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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000449 
 
STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD 
 
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM 
NSC FOR NEA STAFF 
 
SECDEF WASHDC FOR USDP/ASD-PA/ASD-ISA 
HQ USAF FOR XOXX 
DA WASHDC FOR SASA 
JOINT STAFF WASHDC FOR PA 
CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL FOR POLAD/USIA ADVISOR 
COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE FOR PAO/POLAD 
COMSIXTHFLT FOR 019 
 
JERUSALEM ALSO ICD 
LONDON ALSO FOR HKANONA AND POL 
PARIS ALSO FOR POL 
ROME FOR MFO 
 
SIPDIS 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR IS
 
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
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SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
Mideast 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media quoted Syrian President Bashar Assad, who hosted Iranian 
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Damascus yesterday, as saying that 
Syria was preparing for Israeli aggression.  Israel Hayom bannered: 
QConcern about the Strengthening of the Tehran-Damascus Axis. 
Israel Radio reported that Ahmadinejad also met with Hizbullah 
leader Hassan Nasrallah and the leaders of the radical Palestinian 
groups.  The radio reported that a trilateral 
Ahmadinejad-Assad-Nasrallah meeting took place; the radio cited the 
BBC as saying that the summit was not immediately announced because 
of NasrallahQs concern for his personal security.  While IsraelQs 
President Peres called on Assad to choose between the axis of peace 
and the axis of evil, Assad emphasized the special relations between 
Damascus and Tehran.  Ahmadinejad said he would advance a vision of 
a new Middle East with "no Zionists and no colonialists."  (IDF 
Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi said yesterday that Israel 
has no interest in a regional escalation.)  Assad defied U.S. calls 
to curb ties with Iran, saying his long-standing alliance with 
Tehran remains strong despite overtures from Washington intended to 
shift his loyalties.  With Ahmadinejad by his side, Assad told 
America not to dictate relationships in the Middle East.  "I find it 
strange how they talk about Middle East stability and at the same 
time talk about dividing two countries," Assad told reporters when 
asked about Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's call on Wednesday 
for Syria to move away from Iran.  Taking a further swipe at 
Clinton, he said that perhaps he and Ahmadinejad had misunderstood, 
due to a translation error or their own limited understanding.  The 
Jerusalem Post notes that Jerusalem is not commenting over the 
Damascus summit meeting. 
 
Leading media reported that DM Ehud BarakQs statement in Washington 
that Qstrong and crippling sanctionsQ must be applied to Iran 
clashes with the approach formulated yesterday by Assistant 
Secretary of State Philip J. Crowley in the State DepartmentQs daily 
briefing. 
PM Benjamin Netanyahu was quoted as saying in a joint interview with 
Israel Radio and the Russian-language Channel 9-TV that he had been 
misunderstood, as his cabinetQs decision to restore the Cave of the 
Patriarchs in Hebron and RachelQs Tomb only meant physical 
preservation of the sites and in no way a change of the status quo. 
Netanyahu insisted on IsraelQs determination to respect the Muslims 
religious freedom.  HaQaretz reported that the PMQs Office did not 
consult with intelligence or law-enforcement officials over the 
security implications involved in including Hebron's site on the 
list of national heritage sites slated for preservation.  Speaking 
on Israel Radio this morning, Environment Minister Gilad Erdan 
(Likud) bashed the State DepartmentQs condemnation of IsraelQs move. 
 (Media quoted Assistant Secretary of State Philip J. Crowley as 
saying yesterday: "We have asked both parties to refrain from 
provocative and unilateral actions that undermine efforts to resume 
negotiations to end the conflict," adding: "We have raised this 
directly with the Israeli Government.")  Erdan said that the U.S. 
was misled on the issue.  Israel Radio also cited condemnation of 
the GOIQs decision by the Organization of the Islamic Conference, 
which demanded that the U.N. Security Council debate the issue, and 
by the Quartet, which called IsraelQs decision an act of aggression 
and provocation toward Muslims.  The media reported that yesterday 
the IDF and Palestinians clashed in Hebron for the fourth day. 
 
HaQaretz reported that, in a paper released yesterday, the PA has 
warned that it may abandon its support of the 1993 Oslo Accords, 
which outlines a two-state solution to the conflict with Israel, and 
instead pursue the creation of a binational state between the Jordan 
River and Mediterranean Sea.   The document, entitled "The Political 
Situation in Light of Developments with the U.S. Administration and 
Israeli Government and Hamas's Continued Coup d'Etat,"  was drafted 
in December 2009 by Saeb Erekat, the PA's veteran chief negotiator. 
 
