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Viewing cable 09TELAVIV2541, ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
09TELAVIV2541 2009-11-25 10:52 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Tel Aviv
VZCZCXYZ0001
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTV #2541/01 3291052
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 251052Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4344
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 6298
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 2863
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN PRIORITY 6906
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 7119
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 6358
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 5010
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 7215
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 3979
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 2196
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 0855
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 8376
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 3388
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 7359
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 9440
RUEHJI/AMCONSUL JEDDAH PRIORITY 2182
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM PRIORITY 3241
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHMFISS/COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/COMSIXTHFLT  PRIORITY
UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002541 
 
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: 
-------------------------------- 
 
Mideast 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Despite the lack of real developments on the ground, the prospect of 
a prisoner exchange deal being reached between Israel and Hamas 
continues to be featured prominently by the Israeli press. 
 
Army Radio quotes a high-ranking Israeli diplomat who said he 
believed that Obama administration was opposed to the deal, which is 
construed as liable to damage the Palestinian Authority and Chairman 
Mahmoud Abbas. Yediot Ahronot quoted PA and Fatah officials who are 
taking Israel to task for the yet incomplete deal, saying that in 
past prisoner releases Israel didn't agree to Abbas's demand for a 
prisoner release saying those prisoners released were petty 
criminals and not prisoners with influence and standing who could 
have contributed to his standing. 
 
Ma'ariv reported that senior Hamas prisoners told Marwan Barghouti 
that the impending deal will not take place without him being 
included. 
 
Israel Hayom commissioned a public opinion poll that found a firm 
majority of Israelis would support a prisoner exchange deal to 
release Gilad Shalit, even if that meant releasing prisoners with 
"blood on their hands." Israel Hayom reports about a petition that 
was filed to the High Court of Justice yesterday in hope of lifting 
the censor's blackout on which kinds of prisoners might be 
released. 
 
Israel Radio reported this morning that PM Netanyahu will convene 
the security cabinet today to discuss the Palestinian issue and 
several other issues.  Political sources said that as of now, there 
was no deal with Hamas.  The prime minister said yesterday that if a 
deal were to be put together for Shalit's release, it would be 
brought before the cabinet for a decision 
 
Ma'ariv reports this morning about an American diplomat from the US 
Consulate in Jerusalem who has begun to conduct a hands-on 
investigation into construction in the West Bank settlements. The 
diplomat, who is believed to be a member of George Mitchell's team, 
visited Efrat yesterday where she questioned officials about what 
was being built where and why, as well as what was not being built. 
According to Ma'ariv, Efrat was merely the first in a series of 
settlements the American diplomat intends to visit. 
 
Block Quotes: 
----------- 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
ΒΆI. "The Highest Price" 
 
Senior commentator for Channel Two News Amnon Abramovitch wrote in 
the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (11/25): Death in 
war starts with a young man walking down the stairs.  ... About four 
months ago, Netanyahu told people that he has been carrying around 
in his bag the letter that he wrote to Yitzhak Shamir against the 
Jibril deal...  Later, Netanyahu pointed out the differences between 
the Jibril deal [of 1985] and the expected Shalit deal. The next 
day... Netanyahu had made a strategic decision to go for the Shalit 
deal.  Shortly beforehand a new envoy was appointed, Hagai Hadas, 
with a new mandate.  The task of mediation was placed in the hands 
of a German mediator. When Gilad Shalit returns home, and the book 
is written with the "real story" of the negotiations... At first 
there was a cabinet resolution... which adopted the GSS's definition 
of the term "having blood on their hands." ... Matters were 
subsequently conducted in a Palmach-style, chummy manner, in which a 
method was employed that was known in the media as the "bathtub" 
method: ...The bathtub did not fill up.  But control of the tap was 
handed over to Hamas....Former PM Olmert could have closed a deal. 
He made a leadership decision, which was unpopular... to stick 
somehow to previous deals and "market prices."   Hagai Hadas 
reorganized things in a very orderly fashion, almost scientific, 
with analyses and cross-sections, motives and alternatives....How 
will the story end? The captions the end of the film will read: 
Gilad Shalit returns home.  Israel paid the highest price for him. 
Israel, and the world too, took note of another negotiation with 
Hamas.  Hagai Hadas is a candidate to replace Meir Dagan as Mossad 
director. 
 
