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P 071047Z OCT 09
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002205 
 
STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD 
 
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM 
NSC FOR NEA STAFF 
 
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HQ USAF FOR XOXX 
DA WASHDC FOR SASA 
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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: 
------------------------- 
 
Media reported that U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Peace Senator 
George Mitchell will arrive in the region today for talks with the 
Israeli and PA leaders.  He is slated to meet with DM Ehud Barak 
tomorrow and with PM Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday.   Maariv reported 
that the U.S. wants Israel to show  flexibility vis-a-vis PA 
President Mahmoud Abbas, who the U.S. reportedly believes has been 
weakened by his postponing of the handling of the Goldstone report, 
riots in Jerusalem, and growing security tension in the West Bank. 
However, Maariv cited the belief of senior Israeli diplomatic 
officials that a breakthrough in relations with the Palestinians is 
likely, that obstacles can be surmounted, and that the resumption of 
negotiations will soon be declared, possibly after MitchellQs 
visit. 
 
All media reported that yesterday police briefly arrested Sheikh 
Raed Salah, the leader of the Islamic MovementQs northern branch. 
The Jerusalem MagistrateQs Court later refused to etend SalahQs 
remand and ordered his banishment fom Jerusalem for 30 days.  The 
Jerusalem Post quoed sources in Yisrael Beiteinu as saying that the 
cabinet will consider legislation banning the Islmic Movement 
currently being drafted by the partQs ministers Uzi Landau and 
Yitzhak Aharonovitch  The Jerusalem Post reported that senior Fatah 
oficial Hatem Abdel Kader, a former PA Minister forJerusalem 
affairs, told the newspaper yesterday that recent violence in 
Jerusalem and the ongoing tensions surrounding the Temple Mount 
could trigger a third Intifada.  (Maariv and other media cited the 
Israeli defense establishmentQs belief that disturbances could 
extend to the West Bank.)  The media reported that senior PA 
officials, including President Abbas, blamed Israel for the recent 
violence around JerusalemQs Temple Mount.  In an interview with 
Israel Radio this morning Kadima Knesset Member, former Internal 
Security Minister, and former Shin Bet head Avi Dichter expressed 
his belief that SalahQs actions are fully coordinated with the PA. 
 
HaQaretz and other media reported that the U.N. Security Council is 
scheduled to meet today to discuss Libya's request for an emergency 
session on the QGoldstone reportQ that accused Israel and the 
Palestinian group Hamas of committing war crimes during Israel's 
offensive in Gaza.  Vietnam's Ambassador Le Luong Minh, who holds 
the council presidency this month, said he set closed-door talks 
after receiving the request from Libya, the only Arab member on the 
15-nation council.  The Palestinian Mission at the U.N. issued a 
press release saying it affirmed full support for the Libyan 
request.  HaQaretz reported that an associate of President Abbas 
told the newspaper yesterday that if Israel does not soften its 
positions on the peace process, the PA will resume pushing to get 
the Goldstone report moved to the Security Council and, from there, 
to the International Criminal Court. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that PM Avigdor Lieberman seeks to 
fashion a Qwhole new Israeli foreign policy.  The newspaper wrote 
that, in a secret internal memo, the Foreign Ministry calls for less 
dependence on the U.S., forging closer links with the developing 
world, reducing expectations for Palestinian talks, and zero 
tolerance for anti-Semitism. 
 
Yediot and Israel Radio reported that today a cornerstone-laying 
ceremony will take place at the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Nof 
Zion (next to the Palestinian village of Jabel Mukaber) to mark the 
beginning of the second stage of building there.  Speaking on Israel 
Radio, Labor Knesset Member and former Education Minister Yuli Tamir 
lamented the implications of this development for the peace 
process. 
 
Yediot and other media reported that Noam Shalit, the father of the 
abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit -- a dual Israeli-French citizen 
-- is leaving for Paris today to meet with associates of French 
President Nicolas Sarkozy.  The meetings were set before the 
screening of the video showing Gilad. 
 
