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RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 3704
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002126 
 
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: 
------------------------- 
 
All media reported that, two days before the opening of talks 
between Iranian and U.S. officials, the Islamic Republic carried out 
a test launch of long-range missiles capable of reaching Israel. 
Iran test-fired its Shahab-3 missile, which puts Israel within reach 
along with Saudi Arabia and U.S. Army bases in the Gulf.  HaQaretz 
reported that DM Ehud Barak is scheduled to meet today in Brighton, 
England, with British PM Gordon Brown to discuss the Iranian nuclear 
issue.  HaQaretz also reported that Barak will meet with British 
Foreign Secretary David Miliband tomorrow for a talk on the same 
subject.  The successful launch of the Shahab-3, which the military 
said has a range of 2,000 kilometers, came on the second day of war 
games led by the Revolutionary Guards.  HaQaretz reported that the 
Israeli Foreign Ministry denied any link between the missile tests 
and the October 1 nuclear talks in Geneva. The war games had been 
scheduled many months ago, but were seen in the West as an act of 
defiance, especially in light of the recent exposure by the United 
States of a facility for the enrichment of uranium which the 
Iranians are said to have set up in Qom.  Leading media reported 
that Israel has clamped down a blackout on GOI responses to the 
recent Iranian developments, saying that other countries are 
responding adequately and that there is no need for Israel to get 
publicly involved. 
 
On Sunday, HaQaretz reported that, following the discovery of a 
second uranium enrichment plan near Qom, Iran, PM Benjamin Netanyahu 
told U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Senators and Congress 
members in telephone conversations that now is the time to act to 
halt the Iranian nuclear program.  A senior Israel official told The 
Jerusalem Post on Saturday that Israel believes that many Western 
countries now see that the Iranian mask is slipping, but that Israel 
does not yet know if Russia and China understand this. 
 
Leading media reported that tomorrow Israel and the U.S. will 
continue their talks in Washington on bridging the open issues 
between Israel and the PA that are delaying the relaunching of peace 
negotiations.  PM Netanyahu's envoy, attorney Yitzhak Molcho, and DM 
Ehud Barak's chief of staff, Brig Gen. Michael Herzog, are slated to 
meet with U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Peace Senator George 
Mitchell and senior White House officials.  Media reported that on 
Thursday Mitchell will meet Palestinian representatives (senior PA 
negotiator Saeb Erekat will head the Palestinian delegation, 
according to HaQaretz and Maariv) but that it is doubtful whether 
there will be any contacts between Israelis and Palestinians. 
HaQaretz reported that formulating the framework for the 
negotiations and the "terms of reference," or the opening 
conditions, are the focus of the talks.  At the same time the sides 
will continue negotiating the terms of the settlement construction 
freeze.  Next week Mitchell will come to Israel to continue the 
talks and meet with Netanyahu and Barak. HaQaretz reported that 
President Obama instructed Mitchell and U.S. Secretary of State 
Hillary Clinton to report to him on progress in the talks by October 
15, in an attempt to bridge the gaps between Israel and the PA by 
then and to allow Obama to hold an event marking the launch of peace 
talks.  In light of massive U.S. pressure, the Palestinians have 
agreed to drop their main precondition to resuming negotiations, a 
demand that Israel completely cease all construction in the 
settlements and East Jerusalem. But HaQaretz quoted sources on all 
three sides as saying that Obama promised PA President Mahmoud Abbas 
that in return for his concession on a construction freeze, the U.S. 
would take under consideration the Palestinian demands on the 
framework of the negotiations.  The framework includes such matters 
as how the talks will be managed and what the opening conditions for 
the talks will be -- and this is a matter of fierce dispute between 
Israel and the Palestinians, as well as with the U.S. 
administration.  There are disagreements over a number of issues. 
First, the Palestinians want to restart the talks where the 
Government of Ehud Olmert left off, while Netanyahu argues that he 
is not bound by Olmert's proposals.  Second, the Palestinians want 
the negotiations to focus on the principle of a solution based on 
the 1967 borders, and Netanyahu strongly disagrees.  Third, the 
Palestinians want a two-year timeframe for the achievement of a 
permanent agreement, while Israel objects.  In addition, the 
Palestinians want to hold negotiations on all the issues of the 
permanent settlement, including Jerusalem, refugees and borders, but 
Israel still has not completed formulating its policy on these 
points. 
 
