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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 reported that USAF Gen. Paul Selva visited Israel 
in the past few days.  Other aides of Secretary of State Hillary 
Clinton -- James Steinberg and Jacob Lew -- are expected in the 
county in the coming days for talks expected to deal with both 
regional and bilateral issues. 
 
All media reported that yesterday afternoon a PA police officer 
stabbed to death a Druze IDF soldier from an elite unit who was 
sitting in a military jeep in a traffic jam near the Tapuah junction 
in the northern West Bank.  The Jerusalem Post quoted IDF sources as 
saying that the attacker was the head of bureau for the PAQs 
Ramallah police chief.  The Jerusalem Post also quoted IDF sources 
as saying that the PA police are trained by a European Union 
organization, based in Ramallah, called the EUPOL COPPS (the EU 
Police Coordinating Office for Palestinian Police Support).  Israel 
Radio cited a condemnation of the act by Palestinian PM Salam 
Fayyad. 
 
Maariv (Amit Cohen) led by recalling a series of explosions in the 
past two months that have killed a number of Hamas officials and 
Iranian Revolutionary Guardsmen. The explosions in question, which 
occurred in Damascus, Beirut and Gaza City, were reportedly hushed 
up by Syrian, Lebanese and Hamas officials. Cohen notes that QHamas 
opted to maintain a low media profile and refrained from pointing an 
accusatory finger in IsraelQs direction, as it did in the aftermath 
of the Mabhouh assassination. 
 
Leading media quoted the PA as saying that it arrested six al-Qaida 
militants. 
 
Leading media reported that yesterday the PA accused former 
intelligence officer Fahmi Shabaneh of QcollaborationQ with Israel 
and that it issued a warrant for his arrest.  Shabaneh had exposed 
corruption cases in the PA to Israeli media. 
 
Israel Radio quoted Tzachi Hanegbi, chairman of the KnessetQs 
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, as saying that sanctions are 
not the only alternative in countering the Iranian nuclear program. 
HaQaretz reported that senior U.N, officials told the newspaper that 
a Security Council resolution tightening the sanctions on Iran has 
become more likely, and that the resolution is probably going to be 
approved.  According to HaQaretz, observers in both New York and 
Washington estimate that China will think twice about using its veto 
on a resolution after Russia recently threw its support behind a 
move against Iran.  A veto could expose Beijing as isolated and out 
of touch with its fellow Security Council members.  China could also 
abstain from voting and allow the decision to be made by a simple 
majority. However, the sources told HaQaretz, the U.S. is still 
trying to obtain Chinese support for the sanctions.  Israel Radio 
reported on the trip to Washington of an Israeli delegation that 
discussed the Iran issue with senior U.S. officials Dennis Ross and 
Dan Shapiro. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that PM NetanyahuQs spokesman Mark Regev 
hinted yesterday that LebanonQs infrastructure is fair game in the 
event of war. 
 
HaQaretz cited a new report published by the Jerusalem Center for 
Public Affairs (JCPA) that Col. Desmond Travers, co-author of the 
Goldstone Report, claims that Hamas fired only two rockets at Israel 
prior to last winter's conflict.  JCPA head Dr. Dore Gold, former 
ambassador to the U.N. and an adviser to PM Benjamin Netanyahu, 
revealed the report at a press conference on Wednesday.  Makor 
Rishon-Hatzofe says that Travers is suspected of anti-Semitism. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Nadav Tamir, IsraelQs 
Consul-General in Washington, attended J StreetQs first annual 
convention. 
 
Israel Hayom reported that Likud officials have made a new offer to 
Shaul Mofaz in an attempt to split Kadima.  According to the 
newspaper, Mofaz has been offered fifteen prestigious executive 
positions -- six ministers, six deputy ministers and three Knesset 
committee chairs -- if he succeeds in enlisting another 14 Knesset 
members to join him in a bid to divide Kadima and to join the 
Netanyahu government.  The daily notes that if Mofaz does cobble 
together a group of 15 Knesset members, as the majority holder in 
the Kadima faction he will be entitled to KadimaQs name and, more 
importantly, its money.  Officials in NetanyahuQs office denied any 
involvement in these talks.  Maariv and The Jerusalem Post reported 
that Kadima is divided over a bill introduced by MK Eli Aflalo that 
proposes measures in favor of the Jewish residents of the Golan. 
Tzipi Livni is in favor, Shaul Mofaz opposes it. 
 
Russian-language newspapers and Web sites reported that QRussian 
immigrant women received special awards have received special awards 
from the State Department -- Rita Chaikin was nominated for the 
International Women of Courage Award.   The QWomen Make a 
DifferenceQ video, a project of the NGO QSupportive CommunityQ, won 
a top spot in the QMy Culture+Your Culture=?Q online contest. 
 