Yediot reported that yesterday shots were fired at IDF soldiers 
carrying out private works along the Gaza border. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the Civil Administration in the 
Territories ignored a Tuesday deadline set by human rights 
organizations, demanding that it cancel a decision made last month 
and allow them to continue representing Palestinians seeking to 
enter Israel on humanitarian grounds.  In an unrelated matter, 
Yediot reported that Israel is helping the U.S. build the Civil 
Administration in Iraq after the Americans decided to copy the model 
of the Civil Administration in the Territories. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that amid threats by settlers that they 
will hinder Palestinians from harvesting land, the IDF and Border 
Police have deployed large numbers of security personnel at numerous 
hotspots throughout the West Bank in an effort to prevent violence 
between the sides. 
 
Yediot reported that Israel Military Industries (IMI) has developed 
a system that recognizes guided anti-tank missiles immediately upon 
their launching and diverts them. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that influential Russian Jewish leader 
and politician Boris Shpigel has promised to fund the defense of IDF 
soldiers caught in legal troubles overseas due to their military 
service. 
 
Maariv and The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday three Israeli 
conscientious objectors called on students of the University of Cape 
Town to boycott Israel and assist the struggle against the 
occupation.  The Jerusalem Post cited the fear of Cape Town Jews 
that their visit may spur anti-Semitism. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the University of California, 
Irvine (UCI), has launched an internal probe and contacted law 
enforcement authorities over a student-organized event that may have 
raised money for Hamas.  The investigation is in response to 
allegations made by the Zionist Organization of America, which 
alerted local law enforcement officials last week bout the May 
event.  Organized by the Muslim Student Union at UCI, the event 
featured British politician George Galloway, who reportedly 
solicited funds for Viva Palestina, his organization that brings 
aid to Gaza. 
 
HaQaretz quoted Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki as 
saying yesterday that Fatah and Hamas representatives will meet in 
Cairo on October 24 to sign a reconciliation agreement. 
 
Citing Reuters, HaQaretz quoted the PA as saying yesterday that it 
had asked the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to press 
Israel to release more frequencies for a long-awaited second mobile 
phone operator. 
 
HaQaretz and Israel Radio reported that Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah 
is expected to arrive in Damascus today for a historic, three-day 
visit, during which he will meet with Syrian President Bashar Assad. 
 Assad has been in Riyadh twice in the past six months, but this 
will be the King's first visit to the Syrian capital since 2005. The 
two leaders are expected to discuss Lebanon's future.   Relations 
between Syria and Saudi Arabia soured in the wake of the 
assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister, Rafiq Hariri, in 
February 2005. 
 
Yediot reported that, for the first time since PM Netanyahu was 
sworn in, an Israeli cabinet member (Finance Minister Yuval 
Steinitz) met with a senior Turkish official (Minister of State in 
Charge of the Treasury Ali Babacan) in Istanbul, on the sidelines of 
the International Monetary FundQs annual meeting.  The newspaper 
noted that the meeting could signal a thaw in Turkish-Israel 
relations. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel ranked 27th of the 182 
countries in the U.N Human Development Index, which measures quality 
of life and was published in Bangkok on Monday.  Israel dropped four 
places since the last report came out two years ago.  However, The 
Jerusalem Post noted that IsraelQs ranking tops other Mideast 
countries by far. 
 
Globes reported that Business Week ranked the Israel pharmaceutical 
firm Teva ranks 20th among the worldQs best firms. 
 
Maariv reported that one week before the Kippur War, then-Mossad 
agent Avner Yaron warned his superiors in 1973 that an Arab attack 
was imminent.  In an interview with the daily, he says that 
everything could have been different had his warning been heeded. 
 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Restraint in a Delicate Place" 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (10/7): The 
growing tension surrounding the Temple Mount threatens to undermine 
the calm Israel has enjoyed for the past few months.... Netanyahu's 
government played up its efforts to populate East Jerusalem with 
Jews while standing up against the U.S. demand for a freeze on 
construction in the settlements.  The PA, under President Mahmoud 
Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, calls for saving Al-Aqsa 
while facing stiff criticism from within its own ranks for not 
pressing discussion of the Goldstone report in the United Nations. 
Both sides must show restraint and focus on renewing negotiations 
toward a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict instead of igniting a 
fire at this sensitive site and risking another violent 
confrontation.  Israel has a unique responsibility due to its 
control over Jerusalem, and it must use utmost caution and avoid 
provocations and insensitive remarks such as that by Jerusalem 
District police commander Aharon Franco, who accused the city's 
Muslims of being ungrateful.  The capital's police force has thus 
far succeeded in preventing an escalation of the conflict.  This 
attitude must guide the cabinet as well in the days to come. 
 