Maariv reported that Qany negotiations for a permanent status 
arrangement between Israel and the Palestinians will be based on the 
1967 lines," is one of the headlines from a document authored by 
former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, which she gave to the 
current Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.   Maariv says that the 
document constitutes the administrative link between the Bush and 
Obama administrations.  Maariv quoted a high-ranking White House 
official as saying last week that this was the policy that the 
current administration had inherited from its predecessor, and that 
it was also the view of President Obama.  This reportedly was also 
one of the reasons that Obama declared in his UN speech that Israel 
must end the occupation that began in 1967.   According to Maariv, 
the document relays to the current administration everything that 
was achieved in the negotiations between the sides in Bush's eight 
years in the White House.  The permanent status arrangement, the 
document states, must also include a solution of all the issues, 
including Jerusalem, refugees, water, borders, and so on. Israel is 
demanding of the American administration to also stand by the 
agreements between Jerusalem and Washington during Bush's time, 
first and foremost Bush's letters from April 2004 which mentioned 
the settlement blocs and said that the U.S. will support taking into 
account demographic changes on the ground in the negotiations on the 
permanent status arrangement.   Maariv comments: QNow it appears 
that the Bush administration has passed the stick, i.e. the 1967 
lines, but it isn't clear if it also passed the carrot. 
 
On Sunday, citing the AP, HaQaretz reported that on September 26 
Secretary Clinton urged Arab nations to take steps toward 
normalizing relations with Israel and supporting the Palestinians, 
in a an effort to help restart stalled Mideast peace talks. 
 
The media reported that yesterday IAF warplanes destroyed an armed 
missile launcher on northern Gaza aimed at Israel.  The army 
reported a direct hit.  Yesterday afternoon Palestinians fired a 
Qassam rocket and a mortar shell at Israel.  The rocket apparently 
exploded within the Gaza Strip.  Palestinians also fired two Qassam 
rockets overnight Sunday at the western Negev. 
 
Major media reported that yesterday, a day after several people were 
wounded and arrested in East Jerusalem, clashes started at the 
Temple Mount.  Yediot reported that Palestinian organizations in 
Gaza and in the West Bank are threatening to ignite a third Intifada 
in wake of the clashes.  IDF Radio reported that about 100 olive 
trees were chopped down in the last few days near the village of 
Burin in the northern West Bank.  The IDFQs Civil Administration is 
permitting Palestinian landowners to begin olive picking today in 
order to prevent damage to the olives left. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday Israel warmly welcomed 
German Chancellor Angela MerkelQs reelection victory, even as some 
officials expressed reservations regarding Free Democratic Party 
(FDP) leader Guido Westerwelle, the man expected to be her next 
foreign minister -- because he is a member of a post-World War II 
generation and because a top FDP politician, Juergen Moeelemann, was 
involved in a 2002 scandal that seemingly reeked of anti-Semitism. 
 
The Jerusalem Post cited an official IDF scorecard recently compiled 
by top navy officer Lt. Col. Robi Sandman showing that Hizbullah had 
better intelligence than Israel and better control of its forces 
during the Second Lebanon War. 
 
Over the weekend the media reported that QAjami,Q an Arabic-language 
movie about a Jaffa neighborhood, will represent Israel at the 2010 
Academy Awards ceremony. 
 
Major media quoted the British newspaper The Daily Express as saying 
that the British intelligence agency MI6Qs chief Sir John Scarlett 
has bee told that Saudi Arabia is ready to allow Israel to bomb 
IranQs new nuclear site. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the upcoming visit by Syrian Deputy 
FM Fayssal Mekdad is the first in about five years and is part of 
U.S. efforts to improve strained relations with Damascus. 
 
Over the weekend leading media reported that on Friday Egyptian FM 
Ahmed Abu al-Gheit urged Israel to release 1,000 Palestinian 
prisoners in exchange for the release of Gilad Shalit. 
 