HaQaretz and Yediot reported on the death at the age of 76 of former 
Democratic Texas Congressman Charles Wilson, a friend of Israel who 
reportedly was the only Representative who stood by and visited the 
country during the Yom Kippur War. 
 
Major media quoted the Israel Antiquities Authority as saying 
yesterday that archeologists in Jerusalem have discovered an ancient 
street that confirms the accuracy of the famous 1,500-year-old map 
depicted in a mosaic floor of a church in Madaba, Jordan. 
 
Erratum: The author of the 2/9 Jerusalem Post op-ed in defense of 
New Israel Fund President Professor Naomi Chazan (QA Dark Day for 
DemocracyQ) was not Larry Derfner but Gershon Baskin, Co-Director of 
the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information. 
 
 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  QA Dilemma on Both Sides 
 
(2/11): QYesterday Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad condemned 
the stabbing of an IDF soldier at the Tapuah checkpoint by a 
Palestinian police officer.  It is hard not to appreciate the 
political courage summoned by Fayyad Wednesday in condemning the 
killing of an Israeli soldier at a checkpoint in the occupied 
territories.  But Fayyad apparently realizes that to maintain his 
extraordinary cooperation with the Israel Defense Forces in the West 
Bank, he needs to compromise on his dignity, even if at a hefty 
political price.  However, one emerging trend is difficult to 
ignore.  Most of the fatal attacks in the West Bank in recent years 
were carried out by members of Palestinian security forces.... These 
attacks create quite a dilemma for Israeli security organizations. 
On the one hand, the Palestinian Authority is combating Hamas and 
Islamic Jihad, often demonstrating a surprising ability to counter 
the Islamist terrorist threats.  But the same PA neglects its own 
men, including former members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade and 
security service men. 
 
II.  QLow-Intensity ntifada 
 
Editor-in-Chief Amnon Lord wrote in the editorial of the 
nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe (2/11): QIt is worthwhile 
recalling that the Israel and world press has totally ignored: last 
summer the Fatah convention made the clear decision to continue the 
Qarmed combatQ and renew the QstruggleQ at a QpopularQ level.... The 
radical Israeli Left is full partner in this Intifada, which is 
presently on a low fire.... What can be expected, should the 
PalestiniansQ efforts succeed, is not necessarily a war of terror 
like the one we saw during the first half of the previous decade. 
Abu MazenQs strategy is more moderate: that there be enough violence 
to keep the Palestinians in the headlines.  It is impossible to 
ignore the fact that both recent murders were carried out by members 
of the Palestinian security forces.  Their actions are inspired by 
the Palestinian leadership. 
 
 
III.  QThe Minister of Delegitimization 
 
Senior commentator Ari Shavit wrote in the independent, left-leaning 
Ha'aretz (2/11): QThe Foreign Ministry must be just as powerful and 
effective as the Defense Ministry.  It must adopt the Mossad and 
Shin Bet work ethos and lead a complex and sophisticated diplomatic, 
public relations campaign, the likes of which we have not seen since 
¶1947.  But there's a problem.  The minister heading the Foreign 
Ministry today is exacerbating Israel's distress over legitimacy 
instead of alleviating it.  This minister cannot solve the problem 
he is part of.  The Arab world abhors him. Europe sees him as a Le 
Pen-style nationalist.  The United States sees him as an 
embarrassing malfunction.  While Shimon Peres is perceived abroad as 
the attractive side of Israel, Avigdor Lieberman is seen as its ugly 
side. He cannot thwart the delegitimization assault while his 
abusive rhetoric and bullying behavior empowers it.  Lieberman is 
playing into the hands of those who want to portray Israel as a 
racist, lunatic state.  Ehud Olmert paid a heavy price for one 
reckless mistake -- appointing Amir Peretz defense minister. 
Netanyahu may pay a similar price for appointing Lieberman foreign 
minister. There are no fatalities in the legitimacy war. In the 
short range, it doesn't cost any blood.  But in the long range, it 
is immeasurably more important than the Second Lebanon War. 
 
--------- 
¶2.  Iran: 
--------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
QIran and Israeli Politics 
 
Columnist Nadav Eyal wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv (2/11): 
QIt can be assumed that all Israelis are interested in the 
elimination or the cessation of IranQs nuclear program.  We would 
all want this to be done on our behalf -- through sanctions or a 
military assault by others.  Still, should Israel reach the decisive 
moment, it is important that our decision-makers not be found in a 
public-political situation into which they would be pushed by public 
opinion.  However important it is for the prime minister to be 
publicly able to make the decision not to attack Iran -- in 
accordance with the rationale and situation assessments that will be 
presented to the Government when time comes.  As regards Iran, 
pragmatism must be particularly strong. 
 
CUNNINGHAM