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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000349 
 
STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD 
 
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM 
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PARIS ALSO FOR POL 
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SIPDIS 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR IS
 
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶1.  Iran 
 
¶2.  Mideast 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All major media led with news that several assassins of senior Hamas 
operative Mahmoud al-Mabhouh used the identities of British-born 
Israelis for the Dubai hit. HaQaretz reported that British 
Government sources told the Daily Telegraph yesterday that the Irish 
passport-holders were most likely Mossad agents carrying false 
documentation.   Media reported that the U.K. authorities are 
investigating the illegal use of Brutish passports in the Dubai 
operation.  Leading media reported that Syria has arrested a senior 
Hamas official on suspicion of having assisted in the murder. 
 
Major media quoted PM Benjamin Netanyahu as saying yesterday during 
talks with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, that Israel has 
no intention of initiating a war against any regional player in the 
Middle East.  Netanyahu was responding to Iranian President Mahmoud 
Ahmadinejad's recent prediction that Israel would launch military 
strikes against Iran either in the spring or summer of this year. 
During his two-hour meeting with Netanyahu, Putin stressed that 
Russia would refrain from selling any arms to Syria and Iran that 
would tilt the strategic balance in the region.  "Israel is not 
planning any sort of war," Netanyahu said at a joint news conference 
with Putin.  "It was the Iranians who began talks with Syria on this 
issue and they are using all sorts of manipulations."  "It would not 
surprise me if Iran's behavior is a direct result of the growing 
international debate at the UN Security Council on sanctions against 
Iran," the PM added.  Israel Radio quoted a senior Russian official 
as saying that the sale of S-300 anti-aircraft missiles to Iran is 
being held up for technical reasons. 
 
Citing the AP, The Jerusalem Post reported that Secretary of State 
Hillary Clinton told Saudi students yesterday that Iran could 
trigger a nuclear arms race throughout the Middle East. 
 
HaQaretz and Israel Radio quoted Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan 
Nasrallah as saying that his group will hit vital Israeli targets, 
such as Ben-Gurion Airport, if Israel bombs Beirut.  He reiterated 
his intention to avenge the death of senior Hizbullah operative Imad 
Mughniyah. 
 
HaQaretz reported that yesterday the High Court of Justice ruled 
that the state must demolish settler outposts within 60 days. 
 
HaQaretz and other media reported that, during a meeting of the 
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, 
Deputy FM Daniel Ayalon likened Israeli Arab Knesset members to U.S. 
congressmen who Qwould advise the Taliban.Q Ayalon was referring to 
those parliamentariansQ contacts with the PA.  Ayalon also attacked 
the American lobby group, J Street.  The Jerusalem Post quoted Alan 
Solow, the chairman of the Conference, who the daily says is a Qkey 
Obama backer,Q as saying that the Qadministration has learned some 
lessonsQ from the mistakes of the past year.  In other news, Yediot 
reported that Ayalon has decided to boycott meetings with U.S. 
Congress members because their visits to Israel were sponsored by 
organizations that criticize the country -- J Street and the 
Churches for Middle East Peace.  Maariv said that it was the Foreign 
Ministry that instructed President Shimon Peres and Ayalon to 
boycott Congress members. 
 
The Jerusalem Post and other media reported that yesterday members 
of the KnessetQs Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee visited the 
controversial Beit Yehoshua building in East Jerusalem.  Right-wing 
parliamentarians called the demolition order Qdiscriminatory. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted rightist Likud Knesset Member Tzipi 
Hotovely as saying yesterday that West Bank Palestinians should be 
granted Israeli citizenship. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday the Simon Wiesenthal 
Center accused opponents of its plans to build a museum near a 
historic Muslim cemetery in central West Jerusalem of Qsheer 
hypocrisyQ after the center obtained information showing that the 
Supreme Muslim Council of British Mandate Palestine had planned to 
build a large commercial center on top of the cemetery in 1945. 
 
Maariv reported that the Dawn Media Group, a British company, ranked 
Israel in 17th place among countries at risk of terror attacks. 
Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Somalia top the list. 
 
Yediot and The Jerusalem Post reported that the Information and 
Diaspora Ministry has produced a booklet to turn Israeli tourists 
abroad into goodwill ambassadors for their country -- among other 
facts, Israeli travelers are urged to tell foreigners that Israelis 
want peace, that Palestine has not always been an Arab country, and 
that U.N. Security Council Resolution 242 does not state that Israel 
must return to the 1967 borders.  A poll commissioned by the 
ministry found that 85% of Israelis are willing to represent the 
state abroad. 
 