II.  "Bob Dylan form Umm Al Fahm" 
 
Conservative columnist Erel Segal wrote in the popular, pluralist 
Maariv (10/7): Israel stands at a critical crossroads.  Up till now 
we hesitated when facing the Sheikh [Raed Salah] and his followers, 
and we strengthened radical elements.  Now is the time to outlaw 
them.  Things are apparently viewed differently in out neighborhood. 
 The Egyptian and Jordanian regimes handle the Muslim Brotherhood in 
a very undemocratic, intolerant fashion, without a multicultural 
discourse -- to say nothing about the chivalrous Syrian rights 
defenders.  It sometimes looks as if history returns with sickly 
twists, like the soul of Mufti Haj Amin Husseini -- an SS 
Gruppenfuehrer -- that has come back in the figure of Raed Salah. 
 
 
III.  "Goldstone... So Far" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (10/7): 
QJust when Israelis thought we had a respite from the harmful 
repercussions of the profoundly unfair Goldstone Mission Report, it 
transpires that Hamas is insisting Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas push 
the Security Council to consider Richard Goldstone's bill of 
particulars against Israel (during Operation Cast Lead at the turn 
of the year) -- or else the deal due to be signed between Fatah and 
Hamas in Cairo on October 26 will be in jeopardy.  Abbas is also 
under withering pressure from within his own movement to exploit 
Goldstone for all its worth.  That would have been Abbas's natural 
inclination too, but the Fatah chief bowed to U.S. pressure to allow 
the report to be shelved at least until March 2010.  The Obama 
administration appreciates that if Goldstone monopolizes the daily 
agenda, Benjamin Netanyahu's government will be too preoccupied to 
conduct meaningful talks with the Palestinian Authority.  Moreover, 
a toxic environment dominated by Goldstone will sap any popular 
support within Israel for further compromise with the 
Palestinians.... Of course, we're supposed to give Goldstone credit 
because he's a friend of Israel.... Moreover, didn't he ask Hamas to 
release Gilad Shalit on humanitarian grounds?  And didn't he give 
Hamas hell, too?  Well, actually, he originated the convoluted idea 
that attacks against Israeli civilians /would constitute war crimes 
and may amount to crimes against humanity.  In any case, Hamas is 
so plainly unconcerned that anyone will understand such prattle as 
blame that it is using the Goldstone Report to batter the hapless 
Abbas.  And it's too early to assess how much damage the judge's 
work will yet do.... 
 
IV.  QChurchill and His Disciple 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning HaQaretz (10/7): Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is 
an admirer of Winston Churchill and views him as a role model.... 
The wars in Lebanon and Gaza helped Netanyahu adopt [one of the] 
aspects of the Churchill legacy, the bombings of German cities. 
When Israel is criticized for bombing Beirut and Gaza, Netanyahu 
responds by mentioning Dresden and Hamburg.... Like Netanyahu, 
Churchill also believed in if they give, they'll get as a 
fundamental principle of statecraft.  The American support he 
received came at a price: the dismantling of the British Empire. In 
Netanyahu's view, the Iranian threat against Israel resembles the 
Nazi threat on Britain.  Like Churchill, Netanyahu hopes for 
American help to lift the threat; like Roosevelt, U.S. President 
Barack Obama demands the dismantling of Israel's little empire in 
the territories and the liberation of the Palestinians from 
occupation.  It will be interesting to see whether Netanyahu also 
learns this lesson from the leader he admires, or whether the 
analogy ends with bombing. 
 
¶V.  "Intifada vs. Normalizations" 
 
Chief Economic Editor and senior columnist Sever Plotker wrote in 
the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (10/7): The 
strengthening of the Palestinian middle classes, which might fall in 
love with a normal standard of living -- shaking off the 
continuation of the struggle and enjoying the proximity to the big 
Israel market -- is disliked by the militant Palestinian leadership, 
and not only that. The tension between economic and personal 
progress and the diplomatic and national impasse is tearing up the 
entire Palestinian society and creating a dissonance in 
consciousness that is looking for an outlet.  If an Intifada breaks 
out, it might focus on the Temple Mount, but its logic is definitely 
not linked to religious feelings.  As during the past ones, it will 
originate in an explosive cocktail of diplomatic stalemate and an 
economic boom.  It turns out that they don't work well together. 
 
CUNNINGHAM