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RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 4198
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000113 
 
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.  Anniversary of President ObamaQs Swearing-In 
 
¶2.  Mideast 
 
¶3.  Aftermath of the Earthquake in Haiti 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Israel Radio reported that U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Peace 
Senator George Mitchell will visit Damascus today before coming to 
Israel this evening.  The Jerusalem Post reported that the PA is 
pushing Israel to agree to a total construction freeze in both the 
settlements and East Jerusalem of between three and six months.  The 
newspaper quoted senior Israeli officials as saying that PM Benjamin 
Netanyahu will not agree to this offer.  (Maariv printed a similar 
story.)  The Jerusalem Post reported that this is one the ideas that 
Mitchell is expected to raise during his meeting with Netanyahu 
tomorrow. 
 
Major media reported that Iran has rejected an international plan 
that called for shipping most of its low-enriched uranium abroad for 
further enrichment as part of an effort to prevent the building of a 
nuclear weapon.  Media cited U.S. administration officials as saying 
that this was an Qinadequate response.Q  Makor Rishon-Hatzofe and 
other media quoted the head of IDF Intelligence, Maj. Gen. Amos 
Yadlin, as saying that Iran is advancing every day toward nuclear 
capability. 
 
Yediot quoted former U.S. President Bill Clinton, the U.N. Special 
Envoy to Haiti, as saying that Israelis have accumulated a lot of 
experience on the battlefield and that they have wonderful field 
hospitals. Clinton thanked them for this.  He was quoted as saying 
that the Israelis do excellent work.  Israel Radio reported that 
other U.N. officials praised IsraelQs medical work. 
 
Yediot reported that the Knesset is launching a campaign to put 
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on trial in The Hague for 
violating the U.N. CharterQs genocide clause.  Maariv cited the 
IDFQs belief that some of the weapons seized aboard the ship Francop 
were sent by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to Ahmadinejad. 
 
Yediot cited suspicions in Israel that representatives of 
international organizations and diplomats have transferred large 
sums of money to Gaza through the Erez Crossing. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted Fatah officials as saying yesterday that 
PA Prime Minister Salam FayyadQs government has been working to 
weaken Fatah by drying up its financial resources and isolating it 
in the political and security fields. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted Israeli defense officials as saying 
yesterday that the Pentagon is rebuffing IsraelQs technical demands 
on the F-35 aircraft. 
 
The media reported that, following the victory of Republican 
candidate Scott Brown in the special Massachusetts election to 
replace Ted Kennedy in the U.S. Senate, President Obama has lost his 
majority in the Senate.  U.S. politics expert Professor Avraham 
Ben-Zvi told Israel Radio that this development represents 
disappointment in a Qnational referendum for Obama.Q  Media said 
that Obama is facing various tests after one year in office. 
Speaking on Israel Radio today, YediotQs Washington correspondent 
rated the PresidentQs performance an 8 out of 10. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that prominent Palestinian journalists 
visited the Knesset yesterday. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Shin Bet has beefed up security for 
officials traveling overseas because of concern that Hizbullah will 
target one of them to avenge the assassination of its terror chief 
Imad Mughniyah in Damascus two years ago. 
 
Yediot reported on a row between Israel and Jordan regarding the 
placing of a stone from the Temple Mount on the Knesset esplanade. 
Jordan claims that the artifact was taken from a palace of the 
Abbasside period, while Israel says it is from the Second Temple 
period. 
 
Yediot reported that Israel and Turkey have signed a cooperation 
agreement in many domains aimed at returning bilateral relations to 
their normal course.  The Jerusalem Post quoted IDF Intelligence 
chief Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin as saying that Turkey is moving away 
from the West. 
Media reported that a report by the Organization for Economic 
Cooperation and Development (OECD) shows that if the OECD accepts 
Israel in its vote this May, it will be its poorest member with the 
widest social gaps.  The OECD's chairman, Jose Angel Gurria, 
submitted the report to the Israeli Government yesterday.  Makor 
Rishon-Hatzofe quoted Netanyahu as saying that Israel will join the 
organization by the end of this year. 
 
Leading media reported that the FBI has arrested 19 suspects, 
including three Israelis who own security firms, on charges of 
attempted bribing of the defense minister of an African country. 
 
Citing the AP, The Jerusalem Post mentioned a document released by 
the Vatican yesterday, which blames the Israeli-Palestinian conflict 
and the QoccupyingQ of lands for fomenting most of the conflicts in 
the Middle East, driving Christians out and making life difficult 
for those who remain. 
 
