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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002499 
 
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: 
------------------------- 
 
The media reported that yesterday the Jerusalem Municipal Planning 
Committee approved a plan to build 900 housing units in the cityQs 
southeastern neighborhood of Gilo.  Leading media reported that the 
White House and State Department subsequently harshly criticized the 
move.  The media reported that White House Press Secretary Robert 
GibbsQ comments included criticism of Israel's "continuing pattern 
of evictions and demolitions of Palestinian homes," a point the 
Obama administration has made in the past.  The media cited Gibbs 
remark that the U.S. is QdismayedQ at the decision.  Kadima Knesset 
Member Meir Sheetrit, a former Housing and Construction Minister, as 
saying in an interview with Israel Radio today that he had ordered 
such construction in the past and that in this way, the Americans 
are expressing their desire to bring the Palestinians to the 
negotiating table.  Yediot bannered: QWhite House: We Are 
Disappointed by Israel.Q  Media reported that British Foreign 
Secretary David Miliband, U.N. Secretary-General, and the PA also 
blasted the decision.  Media quoted a senior Israeli Government 
official as saying that PM Benjamin Netanyahu was "willing to show 
the greatest possible restraint concerning building in the 
territories, and has even received praise for that restraint.  But 
that is in the West Bank.  Gilo is in Jerusalem, and that is the 
capital."  Media quoted Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat as saying that 
the demand that only Jews cease building is illegal. 
 
Leading media quoted Hamas as saying said that talks to exchange 
prisoners with Israel are underway but still far from a conclusion. 
 Osama al-Muzini, in charge of negotiations over Gilad ShalitQs 
release, was quoted as saying that negotiations are going on and 
they are being led by a German mediator.  "The talks are good and 
active, but still do not reach the end of the road despite the 
progress," al-Muzini told reporters.  Israel Radio quoted the U.S. 
sponsored Alhurra-TV as saying that Shalit will be released on 
Friday, November 27, the Muslim Sacrifice Holiday of Eid al-Adha. 
E 
The radio later quoted a Hamas source as saying that GiladQs release 
will not take place until next month.  Israel Radio reported that 
the Israeli Government is not responding to these reports. 
 
Israel Radio quoted the London-based Al-Hayat as saying that French 
President Nicolas Sarkozy is promoting a meeting between PM 
Netanyahu and PA President Mahmoud Abbas. 
 
Leading media reported that yesterday PM Benjamin Netanyahu strongly 
criticized soldier QrebelsQ who refuse to be involved in evictions 
of settlers.  Maariv quoted senior IDF officers as saying that 
political elements are stirring up confused 18-year-olds.  The media 
cited contradictory views among Zionist-religious leaders and 
Rabbis. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that chief PA negotiator Saeb Erekat 
told the newspaper yesterday that the Palestinians will not 
unilaterally declare an independent state, but rather seek a U.N. 
Security Council resolution endorsing a two-state solution along the 
pre-1967 lines.  The Post quoted Israeli officials as saying that 
Erekat was backtracking on earlier statements calling for a 
unilateral declaration of independence, even as he said that Israel 
was "twisting his words." 
 
HaQaretz reported that police are investigating suspicions of 
document fraud involving the Chairman of the Knesset Constitution, 
Law and Justice Committee, Knesset Member David Rotem (Yisrael 
Beiteinu), the Secretary General of the Amana settlement housing 
group, Ze'ev "Zambish" Hever, and prominent settler leader Yoel 
Tzur.  Rotem appears in the suspected documents as an attorney, and 
police said that while they are aware of Rotem's alleged involvement 
in the affair, he has not been questioned yet.  The investigation 
centers on land in the outpost of Jabal Artis ("Pisgat Yaakov"), 
located in the municipal borders of the settlement of Beit El.  The 
outpost was set up in February 2001 on privately owned land, and 
today is home to several dozens families, some in trailers and some 
in permanent structures. 
 
