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P 271025Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
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RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 6615
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RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 4232
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000185 
 
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 
 
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SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
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Mideast 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
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The main Hebrew language newspapers highlighted today's events 
marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Prime Minister 
Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres are both scheduled to 
speak in Europe today at ceremonies marking the Remembrance Day: 
Netanyahu at the Auschwitz death camp and Peres at the Bundestag in 
Berlin. Netanyahu visited Warsaw yesterday and met with the Polish 
prime minister and foreign minister. He is expected to speak today 
about the lesson that should be learned from the Holocaust in the 
context of Iran's attempts to obtain nuclear weapons. Leading 
newspapers provided several quotes from Netanyahu's planned speech, 
in which he will say that "Iran is the greatest threat to the Jewish 
People since the Holocaust." Ahead of today's ceremonies in Berlin, 
President Peres met yesterday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel 
and thanked her for her firm position on Iran. According to most 
media outlets, Merkel said that steps would be taken to tighten the 
sanctions against Iran starting from next month. 
 
On its front page, Yediot focused on the arrest of Rabbi Yitzhak 
Shapira, dean of the Od Yosef Hai Yeshiva in Yitzhar.  Rabbi Shapira 
was questioned in the context of the torching of the mosque at 
Yasouf, near Nablus, in December 2009, and arrested after refusing 
to cooperate with his questioning by the police and Shin Bet.  This 
follows the recent arrest of several young people from Yitzhar, who 
are still under detention.  Local Yitzhar residents and MK Michael 
Ben-Ari (National Union) criticized the rabbi's arrest. 
 
   Major media reported that the Knesset House Committee voted 
yesterday to strip MK Said Nafa (Balad) of his immunity, so that he 
could stand trial for traveling to Syria in 2007 and allegedly 
meeting with a foreign agent.  In the committee's discussion, 
Attorney General Meni Mazuz explained that unlike previous cases, in 
which Arab MKs were not prosecuted after traveling to enemy states, 
Nafa had also committed a security offense by engaging in contact 
with a foreign agent. 
 
Block Quotes: 
----------- 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
 
¶I. "At the mouth of the volcano" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent and editorial page editor Aluf Benn wrote 
in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (1/27): "There is deep 
concern surrounding U.S. President Obama's announcement that his 
effort to restart the Israeli-Palestinian peace process has failed. 
... This is about preventing war. For America to abandon its efforts 
would increase the danger of a regional conflagration.... Signs 
indicative of an impending explosion are coming from every side: 
from Iran, Lebanon, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and also 
Israel.... The evident weakness of the "world's policeman" is 
encouraging local leaders to take risks.... Israel is in strategic 
trouble. Netanyahu's political positions ... are no different from 
those of his predecessors, Ehud Olmert and Ehud Barak. But the 
timing of his declarations ... meant to bring him closer to his 
rightist political base - were viewed internationally as a 
provocation.... Leaving the regional players to their own devices 
... increases the risk of war. Perhaps Obama is blind and does not 
understand this or perhaps he is simply sick and tired of "the Jews 
and the Arabs." But there is a third possibility - that he is acting 
like Henry Kissinger before the Yom Kippur War: waiting for it to 
begin so that afterward he can summon the wounded parties to 
America, which will rescue them and impose order in the region." 
 
 
II. "Leadership Avoiding a Meeting" 
 
Chief Economic Editor and senior columnist Sever Plotker wrote in 
the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (1/27): "The 
Palestinian leadership is refusing (so far) to negotiate with the 
Israeli government headed by Netanyahu.  The Palestinians have 
spoken with all of Israel's governments since the Oslo Accords. But 
shortly after Netanyahu was sworn in as prime minister for the 
second time, the Palestinian leadership devised excuses and more 
excuses to avoid entering into a dialogue with Israel.... (They) do 
not want to negotiate with Netanyahu because they perceive Netanyahu 
as a practical statesman who aspires to a practical solution.  And 
this is something in which (they) do not want to become entangled. 
The Palestinian leaders did not mind talking to Olmert because they 
knew that he did not have a mandate to reach any agreement.... With 
Obama and Bibi, the negotiations could evolve differently....  This, 
then, is the absurdity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in 2010. 
The Palestinians are willing for abstract negotiations with the 
Netanyahu government, knowing in advance that they will not lead to 
any result, but are unwilling for practical negotiations if there is 
a chance that they will lead to results on the ground.  They fear to 
find themselves in a situation where they will be called upon to 
reject or accept a feasible provisional arrangement, which includes 
the evacuation of some of the settlements and the transfer of more 
territory to their control.  They are fleeing from Bibi because they 
view him as a serious statesman." 
 
III. "Israel's Whitewash" 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (1/27): "The 
cabinet's likely approval of an "examination committee" to look into 
... Operation Cast Lead ... is yet another grave error in the 
state's response.... It's a case of too little, too late. After 
foolishly boycotting the Goldstone committee, ... the government 
persists in its attempts at a cover-up - entrenching itself further 
still in its refusal to appoint a state commission of inquiry.... 
Such a commission is vital. A commission is needed first and 
foremost in order to conduct an honest, independent examination that 
will determine, once and for all, whether acts that are defined as 
war crimes were indeed committed in Operation Cast Lead. Israeli 
society has the right to know what happened in Gaza.... A committee 
whose authority will be limited ... can only further damage Israel's 
shaky position.... 
The Israeli public has a right to know.... The world will not buy 
into the conclusions of a co-opted committee with limited powers and 
its work will not dispel the suspicions hanging over Israel. The 
prime minister must immediately act to appoint a state commission of 
inquiry, chaired by a Supreme Court justice, and stop covering up 
and avoiding a thorough investigation of the truth." 
MORENO