HaQaretz reported that the defense establishment recently relaunched 
its campaign with its Western partners to block Hamas's fund-raising 
network.  The government, meanwhile, is considering launching an 
awareness campaign to highlight the link between fund-raising for 
Palestinian causes and terror funding.  Israeli efforts have had 
some success in recent years, when Western governments forced 
certain charity organizations to reveal their records and sever ties 
with the Charity Coalition, the umbrella organization for groups 
that raise funds for Hamas abroad.   However, HaQaretz reported that 
there are sometimes legal obstacles, such as a ruling by a U.S. 
judge in Ohio who ordered the lifting of a freeze on the assets of 
an Ohio-based charity called KindHearts following an investigation 
by the U.S. Treasury in 2006 concerning the charity's connection 
with Hamas.  The judge ordered the charity to be allowed to regain 
control of its assets, ruling that the administration did not 
provide enough evidence to justify the freeze. 
 
HaQaretz reported that accusations PM Netanyahu a few weeks ago that 
the Swedish government attempted to create contacts with Hamas were 
apparently based on incorrect information. 
 
Maariv and HaQaretz (the latter, quoting the London-based A-Sharq 
Al-Awsat) reported that the board of directors of the powerful 
Egyptian media group Al-Ahram has decided to boycott Israel and 
Israelis of all positions. 
 
HaQaretz quoted PA Communications Minister Mashhud Abu-Daka as 
saying that the PA strenuously resists an Israeli attempt to link 
the allotment of frequencies to the second cellular phone provider 
in the territories, Al-Wataniya, to the cancellation of the 
Palestinian appeal to the International Court of Justice in The 
Hague regarding Operation Cast Lead.  The Jerusalem Post also cited 
IsraelQs threat. 
 
Yediot reported that Israel and the Maldives -- the smallest Muslim 
state in the world -- renewed their diplomatic relations over the 
weekend. 
 
Yesterday, HaQaretz reported that a recently declassified U.S. 
report on the Yom Kippur War cited instance of intelligence 
blindness in Washington and self-deception in Israel and the West. 
 
In a story published by arrangement with the U.S. Jewish weekly The 
Forward, HaQaretz reported that David Remes, a Washington attorney, 
left a major corporate law firm to take on full-time representation 
of terrorism suspects held in the American detention center in 
Guantanamo Bay, stressed that he sees no equation between Guantanamo 
and the Nazi camps. Still, he added, "When you consider the way Jews 
were dehumanized as vermin, there's an unfortunate echo."  The 
newspaper noted that Jewish attorneys are considered to be the 
backbone of the campaign to provide legal rights for the Guantanamo 
detainees, all imprisoned without charge or trial. 
 
--------- 
¶1.  Iran: 
--------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Facing Iran with Obama" 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (9/29): QYom 
Kippur 2009 bore two pieces of news for Israelis.  The bad news was 
Iran's ground-to-ground missile test.  The good news was that the 
Western powers, led by the United States, are facing off against 
Iran and threatening to increase sanctions against it following the 
discovery of a secret uranium enrichment facility near the holy city 
of Qom.  The plant's discovery and the missile launches have made 
clearer the increasing Iranian threat to Israel -- just days after 
the leaders of Iran and Israel addressed the United Nations General 
Assembly and accused each other's countries of Qbarbarism.Q  Talks 
are to begin the day after tomorrow between Iran and the major 
powers, among them the United States, but success seems unlikely 
considering the developments of the past few days.... Under these 
circumstances, Israel should support Obama and give him the chance 
to exhaust the move combining dialogue with the threat of sanctions. 
 This is not the time for Jerusalem to threaten and badger.  The 
Iranian threat is not only Israel's problem, it's that of the entire 
international community.  It's best for Israel if the issue is dealt 
with on an international level. 
 
 
 
 
II.  "In Praise of Actions" 
 
Military correspondent Amos Harel wrote on page one of Ha'aretz 
(9/29): Q Just before Iran and the international community begin 
talks on Iran's nuclear program, Israel is sending out messages of 
measured and cautions optimism. Israeli official are praising the 
proposed sanctions against Iran to journalists, explaining that a 
stiff cost could prompt the Iranians to rethink their actions, 
especially in light of the domestic troubles the regime of 
ayatollahs has faced over the past few months.  The New York Times, 
meanwhile, reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is 
lobbying U.S lawmakers, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to 
impose Qcrippling sanctionsQ on Iran.  This constitutes a certain 
change in the atmosphere surrounding Israel's approach to the issue. 
 Until a few weeks ago, Israeli officials expressed serious 
skepticism, bordering on cynicism, about American efforts to divert 
Iran from its gallop toward obtaining nuclear capability.... Israel, 
from its point of view, now needs to show the Obama administration 
E 
and the international community that it is a team player, one that 
supports exhausting all non-military options.  At some point in the 
future, there will come a time when it would make sense to once 
again threaten to attack Iran in order to pressure Tehran, but now 
is still the time for negotiations. 
 
