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TAGS: OPRC KMDR IS
 
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶1.  Iran 
 
¶2.  Mideast 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Leading media reported that Deputy Secretary of State James B. 
Steinberg will arrive in Israel today, leading an important 
delegation of officials from the Pentagon, the National Security 
Council, and U.S. intelligence agencies.  Media reported that the 
meetings will focus on bilateral strategic issues, mainly Iran. 
Deputy FM Daniel Ayalon is scheduled to head the Israeli side, with 
the head of the Defense Ministry's Diplomatic-Security Bureau Amos 
Gilad, the head of the National Security Council Uzi Arad, and 
Foreign Ministry Director-General Yossi Gal participating. 
 
The Jerusalem Post led with DM Ehud BarakQs visit to Washington. 
The Yediot-associated Web site Ynet reported that the talks will 
focus on the Iranian nuclear threat; however, another issue that 
will likely be raised is the indirect talks between Israel and the 
Palestinians.  The Defense Minister is expected to lean mainly on 
the most recent report issued by the International Atomic Energy 
Agency that asserted that Iran is actively seeking nuclear warheads. 
 According to Ynet, Barak will deliberate with Secretaries Clinton 
and Gates regarding the manner in which the international community 
should be goaded into imposing sanctions on Tehran.  In addition, he 
will speak with Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the U.S. Joint 
Chiefs of Staff, about cooperation between the U.S. and Israel as 
well as Iran's nuclear aspirations.  Yediot (Shimon Shiffer) 
reported that PM Benjamin NetanyahuQs bureau has initiated contacts 
for a meeting between President Obama and the PM, who will visit 
Washington soon for the AIPAC convention.  Israel Hayom reported 
that the QWhite House and even Europe are fed up with Iran.Q  (Major 
media cited White House Press Secretary Robert GibbsQ warning that 
the United States' "time and patience is running out" over Iran's 
nuclear program.  Gibbs was quoted as saying that Iran will face 
QconsequencesQ if it continues uranium enrichment.) 
 
Israel Hayom, Maariv, and other leading media reported that PA 
President Mahmoud Abbas responded with a strong speech at the 
European Parliament in Brussels yesterday to the Israeli 
GovernmentQs decision to include the QCave of the PatriarchsQ in 
Hebron and QRachelQs TombQ on the outskirts of Bethlehem, saying 
that it amounted to a declaration of a Qwar of religion.Q Hamas 
Prime Minister in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh called for starting a third 
Intifada.  Hizbullah stated that the decision was Qyet another 
example of QIsraeli haughtiness.Q  The Prime MinisterQs Office in 
Jerusalem called the Arab responses a Qhypocritical and false 
campaign,Q as these are tombs of the forefathers of Jewish people 
dating back 3,500 years.  Israel Hayom quoted Likud Knesset Member 
Ofir Akonis, who is considered a close associate of Netanyahu, as 
saying: QIsrael preserves a heritage; the PalestiniansQ heritage is 
one of blood, fire, and pillars of smoke.Q  Speaking on Israel Radio 
this morning, Jewish HomeQNew National Religious Party Knesset 
Member and former cabinet minister Zevulun Orlev cited the PAQs 
ongoing denial of the Jewish past in the country, whereas United 
Arab List Knesset Member Talab El-Sana pointed at the gravity of the 
GovernmentQs move.  Maariv reported that Hebron settlers wrote 
Netanyahu, requesting that two more sites -- the tombs of Otniel 
Ben-Knaz, a Biblical judge who ruled from 1228 to 1188 BCE, and Ruth 
the Moabite -- be included in the heritage list.  In other news, 
Maariv reported that the Education Ministry has devised a program 
that has already been approved by the cabinet: all university and 
college students will soon be required to take a compulsory course 
in the Qheritage of the Jewish people and the Zionist project. 
 
HaQaretz reported that Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of the Hamas 
founder in the West Bank, who now lives in California, was a top 
Shin Bet agent for over a decade.  Saying that the Palestinian 
Qdeserves the Israel Defense Prize,Q Israel Radio called the story a 
Qgiant scoop. 
 
