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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000225 
 
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.  U.S.-PRC Tension 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that PM Benjamin Netanyahu and DM Ehud 
Barak are at odds over whether to form a committee to probe 
Operation Cast Lead: Barak has spoken out against forming an 
independent committee that would probe beyond the in-depth 
investigation of the IDF.  The PM is till undecided.  The Jerusalem 
Post quoted a top officer as saying yesterday that Military Police 
investigations into allegations of crimes by IDF personnel during 
Operation Cast Lead have uncovered evidence that could lead to 
indictments against officers and soldiers.  IDF Advocate-General 
Maj.-Gen. Avichai Mandelblit will make the final decision on whether 
charges will be brought against the soldiers.  The officer would not 
reveal which allegations were backed up by evidence, but The 
Jerusalem Post quoted other sources as saying that the possibility 
that soldiers deliberately killed innocent Palestinians had been 
ruled out.  The remaining investigations will be completed in the 
coming weeks.  HaQaretz and other media quoted the GOI as saying in 
its official response to the Goldstone Report that two IDF officers 
were disciplined for using white phosphorus in the shelling of a 
UNRWA facility during Operation Cast Lead.  In response to a report 
of a 60-meter Star of David carved into a Palestinian field during 
the operation, The Jerusalem Post quoted the IDF as saying that it 
was unfamiliar with the incident and that the Foreign Ministry 
should be contacted for an official comment. 
 
Maariv reported that indirect talks to smooth out differences 
between the parties are taking place between U.S. Special Envoy 
George Mitchell, Netanyahu envoy Yitzhak Molcho and Palestinian 
negotiator Saeb Erekat.  Major media quoted Palestinian President 
Mahmoud Abbas as saying yesterday in an interview with the British 
newspaper The Guardian that Israel's continued activity in the West 
Bank was leading to a "one-state solution." He was quoted as saying 
he was prepared to relaunch peace negotiations in exchange for a 
full three-month settlement freeze.  Abbas said he could be inclined 
 
toward accepting the Obama administration's proposal for direct, but 
low-level, talks prior to beginning full-scale peace negotiations, 
hinting that progress hinges on the acceptance by Israel of the 
framework of a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders and an 
end to occupation.  He told The Guardian that he and former PM Ehud 
Olmert had come closer to a peace agreement than any previous 
Israeli or Palestinian leadership, complete with discussions about 
"border swaps, Jerusalem and the return of some refugees."  However, 
Abbas said, PM Netanyahu had refused to continue those negotiations. 
 Abbas also reiterated that he would not tolerate a return to 
violent resistance and said he supported Egypt's construction of a 
border fence with Gaza as part of its efforts to crack down on 
smuggling.  Yesterday Israel Radio reported that Abbas told Arab 
journalists in London, after he met with British PM Gordon Brown and 
Foreign Secretary David Miliband that the PA will consult with Arab 
states and then provide its response within a weekQs time to the 
proposal made by Special Envoy Mitchell that he mediate between the 
Palestinians and Israel in indirect talks. 
 
The media reported that Hamas threatens to strike at Israeli targets 
abroad to avenge the killing of its senior activist Mahmoud 
al-Mabhouh during his stay in Dubai on January 20.  The media 
highlighted al-MabhouhQs alleged principal role in arms-smuggling 
from Iran to Hamas in Gaza.  The media reported that yesterday at 
the cabinet meeting, although they did not acknowledge IsraelQs 
responsibility for the assassination, ministers praised their 
overall satisfaction over the performance of Mossad Director Meir 
Dagan.  Media quoted National Infrastructure Minster Uzi Landau as 
denying any link to al-MabhouhQs death.  Landau had led a delegation 
to Abu Dhabi to attend an International Renewable Energy Agency 
(IRENA) conference. 
 
Yesterday Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi was quoted as saying in en 
interview with HaQaretz that IsraelQs settlement policy is a 
mistake.  The Jerusalem Post reported that during the visit of 
Berlusconi and eight members of his cabinet to Israel, which starts 
today, Israeli officials will focus on Italian aid to the Iranian 
satellite program. 
 
Yesterday Maariv quoted National Security Advisor James Jones as 
saying over the weekend that the growing pressure on Iran is liable 
to lead it to an attack against Israel. He said that history showed 
that when regimes feel under pressure, as Iran feels internally and 
as it will soon feel from without, they often opt to attack. 
 
