end 
there are no winners and losers -- only losers. 
 
III.  "Corridor to Nowhere" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote in the popular, pluralist 
Maariv (9/23): QIt has been a long time since such a great effort 
was invested by so many, for so long, in order to drag two people to 
a corridor that leads nowhere.  Netanyahu and Abu Mazen now stand at 
the opening of this corridor, looking at the dead end that lies 
ahead.  Both of them know this route by heart.  They have already 
traversed it.  Now it is ObamaQs turn to walk down it.  He will 
learn, at his expense, how misleading is this route, and how evasive 
is the prize awaiting at its end.  A long and exasperating road, 
from which no one has yet returned alive, but Obama tried yesterday 
to breathe life into this effort.  His speech was weary and gloomy, 
a kind of attempt to resuscitate a corpse.  Even his Qyes, we can 
appeared completely pass.  It has become clear that the road to 
nowhere is paved with good intentions and historical, moving 
speeches.  But in the end, the nowhere does not change.... It took 
him nine months to extract a feeble consent to renew negotiations 
(if they will indeed be renewed next month).  A long, ectopic 
pregnancy, which led to an unwanted child.  Chances are that the 
body of the peace process led by Obama will be washed up on the Gaza 
shore before next summer.  However, there is always room for 
surprises. 
 
IV.  "Obama Scolded the Palestinians More" 
Veteran journalist and television anchor Dan Margalit wrote in the 
independent Israel Hayom (9/23): Q[President Obama] did not 
reprimand [the sides] equally and in a balanced way.  He asked the 
Palestinians to lend a hand and do more to start the negotiations. 
The Arab states were also lectured.  On the contrary, he said that 
Israel had made considerable -- or at least some -- headway.... It 
appears that the coalition Right in Israel and most settlers were 
wise enough to give Benjamin Netanyahu a long enough rope and an 
amount of flexibility that helped him get closer to the American 
positions, but without getting anything in exchange.  This was put 
across in the restraining of construction [in the settlements] and 
the scheduling of an agenda towards its conclusion.... This doesnQt 
mean that the United States will not exert painful pressure on 
Israel of the kind that Yitzhak Shamir endured.  But, as of 
yesterday, IsraelQs condition as viewed by AmericaQs weakened 
President is better than Abu MazenQs.  This is a comfortable 
condition ahead of NetanyahuQs address to the U.N. Security Council 
about the Iranian peril. 
 
¶V.  "Harm Could Outweigh the Benefit" 
 
Dov Weisglass, who was former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's top 
diplomatic advisor, wrote in Yediot Aharonot (9/23): QAbu Mazen has 
been harmed: he was forced to give up the precondition that he posed 
and heightened his image as a weak leader who cannot cope with 
American or Israeli pressure.  Netanyahu was also harmed: the 
(ostensible) achievement of holding the meeting, while fending off 
the American demand to freeze construction, will boomerang back at 
him at moments when there are critical decisions to be made.  When 
the day comes, in the face of an unequivocal American demand, no one 
on the Right will listen to his explanations about an expected 
crisis with the U.S.  QWhat crisis?Q they will tell him, Qyou have 
already showed that you can make them back downQ (or as some of 
NetanyahuQs aides put it, Qput them through their pacesQ).  But we 
can only fear that when the day comes when a real, incisive, and 
painful decision is required, we will learn the hard way who is 
putting whom through their paces.  The current meeting passed 
quietly.  When there is nothing, there are also no mishaps.  The 
brief, bland and somewhat weary summary statements of President 
Obama attested to the meaningless content of an unnecessary event. 
The real crisis will wait for the next near opportunity. 
 
VI.  QLonging for Bush (Senior) 
 
Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in Ha'aretz (9/23): QWhen 
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sat opposite U.S. President Barack 
Obama Tuesday, perhaps he was overcome by the sullen recollection 
from the days when he served as deputy foreign minister under David 
Levy.  Even then, 17 years ago, there was an American president who 
entertained the idea of resolving the Israeli-Arab conflict and 
thought that this concept was incompatible with the expansion of 
settlements.  That president, George Bush, whose name would later 
acquire the description Qsenior,Q informed the Israeli prime 
minister that he had to choose between advancing relations with the 
Arabs and American aid to help absorb immigrants from the former 
Soviet Union and bolstering the creeping annexation of the 
territories and embroiling Israel in a crisis with the world's only 
superpower.  Netanyahu was among those who urged then-Prime Minister 
Yitzhak Shamir to go for broke by continuing to build in the 
settlements while enlisting the support of Congress in the fight for 
financial aid.  Netanyahu certainly remembers how that story ended. 
Israel lost the loan guarantees totaling $10 billion and the Likud 
lost its grip on power. 
 