Yediot cited assessments in Beijing that Bank of Israel Governor 
Stanley Fischer and Minister Moshe QBoogieQ YaQalon will not be able 
to convince the Chinese Government to join sanctions on Iran. 
 
Leading media quoted former IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz as saying 
yesterday at a Tel Aviv University conference dealing with Israeli 
deterrence that anyone like Mahmoud al-Mabhouh will from now on 
think twice before carrying out any action.  Israel Hayom reported 
that al-MabhouhQs closest aide was arrested in Damascus on suspicion 
of involvement in his assassination.  Maariv quoted the Irish daily, 
The Irish Times, as saying that QKevin DeveronQ (sp.), who the Dubai 
police chief says headed the assassination team, listed his address 
as the family home of former Irish PM Albert Reynolds.  The 
Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday Kadima chair and opposition 
leader Tzipi Livni called on the international community to support 
IsraelQs effort to fight terrorism, alluding for the first time to 
the Dubai assassination.  Speaking at the closing plenary of the 
Jewish Agency Board of GovernorsQ meeting in Jerusalem, she said 
that any comparison between terrorism and those fighting it is 
immoral.  Noting that U.S. forces in Afghanistan accidentally killed 
27 civilians on Monday, Livni said it must be clear that that the 
world supports armies that are fighting terrorists and not 
terrorists who target innocent civilians. 
 
Yediot reported that data relating to Israel and Taiwan have been 
removed from an official presentation of the U.N.Qs International 
Telecommunication Union.  The newspaper cited the amazement of 
Israeli Foreign Ministry sources over the fact that their ministry 
is not responding to this move. 
 
Yediot reported that Israel has asked Indonesia to facilitate the 
granting of visas to Israelis.  The newspaper also reported that 
Israel will open an embassy in New Zealand and that a bilateral 
agreement to be signed next week will allow Israeli travelers to 
find employment in that country. 
 
Beneath the headline, QLook WhoQs Talking about Human Rights, 
Yediot reported that Moazzam Begg, a British/Pakistani Muslim and an 
enthusiastic Taliban fan, who was held in extrajudicial detention in 
the Bagram Theater Internment Facility and the Guantanamo Bay 
detainment camp is now Amnesty InternationalQs spokesman. 
 
Israel Hayom reported that yesterday former Chief Justice Aharon 
Barak told foreign ambassadors assembled at the Knesset that 
democracy in Israel is not self-understood.  Makor Rishon-Hatzofe 
quoted Justice Barak as saying that Israel is the only party to pay 
the price of a double moral standard and that the stateQs security 
does not constitute an unlimited license to harm human rights and 
that the balance between them is complex but necessary.  Media 
quoted Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin (Likud) as saying that 
according to the Goldstone Report, Churchill was a war criminal 
too. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Israeli-founded technology firm 
GreenRoad announced on Monday that it had received $10 million in 
investment funds from former U.S. Vice President Al GoreQs 
Generation IM Climate Solutions Fund to accelerate the deployment of 
its GreenRoad 360 service.  GreenRoadQs product provides drivers and 
fleet managers with smart analysis of driving behavior and coaches 
them on how to improve fuel efficiency.  In an interview with The 
Jerusalem Post, founder and safety chief Hod Fleishman spoke about 
the companyQs product and his pride in the association with GoreQs 
fund. 
 
Leading media reported that a 70-storey skyscraper will soon be 
built in the west of the Tel Aviv suburb of Givatayim and become 
IsraelQs tallest structure.  The surface of its offices, commercial 
areas, and convention center will be 84,000 sq. m. 
 
--------- 
¶1.  Iran: 
--------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  QThe Weight of the Iranian Peacock 
 
Senior columnist, veteran journalist, and television anchor Dan 
Margalit wrote in the independent Israel Hayom (2/24): QAn 
impoverished countryQs ability to allow itself to affront the world 
helped North Korea get American presents in exchange for dismantling 
(or not?) its nuclear project.... Iran is applying the same 
principle with all its might.... Israel faces two alternatives: to 
prove that the Iranian peacock is nothing but pretense empty of 
contents, or to prevent the U.S. from heeding U.S. Admiral MullenQs 
fainthearted advice. 
 
