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RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 4225
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000175 
 
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.  Anniversary of President ObamaQs Swearing-In: 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media quoted the German weekly Der Spiegel as saying that Iran 
will produce an atomic weapon within a year and that it is trying to 
reduce the size of the weapon so that it can mount it on a missile. 
Israel Radio quoted Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as saying 
that IranQs time of decision has arrived.  The radio reported that 
Israel is trying to have a deal between Iran and a German gas firm 
canceled and that another contract was annulled.  IDF Radio quoted 
DM Ehud Barak as saying that lack of peace is IsraelQs greatest 
threat, not IranQs nuclear program. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the PA is QstudyingQ U.S. Special 
Envoy for Middle East Peace Senator George MitchellQs proposal to 
restart talks at a ministerial level.  Makor Rishon-Hatzofe quoted 
leading Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat as saying that reports on 
the resumption of the negotiations are inaccurate.  IDF Radio quoted 
PA President Mahmoud Abbas that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is 
pressuring him to renew the talks. 
 
Information and Diaspora Affairs Yuli Edelstein said in an interview 
from New York with Israel Radio that Israel does not intend to draft 
a document of its own to counter the Goldstone Report.  Several 
major media had discussed this possibility. 
 
HaQaretz cited a Foreign Ministry report that the humiliation of the 
Turkish Ambassador to Israel has worked and that Ankara got the 
message; the dossier points a finger at Turkish PM Recep Tayyip 
Erdogan for anti-Semitic remarks. 
 
Makor Rishon-Hatzofe quoted associates of DM Barak as saying that 
the comment the Minister made yesterday at a session of the Labor 
PartyQs Knesset faction about Qvoices in the Israeli Left that, 
instead of encouraging the parties, are strengthening doubts among 
the Palestinians,Q referred to former Meretz Chairman Yossi Beilin. 
 
HaQaretz reported that IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi is 
heading to Brussels for a NATO military conference. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Congressman Howard Berman, Chairman 
of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, defended PM Benjamin 
Netanyahu and placed the onus for restarting peace talks on the 
Palestinians. 
 
Yediot reported that Tim Laas, a U.S. security officer at the 
Consulate-General in Jerusalem, told representatives of the foreign 
and defense ministries that the U.S. does not agree to let Israeli 
security staff inspect its vehicles in the country. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira, 
head of the Old Yosef Chai yehiva in the Yitzhar settlement near 
Nablus, was clled for questioning by police over the alleged 
nvolvement of six of his students in the arson of  West Bank 
mosque on December 11. 
 
All media rported that yesterday PM Benjamin Netanyahu's wifeSara 
sued Maariv, its editor-in-chief Yoav Tzur, nd journalist Ben 
Caspit for libel and defamatio of character, claiming that the 
daily newspaper "is maliciously trying to humiliate her." 
Sara Netanyahu seeks damages of one million shekels (around 
$250,000) from Maariv.   Last Friday the paper wrongly reported that 
she had fired a 70-year-old gardener at the Prime Minister's 
Residence.  In another development, the media reported that the 
former employee of the PMQs wife at the Netanyahu residence in 
Caesarea, who accused her of bad treatment and low remuneration, 
filed a complaint with the police, saying that someone had 
threatened to kill her children. 
 
All media reported that yesterday the Knesset approved by a large 
majority a comprehensive pardon bill for hundreds of right-wing 
people who transgressed the law during the disengagement from Gaza 
and the northern West Bank. 
 
Some Israeli commentators speculated, counter to the view of the 
Lebanese Government, that the explosion of the Ethiopian Airlines 
plane off the coast of Beirut was caused by malice. 
 
Leading media reported that current visits to Poland, Hungary, and 
Slovakia by Israeli leaders are meant to return Eastern EuropeQs 
diplomatic support for Israel. 
 
Israel Radio reported that Knesset Member Said Naffaa (Balad 
National Democratic Assembly) has asked the KnessetQs House 
Committee to grant him immunity from prosecution over his trip to 
Syria in 2007.  Naffaa claims that his trip was part of his duties 
to the public that elected him.  Attorney General Menachem Mazuz 
rejected the attempt to turn the indictment into an issue pertaining 
to the entire Druze community in Israel.  Mazuz was quoted as saying 
that this case most clearly represents a contact of the severest 
type with a foreign agent. 
 
