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E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR IS
 
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶1.  Mideast 
 
¶2.  IsraelQs Nuclear Policy 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Israel Radio reported that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton 
testified yesterday to a U.S. congressional committee that the U.S. 
wants to see a quick resumption of peace talks between Israel and 
the Palestinians.  Clinton reportedly said that U.S. Special Envoy 
to Middle East Peace Senator George Mitchell is attempting to make 
headways in that direction, but she did not name a date for the 
resumption of the negotiations. 
 
Yediot quoted the Secretary of State as saying yesterday at a Senate 
committee that sanctions on Iran will soon be applied.  Clinton also 
affirmed that progress has been made in convincing China to join the 
sanctions.  However, the daily quoted a senior Russian Foreign 
Ministry official as saying that his country will strenuously oppose 
strong sanctions.  Yediot reported that DM Ehud Barak met with U.N. 
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at U.N. Headquarters in New York 
yesterday.  Barak was quoted as saying that nuclear weapons in Iran 
would change the entire strategic balance n the region and that 
sanctions defined in time have to be imposed on Iran.  Ban was 
quoted as saying that he agrees that Iran must be prevented from 
reaching nuclear capability and that he will do his utmost to push 
sanctions forward.  Israel Radio reported that Ban expressed his 
concern to Barak about the siege on Gaza, IAF overflights of 
Lebanon, and the Israeli decision to proclaim the Cave of the 
Patriarchs in Hebron and RachelQs Tomb heritage sites. 
 
Israel Radio also quoted Clinton as saying at her Senate testimony 
that the Obama administration's decision to send an American 
ambassador to Syria after a five-year absence does not mean that 
U.S. concerns about the country have been addressed. 
 
The Jeruslem Post reported that todayQs bilateral strategictalks 
between the U.S. and Israel are expected to focus on sanctions 
against Iran, a day after Russia announced it opposes Qparalyzing 
sanctions aimed at the Islamic RepublicQs energy sector.  A possible 
military strike is not expected to be discussed, since Washington 
has made clear that while it might need to be discussed in the 
future, the military option is not now on the agenda.  There is 
currently no known discussion between Israel and the U.S., at any 
level, about military action, even though over the years both 
countries have said that it should not be taken off the table.   The 
meeting comes as both Jerusalem and Washington believe that Iran is 
making its international position more difficult by continuing to 
talk about enriching uranium to higher levels.  While it is unclear 
exactly which way China will vote on sanctions, there is a growing 
sense that it would be unlikely to buck the will of most of the rest 
of the world -- and the other permanent members of the Security 
Council -- and scuttle sanctions.  This assessment is largely based 
on previous Chinese behavior and BeijingQs general reticence to defy 
international consensus.  The Jerusalem Post reported that in the 
run-up to the Security Council sanctions vote, expected sometime in 
March, the U.S. is doing its utmost to distance itself from any hint 
that sanctions were intended for regime change in Teheran, and not 
only to stop the nuclear program.  The fear is that this could chase 
both Russia and China away from supporting a fourth round of 
sanctions. 
 
The Jerusalem Post printed a Letter to the Editor by Assistant 
Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Michael H. 
Posner, who rebuts claims made by the newspaperQs columnist Anne 
Bayefsky on 2/17 that his intervention at the U.N. Human Rights 
Council as part of the Universal Periodic Review concerning human 
rights in Iran was minimal.  Posner responds that he had clearly 
condemned the Qunjust suppression of Iranian citizensQ and that he 
had expressed the United StatesQ concern about the status of 
detainees in Iran, torture, and the systematic violations by the 
Iranian government of religious freedom. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday top EU officials threw 
their support behind the Goldstone Report, two days before the U.N. 
General Assembly debates it. 
 