 
II. "Resuming the Turkish track" 
 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (11/25): 
Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan's criticism of Israel for its policy 
in the territories ... and Cast Lead ... unjustly changed Turkey's 
status from ... close friend to ... an almost-enemy. Israel 
attributed Erdogan's criticism to the pan-Islamic slant of Turkey's 
ruling party, the country's growing ties with Iran and the aim of 
Turkey and Syria to replace their Western allies with Arab ones.... 
In a single moment we forgot... that it was Turkey that managed to 
renew the dialogue between Syria and Israel... The Turkish criticism 
is no different in essence from that being heard in some European 
countries or on American campuses.... [It]is partly because of the 
personal insult felt by Erdogan, who hosted ... Olmert and even 
conducted an indirect phone conversation between Olmert and Syrian 
President Bashar Assad. Erdogan's request to mediate between Israel 
and Hamas was rejected; instead, the Turkish premier was forced to 
deal with the fallout from a violent operation in Gaza.... Minister 
Ben-Eliezer is trying to put an end to the public account-keeping 
between Israel and Turkey. He proposes that Turkey resume its 
mediation between Israel and Syria. This is an appropriate 
proposal... The Turkish side, too, apparently wants to move past the 
disagreement and restore relations with Israel. On the other hand, 
the harsh words being hurled in Turkey by Avigdor Lieberman, are 
hurting more than they are helping. Israel's interest lies in 
restoring relations with Turkey, just as it does in renewing the 
Syrian track. If Turkey is the catalyst for that, we should avail 
ourselves of its good services. 
 
 
III. "Keeping the Golan won't protect Israel from Syria" 
 
Senior military affairs analyst Reuven Pedatzur wrote in the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (11/25): On June 19, 1967, after 
the end of ... the Six-Day War, ministers, were willing to give up 
on the gains made on the Syrian front in exchange for peace... 
listing the following conditions: 1. Demilitarization of the Syrian 
heights currently held by the IDF forces; 2. ...A promise not to 
interfere with the flow of water from ... the Jordan [River]." Thus 
were created, 42 years ago, the basic conditions for an agreement, 
which are still valid today. If negotiations between Syria and 
Israel are resumed, what will be left to discuss is the security of 
Israel.... Despite the significant changes that have occurred in the 
structure of the Syrian army ... an agreement demilitarizing the 
heights and securing the water sources of Israel... would be 
sufficient.... Netanyahu must decide whether achieving peace with 
Syria is a strategic target. If he decides yes, then the argument 
that has been made more than once to excuse delaying an agreement 
with the Syrians, that the cost is too high because it may undermine 
Israel's security, is patently invalid... Syrian President Bashar 
Assad appears to have made the strategic decision to sign a peace 
accord with Israel. If there are those who think that this is mere 
posturing, this is the time to test him. The security of Israel will 
not be endangered if it turns out that Assad does indeed mean what 
he says. 
 
IV. "Public Discussion is Needed" 
 
 
The nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe editorialized 
(11/25): The extensive discussion on the question of the deal that 
is or is not being drawn up for the release of the soldier Gilad 
Shalit, keeps on focusing on bilateral questions.... This discussion 
feeds the newspaper headlines ... but conceals the lack of a real 
public discussion on the weighty moral question that the deal 
involves.... Because the government and the media are not interested 
in a discussion, the censorship can impose a blackout on the details 
of the emerging deal-without real security justification.... The 
issue of the release deals is a moral, social and strategic issue of 
the first order.  It places the individual versus the collective, 
solidarity versus national interests, present versus future, the 
commitment to a soldier versus the need to maintain the personal 
security of Israel's citizens.  It also raises, of course, questions 
related to deterrence and the meaning of punishment and judgment, 
the cheapness of human life and the moral significance of the 
extreme asymmetry that marks all these deals.... The time has come 
for the current leadership in Israel to understand that on 
fundamental moral questions, the public discourse should be 
encouraged and deepened, not silenced and reduced to cheap trade in 
emotions. 
 CUNNINGHAM