Israel Radio quoted the Nazareth newspaper Hadith a-Nas as saying, 
based on an Arab diplomat,  that U.S. Special Envoy to Middle East 
Peace Senator George Mitchell recently threatened to resign over the 
failure to resume Israeli-Palestinian talks.  Israel Radio also 
cited Hadith a-Nas as saying that the White House declined 
MitchellQs request.  A Palestinian source told the Arabic-language 
newspaper that Mitchell had also wished to resign over the 
intervention of State Department officials favorable to Israel. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the rightist yeshiva organization 
Ateret Cohanim is moving more Jewish families into JerusalemQs 
Muslim Quarter. 
 
HaQaretz reported that the passport photographs of the agents who 
assassinated Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai were doctored so the agents 
would not be identified.  The discovery casts doubt on claims that 
the espionage agency that carried out last month's hit on the senior 
Hamas operative committed grave errors. 
 
Yediot (Smadar Perry) reported that Israel neglects its relations 
with Egypt. 
 
Yediot reported that 19 of the 35 delegates who spoke about the 
Goldstone Report at the European Parliament yesterday criticized it. 
 The Jerusalem Post reported that more than 90 U.S. Congress members 
signed a letter to Secretary Clinton supporting Israel ahead of 
todayQs U.N. General Assembly vote on a resolution that would give 
Israel and the Palestinians five more months to investigate their 
actions during Operation Cast Lead. 
. 
Citing the AP, HaQaretz and The Jerusalem Post quoted the European 
UnionQs high court as saying yesterday that the West Bank is not 
part of Israel and that Israeli goods made there are subject to E.U. 
import taxes. 
 
The Jerusalem Post cited the results of a Gallup poll that found 
that Israel enjoys near record support in the U.S.  However, only 30 
percent of those polled foresee a time when Israel and the Arabs 
will live in peace. 
 
 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  QThe Master of Pyromania 
 
Senior columnist and longtime peace advocate Yoel Marcus wrote in 
the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (2/26): QIt's not clear what 
it is about Benjamin Netanyahu, who in both his terms as prime 
minister has gotten into trouble -- or to be more precise, has 
gotten the country embroiled in incendiary issues.  During his first 
term he triggered bloody riots all over the country as a result of 
opening the Western Wall tunnel (the Qrock of our existenceQ).  Now 
he has decided, under pressure from the right-wing forces in his 
government, to add the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Rachel's Tomb to 
the list of Jewish heritage preservation sites, thus enabling 
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who was in Europe at 
the time, to warn that Israel is threatening to ignite a religious 
war.... The Labor Party is being dragged into an ultra-Orthodox 
religious right-wing whirlpool, the likes of which we haven't seen 
since the establishment of the state.  The partnership between Barak 
and Bibi is causing an upheaval in the Israeli way of life.  We have 
returned to the days of Qthe entire world is against us.Q  Instead 
of being preoccupied with the important matters, we are preoccupied 
with things that lead nowhere.  We are scattering lit matches that 
are starting fires that damage Israel's international standing, both 
on the Iranian issue and on peace issues. Bibi has remained the same 
Bibi, the master of pyromania. 
 
II.  QBibiQs Heritage 
 
Diplomatic correspondent and television anchor Ben Caspit wrote on 
page one of the popular, pluralist Maariv (2/26): QNetanyahu and 
Barak, the two decorated and experienced generals, were supposed to 
lead us to safe shores.  What came of all this?  If there were 
negotiations with the Syrians now, Ahmadinejad would not be in 
Damascus.  The threat of war with Syria would be removed, at least 
temporarily.  If there were any kind of negotiations with the 
Palestinians now, there would not be riots in Hebron.  Our situation 
around the world would also be better.  Iran could be isolated, the 
danger posed by Hizbullah and Hamas in advance of the sanctions 
could be neutralized, and everything could be made simpler.  All 
these things are now needed like a breath of oxygen.  In order to 
deal with Iran, the Americans need quiet, room to maneuver, and a 
calm Middle East.  Instead, they get from Netanyahu and Barak an 
agitated and irresponsible country, which cannot speak to any of its 
enemies, cannot maintain reasonable ties with its neighbors, and 
does not reward its allies -- and in the middle of all this is also 
caught at high noon, allegedly of course, in Dubai, with the forged 
passports and its pants down.  Instead of us being in the gallery, 
waving at the dock, we are sitting on it, reprimanded, enabling Iran 
and its allies to look like stable elements.  For the time being, 
this is our heritage. 
 
