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TAGS: OPRC KMDR IS
 
SUBJECT: SPECIAL ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶1.  Mideast 
 
¶2.  Israel-Turkey Relations 
 
¶3.  Iran 
 
¶4.  U.S.-Israel Relations 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Yediot reported that Jewish Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL), an 
associate of President Obama, is likely to become the United States 
next ambassador to Israel.  The newspaper noted that the White House 
Press Office would not comment on the report. 
 
In its lead story, HaQaretz reported that a resolution that the PA 
and a group of countries intend to submit to the U.N. Human Rights 
Council (UNHRC), which will deliberate over the Goldstone report on 
last winter's Gaza offensive, will also deal with Jerusalem, the 
Temple Mount riots, and the siege of Gaza,.  According to a 
diplomatic source in Jerusalem, the PA's ambassador to U.N. 
institutions in Geneva, Ibrahim Khraishi, told the ambassadors of 
the countries involved -- most of them Arab and Muslim -- that the 
main motivation behind the Palestinian request to discuss the 
Goldstone report stemmed from "Israeli provocations in Jerusalem." 
The Palestinians had originally decided not to have the report 
discussed.  The Palestinian Ambassador said Israel must be shown 
that it cannot evade international law.  The new draft resolution is 
entitled, "The human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian 
Territory, including East Jerusalem."  The resolution, which Foreign 
Ministry sources have described as "very extreme," has three parts: 
East Jerusalem, the Goldstone report on Operation Cast Lead, and the 
report by the UN's Human Rights Commissioner on conditions in Gaza. 
HaQaretz quoted an official at the Israeli Foreign Ministry as 
saying that the draft "will only serve to show how excessive the 
Palestinian claims really are." 
 
Leading media reported that the UNHRC will reopen the debate on the 
Goldstone report in a special session in Geneva tomorrow. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday the U.S. (Assistant 
Secretary of State Philip J. Crowley) reiterated that all Quartet 
demands must remain in place for dealing with any Palestinian 
national unity government that might be formed, amid reports that 
the sides had reached some level of misunderstanding. 
 
Major media cited an announcement by the Syrian Defense Minister 
yesterday that Turkey and his country will conduct a large-scale 
joint military exercise.  Yediot quoted senior Israeli defense 
sources as saying that this is yet another Turkish mistake that 
conveys haste and distress.  HaQaretz and other media reported that 
Israel seeks to lower tensions with Turkey.  Israel Hayom quoted FM 
Avigdor Lieberman as saying that the deterioration in relations with 
Turkey Qdoes not depend on usQ and Turkey has decided to get closer 
to the Qaxis of evil. 
 
Makor Rishon-Hatzofe and Israel Radio quoted Assistant Secretary of 
State Philip J. Crowley as saying yesterday at the DepartmentQs 
daily briefing: QI believe that [excluding Israel from the aerial 
exercise] was a Turkish decision.  As to the question of whether 
there was a government that was invited to participate and then 
removed at the last minute, we think itQs inappropriate for any 
nation to be removed from an exercise like this at the last minute. 
   Israel Radio and other media cited a Turkish military source as 
saying in the Turkish publication Zaman that the reason for the 
exerciseQs postponement was the fact that Israel failed to deliver 
to Turkey drones in time.  The radio quoted Israeli sources as 
saying that the cause of the delay was in production problems in the 
Turkish plant producing optical equipment for the UAVs. 
 
All media reported that yesterday the IDF released photographs taken 
by drone aircraft of the southern Lebanon village where a Hizbullah 
arms depot exploded on Monday.  The photos show persons, possibly 
Hizbullah operatives, removing something resembling a 4-meter-long 
missile from the depot, loading it onto a truck and moving it to a 
hiding place in a different village.   HaQaretz quoted a senior 
Israeli military source as saying yesterday that Syria has made a 
clear strategic decision to make available to Hizbullah every type 
of military hardware in its arsenal.  According to the same source, 
the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is wary of 
entering Shi'ite villages in the area and generally avoids trying to 
enforce UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which forbids Hizbullah 
from having any arms inside the villages south of the Litani River. 
Leading media reported that yesterday IsraelQs Ambassador to the 
U.N. Gabriela Shalev filed an official complaint about those 
violations with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the U.N. 
Security Council.  Israel Radio quoted Hizbullah as saying that the 
village in question is north of the Litani River, so that it did not 
breach 1701. 
 