Yediot quoted President Shimon Peres as saying: QOur enemies believe 
that we have the capability to annihilate them.Q  Peres is pictured 
at the Nahal Sorek Nuclear Reactor.  The interview is part of a 
feature that the daily will publish on Friday. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted Bruce Riedel, an ex-CIA South Asia expert 
and current adviser to President Obama, as saying in Tel Aviv on 
Tuesday that the U.S. is too bogged down in Afghanistan to engage 
Iran militarily over its nuclear program.  Riedel, a senior 
Brookings Institute and Saban Center fellow for political 
transitions in the Middle East and South Asia, addressed scholars 
and journalists at Tel Aviv University's Institute for National 
Security Studies.  He warned that the U.S. was fighting a losing 
battle against Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan and that Washington 
would soon have to make difficult choices on beefing up troop levels 
there.  "Israelis need to understand that there's going to be a huge 
drain on resources, attention, and capital and that will have 
implications," Riedel told The Jerusalem Post before his talk.  He 
acknowledged that those implications would primarily affect the Iran 
question. 
 
Israel Radio reported that this morning Palestinians fired a rocket 
at the western Negev. 
 
Yediot reported that Obama associates have told the U.S. weekly The 
New Republic that Secretary of State Hillary ClintonQs slips of the 
tongue have complicated Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.  The 
sources were quoted as saying that Clinton has made public 
statements that the U.S. administration would rather say in private. 
 The newspaper cites two cases -- in May, when the Secretary called 
for a total settlement freeze, and in late October, when Clinton 
said that Netanyahu offered QunprecedentedQ concessions on 
settlements. 
 
HaQaretz quoted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as saying 
yesterday that Israel is the Qmost threatened country in the world" 
and the rocket attacks its civilian population has suffered are 
"attacks not experienced by any other state since Britain in World 
War II."  Netanyahu was giving the closing remarks at the Israel 
Annual Conference on Aviation and Astronautics.  Much of the 
discussion at the conference centered on missile defense.  "We are 
faced with enemies who do not conceal their intentions and who arm 
themselves accordingly," the PM said.  "They first attack us 
physically and then attack our right to self-defense."  DM Ehud 
Barak, who also spoke at the conference, said that the multilayered 
missile interception system that Israel is now constructing is a 
necessary condition for any stable political arrangement in the 
Middle East.  HaQaretz and The Jerusalem Post quoted Barak as saying 
that the Defense Ministry plans to significantly increase production 
of Arrow missile interceptors, capable of intercepting incoming 
Iranian and Syrian Shihab and Scud missiles. 
The Jerusalem Post reported that a German defense delegation will 
arrive in Israel next month for high-level talks to focus on an 
Israeli request to purchase two Meko-class missile ships. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) 
is strengthening its position in Central and South America and in 
the coming year will hold demonstrations of its Heron Unmanned 
Aerial Vehicle (UAV) for Panamanian security forces. 
 
HaQaretz reported that last-minute political pressure is preventing 
the implementation of a Supreme Court ruling to evacuate Beit 
Yehonatan (a building named after Jonathan Pollard), which was 
established in East Jerusalem by the right-wing group Ateret 
Cohanim.  In July 2008 the court ruled that the seven-story 
structure in the Silwan neighborhood must be shuttered.  HaQaretz 
has learned that parallel to preparations by the municipal 
inspectors and the police to carry out the court order, pressure has 
come down on the legal counselor of the municipality, Yosef Havilio, 
to delay the execution of the order.  The issue had been deliberated 
for the past four years and the court, despite a series of delays, 
rejected the appeal by the residents of the building.  However, a 
statement issued Tuesday from the office of Mayor Nir Barkat 
announced that "a variety of legal alternatives are being examined 
between the owners of the structure and the courts."  This morning 
Israel Radio reported that local residents are fighting the razing 
of an empty building in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Isawiya. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday the U.N. Office for the 
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) published a report 
listing Palestinian communities that are especially vulnerable to 
the settler strategy known as the Qprice tag.Q  In another report, 
The Jerusalem Post wrote that the BQTselem NGO has released a short 
animated film that attempts to portray the Qdestructive influence 
of IDF violence against Palestinians on Israeli society. 
 
The media reported that the implementation of the governmentQs 
biometric database has been postponed by at least two years.  In the 
mean time, only volunteers will provide biometric details, which 
will be affixed to their ID cards and passports. 
 