III.  QThe Prime Minister as Marketing Director 
 
Chief Economic Editor and senior columnist Sever Plotker wrote in 
the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (2/26): QIndeed, 
[Benjamin Netanyahu planned] weighty, breathtaking, and historical 
decisions, which would dramatically change the face of the State of 
Israel and turn it into an economic, scientific, technological, and 
cultural world power.  This is according to a prime minister who in 
his second term is playing the part of a marketing director rather 
than a state leader.  His QreformsQ so far are suitable for the desk 
of a mid-level official in a mid-level ministry. Prime Minister 
Netanyahu appears to be so bored with his high position that he 
finds time to deal with nonsense; nonsense from the viewpoint of the 
tasks usually imposed on a statesman chosen to lead Israel. And the 
public is forgiving (it is still forgiving; however, there are 
growing signs of discomfort, disappointment and impatience), because 
sometimes the public prefers not to confront inconvenient truths and 
is willing for some time to live in an imaginary reality, painted by 
our prime minister in rosy colors. 
 
IV.  QThe Plot Thickens 
 
HaQaretz editorialized (2/26): QThe group that took out Mabhouh was 
exposed due to one weak point: the use of false passports from 
Western countries bearing the identities of real Israelis with dual 
citizenship.  From now on  all Israelis with dual passports will be 
suspected of being intelligence agents.  There is no doubt that this 
revelation endangers, or at least complicates, other operations. 
Did Mabhouh's assassination justify taking such a risk?  Was there 
negligence or contempt for the adversary on the part of the 
planners, the commanders and those who approved the operation (Prime 
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to foreign reports)?  Were 
other operations compromised, that were even more essential than the 
killing of a Hamas weapons smuggler?  Is criticism by countries 
whose passports were falsified just for the record, or will it limit 
operatives' freedom of action in other hits?  Will the affair 
increase Israel's international isolation and present it once again 
as a lawless state?  If foreign reports are true about Israel's 
responsibility for the Mabhouh hit and the forged passports, then a 
thorough clarification is warranted, which can lead to conclusions 
about both organizations and individuals. 
 
¶V.  QThe International Chorus at Abu MazenQs Service 
 
The nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe editorialized (2/26): 
Q[U.N.] Secretary-General Ban Ki-moonQs unusual pronouncement 
[condemning IsraelQs list of heritage sites] was accompanied by 
criticism from the United States.  During most of last week 
Palestinian Authority head Abu Mazen conducted an impressive lecture 
tour of Europe on account of the Cave of the Patriarchs.... A 
complaint by Arabs -- especially by those called Palestinians -- 
against Israel is immediately adopted by the Qinternational 
community,Q even if their claim is ludicrous.  The Belgian 
Parliament, the U.N General Assembly, and television stations avidly 
take in any anti-Israeli statement: even an Israeli TV anchor felt 
the need to justify herself and anxiously wonder what will happen to 
us.... Only 10 years ago the PLO begged for international legitimacy 
and the Jews volunteered to grant it in exchange for the cessation 
of terrorism.  It is now the PLO that automatically activates 
Qpublic opinion,Q cutting IsraelQs oxygen supply of legitimacy and 
legality. 
 
VI.  QPurimQs Moral Clarity 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (2/26): 
Q[Mahmoud al-]Mabhouh, a self-confessed killer ... who facilitated 
the smuggling of thousands of Iranian-made missiles into Gaza to be 
used against Israeli citizens, did not appear on InterpolQs list and 
traveled freely.  Nor is it likely that the International Criminal 
Court or the U.N. Human Rights Council would have been willing to 
take action against Mabhouh for violating IsraelisQ basic human 
rights by trying to destroy them.  But Dubai, in its clamor for the 
arrest of MabhouhQs Qmurderers,Q is receiving European support. 
Similarly, IDF officers who defend their country against Palestinian 
terrorism are liable to be arrested and charged for war crimes when 
traveling to Europe, while members of Hamas and of Fatah terror 
cells can often move unhindered from country to country.  Fuzzy 
moral relativism is ravaging Europe and reversing long-accepted 
notions of truth and falsehood.... The book of Esther, the 
centerpiece of the Purim holiday, might seem like a fairytale, but 
it is a quintessentially political book from which the Europeans and 
the Australians could learn.  Adrift in a sea of multiculturalism -- 
Ahasuerus ruled 120 nations from India to Kush [possibly an area in 
northeastern Africa] -- the Jewish people overcame their enemy by 
maintaining a distinctive identity and culture which fostered unity. 
 In a similar vein, Europeans, who are fighting a war of ideas, must 
strengthen their ties with their own culture and the values it 
represents if they are to resist the culture of destruction 
emblemized by Hamas, al-Qaida and other representatives of radical 
Islam, the avowed enemies of everything that is most admirable about 
the West. 
 
CUNNINGHAM