HaQaretz reported that last week CIA Director Leon Panetta visited 
Israel and met with senior officials.  According to an item posted 
on Saturday on the U.S news site Politico, the officialsQ main 
subject of conversation was Iran. 
 
HaQaretz cited the London-based daily Al-Hayat, which quoted 
Assistant Secretary of State Ambassador Jeff Feltman as saying that 
the U.S. is concerned that HizbullahQs ongoing efforts to rearm 
could prompt a war between Israel and Lebanon. 
 
Electronic media reported that Shin Bet has arrested two East 
Jerusalem residents suspected of being recruited by Hamas during 
their studies in Jordan, and gathering information on potential 
terror targets in Israel -- at key public sites.  The two are 
suspected to have collected the videos, photographs, charts, and 
information on a USB flash drive which they were meant to transfer 
to their handlers.  They were then meant to receive explosives. 
They allegedly prepared a cave near Sataf, in the Judean Hills, and 
expanded it to use as a hiding place for their weapons.  Murad 
Kamal, 24, from Wadi Joz in Jerusalem, and Murad Nimer, 24 from Tzur 
Baher, also in the capital, both carry Israeli IDs. They were 
arrested on January 3 at the central bus station in Beersheva.  The 
two are to be charged in the Jerusalem District Court today with 
contacting a foreign agent, membership in a terror organization, 
aiding the enemy during wartime, and espionage.  Israel Radio said 
that Hamas-abroad took command of the foiled operation. 
Leading media quoted Egyptian security forces as saying over the 
weekend that Egypt forces arrested 23 Egyptians suspected of 
belonging to a radical Muslim terror group that was planning to 
attack Jewish worshipers during a pilgrimage to the grave of Rabbi 
Yaakov Abuhatzeira, who is buried in the Egyptian city of Damanhur. 
 
Yesterday Israel Radio quoted  American sources as saying that the 
first mission of the new U.S. ambassador in Damascus will be to take 
speedy action to bring about the renewal of peace talks between 
Israel and Syria.  The U.S. sources told the international newspaper 
Asharq al-Awsat that it was possible that renewed talks between 
Israel and Syria would reduce the growing pressure on the Obama 
administration, after the it was accused of not doing enough, and 
that since ObamaQs taking office, no real peace talks have taken 
place in the Middle East. 
 
The media reported that yesterday the Petah-Tikva MagistrateQs Court 
released all the suspects in the December 11 arson of a mosque in 
the West Bank.  The court cited lack of evidence. 
 
Yesterday Maariv reported that the KnessetQs Foreign Affairs and 
Defense Committee will soon hold a special hearing dedicated 
FridayQs revelation in the newspaper about the link between the New 
Israel Fund and dozens of Israeli NPOs, which Qserved as virtually 
exclusive sources for the incriminating evidence presented in the 
Goldstone Report. 
 
Maariv and Israel Radio reported that former Netanyahu adviser 
Naftali Bennett -- a resident of RaQanana inside the Green Line -- 
was appointed director-general of the Yesha Council of Jewish 
Settlements in the Territories.  In an unrelated item, The Jerusalem 
Post reported that the IDF has agreed to erect a watchtower on a 
strategic Gush Etzion hilltop called Shdema, thereby handing a 
partial victory to settlers who have campaigned for two years to 
ensure that it remains under Israeli control. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday Breaking the Silence, the 
NGO which collects mostly anonymous testimony from soldiers serving 
in the territories, released a booklet containing interviews with 96 
female soldiers who reported witnessing or taking part in violence 
or degrading treatment of Palestinians since the outbreak of the 
second Intifada in September 2000. 
 
Yesterday Yediot reported that for the first time, Israel has begun 
to train German pilots to use military equipment that is to be used 
in Afghanistan. 
 
Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that, for the first time in Israeli 
history, the Justice Ministry is preparing a bill that would define 
IsraelQs attitude to terrorist activities in the country and set 
updated punitive norms. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted National Infrastructure Minster Uzi Landau 
as saying yesterday that he had recently raised the idea of 
cooperating with Jordan on an nuclear power plan in a recent meeting 
with French Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo. 
 