Major media reported that yesterday Russian FM Sergey Lavrov told 
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Moscow that even threatening 
new sanctions against Iran would be counterproductive. 
 
Maariv reported that the Israeli defense establishment recently 
warned IDF officers residing with their families in European cities 
with a Muslim population tightly connected with Hizbullah about 
possible attacks, due to the ongoing concern of revenge for the 
assassination of senior Hizbullah operative Imad Mughniyah in 
Damascus. 
 
Maariv reported that council chairpersons in Judea and Samaria [i.e. 
the West Bank] are starting to come to terms with the reduction in 
the scope of construction in their settlements, and are searching 
for practical solutions to minimize the damage. 
 
Maariv reported that the State ComptrollerQs Office has issued a 
tough report on DM Ehud BarakQs inflated account of expenses during 
his trip to the Paris Show.  In an unrelated story, last night 
Channel 2-TV presented an investigative report about an expensive 
official four-day stay in Paris by former Knesset Speaker Dalia 
Itzik (Kadima) three years ago. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday Knesset Member Shlomo 
Molla -- who is of Ethiopian origin -- hit back at allegations made 
in the newspaper by an anonymous source that he had used donations 
from U.S. Jewish organizations and individuals for personal 
expenses. 
 
HaQaretz reported that yesterday Brig. Gen. Nitzan Alon, the new 
commander of the IDFQs Judea and Samaria [i.e. West Bank] Division, 
suspended two divisional officers on suspicion that soldiers under 
their command destroyed cars belonging to West Bank Palestinians. 
He took action less than a day after receiving a complaint from the 
Israeli human rights group B'Tselem about two separate incidents 
that allegedly occurred this week.  HaQaretz noted that his quick 
move was meant to show he takes attacks on Palestinian property very 
seriously.  The Jerusalem Post quoted a report due to be released 
today by BQTselem and the group Hamoked, according to which 28 
Palestinians have been held in administrative detention for two to 
four days. 
 
Maariv reported on increased friction between Israel and Russia, 
which closed the main offices of Nativ -- formerly a secret Israeli 
organization that fostered emigration to Israel. 
 
Leading media reported that the National Federation of Israel 
Journalists will bestow lifetime achievement awards to Yaron London 
and Mordechai (Moti) Kirschenbaum, who presently anchor Channel 
10-TVQs current affairs program QLondon and Kirschenbaum,Q and Sever 
Plotker, YediotQs Chief Economic Editor. 
 
Over the past few days media have reported on the sale of the 
Israeli start-up firm CopperGate Communications to 
California-headquartered Sigma Designs for $187 million.  Sigma 
controls 80% of the multimedia chip market, and CopperGate is a 
leader in communications. 
 
Maariv ran a feature about the dispute between President Obama and 
FOX-TV over coverage and access. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Plea Bargain" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning HaQaretz (10/14): QThe true cause for anxiety in 
Jerusalem ... is not Goldstone, but U.S. President Barack Obama, who 
has taken an indirect diplomatic approach against Netanyahu. 
Instead of coming out publicly against the Prime Minister with a 
demand that he end the occupation and get out of the territories, 
and wasting political energy on a quarrel with Israel's friends in 
Congress, Obama has simply made Netanyahu understand that American 
support is not axiomatic, that if Netanyahu looks over his shoulder 
he may not see Obama there covering him. 
 
II.  "The More Extreme -- the Better" 
 
Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented on page one of the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (10/14): QIt isnQt worth the 
while getting excited over out=cries of grief that come out in 
Jerusalem in protest over the decision of Palestinian Authority 
Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to present to the U.N. Human Rights Council 
in Geneva a restructured report of the Goldstone commissionQs. 
Sages have said about such initiatives: QThe worse it is, the 
better.Q  The more extreme the Palestinian proposal, the less 
chances it will have to garner the WestQs support... In the same way 
Obama swallowed settlement construction in the West Bank and East 
Jerusalem, heQll have to take in the Palestinian return to 
Goldstone. 
 