III.  "Think Cuban Missile Crisis" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (9/29): 
QIran's stratagem is to QengageQ as it pushes ahead with its bomb, 
thereby making it hard for the international community to impose 
meaningful sanctions.  Once it feels certain it has all the pieces 
of the nuclear weapon's puzzle in place -- fuel, warhead, delivery 
system -- it might offer Obama a stop just short of a test 
detonation, in return for a long list of Western concessions. 
Anyway, the pace of economic sanctions is way out of sync with the 
progress the mullahs are making on their bomb.  Even if Russia and 
China accepted a winter embargo on refined petroleum products 
entering Iran, is there any reason to imagine that the mere 
discomfort of the Iranian masses would take precedence for Khamenei 
and Ahmadinejad over the bomb?  Obama should leapfrog over futile 
intermediate steps and place draconian sanctions on the table, now. 
To paraphrase John Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis, this 
would mean that all ships and planes bound for Iran, from whatever 
nation, would be turned back.  Perhaps this prospect, coupled with a 
complete land, sea and air quarantine, can influence Iran's leaders 
to rethink their one-step-forward-two-steps-back strategy, and save 
humanity from an Iranian bomb. 
 
IV.  "The Ineffectual West" 
 
Veteran journalist and television anchor Dan Margalit wrote in the 
independent Israel Hayom (9/29): QThe Qom reactor (have other 
facilities gone unreported?) is making American willingness to 
dialogue with the current Iranian regime superfluous.  There is 
nobody to talk with.  The sanctions must start -- as early as 
possible.  Will the West act determinedly?  Let us hope so.  But the 
Western leadersQ collective biography teaches that a few days after 
a quick discovery [of international misconduct]  and a feeling of 
panic, they return to their good old selves. 
 
------------ 
¶2.  Mideast: 
------------ 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "The Notable Shift in the Obama Administration" 
 
The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global Research in 
International Affairs Center, columnist Barry Rubin, wrote in the 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (9/29): QTo say that U.S. 
President Barack Obama hates, seeks to destroy, and/or is pressuring 
Israel is a staple of the Internet rumor mill.  A large portion of 
the far Right would like to believe it.  But it isn't true.... So 
why did Obama shift his stance? During the campaign he came to learn 
that Israel's supporters were active, energetic, and would fight 
back even when almost no one else would confront him. In addition, 
the fact that he could gain Jewish support gave him an added 
incentive to pull back.  Put simply, being anti-Israel was a 
political liability.  Obama knew it and shifted accordingly.... The 
[Israeli] Government could not possibly have handled Obama better. 
At the same time, the obvious fragility of the current coalition 
proved another persuasive factor that made Obama pull back.  I 
shudder to think what would have happened if Tzipi Livni had been 
prime minister.  In addition, as always, intransigence on the Arab 
and Palestinian side was so extreme that even the Obama 
administration couldn't ignore it.... To this day, the U.S. 
Government under Obama has not taken a single material step against 
Israel and no such development seems to be on the horizon either. 
While there are many criticisms that can be made of Obama's Middle 
East policy, it has swung in a more pro-Israel direction while still 
maintaining the kind of QevenhandedQ balance frequently seen in his 
predecessors. 
 
II.  "No More Grey Areas" 
 
Liberal columnist Yael Paz QMelamed wrote in the popular, pluralist 
Maariv (9/29): QThe President is unhappy about the fears of each of 
the [Mideast] leaders from their own factions.  Experience has 
taught him that those who do not look thousands of miles ahead and 
do not aspire to reach as far as they can, will forever remain 
stumped and unable to move.  Benjamin Netanyahu now has a unique 
opportunity to turn from a politician who fears minor Knesset 
members into a true leader -- to lead a courageous move of real 
change involving hard concessions.  If he follows this road with all 
his might, the entire public will follow him. 
 
CUNNINGHAM