VII.  QIs ObamaQs Regional Initiative Going the Way of the Dying 
Saudi Peace Plan? 
 
Former ambassador to Egypt and Sweden, conservative contributor Zvi 
Mazel, wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (9/23): 
QIt may have been a mistake to ask Saudi Arabia to make the first 
step toward normalization with Israel.  The Saudi King holds the 
title of keeper of the QTwo Holy Mosques,Q referring to Mecca and 
Medina.  The stability of his kingdom is founded on an agreement 
dating to the 18th century with the Wahabi religious establishment, 
one of the strictest in Islam.... Now that Riyadh has clarified its 
position, Israel can never accept it, even if some minor changes are 
made.  And so, once again, the Middle East is waiting for Obama to 
spell out what he has in mind.  He will do so on Wednesday in front 
of the U.N. General Assembly. Although one can hope, it is doubtful 
he will find a way to satisfy all involved.  There are signs, 
however, that he is beginning to understand the region a little 
better and is cooling his relations with Syria.  Better late than 
never. 
 
VIII.  QEarned It Honestly 
 
Arab affairs correspondent Jacky Hoogie wrote in the popular, 
pluralist Maariv (9/23): QFarouq Hosni will undoubtedly contend in 
the coming days that the Jews spoiled his victory.  He is not 
mistaken.  Until the last moment yesterday, when the members of the 
UNESCO Executive Council placed their ballots in the ballot box, 
Jewish organizations and unofficial Israeli figures operated behind 
the scenes to rob the Egyptian candidate of his dream.  So shall be 
done, they said, to the man who promised to burn Hebrew books and 
boasted that he would be the last Egyptian to visit Israel.  But if 
Hosni looks around, he will find that he has no one but himself to 
blame.... Instead of upgrading Egyptian culture to the level it 
deserves, Hosni restricted Egyptian artists, who yearned to open up 
to the world and display their works in Tel Aviv.  He supported the 
denunciation of journalists who visited Israel and returned to Cairo 
with the conclusion that the monster is not so terrible.  His 
ministry opposed the translation of Hebrew literature in Egypt, 
which would assist the Egyptian reader to be exposed to another 
culture.  He refused to open to Jews the records of the Jewish 
communities in Egypt, for fear that they would lead to property 
lawsuits.  Hosni explained his proud stand against normalization by 
saying that Israel was occupying territories.  This stance may have 
impressed the Egyptian street, but in order to head UNESCO one needs 
vision, not vindictiveness.  Besides, it suddenly became apparent 
that for Farouq Hosni, ideology is also a matter of politics.  One 
day, sometime in May 2009, the Egyptian minister abandoned his old 
opinions and suddenly began to express new positions.  He instructed 
that Hebrew books be translated in Cairo, permitted the opening of 
community records, and declared that he would not be reluctant to 
visit Israel if elected secretary-general of UNESCO.  Last night it 
became apparent that even the naove Europeans did not buy into this 
election propaganda.  Now he can boast of a consolation prize: If he 
did not receive the sought-after title, at least he has added a few 
more Jews to his list of friends. 
 
 
 
--------- 
¶2.  Iran: 
--------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"Putin Is Right" 
 
Senior military affairs analyst Reuven Pedatzur wrote in the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (9/23): QQThe decision is correct 
and courageous,Q said Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin of U.S. 
President Barack Obama's decision to cancel the deployment of a 
missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic In Israel, 
Obama's decision was greeted with considerable satisfaction. 
Jerusalem's assessment is that deploying defensive systems on ships 
in the Mediterranean Sea will strengthen Israel's defenses against 
the Iranian missile threat.  It would have been even better had 
Israel taken advantage of this change in American strategy to decide 
that it could rely on the defensive umbrella the U.S. will provide 
it with and cancel continued development of the Arrow 3, thereby 
saving billions of dollars.  Regrettably, there is no chance at all 
that this will happen.  Israel's leaders, unlike the American 
president, are not capable of making a Qcorrect and courageous 
decision, even if simple logic favors it. 
 
MORENO