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TAGS: OPRC KMDR IS
 
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶1.  Mideast 
 
¶2.  Iran 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
The Jerusalem Post cited recent Israeli intelligence assessments 
that Iran will make the political decision to enrich uranium to 
military-grade levels once it has accumulated enough fissionable 
material for a small arsenal of three to four nuclear devices, 
according to latest intelligence assessments.  Maariv quoted a 
senior official of the Israeli defense establishment as saying that 
the secret nuclear installation at Qom is the Qtip of an iceberg. 
 
Leading media reported that Eli Yishai has ordered the legalization 
of Beit Yehonatan Q a controversial Jewish-owned building in the 
Arab neighborhood of Silwan in East Jerusalem.  Various legal 
decisions had ordered the house pulled down.  HaQaretz reported that 
the move is likely to fail. 
 
Major media reported that PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Yisrael Beiteinu 
head Avigdor Lieberman announced yesterday that they intend to 
promote a bill that would let Israeli citizens vote from abroad in 
Knesset elections.  According to Israel Hayom, the proposed 
legislation would bring eight more Knesset seats to the Right. 
However, HaQaretz quoted Likud sources as saying that it would not 
alter the composition of Israeli politics.  Coalition parties Shas 
and Labor oppose the bill, as do many opposition parties, which 
HaQaretz says would lead to the adoption of a softer bill.  Kadima 
filed a no-confidence motion against the government over its 
intention "to enable people not living in Israel to vote in the 
elections and determine the fate of those living here."  "All 
decisions for Israel's future must be determined only by those who 
chose to live here and shape its future," HaQaretz quoted Kadima 
sources as saying. 
 
The media reported on increasing violence against judges.  In a 
lecture yesterday, Justice Dorit Beinisch denounced the overall 
phenomenon of violence in Israeli society. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Palestinian leaders will urge the 
International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate alleged Israeli 
war crimes during last yearQs war in Gaza.  The Palestinians will 
tell the ICC that IsraelQs probe into the operation is not 
credible. 
 
Yesterday The Jerusalem Post reported that the Anti-Defamation 
League gave President Obama an QFQ for failing to deliver in the 
Middle East.  According to The Jerusalem Post most Knesset members 
agree:Q QAQ for good intentions but poor grades for results. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday Israel opened the Jalama 
crossing to the West Bank to tour buses. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday Khaled Mashal, the head 
of HamasQ political bureau, accused the U.S. of Qvetoing 
Hamas-reconciliation efforts.  Mashal spoke during a visit to 
Moscow. 
 
Yediot reported that the Foreign Ministry has started distributing 
notes to Israeli officials visiting foreign countries.  The notes, 
issued by the authorities of those countries, ensure the Israeli 
officialsQ safety.  The first Israeli who benefits from the move is 
Deputy FM Daniel Ayalon, who is presently in London.  In another 
development, HaQaretz quoted deputy directors-general of the Foreign 
Ministry as saying yesterday at weekly meeting the ministryQs 
management that FM LiebermanQs instructions are Qcrazy.Q  They were 
referring to a new instruction to limit the distribution of 
diplomatic cables, a move meant to compartmentalize the ministry. 
 
Media reported that Border Policemen targeted Palestinians with 
non-lethal fire in the northern East Jerusalem neighborhood of 
Shuafat.  The police were looking for wanted Palestinians. 
 
Israel Radio reported that Likud Knesset Member Ayoub Kara is slated 
to meet with Ambassador Cunningham with a proposal to import water 
from Syria. 
 
Maariv reported that foreign ambassadors posted in Israel, including 
Ambassador Cunningham, have requested to be dispensed from the water 
tax.  The diplomats reportedly cited an international treaty. 
 
Luis Lieberman, the Jewish deputy of newly elected Costa Rican 
President Laura Chinchilla, promised in an interview with Maariv to 
strengthen his countryQs ties with Israel. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that two Israelis organized the massive 
snowball fight in WashingtonQs Dupont Circle in Saturday. 
 
The Jerusalem Post cited the results of a survey conducted between 
May 18 and June 16, 2009 by Pew Research CenterQs Global Attitudes. 
Ninety-five to 98 percent of those polled in Arab countries held an 
unfavorable view of Jews.  Only 35% of Israeli Arabs expressed a 
negative opinion of Jews, while 56% voiced a favorable opinion.  In 
Turkey, the number of people who said they had a Qvery unfavorable 
attitude towards Jews jumped from 32% in 2004 to 73% in 2009. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  QThe Year of Capitulation 
 