 
II.  QDonQt Look at their Neckties 
 
Eytan Haber, veteran op-ed writer and assistant to the late Prime 
Minister Yitzhak Rabin, opined in the mass-circulation, pluralist 
Yediot Aharonot (2/24): Q[If the Americans] -- Obama and his 
subordinates --  [believe that an Israeli attack on Iran would delay 
that countryQs nuclear capability by only two to three years,]  and 
this seems to be their stance, the smiles and winks dispensed by 
some administration officials, who hint that Israel has the right to 
defend itself, re valueless.  What can now be understood is that the 
Americans will not allow us to act. 
 
------------ 
¶2.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  QDonQt Eulogize Obama 
 
Gabi Sheffer, a liberal political science professor at the Hebrew 
University, wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (2/24): 
QMost Israelis, including the heads of the defense establishment and 
politicians led by the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister, 
categorically state that U.S. President Barack Obama will never 
solve the Israeli-Arab conflict.  This lack of confidence in and 
sympathy for Obama have accompanied him, unjustifiably, since the 
day he began campaigning for the presidency -- and has only 
intensified following his election.  The disrespect toward him and 
his administration is unwarranted; there is no doubt that it is 
connected to Obama's ethnic background.... [But,] as no other 
existing power holds such extensive strength and influence, Obama's 
ability to act in the world in general and the Middle East in 
particular has not been eliminated.  Russia, China, and the European 
Union have not surpassed the United States in terms of their 
capability.... Above all, the relations between the Obama 
administration and the Arab states and the Palestinians are not 
cooling.  The appointment of a new U.S. ambassador to Syria as well 
as the Obama administration's close ties with the Kings of Jordan 
and Saudi Arabia, with the Egyptian President, and with Palestinian 
Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, should arouse the attention of 
the Israeli authorities who wish to freeze talks on the 
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  Like administrations in the past, 
Obama will still play a role in numerous political and economic 
affairs that relate to Israel.  Instead of eulogizing Obama, 
ignoring the conflict and investing everything in the Iranian issue, 
Israel must immediately resume the task of solving the 
Israeli-Arab-Palestinian conflict. 
 
II.  QNetanyahuQs Dire Straits 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in HaQaretz (2/24): 
QNetanyahu is in dire straits. His box of tricks is running out. 
The Palestinians and settlers are exploiting his weakness.  The 
world does not believe him and questions his control on the ground. 
Unless he surprises everyone with a daring initiative that will 
restore control to his agenda, the Prime Minister will be facing a 
double intifada from [Palestinian Prime Minister Salam] Fayyad and 
the settler hilltop youth. 
 
III.  QFrom Dubai to the West Bank and back 
 
Dov Weisglass, who was former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's top 
diplomatic advisor, wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot (2/24): QPrevalent doubts in the world regarding the 
justness of IsraelQs overall position are manifested in the attitude 
to the war against terror.  The supporters of the policy advocating 
the continuation of the Israeli occupation of Judea and Samaria 
[i.e. the West Bank] should take into account that it will come at 
the price of damage to the war against terror. 
 
III.  QWhipping Up the Winds of War 
 
Military correspondent Amos Harel and Palestinian affairs 
correspondent Avi Issacharoff wrote in HaQaretz (2/24): Q The 
reports of tension between Israel, Lebanon and Syria are coming at a 
time when there is a daily torrent of assessments, threats and 
forecasts concerning the progress of Iran's nuclear program.  The 
two subjects are linked.... Several times during the past two years 
Israel knew how to draw red lines, such as when it suspected Syria 
was about to make the mistake of passing on dangerous weapons.  It's 
possible the issue of red lines will reemerge in the near future. 
 
IV.  QNetanyahu Did Not Learn From the Western Wall Tunnel 
 
Diplomatic correspondent and television anchor Ben Caspit wrote in 
the popular, pluralist Maariv (2/24): QClearly, Benjamin Netanyahu 
is right.  The Tomb of the Patriarchs and RachelQs Tomb are key 
heritage sites in the history of the Jewish people.... [But] our 
region has more than a few professional party-poopers who are just 
looking for a reason to start a fight and create a crisis.  This is 
exactly what happened.  After all, Netanyahu has already been in 
this story with the Western Wall tunnel [in 1996].  Then too, it was 
symbolic, pompous and unnecessary.  Bloody riots broke out, and 
Netanyahu hurried to crawl quickly to Washington, Qdiscover a new 
friend in the White HouseQ named Yasser Arafat, and make a mockery 
of himself (and also bury 17 dead at the same opportunity).... At 
this rate, [a religious war] may erupt in the end.  And then we will 
have to work hard to restore the heritage. 
 