Israel Radio reported that Israel and Russia agreed on the 
construction of two memorials -- one in Israel for the Russian 
soldiers in World War II and the second in Moscow devoted to the 
Holocaust.  The media reported that Israel's desire to retrieve the 
historic Guenzburg collection of ancient Jewish manuscripts from 
Russia was discussed during Netanyahu's meeting on Monday with 
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.  Israeli officials said afterward 
that due to the improved relations between Jerusalem and Moscow, 
Russian officials will "positively consider" Israel's request. 
Netanyahu personally raised the subject of the collection, which is 
thought to be the world's second-largest anthology of ancient Hebrew 
literature, after the Bodleian Library in Oxford. 
 
Citing the AP, HaQaretz and The Jerusalem Post reported that the 
Vatican plans to post some of its World War II archives online to 
calm the controversy over Pope Pius XII's actions during the 
Holocaust.  The Vatican's newspaper announced the plan, saying it 
will render service to the historic truth and officials said 
yesterday the material will be accessible soon.  However, a panel of 
Jewish and Catholic scholars who examined the 11 volumes of material 
a decade ago concluded that more information was required to decide 
whether Pius did everything he could to head off the Nazis' efforts 
to exterminate European Jews. 
 
Over the past few days the media has mentioned allegations that 
noted Zionist-Religious Rabbi Mordechai (Moti) Elon made sexual 
advances to yeshiva students over several years.  Elon, who denies 
the charges, is the brother of Benjamin (Benny) Elon, a former 
right-wing politician.  Their father, Menachem Elon, was the former 
Deputy Chief Justice of Israel.  HaQaretz dubbed the family the 
QKennedys of the religious Zionist camp.Q  Many voices in that camp, 
including the daily Makor Rishon-Hatzofe, support Mordechai Elon. 
Some media speculated on a possible rift of the camp. 
 
--------- 
¶1.  Iran: 
--------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  QPartners against Iran 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (2/17): 
QIsrael has been publicly supportive of the American effort at 
engagement with Iran, even as it has privately complained about the 
lack of firm parameters guiding that engagement, the fudging of 
deadlines, the apparent capacity for Iran to exploit a well-meaning 
presidentQs desire for a diplomatic solution in order to buy time 
and close in on the nuclear weapons goal.  Ultimately, Israel must 
and will take the decisions it feels necessary to safeguard its 
basic security interests.  Ultimately, Israel will gauge the risks, 
assess the consequences, and act accordingly.  Today, in 
mid-February 2010, the U.S. and Israel remain shoulder-to-shoulder 
in seeking biting sanctions against Teheran, to obviate the recourse 
to the use of force.  It is encouraging to see the succession of 
candid, straight-talking, high-level visits bolstering that 
coordination.  It is a partnership that needs to be maintained at 
the very highest level as well. 
 
II.  QWhat a Spectacle 
 
Anne Bayefsky, the Director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights 
and the Holocaust, and a Senior Fellow at Hudson Institute, wrote in 
The Jerusalem Post (2/17): QAssistant Secretary of State for 
Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Michael Posner gave a speech [at 
the U.N. Human Rights Council] on Monday critical of various Iranian 
abominations -- for a grand total of two minutes.... Iran is not the 
slightest bit concerned that the council will translate PosnerQs two 
minutes into anything that bites.  The council has never adopted a 
resolution worried about human rights in Iran; itQs too busy 
condemning Israel more often than all the other 191 U.N. states 
combined.  Back in 2002, the former commission eliminated the 
position of U.N. human rights investigator on Iran, and the chance 
of it reappearing as a consequence of these proceedings are zero. 
So when the Obama administration touts its 120-second speech as 
evidence of its effort to get serious about Iran, or as an excuse 
for having joined the U.N.Qs viciously anti-Israel Human Rights 
Council, be warned. 
 
------------ 
¶2.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  QTime for a Change in U.S. Mideast Strategy 
 
Kenneth J. Bialkin, a former chair of the Conference of Presidents 
of Major American Jewish Organizations, wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post (2/17): QThe Obama administration is 
widely perceived as favoring the Palestinian side in seeking 
unilateral concessions from Israel.  In taking this position, the 
administration is not deviating from the policy orientations 
established by the U.S. State Department since 1948.... A peace 
process that rests on IsraelQs unilateral concessions is doomed to 
fail unless and until the world also demands that the Arab world 
recognizes that the Arab-Israel conflict can be resolved only if and 
when IsraelQs legitimacy and sovereignty is openly recognized and 
accepted.... The most important reason for change in strategy is 
that history and the march of time make it the right thing to do. 
For too long, IsraelQs right to be recognized and accepted by the 
Arab world has been ignored by the international community.  The 
U.N. should be ashamed that each year it countenances General 
Assembly resolutions advocating the expulsion of a member state and 
similar outrages by states whose societies deny their own citizens 
fundamental human rights.  The U.S. should lead the U.N. and the 
international community to correct the long-term injustice and lack 
of respect for the legitimacy of the state of Israel and the 
historical contributions of the Jewish people. 
 