The aftermath of the Dubai assassination continued to dominate 
Israeli media headlines, which quoted the EmirateQs police chief as 
saying yesterday that 15 additional QMossad agentsQ took part in the 
hit.  At least 10 of them carried passports under the names of 
actual Israeli residents.  Israel Radio reported that IsraelQs 
Ambassador to Australia Yuval Rotem was called in for clarifications 
by the Foreign Ministry in Canberra, as Australian FM Stephen 
Francis Smith said that three Australian passports had been forged 
in the operation.  Israel Radio reported that Smith told Rotem that 
if it turns out that Israel carried out the assassination, the 
Australian Government would not view this as an act by a friendly 
nation.  The radio also cited the concern of Australian PM Kevin 
Michael Rudd, a Qgreat friend of Israel,Q over the issue.  Maariv 
reported that Dubai police exposed details about 17 MasterCard 
credit cards used in the hit: they were allegedly linked to a single 
U.S. bank Q Metabank from Stormlake, Iowa.  Dubai police said that 
the cards were also connected to another American bank -- Pioneer 
Bank in New York.  One of PioneerQs key clients is Birthright Israel 
(Taglit), a project offering young Jews free trips to get to know 
Israel.  Media reported that two of the assassins might have fled to 
Iran.  Some media questioned the large number of foreigners -- 26 
--suspected by Dubai: a commentary in Israel Hayom by former Mossad 
official Rami Igra is headlined: QReality or Fantasy?Q  Yediot noted 
that around one quarter of the agents who acted in Dubai were women 
-- an Qadvantage well-known to Israel.Q  The Shas party newspaper 
Yom Leyom quoted Israeli defense sources as saying that IsraelQs 
deterrence has strengthened following reports about al-MabhouhQs 
assassination. 
 
Israel Radio reported that yesterday the State Department criticized 
the Israeli GovernmentQs naming of two biblical shrines as national 
heritage sites to be preserved.   The media reported that clashes 
over the issue between Palestinians and Israeli security forces 
continued yesterday.  IDF Radio quoted President Shimon Peres as 
saying that Israel is not interested in an artificial confrontation. 
 Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that yesterday, during a QLatin 
American conferenceQ in Jerusalem, Information and Diaspora Affairs 
Minister Yuli Edelstein (Likud) hinted that the Palestinians are 
attempting to change history and IsraelQs heritage. 
 
Israel Radio and other media reported that Lebanese authorities have 
arrested an additional Lebanese man suspected of spying for Israel. 
 
Israel Hayom and Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that a building 
company has filed a 171-million shekel (around $45 million) 
compensation suit over PM NetanyahuQs moratorium on settlement 
construction. 
 
HaQaretz quoted U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates as saying at 
a recent NATO meeting that EuropeQs conciliatory attitude is 
preventing the establishment of world peace. 
Maariv quoted Kadima Knesset Member Shaul Mofaz as saying yesterday 
during a meeting of the partyQs Knesset faction that he does not 
intend to split the party, whose leadership he said he would now be 
seeking.  Mofaz had threatened to break up the party if primaries 
were not held. 
 
Maariv quoted senior academics as saying that the Government will 
not tell them what to teach.  (Yesterday Maariv reported on a 
planned Education Ministry program to require all university and 
college students to take a compulsory course in the Qheritage of the 
Jewish people and the Zionist project.Q) 
 
Maariv described the assassination in Damascus two years ago of 
senior Hizbullah agent Imad Mughniyah, as told by Gordon Thomas, a 
correspondent for the British newspaper The Independent.  Thomas 
says that the hit was originally ordered by former PM Ariel Sharon, 
later approved by Ehud Olmert, and carried out by the Mossad. 
 
All media reported that testimony in former PM Ehud OlmertQs trial 
on a variety of corruption charges starts today. 
 
HaQaretz reported cited the Russian news agency Interfax as saying 
that a Kazakh court has sentence Dr. Boris Sheinkman, a businessman 
representing Israeli defense companies, to 11 yearsQ imprisonment 
for allegedly giving bribes to senior Kazakh officials. 
 
The subject of Dr. Sheinkman was not scheduled to be discussed by 
the two leaders. However, after discussions on the matter last night 
President Peres decided to raise the sensitive subject. Dr. 
Sheinkman was arrested several months ago as part of a bribery 
affair that caused a storm in Kazakhstan and among the Israeli 
defense industry working in Muslim countries. 
 
Maariv reported that next week Israeli Arab youngsters will join a 
flight course for outstanding students. 
 