Over the past week the media reported on the aftermath of a 
complaint filed in court by a former employee of the PMQs wife Sara 
at the Netanyahu residence in Caesarea, who accused her of bad 
treatment and low remuneration.  On Friday Yediot revealed the 
alleged affair, which many view as the reflection of a row between 
IsraelQs largest newspaper and Israel Hayom, a free daily with a 
growing circulation that is owned by American Jewish tycoon Sheldon 
Adelson, a friend of Benjamin Netanyahu. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
¶1.  Anniversary of President ObamaQs Swearing-In: 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  QFor a Stronger Year Two 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (1/20): 
QOne year later, the great expectations that Obama set for himself 
in this sphere, and that others placed in him, lie largely 
unfulfilled.  America has not defeated terror in Iraq, Afghanistan, 
or even in its own airspace.... Obama's diplomatic approach to 
preventing Iran's nuclearization has borne no fruit; his delays in 
applying sufficiently biting sanctions risk giving the Iranian 
leadership the impression that it won't be held accountable.... 
Obama admirably sought a new way forward in his relations with the 
Muslim world, which he elucidated in his June 4 speech in Cairo. 
The response to date has been a cold shoulder, including the 
rejection of the positive gestures he sought from Arab leaders to 
give Israelis hope of reciprocity in the peace process.... 
Meanwhile, Obama's call for a halt to all Israeli building beyond 
the 1967 lines -- a demand no Israeli prime minister could meet in 
full -- needlessly radicalized the Palestinian leadership, for how 
could Mahmoud Abbas consent to resumed talks with Israel when Prime 
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not even doing what his American 
allies required him to do?  That pressure to halt building even in 
east Jerusalem and the major settlement blocs also reduced the 
President's credibility among Israelis.... This is our hope: ... a 
strong Israel requires a strong America that is respected by the 
world.  That was prominent among the expectations Americans and 
Israelis harbored on that wintry day in Washington a year ago.  And 
that is what they need still more urgently in President Obama's 
second year. 
 
II.  "Lonely at the Top" 
 
Columnist and former Washington correspondent Tal Schneider wrote in 
the popular, pluralist Maariv (1/20): QIn poll-loving America ... 
Obama started his term with support rates of over 90 percent.  How 
is it possible that -- according to a Washington Post poll - the 
President earns the support of only 54 percent of respondents.  In 
the parallel, i.e. the real, world, the American people will decide 
whether to support or not a president based on a survey of economic 
performance.... This is how the President will be judged over the 
coming year.  In November the mid-term elections ... will be held. 
One will then be able to see how Obama is truly perceived among the 
public that raised him to greatness. 
 
------------ 
¶2.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  QBefore Netanyahu Pops the Champagne 
E 
 
Palestinian affairs correspondent Avi Issacharoff wrote in the 
independent, left-leaning HaQaretz (1/20): QThe Americans are 
coming.  The U.S. National Security Advisor, Jim Jones, visited 
Israel last week and Mideast Envoy George Mitchell landed in the 
country yesterday [sic].  But without a dramatic change in both 
Washington's and Jerusalem's positions, talks on a final-status 
agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority will not be 
relaunched even after Mitchell leaves.... Israeli officials will 
naturally celebrate the significant QachievementQ of the non-renewal 
of negotiations and deepening relations with Washington, while 
[Mahmoud] Abbas will be viewed as a spoilsport, refusing every 
Israeli or American proposal.  Netanyahu will be able to sell his 
colleagues in the Labor Party -- and domestic public opinion -- the 
claim that he is at least trying.  After all, who cares if there is 
no diplomatic horizon if the West Bank is quiet?  But without a 
final-status agreement, this quiet will ultimately be revealed as 
more fragile than it seems.  Before the champagne is popped in the 
offices of the prime, foreign, and defense ministers, let's remember 
that the absence of diplomatic prospects hardly represents a foreign 
policy achievement.  Perhaps the time has come for Netanyahu to 
simply tell the Israeli public the truth: there will be no peace 
agreement with the PA without Palestinian sovereignty over East 
Jerusalem, that building there does not help reach such an 
agreement, and that maybe we need a building freeze, even a short 
one, to save the moribund peace process from an untimely death. 
 