Diplomatic correspondent and television anchor Ben Caspit wrote on 
page one of the popular, pluralist Maariv (2/9): QWhat has 
NetanyahuQs term in office given us until now?.... Anyone who takes 
an interest in what is going on in our backyard is horrified by what 
they find.  In order to survive, Binyamin Netanyahu has recklessly 
mortgaged our Zionist future here.  He has placed our foreign 
relations in Avigdor LiebermanQs irresponsible hands; our internal 
affairs have been placed in Eli YishaiQs hard-working hands.  They 
donQt need more than that.  When the cat is away, the mice go on a 
rampage.  Lieberman has done so heavy-handedly.  Yishai has done so 
quietly, behind closed doors.  That doesnQt mean that he has been 
any less efficient.  Sometimes, the impression received is that he 
is far more efficient.... The question that has to be asked is what 
is Netanyahu surviving for?  What is his goal, what is his agenda, 
what are his aspirations, what does he hope to achieve?  To what 
end, or for whom is he operating?  A year has passed already, and 
there is no sign of a real, courageous and earth-shaking agenda. 
With one hand he freezes settlements as no one has frozen before, 
and with his other hand, he stymies every effort to achieve real 
political progress.  Everything is frozen, everything is stuck.  The 
important thing is that heQs there, in the Prime MinisterQs Office, 
pretending to be the director of affairs, which run of their own 
accord.  There is no law or judge, nothing goes in or out.  Once we 
wake up and realize where all of this is heading, it is going to be 
too late. 
 
II.  QNo Return to the Land of Our Forefathers 
 
Senior columnist and longtime peace advocate Yoel Marcus wrote in 
the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (2/9): QAfter the Six-Day 
War, the emergency government turned into a paralyzed unity 
government.  It focused on settlements in the territories and turned 
Israel into an occupation state, whose price we are paying today. 
If Netanyahu really wants peace with Syria and an arrangement with 
the Palestinians, he must first get rid of Lieberman and his party, 
and perhaps Shas as well, and add Kadima to his government.  Kadima 
leader Tzipi Livni may be miffed, but this is no time for settling 
accounts -- it's a time for closing ranks.  With Livni as vice 
premier and foreign minister and Mofaz as internal security 
minister, it would not be a paralysis government but one that could 
march us to peace and security.  Come on Bibi, forward march. 
 
III.  QIsraelQs Empty Suitcase 
 
Liberal columnist Professor Aviad Kleinberg wrote in the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (2/9): QThe Saudi and 
Syrian peace initiatives are complex political moves full of 
successes and impediments.  Before signing a peace treaty, one 
should carefully examine the small print.  But the Israeli response 
is not a logical expression of caution.  Instead of reacting with 
enthusiasm and openness, instead of offering gestures and 
confidence-building measures, hastily declare that the whole thing 
is a bluff, a plot.  Nothing will come out of it.... Israel has a 
vital interest in peace.  The [government] coalition has no such 
interest.  Peace means plenty of trouble.  It might anger the Yesha 
Council of Jewish Settlements in the Territories, for instance. 
What interest will the government prefer?  IQll let you guess. 
 
IV.  QA Dark Day for Democracy 
 
Liberal columnist Larry Derfner wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post (2/9): Q[The Jerusalem PostQs] decision 
to cancel the column of Prof. Naomi Chazan, a worldwide respected 
academic, a former member of Knesset from the Zionist Meretz Party 
and currently the president of the New Israel Fund is a badge of 
shame on The Jerusalem Post.  The posting of the Im Tirtzu 
advertisement with its explicit anti-Semitic motif of a caricature 
of Chazan with horns was dangerously anti-democratic I am also in 
favor of full disclosure of the sources of funding of all civil 
society organizations, including Im Tirtzu, NGO Monitor, El Ad, 
Ateret Kohanim and all of the other civil society organizations 
working on the right side of the political map.  One standard for 
all -- full disclosure and transparency of funding is what should be 
legislated by the Knesset.  As for The Jerusalem Post, it is not too 
late to rescind the decision to cancel Prof. Chazan's column. 
 
¶V.  QI Would Have Done the Same as my Editor 
 
Columnist Shmuel Rosner, who was HaQaretzQs correspondent in 
Washington, wrote in The Jerusalem Post (2/9): QThe NIF [the New 
Israel Fund] has nothing to do with the Goldstone Report.  [But] It 
has too many friends who support the Goldstone Report.  Whether one 
likes it or not, those friends will define NIFQs image in the eyes 
of the Israeli public.... The NIFQs attackers should remember that 
these are good people trying to do good things for Israel.... I 
really hate the campaign against NIF -- it's ugly, brutal and quite 
disgusting.  But the demand that it will be censored, and that media 
outlets would refuse to carry it, should be considered carefully. 
Bad taste isn't good enough reason to cease from posting an ad. 
Chazan -- now the new face of the Israel-is-becoming-McCarthystic 
[sic] campaign -- should have been well-advised to write her next 
column on the controversy surrounding NIF rather than trying to 
silence criticism by legal means.  Maybe she can still take this 
course. 
 
--------- 
¶2.  Iran: 
--------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
QLegitimacy Was Granted to Iran 
 
Berlin correspondent Eldad Beck wrote in the mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot (2/9): QSince the international 
confrontation around the Iranian nuclear program began, the Germans 
have taken care to invite representatives of the AyatollahsQ regime 
to voice their radical views -- including Holocaust denial and the 
rejection of IsraelQs existence... Indeed, Chancellor Angela Merkel 
personally promotes stronger international sanctions against Iran 
and makes sure that German firms freeze their many ties with that 
country.  .  But the German establishment meticulously maintains 
communication channels with TehranQs representatives and provides 
them with public stages to disseminate their sickly views.  There is 
nothing to do, the spirit of Munich still hovers above Germany. 
 
CUNNINGHAM