Leading media reported that last night Israeli security staff at a 
West Bank crossing shot and wounded an Israeli truck driver who they 
thought was a terrorist. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  QMore Talk, Less Action 
 
The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global Research in 
International Affairs Center, columnist Barry Rubin, wrote in the 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (2/1): QIf Obama were 
honest -- and effective -- he would admit that Israel did almost 
everything he asked, while the Palestinian Authority defied him.... 
The PA has refused to negotiate for five months after Obama asked it 
to do so.  Yet for Obama to pressure thePA to go to the table -- 
the normal route in suc situations -- is unthinkable for him.  So 
he ha no way out of his failure.  And IsraelQs QrewardQ or its 
major concession?  Not even a mention in he PresidentQs main annual 
speech for the first ime, I presume, in decades.  So what are they 
gong to do?  Clinton lays out the framework: QWe aregoing to 
continue to do everything we can to create an environment in which 
that is possible.Q  In other words, have lots of talks and present 
ideas which continually fail but at least show they are trying.  Of 
course, whatQs left out is the missing element which might allow at 
least for some minimal progress: put real pressure on the 
Palestinian Authority to make some compromises.  But that isnQt 
going to happen.  And so we return to business as usual. 
 
 
 
 
II.  QItQs All ObamaQs Fault 
 
Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in the 
independent, left-Ha'aretz (1/31): QAs usual changes [in the Middle 
Eastern diplomatic landscape] are of no interest to Israel.  Obama, 
like every other U.S. president, continues to be our impresario. 
Only ours.  As such, the real negotiations are with him and not with 
the Palestinians or the Arab states.  When Prime Minister Benjamin 
Netanyahu agreed to limit construction in the territories he was 
responding not to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, but to Obama. 
 When Netanyahu speaks of resuming negotiations he is addressing not 
the Palestinian government, but rather Obama.  Abbas and Obama, of 
course, are the ones responsible for the lack of a peace process: 
Abbas painted himself into a corner, while Obama aimed for the skies 
with his vision and now cannot deliver the goods.  It's his fault, 
and Israel can celebrate its victory.  It may be that Obama is only 
 
an orator and not a statesman.  But Israel is the last one who can 
judge him for that.  Israel is very pleased with the cage in which 
it has trapped him.  The question is what Israel will be left with 
after this success.  Indeed, the threat of peace was nearer a year 
ago.  We nearly fell into the trap when Netanyahu announced the 
freeze in settlement construction.  We were on the verge of another 
Masada.  But thank God we pulled ourselves together.  Certainly we 
will survive this American president, too. 
 
III.  QAt Last, a Real Response 
 
Military correspondent Amos Harel wrote on page one of Ha'aretz 
(2/1): QIsrael's detailed response to the Goldstone Report shows 
that the country can, in fact, respond to accusations with more than 
complaints of anti-Semitism and endless repetitions of the mantra 
that the QIsrael Defense Forces is the most moral army in the 
world.Q  Drawn up by the Foreign Ministry, the Justice Ministry, and 
the IDF Prosecutor's office, the document gives a wide-ranging and 
well-argued reply to many of the claims raised by Goldstone.  It 
also contains some interesting details that were never, for some 
reason, disclosed to the Israeli media and public about Operation 
Cast Lead.  The most remarkable details concern the one time 
disciplinary measures were taken against senior commanders in the 
operation [who unjustifiably ordered artillery fire on a United 
Nations compound].... Israel's detailed and well-argued report shows 
that the country has a reasonably good case against the Goldstone 
accusations.  This naturally begs the question why Israeli 
leadership is so wary of a state commission of inquiry that could 
ostensibly clear up matters once and for all.  Any such obligation 
is missing from the report, as arguments in Israel continue on 
whether to set up an examination committee or a state commission of 
inquiry; as of now, it seems an examination committee will be set 
up, but its powers are yet to be defined.  Prime Minister Benjamin 
Netanyahu preferred to postpone the decision -- hoping that either a 
consensus will be reached, or that the international pressure on 
Israel will ease, making it the committee unnecessary. 
 
IV.  QThe Bomb or Disintegration 
 
Veteran journalist and television anchor Yaron London wrote in the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (2/1): QIf an Iranian 
bomb should be dropped on us, a colossal disaster will occur 
immediately, but the chances that such an event will take place are 
fairly low.  If we do not disengage from the Palestinians, no 
immediate disaster will take place, but we will gradually 
 
deteriorate and IsraelQs end will ultimately arrive.  In 
physiological terms, this can be illustrated as the blow of an ax 
that slices off the head with a single blow, but is likely to miss 
our neck, as opposed to bloodletting that is already draining us of 
blood, and will undoubtedly put us to death as a nation, even if not 
as individuals.  From this analysis you can understand that I do not 
believe in the possibility of establishing a binational state, whose 
Jewish citizens will be able to live in it peacefully and influence 
its character.  Such a state will not be modeled after the 
Alexandria of the early 20th century.  It will not be a calm 
multicultural Levantine metropolis, it will be Beirut of the 
1980s.... Explicit things are being said to us about events of 
immeasurable severity.  The leaders, in their cautious and rare 
statements, describe upheavals of far-reaching significance that 
will take place tomorrow, and may already be taking place now, but 
the public discourse on these matters is incredibly meager -- a 
nation in stupor. 
 