Media quoted Polish Bishop Tadeusz Pieronek as saying in an 
interview with an Italian Catholic news website, Pontifex Roma, that 
Jews had "stolen" the tragedy of the Holocaust for propaganda 
purposes.  He later recanted his comment. 
 
The media reported that last night the field hospital opened by 
Israel in Haiti closed its doors.  The Jerusalem Post wrote that as 
of yesterday, 1,102 Haitians had been treated at the facility. 
Among that number, 13 women gave birth naturally, three babies were 
delivered using Caesarian sections, and 314 operations were 
performed.  Fifteen people remained hospitalized at the facility and 
they will continue to receive treatment over the next few days until 
the Qpull-outQ of IDF forces is complete. 
 
Israel Hayom notes that, contrary to the OECD, The Wall Street 
Journal praises IsraelQs economic policy.  Channel 10-TV reported 
that the International Monetary Fund has urged Bank of Israel 
Governor Stanley Fischer to stop buying U.S. dollars. 
 
 
 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
 
¶I.  QThe Bulldozers ArenQt Dozing 
 
Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in Ha'aretz (1/26): QTwo 
months after the government decision on November 26 to freeze 
construction in Jewish settlements for 10 months, you'd have to be 
blind, an idiot, or a member of the Yesha Council of Jewish 
Settlements in the Territories to use the term QfreezeQ to describe 
the real estate situation in Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank]. 
 Two days ago, when Netanyahu planted a tree in Gush Etzion, he 
promised to place many more trees in the Ariel bloc as well, which 
is 20 kilometers east of the Green Line.  In the case of Ariel, 
Netanyahu kept his word even before he gave it; as he was speaking 
yellow bulldozers were feverishly working on a new site for Ariel's 
industrial zone.... Two days ago HaQaretz documented bulldozers at 
work [in that region] (and also in the Barkan industrial zone).  The 
spokesman of the Civil Administration [which depends on the 
IDF/Defense Ministry] explained that the Qenforcement efforts and 
issuing of injunctions is done in accordance with all the relevant 
considerations and priorities.Q  It seems that the freeze on the 
construction of new industrial zones in national priority zones of 
the government in the heart of the West Bank is not at the top of 
the Defense Minister's list of priorities.  He apparently was busy 
upgrading the status of Ariel University Center of Samaria. 
Netanyahu's colleagues will probably explain to the Americans that 
aside from the settlers, factories also experience natural growth. 
 
 
II.  QA Nutty State 
 
Senior columnist and longtime peace advocate Yoel Marcus wrote in 
the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (1/26): QThere is no doubt 
that the settlers and Likud extremists are pleased with Obama's 
admission of failure.  But as far as the state's real interests are 
concerned, there is no cause for rejoicing.  In any case, sooner or 
later we will have to end the occupation.  The only question is 
under what circumstances.  When a Republican is elected instead of 
the Democratic candidate in Massachusetts -- home to the Kennedy 
clan and a Democratic bastion -- reducing the Democratic-aligned 
majority in the Senate from 60 to 59, this is not good news to Obama 
ahead of the November elections.  As Israelis we should not jump for 
joy when a Democratic administration weakens.  For better or worse 
we gain from America not only defense assistance, but backing on the 
world stage. Many states court us because of these special 
relations.  Strategically we need a strong, leading America.  On the 
other hand, America needs us too. Obama has positioned us as a 
central pawn on his peace chessboard with Islam. In the tangle of 
Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Iranian threat, he sees the 
Palestinian-Israeli conflict as a snarl that must be untangled.... 
Before the President finds the timing for imposing a 
deadlock-breaking move, Netanyahu would do well to come up with his 
own initiative to break the impasse. 
 