Major media reported that Israel was ranked 32nd in Transparency 
International's Corruption Perception Index (CPI) which was released 
yesterday.  Israel moved up one spot from its 2008 ranking, with a 
score of 6.1 out of 10.  In an unrelated matter, Maariv cited a poll 
conducted by the Israel-Sderot Social Convention that shows that 77% 
of Israelis view FM Avigdor Lieberman as the most corrupt cabinet 
minister; 52% believe that Interior Minister Eli Yishai is corrupt; 
37% believe that DM Barak is corrupt; 32% believe that Sports and 
Culture Minister Limor Livnat is; Benny Begin, Yitzhak Herzog, 
Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, Strategic Affair Minister Dan 
Meridor; and National Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau are viewed 
as honest. 
 
Maariv reported that far-Left, Mideast-oriented groups in the U.S. 
oppose an event for the (Jewish) QHebron HeroesQ that will take 
place on Saturday night at Citi Field, the New York MetsQ stadium. 
 
HaQaretz reported that a compromise has been reached between the 
Intel Corporation in Jerusalem and ultra-Orthodox circles -- the 
firm will employ only non-Jews on the Jewish Sabbath. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Block Quotes 
------------ 
 
¶I.  QConvenient Ground for Netanyahu to Fight on 
 
Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz (11/18): QIf to Israelis, Qwhat goes for East 
Jerusalem goes for Tel Aviv,Q as Netanyahu says, then as far as the 
Palestinians are concerned, Qwhat goes for East Jerusalem goes for 
Ramallah,Q as Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says.  A 
freeze on Jewish construction in East Jerusalem therefore was and 
remains the key to the peace process.  During his last term as prime 
minister, Netanyahu rebuffed Arab protests over the building of 
Jerusalem's Har Homa neighborhood, east of Gilo, as well as American 
requests to delay the project.  He learned that in the battle over 
Jerusalem, he could even overpower a successful president like Bill 
Clinton.  Today, he senses Obama's weakness -- so he is inviting the 
U.S. president for another round. 
 
II.  QThe Rules of the Game Have Changed 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Shimon Shiffer wrote in the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (11/18): QIf anyone 
among the Israeli decision-makers still believed that the Americans 
would ultimately get on with business as usual in the aftermath of 
the Israeli decision to build 900 housing units in Gilo, along came 
reality and slapped them in the face. The Obama administration has 
decided to change the rules of the game and not to behave like other 
U.S. administrations in the past. If it truly wants to renew 
negotiations with the Palestinians under American patronage, Israel 
is going to have to stop building in the territories it occupied in 
1967.... Senator George Mitchell has been trying for some time to 
persuade Israel that it is not enough to declare twice a day its 
desire to renew negotiations with Abu Mazen.  Israel, say the 
Americans, has to change its mode of conduct insofar as pertains to 
construction in the territories.... If that doesn't happen, Israel 
will remain with the territories, far-reaching changes will occur on 
the Palestinian side, Abu Mazen will disappear, and the Americans 
will tell the parties to come looking for them when they finally 
realize what is required of them.  In that sense, the Netanyahu 
government has reached its moment of truth.  A moment in which 
making a decision cannot be put off any longer, as the Prime 
Minister has preferred to do on other issues.  President George Bush 
announced that the objective of the negotiations between Israel and 
the Palestinians was the creation of two states living side by side 
-- a Palestinian state with territorial contiguity, and land swaps 
that would permit the Israelis in the settlement blocs to remain 
under Israeli sovereignty in exchange for areas that would be given 
to the Palestinian entity.  Many people will say that Bush didn't 
mean what he said.  Obama means every word. 
 
III.  QBelieve Netanyahu 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in HaQaretz (11/18): QThe 
deal that Obama is offering is clear: a diplomatic struggle against 
Iran and defense backing for Israel -- in some areas even more than 
what was on the table during the Bush administration -- in return 
for a pullout from the territories and a Palestinian state. 
Netanyahu understood this and still insisted on meeting the 
President, even at the cost of public humiliation, to tell him that 
he wants to push forward on a settlement with the Palestinians.  He 
spoke with him about Qconcrete stepsQ and made his promises public. 
Why would he do this if his intentions were not true?.... The minute 
Netanyahu is convincing that he is serious and has a serious peace 
plan and not mere slogans, the political world will be shaken up, 
and those supporting a settlement with the Palestinians will back 
him.  This is his challenge.  He convinced me; let's see him 
convince Abbas. 
 