Media reported on a test run of JerusalemQs light railway yesterday. 
 This means of transportation is expected to be operational by April 
¶2011. The media also reported that the Government approved the 
national transportation plan devised by Netanyahu and Transportation 
Minister and Road Safety Yisrael Katz (Likud).  The first stage of 
the project will cost 27.5 billion shekels (around $7.29 billion). 
One of the reported projects is the restoration of the historical 
QValley RailwayQ linking Akko (Acre) and the Jezreeel Valley through 
Karmiel. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  QNot Combat Heritage 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (2/25): QThe 
cabinet's decision to extensively alter important sites in the West 
Bank clearly violates the commitment to refrain from changing the 
status quo in the territories, whose fate is subject to 
negotiations.  If there is an urgent need for maintenance work at 
the Tomb of the Patriarchs, it would have been suitable to discuss 
this first with the PA's leaders and to coordinate plans with the 
Islamic institution that handles the site where both Jews and 
Muslims worship, rather than arrogantly asserting ownership.  Anyone 
who declares holy places in Hebron and Bethlehem to be Israeli 
heritage sites should not be surprised when right-wing activists 
seize a synagogue in Jericho.  This is what happens under a 
government that has made acting belligerently toward its neighbors a 
strategy and provoking the world a policy.  Netanyahu must not turn 
Jewish heritage sites into a new chapter in Israel's long combat 
heritage.  He should announce that joint restoration work at 
Rachel's Tomb and the Tomb of the Patriarchs will be one of the 
first subjects of peace talks with the Palestinians. 
 
 
II.  QNetanyahuQs Vision 
 
Senior commentator Ari Shavit wrote in Ha'aretz (2/25): QFinally 
there is a vision.  Speaking to HaQaretz earlier this week, Prime 
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defined for the first time his vision of 
the future: Israel as a global technology leader, grounded in its 
values and moving toward peace from a position of power.  You can 
like the vision or hate it, accept it or reject it, but now it is 
clear what Netanyahu is proposing against Peace Now of the Left, and 
how he is dividing those in the center.  His overall goal is now 
apparent.... At the celebratory cabinet meeting in Tel Hai [a 
symbolic place of Jewish heroism] this week, his government adopted 
a program for restoring and reinforcing national heritage.  Once 
again, the decision was derided and ridiculed.  Secular France 
invests greatly in commemorating its cultural and national heritage, 
while democratic United States glorifies its past and speaks 
incessantly about its uniqueness and greatness, and yet this is 
forbidden for Israel.... The unbridled assault on the plan, 
therefore, is not an attack on the Right and the occupation.  It is 
an attack on the values that have shaped and defined us -- an attack 
on Israel's core identity.... Netanyahu is doing something important 
in trying to revive Zionism, but without confronting the occupation 
his effort will fail.  If Israel is to be a global technological 
leader, grounded in its values and moving toward peace from a 
position of power, it must gradually leave the territories.  The 
Prime Minister deserves a good word this week, but he must know that 
only if he removes Israel from [the radical settlements of] Yitzhar 
and Itamar will he have the strength to restore it to what was 
promised at [the communities of] Ruhama, Kinneret, Hulda, and Rosh 
Pina [within the Green Line]. 
 
III.  QThe Winds of Middle East War 
 
Columnist Michael Freund, who was an assistant to Prime Minister 
Benjamin Netanyahu during his first term in office, wrote in the 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (2/25): QFrom Beirut and 
Damascus in the north to Tehran in the east, and back to Gaza in the 
south, the Qarc of hateQ surrounding the Jewish state is speaking 
openly and brazenly of conflict and destruction.  Israel's foes have 
launched increasingly fiery verbal volleys in recent weeks, in what 
appears to be a coordinated campaign to heighten tensions in the 
region.  With pressure mounting on Iran over its nuclear program, 
and the threat of stricter sanctions in the air, Israel needs to be 
on guard and alert.... Indeed, on January 31, U.S. National Security 
Advisor James Jones warned that Iran might very well choose to lash 
out at Israel in the coming months.... It is therefore essential 
that international pressure be brought to bear on Damascus and 
Teheran to cease and desist from driving the region toward greater 
instability. 
 
IV.  QEverything but PR 
 
Peace Now Secretary-General Yariv Oppenheimer wrote in the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (2/25): QOver recent 
days the Information and Diaspora Affairs Minister.  A government 
Web site that Qtells citizens what to think and tell, and how to 
look at reality,Q belongs to fascistic and sinister states. 
Moreover, adopting hose positions and attempting  to market to 
market them will only harm Israel and its status in the world. 
Inaccuracies, the selective and tendentious choice made kin the 
presentation of the Israeli-Arab conflict can only increase dislike 
of Israel and its policy.  Phony Qpublic relationsQ tainted by 
racism will cause harm and deepen even further the rift between 
Israeli society and the Western world. 
 