III.  QThe Resurrection of the Allon Plan 
 
David Newman, Professor of Political Geography at Ben-Gurion 
University and Editor of the International Journal of Geopolitics, 
wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (1/26): QPrime 
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's comments last week to foreign 
journalists that whatever the final outcome of a peace solution 
(assuming there is ever one), Israel would insist on retaining 
control of the border between a Palestinian state and Jordan 
signaled a return to a way of thinking about the future borders of 
the country thought to have disappeared over a decade ago.... The 
idea of retaining control over the border with Jordan is a throwback 
to the period immediately following the Six Day War.... The Allon 
Plan, after its author, former Palmah commander, foreign minister, 
and deputy prime minister Yigal Allon, could best be described as a 
pragmatic security plan.  Recognizing the demographic implications 
of long-term control of the region, Allon did not want Israel to 
retain such control over the interior mountainous areas of the West 
Bank, densely occupied even then by Palestinians.  At the same time, 
he wanted to ensure that the autonomous region remain isolated from 
direct contact with its Arab neighbors to the east.... Did Netanyahu 
make his statement based on real security expertise or was it just 
another attempt to hammer the nails even more strongly into the 
coffin of peace? 
 
 
 
 
 
IV.  QNorthern Code 
 
Defense commentator Amir Oren wrote in the independent, left-leaning 
Ha'aretz (1/26): QIf [Syrian President Bashar] Assad decides to 
imitate Anwar Sadat, who was his father's partner in 1973, and to 
strike Israel in order to wound it, its air bases, infrastructure 
and pride, Israel will not be able to prevent him from gaining a 
psychological and political victory, however heavy a military and 
economic price he must pay.  This is the code of the north that our 
commanders there are refusing to decipher for the public, who will 
suffer the consequences.  To their credit, it may be said that the 
generals are unwilling to encroach on the no-man's-land between the 
military and political echelons, and that they fear divulging to the 
Syrians the IDF commanders' thinking.  But on the negative side, 
they are shirking their supreme duty -- preventing an unnecessary 
war. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
¶2.  Anniversary of President ObamaQs Swearing-In: 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  QGive the Man a Break 
 
Michael Sussman, a former special assistant to the Critic of 
International Cooperation in the Canadian House of Commons, who is 
now completing a thesis about modern reform in the Arab Middle East 
at the Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post (1/26): QIn a world where actions speak 
louder than words, Obama has made significant efforts to advance the 
moral principles we aspire to.... Obama claims that Qchange will not 
come if we wait for some other person or some other time.  We are 
the ones we've been waiting for.  We are the change that we seek. 
However, our views of freedom and the rule of law are far from being 
universally accepted.  Convincing people to give way to our beliefs 
will not come with the click of a pen.  To turn our ideals into 
reality we must undertake the difficult task of understanding the 
way our adversaries think.  We must work hard to show them how 
freedom, human rights and democracy should prevail.  We must not 
allow the goodness of our principles to be used against us.  Change 
is possible; but it involves hard work. 
 
 
II.  QItQs Not Just Israel : How Obama Undermines U.S. Allies 
 
Abraham Katsman, an American attorney and political commentator 
currently living in Jerusalem, wrote in The Jerusalem Post (1/26): 
QFor those worried that U.S. President Barack Obama is particularly 
antagonistic toward Israel, there's good news and bad news: the good 
news is that Israel is hardly Obama's obsession; the bad news is 
that his administration's conduct toward it is consistent with its 
pattern of backing away from embattled American allies -- a 
predictable byproduct of Obama's approach to foreign policy through 
dictator outreach.  Obama, more than any recent president, has made 
his own personality and identity cornerstones of American 
diplomacy.... Obama's one-sided pressure against Israel has earned 
him, according to a Jerusalem Post poll published in June, the 
assessment of only 6 percent of Jewish Israelis that his 
administration is pro-Israel.  But it's not just Israel.... Is there 
a threatened ally he has ever stood up for?  If I were Taiwan, IQd 
be worried.... With nothing to show for his efforts, Obama's 
continued belief in his ability to pacify adversaries by personal 
appeal is as delusional as it is dangerous.  Nations don't have 
personal friends; they have interests.  And American interests are 
not advanced by presidential groveling, but by creating the right 
mix of carrots and sticks to induce desired behavior.  Obama's 
willingness to sacrifice embattled allies to appease hostile regimes 
ultimately weakens America.  As Bernard Lewis has said: QA nation 
can make few mistakes worse than this: to be harmless as an enemy 
and treacherous as a friend.Q  Especially when that nation gets 
nothing in return. 
 
CUNNINGHAM