¶V.  QHeed a Friends Words 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (2/1): QThe 
[visiting] Prime Minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, has stood out 
among European leaders in his special friendship toward Israel.... 
Berlusconi ... has demands of the Arab side.  He backs internal 
Palestinian unity and the promotion of regional economic projects 
and he displayed understanding for Israel's apprehensions of 
continued violence after it withdraws from territory, as happened in 
Gaza.  But the main message borne by the guest from Rome concerns 
leadership.  He believes that the attainment of peace requires 
leaders to display courage.  It is worth Netanyahu's while to heed 
the advice of his Italian friend.  Instead of wasting time with 
redundant propaganda wars with the Palestinian Authority, and 
currying favor with the right by planting unneeded trees in 
settlements, Netanyahu must tirelessly push for peace with Syria, 
and explain to the public that the freeze on construction in the 
settlements is only the first step in the undoing of this harmful 
enterprise and the establishment of a Palestinian state in the 
territories.  Even his best friend in Europe thinks so. 
 
VI.  QFarther Right than the Government 
 
Hadas Ziv, Director-General of Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, 
wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv (2/1): QThe implication of 
the arguments presented by the non-profit organization Im Tirtzu 
[which claims that the New Israel Fund abets IsraelQs enemies], with 
 
the support of Ben Caspit, diplomatic correspondent of Maariv daily] 
is that it would be better to dodge, lie and cheat only in order to 
defend the actions of the army, even if they were immoral.  The 
Israeli Government would have done well had it gathered soldiers, 
officers and statesmen to present the Gaza Goldstone committee with 
the aggregate of evidence. It is reasonable to assume that the 
armyQs testimony would have enhanced GoldstoneQs ability to reach 
the truth.... Caspit wrote an article that was relevant three months 
ago. Today Israeli society, officials in the Justice Ministry and 
the Foreign Ministry, Knesset members, and cabinet ministers all 
understand that the refusal to testify before Goldstone was a 
mistake.  Many of them believe that had Israel provided all of the 
information it had and created an atmosphere of cooperation, the 
committee would have been more capable of investigating the truth. 
The norm is to say that the media is biased in favor of the left 
wing.  Many studies have demonstrated that not only is that not the 
case, but that in times of conflict or a fight with external forces, 
the media tends to toe the government line.  CaspitQs article shows 
that sometimes the media even goes further to the right than the 
government. 
 
 
 
--------------------- 
¶2.  U.S.-PRC Tension: 
--------------------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
 
¶I.  QChina Endangered? 
 
The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global Research in 
International Affairs Center, columnist Barry Rubin, wrote in the 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (2/1): QFor a 
superpower-in-waiting, China is conducting itself with unbecoming 
irresponsibility, not just on Iran but also on human rights, climate 
change and Internet freedom.  (Google may be forced to reduce its 
presence in China due to government-orchestrated cyber-attacks.) 
 
Nor does Beijing show concern that many of the weapons making their 
way into Hamas-controlled Gaza are of Chinese manufacture.... 
Diplomatically, as a permanent Security Council member, China can 
invariably be counted on to vote the interests of the Arab and 
Muslim bloc.  Plainly, the Israel-China relationship is 
strategically important, but BeijingQs insensitivity to core Israeli 
concerns does not fail to disappoint.  Is it not absurd that China 
feels threatened because the U.S. is selling Taiwan weapons that 
pose no threat to mainland security, while it shamelessly blocks 
international pressure aimed at keeping the atomic bomb away from 
Muslim fanatics? 
 
II.  QA Smell of Confrontation in the Air 
 
Columnist Shmuel Rosner, who was HaQaretzQs correspondent in 
Washington, wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv (2/1): QLast 
weekend signaled a sudden deterioration in U.S.-China relations.... 
The patience of the U.S. is growing thin [also regarding Iran and 
terror].  This political spirit fits a determined move by thy Obama 
administration, which wishes to prove to its voters that it is not 
QweakQ after the blow it sustained in the Massachusetts [senatorial] 
elections. 
 
CUNNINGHAM