III.  "Two Stories, One Ending" 
 
Giora Eiland, former Director of IsraelQs National Security Council, 
wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (10/14): 
Q[There is a] contradiction between the hope, the American 
aspiration, and activism in promoting an Israeli-Palestinian peace 
in the near future, and the conspicuous lack of desire on both 
sides, the Israeli and the Palestinian, to join him in that effort. 
This gap reflects a basic American misunderstanding toward the 
question: what is the conflict about.... Arafat's refusal to agree 
to the proposals set forth by Barak and Clinton in 2000 was not 
because of large gaps over what is mistakenly called the Qcore 
issues,Q but rather his understanding that with the establishment of 
a small and limited Palestinian state, he would be forced to 
recognize the Zionist narrative.  Arafat could not accept this in 
2000 and Abu Mazen cannot accept it in 2009.  Neither the Israeli 
Government nor the Palestinian Government can compromise over the 
QnarrativeQ and then continue to survive politically.  That is the 
real core issue and the one that Americans have trouble 
understanding. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
---------------------------- 
¶2.  Israel-Turkey Relations: 
---------------------------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"Erdogan Joins Anti-Semitic Incitement" 
 
Veteran journalist and television anchor Dan Margalit wrote in the 
independent Israel Hayom (10/14): QOfficially, Israel has made great 
efforts not only to prevent any criticism of Ankara, but even not to 
refer to historic-journalistic recounts of the [Armenian genocide] 
as described in Franz Werfel's classic book QThe Forty Days of Musa 
Dagh.Q  Israel employed several lobbies in the U.S. and in Europe to 
help its Qstrategic ally.Q  Turkey is repaying us in the opposite 
coin. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who presumed to be a moderate and 
enlightened Muslim ruler, has closed ranks with the anti-Semitic 
incitement of the kind typical of Nasrallah and Khaled Mashal and a 
number of Israeli Arab Knesset members and found himself a supporter 
in the Jew-hating Jew Richard Goldstone, whose report is a disgrace 
to integrity.  This is a two-pronged attack that tries to question 
the legitimacy of the existence of the Jewish state.  But how can 
Israel maneuver against the octopus trying to devour it?  The answer 
is not easy.  Many Israelis (and Americans) believe that everything 
can be solved.  As if at any time and any place, there was a 
solution to every conflict.  Reality is more complex.  The 
Government must wage the battle against the malice of Erdogan and 
Goldstone as if convinced of its ability to repel them.  But is must 
also take into account that if forced to make do with a solution 
that is mere Qcrisis management,Q with no clear outcome-that will be 
a real achievement. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
--------- 
¶3.  Iran: 
--------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"The End of the Military Option" 
 
Senior military affairs analyst Reuven Pedatzur wrote in the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (10/14): QIn giving the Nobel 
Peace Prize to U.S. President Barack Obama, the members of the Nobel 
committee effectively closed the lid on the American military option 
in Iran.  The prestigious award ties the President's hands.... 
[Eventually], a clear Iranian recognition that any attempt to attack 
Israel with nonconventional weapons will lead to the certain 
demolition of Iran as a modern state should prevent its rulers from 
even thinking about using their nuclear arms.  Rulers, even strict 
Islamic ones, do not commit suicide with their states.  Ayatollah 
Ali Khamenei and his followers may not be particularly nice, but 
they are certainly very rational. 
 
-------------------------- 
¶4.  U.S.-Israel Relations: 
-------------------------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"An Open Letter to Ambassador Michael Oren" 
 
Jeremy Ben-Ami, the liberal Jewish Lobby J StreetQs Executive 
Director, wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post 
(10/14): QPublic comments by your spokesman last week indicate that 
you have Qconcerns over certain policies [of J Street's] that could 
impair Israel's interests.Q  I'm sure you also have concerns and 
disagreements over policies advocated by certain political parties 
and their leaders in Israel.  That's democracy -- and it is fitting 
that there would be deep disagreements at moments of important 
communal decision.  We too have our own serious concerns over the 
policies of the present Israeli government and its impact not just 
on Israel's interests but on our interests as Americans and as 
American Jews.  As Jews who care about Israel, we fear that, on 
Israel's present path, we will see our shared dream of a Jewish, 
democratic home in the state of Israel slip through our fingers.  As 
Americans, we worry about the impact of Israeli policies on vital 
U.S. interests in the Middle East and around the world.  Finally, as 
American Jews, we worry that the health and vitality of our 
community will be deeply affected by what happens in the region, how 
the world perceives Israel and by how our community here at home 
deals with increasingly complex conversations around Israel. 
 
CUNNINGHAM