II.  QWhy the Mossad Chief Must Go 
 
Defense commentator Amir Oren wrote on page one of the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz (2/17): QThe State of Israel did not claim 
responsibility for the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai. 
The entire matter is treated as AFMR Q Qaccording to foreign media 
reportsQ.... The anticipated diplomatic crisis is not, so far, with 
Dubai, but with the countries whose passports were used by the 
assassins.  The United Kingdom and Ireland were used once again, and 
this time, a French connection topped it off.  It is as if Israeli 
governments had never apologized to London for using British 
documentation; as if they had not promised solemnly, when passports 
of Her Majesty's subjects were found in a certain phone booth, that 
this would never happen again.... Netanyahu played deaf to warnings 
by [former Mossad head Ephraim Halevy and others] and extended 
[Mossad chief Meir] DaganQs tenure for an eighth year, a decision as 
hasty as it was unnecessary.  But the Mossad ... cannot hinge upon 
one man, without whom everything would collapse.  What is needed now 
is a swift decision to terminate DaganQs contract and appoint a new 
Mossad chief. 
 
III.  QA Trinational State 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in HaQaretz (2/17): QIsrael 
is in the midst of an unprecedented social change that, unlike in 
the past, stems from internal developments rather than from a wave 
of immigration.  A different, multicultural society is developing 
here -- a trinational state of secular Jews, ultra-Orthodox, and 
Arabs, with a small minority of religious Zionists.... Today, 
developing a broad national ethos that would include Arabs and 
ultra-Orthodox seems like mission impossible.  It is obvious that a 
rightist government headed by Netanyahu and Avigdor Lieberman is not 
built for this.  Therefore, we must concentrate on change from the 
bottom up.  Everyone must ask himself or herself how he or she can 
contribute to integration: buying in shops that employ Arabs and 
ultra-Orthodox, hiring workers from these communities, renting 
apartments to them, or simply watching television programs and 
channels that represent our multicultural mosaic -- and get to know 
an Arab or an ultra-Orthodox instead of fearing them.  If we open 
our doors to them and give them opportunities, we will all benefit. 
And if we continue to shut ourselves off, we will all crash. 
 
IV.  QIn Favor of the Right of Return 
 
Karni Eldad, settler daughter of right-wing Knesset Member Arieh 
Eldad, wrote in HaQaretz (2/17): QIn 1948, scores of families were 
expelled from their homes in Jerusalem.  The city was divided and 
squatters took over their houses and built on their properties. 
These refugees prayed to return to the homes they purchased legally 
in the 1920s and 1930s.... In 2009, the High Court of Justice had 
its say: the squatters must be evicted and they must also pay 
compensation to the owners of the land for all the years they made 
use of it.... Jewish?  What?  Yes, yes.  These are families that are 
now purchasing, for the full price, their own properties in the 
Shimon Hatzadik neighborhood, better known as Sheikh Jarrah.  Is 
anyone on the left standing by the side of these robbed families and 
against the Arab squatters?  Not a single one of them. 
 
¶V.  QGoldstoneQs Mandate 
E 
 
Dr. Muhammad Watad, a senior law lecturer at the Safed Academic 
College, wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv (2/17): + Is a Jew 
expected to rule in favor of Jews just because they are Jews?.... 
[Judge Richard] Goldstone received a mandate to investigate.  He 
came to the region to probe possible violations of laws of war and 
human rights during Operation Cast Lead. Treating the Goldstone 
Report as Qlegal terrorQ Q a characterization used by people who are 
reportedly enlightened an s experts in international law Q is 
nothing but an insult to intelligence.  I am a proud Israeli; I am a 
proud jurist; but I am not childish -- I am a professional.  As a 
citizen of the state, as a son of this state, I am concerned about 
its future.  Israel is a state of law; it is a democratic state; and 
it is a constitutional state.  An enlightened state investigates 
itself.  Israel monitors itself a lot; it therefore deserves every 
praise.  Regarding Goldstone, Israel behaved childishly; it erred in 
doing so. 
 
CUNNINGHAM