IV.  QDon't Shoot from the Hip 
 
Dov Weisglass, who was former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's top 
diplomatic advisor, wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot (11/18): QIsrael must weightily consider its response to 
the Palestinian initiative and the empty talk that has already been 
voiced in this context is a bad sign.  The proposal to Qannex the 
settlement blocs to IsraelQ is an example of a silly response. 
Besides additional diplomatic embarrassment, the annexation would 
have no practical significance.  The Palestinians have accepted the 
loss of these territories in any case, and no one outside Israel 
will recognize the validity of a non-consensual annexation.  The 
clear difference between the Palestinian action and the Palestinian 
reaction lies in the world's attitude: while the declaration of the 
Palestinian state will probably be supported by most of the 
countries of the world, the annexation of the blocs to Israel will 
presumably be condemned by most of them.  If the purpose of the 
Palestinian move is to cause Israel severe diplomatic embarrassment 
by gaining sweeping global support for the Palestinian initiative, 
then by its act of annexation, Israel will cause itself further and 
harsher embarrassment, by subjecting itself to wall-to-wall 
condemnation.  Similarly, the call to Qannul past agreements,Q which 
probably refers to the Oslo Accords, is a harmful idea.... It is 
difficult to understand why such a clear act of self-punishment is 
the Qfitting responseQ to the Palestinian initiative. 
 
¶V.  QNo One Is Better than Abu Mazen 
 
Columnist and former IDF Intelligence chief Shlomo Gazit wrote in 
the popular, pluralist Maariv (11/18): QAt this stage we do not know 
how the problem of [Palestinian governance] is going to be solved. 
We have known Abu Mazen for years.  Already 15 years ago, he was 
Yossi BeilinQs partner in the proposal of an outline toward a 
diplomatic Israeli-Palestinian agreement.  Among the gallery of 
figures in todayQs Palestinian leadership, he is the only 
Palestinian leader with whom Israel can push forward a diplomatic 
process.... Without saying this aloud, we are taking steps to shrink 
Abu MazenQs status and to weaken the little credit he still has to 
engage in negotiations.  Thos steps might bring about his departure 
from the public stage. 
 
¶V.  QIn the Last Place 
 
Former Meretz Knesset Member, Professor of Political Science Naomi 
Chazan, the Director-General of the New Israel Fund, wrote in the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (11/18): QWe have 
recently heard that in its Freedom of Religion Report, the U.S. 
Department of State places Israel at the bottom of the democratic 
states.... The significant movement of religious pluralism 
developing in [Israeli] civil society challenges repeated attempts 
to anchor the hegemony of the religious establishment.... The 
expansion of alternatives will eventually deride the prevailing 
religious control.  Only then will IsraelQs name disappear from the 
list of states that restrict freedom of religion and conscience. 
 
VI.  QCrossing the Line 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (11/18): 
QRegrettably, there are fresh signs that Qtoxic rageQ [as exposed in 
the U.S. by the Anti-Defamation League] exists here in Israel, too, 
among an increasingly radicalized segment of the settler population. 
 It's manifested by a worrisome breakdown in army discipline among 
soldiers whose first allegiance is not to the state.  On Monday, 
several enlisted men from the Nachshon battalion held a political 
protest on base evidently out of pique that the IDF had dismantled 
an illegal outpost earlier in the day.  The issues at stake 
transcend partisanship.  Demagogic Knesset members and post-Zionist 
rabbis who encourage servicemen to disobey their officers, or deny 
the legitimacy of the political echelon to direct the military are 
undermining the State of Israel.  Disrespect for legitimate 
authority, demonization of elected officials and demagoguery are bad 
for the Jews... even when it takes place in their own state. 
 
 
 
--------- 
¶2.  Iran: 
--------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
QA Good but Insufficient Start 
 
Former Kadima Knesset Member Professor Yitzhak Ben-Yisrael, an 
expert on missile defense, wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist 
Yediot Aharonot (11/18): QFrom a comprehensive, strategic view 
point, Iranian assent [to a nuclear agreement with the world powers] 
represents the first withdrawal from a tough position that has so 
far been peen presented as a demonstration of unwillingness to 
compromise.  In itself, the agreement is a significant achievement 
for the West and confirms the thesis that the Iranian regime, with 
its domestic problems and its deteriorating economy, is susceptible 
to pressure and prepared to fold under international pressure.... 
This is a good start, but not enough per se. 
 
CUNNINGHAM