¶V.   QWhy Hit the Most Sensitive Spot? 
Former Meretz leader, former Justice Minister, and chief Israeli 
promoter of the Geneva Initiative, Yossi Beilin, wrote in the 
independent Israel Hayom (2/24): QThe Government has now decided on 
improvements and renovations in the most sensitive spot: The holy 
places in the West Bank.  All the diplomatic considerations collapse 
in the face of an empty political threat. So perhaps a responsible 
adult will stand up in Jerusalem and announce (which will happen in 
any case) that any work on the holy places will be done with the 
consent of the Palestinian Authority?  Perhaps someone will channel 
national pride elsewhere, and not into inciting the next 
confrontation? 
 
VI.  QAn Unnecessary Explosive Mix 
 
The ultra-Orthodox HamodiQa editorialized (2/24): QThe entire debate 
between Jews and Arabs [over holy sites in Palestine] would have 
been different -- even radically so -- had there been an interfaith 
dialogue.  The fact is that the Arab nation, which was anyway never 
friwendly to its Jewish cousins, burst out with wars and terrorism 
since the beginning of the Zionist revolution.... [The Arabs] know 
that the Jewish faith preceded Islam and that the sites holy [to 
Judaism] were built during the heyday and the splendor of the Jewish 
nation in the era of the First and Second Temples. 
 
VII.  QBash Israel (and Your Brain) 
 
Amnon Rubinstein, Law Professor at the Interdisciplinary Center and 
a former education minister from Meretz, wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post (2/24): QThe latest product in the 
flourishing bash-Israel literature is Iranophobia.  The book debunks 
Israeli and Western anxieties about the Iranian dangers.  The 
author, Prof. Haggai Ram of Ben-Gurion University ... holds that 
Israel has to demonize Iran so as to identify the Islamic Republic 
with its suppressed minorities in Israel: the Mizrahi [Oriental 
Jewish] and the haredi [ultra-Orthodox] communities.  Iran, on this 
theory, is the hated Qrole modelQ with which these suppressed 
minorities can be associated.... As is common in bash-Israel 
literature, the author adduces no real evidence for these 
allegations.... But the most significant aspect of this book is the 
fact that it published by Stanford University Press.... [In another 
instance, British psychoanalyst and academic Jacqueline Rose put out 
the tome QThe Question of ZionQ].... Her book is full of allegations 
against Zionism, comparing it to mental illness.  Her evidence is 
typical: its founders were mentally sick.... Here, too, the 
significant part is not the concoction of imaginary facts and 
accusations by the author but the fact that Princeton [University 
Press] published it.  Indeed, when it comes to Israel-bashing, 
anything goes. 
 
VIII.  QMideast Drama Starring Danny Ayalon 
 
Palestinian-American columnist and peace activist Ray Hanania wrote 
in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (2/24): Q[Deputy 
Israeli Foreign Minister Danny]  Ayalon's snub of the [Turkish] 
Ambassador [to Israel] represents more than just one man's failings. 
 His actions symbolize the fundamental shortcomings common to 
rejectionists and shared by the Arabs, too.... In the end, although 
Israeli rejectionists are similar to Palestinian rejectionists, 
there is one glaring difference.  Palestinians never apologize for 
anything or admit they are wrong.  Apologizing means compromise. 
Apologizing recognizes a mistake.  Palestinian rejectionists live in 
a pretend world where their mistakes don't exist and their failures 
are not debatable.  War crimes committed on their behalf are never 
addressed, only the war crimes of others.  Danny Ayalon may be a 
poor diplomat but at least he knows when to apologize and recognize 
when he is wrong.  When Israelis and Arabs can apologize and 
recognize when they are wrong together, and stop denying everything 
as they often do, maybe, just maybe, we might see the day when 
genuine peace is achieved. 
 
CUNNINGHAM