¶V.  QBest Movie 
 
Liberal contributor Einat Weizman wrote in the popular, pluralist 
Maariv (2/25): QIf Israeli agents did in fact carry out the 
liquidation [of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh], their goal was achieved and 
Mabhouh is no longer alive, but a film [disseminated on You Tube 
about the assassination exemplifies the distortion of IsraelQs 
perception of its place in the Middle East.  It seems that its 
failure lies, among other causes, in arrogance and misunderstanding 
of reality.  Antiquated terror techniques that worked well in the 
past can no longer function in a sophisticated media environment. 
Thus, while the Dubai authorities demonstrated perfect understanding 
of the communications age, the assassins whom those authorities so 
skillfully documented look like a gang of clumsy killers from a past 
era.  In fact, [Ehud BarakQs] characterization of Israel as a villa 
in the jungle should be reversed to Qa jungle in a villa. 
 
VI.  QWho Needs Ancient Caves, We Have IPhones 
 
Conservative columnist Haim Navon wrote in Maariv (2/25): 
QNetanyahuQs [choice of heritage sites] has caused great turmoil 
among the Palestinians.  One can easily understand why.  They 
attempt to present themselves as natives and themselves as a people 
under occupation; the unearthing of 4,000-year-old Jewish sites 
slightly shakes the fantasy called the QPalestinian narrative.Q  Why 
anger the Palestinians in the name of dubious principles? 
 
 
VII.  QFantastical Adventures 
 
Intelligence affairs correspondent Yossi Melman wrote in Ha'aretz 
(2/25): QThere is no doubt that more than a little of the 
information that [DubaiQs chief of police] is disclosing or leaking 
to the media is part of a ploy in which bits of disinformation are 
planted.  He's throwing out a lure in the hope that someone in 
Israel will swallow the bait and respond by incriminating himself or 
disclosing confidential information.... It is hard to believe that, 
if the Mossad intelligence agency carried out the operation, the 
planners were so irresponsible as to dispatch nearly 30 agents and 
to expose an entire select operational unit on one assassination 
operation.  This is true even if we assume the planner thought the 
target should be hit no matter what, and even if hypothetically 
Mabhouh was on his way to Iran to arrange an arms deal that Israel 
had seen as changing the balance of power.  Either the new 
revelations are another salvo in Dubai's psychological warfare or 
the police investigators are groping in the dark.  It is doubtful we 
will ever know the truth.  The evidence linking Israel to the affair 
is still weak, certainly for courtroom purposes but also in the 
diplomatic sphere.  But the saga also sends a message of deterrence 
to Hamas that the long arm of whoever carried out the operation can 
hit another senior Hamas official. 
 
VIII.  QPinpointed Assassination 
 
Editor-in-Chief Amnon Lord wrote in the editorial of the 
nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe (2/25): QWhen Israel is 
suspected of eliminating a senior terror figure -- not from the air 
but in a pinpoint fashion Qno investigator in the world will refuse 
to probe the Qmurder,Q as if it were a great loss to mankind, like 
Albert Schweitzer or Mother Theresa.  In the final analysis, 
international  responses stem from the basic conception that Israel 
is the only body in the world that is required to justify the land 
is sits one and the citizens of which must present a repot justify 
the quantity of oxygen they consume. 
 
 
 
 
---------------------------- 
¶2.  IsraelQs Nuclear Policy: 
---------------------------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
 
QWhat if We WouldnQt Scare Ourselves with the Bomb? 
 
Avner Cohen, author of the book QIsrael and the BombQ and a public 
policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, wrote in 
HaQaretz (2/25): QUltimately, we need to internalize the insight 
that even Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad voiced this week, 
when he said that all the talk about an Iranian bomb is irrational 
and meaningless.  This is not simply because any Iranian attempt to 
destroy Israel via a nuclear bomb would kill countless Palestinians, 
but because it would surely lead to the destruction of Iran itself 
by Israel and the United States.  Therefore, the idiotic claim that 
Iran could bring about Israel's destruction does not hold water. 
While it is true that Ahmadinejad would love Israel to implode of 
its own accord, a self-confident and strong nation should not take 
such statements too seriously.  And it certainly should not view 
them as an existential threat. 
 
CUNNINGHAM