II.  QSitting on Embers 
 
Eytan Haber, veteran op-ed writer and assistant to the late Prime 
Minister Yitzhak Rabin, opined in the mass-circulation, pluralist 
Yediot Aharonot (1/20): QIsraelQs condition has seemingly never been 
so good: the shops are full to the brim, cafes fight over empty 
tables, wages are rising.... Terror -- more dangerous than that of 
bombs -- is that of world delegitimization, of IsraelQs exclusion 
from the world nations... Over the past period the Arabs and 
Palestinians have been disappointing us.... We should do everything 
we can to revive the talks and bring the Palestinians to the 
negotiating table.  Looking at what has happened so far, the 
Israelis fell asleep on the watch near that table, too. 
 
III.  QTime Is Running Out 
 
Liberal columnist Dr. Gadi Taub wrote in Yediot Aharonot (1/20): 
QThis option has a time limit and time is running out.  Israel was 
given six months [to launch an independent investigation into 
Operation Cast Lead] from the publication of the Goldstone report, 
and this period will end on March 15.  The accusations of Judge 
Goldstone appear to be mostly groundless.  GoldstoneQs method, in 
which clearly biased testimonies were accepted without question or 
further examination, is not only unfair, but absolutely 
scandalous.... Israel erred by choosing to boycott the commission. 
But its choice not to honor the terms of the international community 
and to launch its own investigation by an independent agency is much 
more severe.  Such an agency could be a commission headed by a 
judge, or an inquiry by the State ComptrollerQs Office.... Why ... 
has no investigation been launched?   Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi 
Ashkenazi and Defense Minister Ehud Barak continue to oppose it. 
They wish to maintain the chain of command and the accountability of 
the officers towards their commanders, not towards an external 
tribunal.... But what the Chief of Staff and Defense Minister 
believe to be protecting their subordinates is actually forsaking 
them.... If war crimes were committed in Operation Cast Lead, we 
have a right to know about them, and their perpetrators should stand 
trial here in Israel.  But it is no less important that we not leave 
this manipulative report unanswered, and leave those who were sent 
to defend our security exposed to prosecution and imprisonment.  If 
the IDF is proud of the fact that it does not forsake its soldiers 
in the hands of the enemy, it should understand that we have enemies 
of a new kind, and they are damaging our ability to defend 
ourselves. 
 
IV.  QGoogleQs Tough Censorship Talk Bypasses Arab Countries 
 
Digital affairs writer David Shamah commented in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post (1/20): QGoogle talks tough when it comes 
to ChinaQs blocking human rights on the Internet -- but is it 
planning to do anything about net censorship and netizen rights in 
the Arab world?.... I certainly do not approve of ChinaQs policies 
on human rights.... I bring the above by way of contrast to the 
Internet policies of countries like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and even 
Jordan.  Google not only does not protest the censorship and 
invasive net practices of Arab governments -- it even cooperates 
with them.  And not only has there been no criticism of these 
policies by Google, there has been no hint from the company that it 
intends to close down its offices anywhere in the Arab world 
ever.... Even countries that regards themselves as QwesternizedQ to 
some extent, like the UAE, Kuwait, and of course that bastion of 
democracy, Egypt, keep tabs on users and sites, sniffing out 
QinappropriateQ use of the Internet.  Bloggers who dare to write 
something that their government disapproves of are likely to find 
themselves in jail or worse.... Even China recanted its brief ban on 
YouTube last year.  Why close offices in China, but not the Arab 
lands?  If youQre going to take a stand on Internet censorship, 
isnQt it discriminatory -- even racist -- to come down hard on one 
set of abusers, while letting another group of abusers off the hook 
altogether? 
 
----------------------------------------- 
¶3.  Aftermath of the Earthquake in Haiti: 
----------------------------------------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
QNow They Love Us 
 
Eytan Haber, veteran op-ed writer and assistant to the late Prime 
Minister Yitzhak Rabin, opined on page one of the mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot (1/20): QThe IDF delegation that is giving 
its heart and soul in order to save lives in Haiti illustrates in 
its laudable work the Israeli tragedy: within a month or two, no one 
will remember the good deeds of the IDF soldiers, the quick rescue 
work at the far end of the world, and the countries and leaders who 
are now praising Israel will give instructions to vote against it in 
the U.N., condemn the IDF operations in Gaza, and once again 
criticize the Israeli foreign minister.  Israel, which is now 
rescuing children from the inferno, will return to being the bad boy 
of the world.  These difficult days in Haiti are also days filled 
with pride for Israel.... Soon, the soldiers of the delegation will 
return to their homes.  In their albums they will have pictures for 
a keepsake.  As for us, we will return to fighting in a world that 
does not like to see us in our fine hours.  What a pity. 
 
CUNNINGHAM