ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 10 TEL AVIV 006924 SIPDIS 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 USCINCCENT MACDILL AFB FL FOR POLAD/USIA ADVISOR COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE FOR PAO/POLAD COMSIXTHFLT FOR 019 JERUSALEM ALSO FOR ICD LONDON ALSO FOR HKANONA AND POL PARIS ALSO FOR POL ROME FOR MFO E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: IS KMDR MEDIA REACTION REPORT SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION -------------- SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: -------------- ¶1. Mideast ¶2. Iran: Nuclear Program ¶3. Syria ¶4. U.S.-Israel Relations -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- Leading media highlighted remarks made in an interview with Newsweek by Kalman Gayer, who advises PM Sharon on public opinion polls, that Sharon would be willing to give up 90 percent of the West Bank and part of Jerusalem for a Palestinian state. The media quoted senior Likud MKs Binyamin Netanyahu and Uzi Landau, among others, as saying that Sharon will "divide Jerusalem." Major media reported that Sharon published a special statement last night in which he totally dissociated himself from the quotes in Newsweek, saying they were "senseless and absurd." All media (banner in Ha'aretz) quoted IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz as saying before the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday that Iran will be capable of enriching uranium within the next three months, but that it will have to overcome many technological obstacles before reaching the nuclear "point of no return." Leading media cited Halutz's belief that Iran could reach nuclear capability between 2008 and 2015. Yediot cited Halutz's concern that Iran could pass "dirty bombs" on to terrorists if it succeeds in reaching nuclear capability. Ha'aretz reported that on Tuesday, Labor Party officials, including Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, accused Sharon, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, and other defense officials of using the Iranian issue in their election campaigns in an effort to divert public debate from social issues. Leading media reported that, at a meeting with Hamas leader Khaled Mashal in Tehran Tuesday, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei encouraged the Palestinians to continue their struggle against Israel. On Tuesday, The Jerusalem Post reported that the U.S. and Israel are continuing talks about the plan to run IDF-escorted buses between Gaza and the West Bank, even as Israel is maintaining its firm resistance to allow such buses to run. The newspaper reported that Israel, the PA, and the U.S. had been organizing a test pilot this Thursday of a convoy program that would allow safe passage of Palestinian people and goods between Gaza and the West Bank through a series of IDF-escorted convoys. Yediot reported that, just before he quit the contest for Likud Party leadership and joined Sharon's party Kadima, Mofaz authorized the construction of hundreds of housing units in settlements. The newspaper wrote that the majority of heads of local council that won building permits are Likud members. Yediot, which cited Mofaz's bureau as saying that the decision is not politically motivated, noted that the move contravenes Israel's understandings with the U.S. Ha'aretz reported that the state is turning a blind eye to "building violations on a colossal scale" on the western side of the fence route in a new section of the settlement of Upper Modi'in. The newspaper wrote that this description was quoted from a letter by attorney Gilad Rogel, the legal counselor of the Upper Modi'in Local Council, in reference to the new neighborhood called Matitiyahu East. Ha'aretz quoted Mofaz as saying Tuesday that Hizbullah can be expected to escalate the situation on the Lebanese border in order to divert attention from Syria's actions in Lebanon. The Jerusalem Post quoted a senior IDF officer as saying Tuesday that an attempt by Syria to divert attention from the Mehlis report by stirring a clash with Israel is not likely, since the Syrian army is spread too thin to pose a threat. Leading media reported that on Monday, in a written statement, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on the Bashar Assad regime to stop meddling in Lebanon's affairs. The Jerusalem Post reported that the IDF is reviewing its open-fire regulations along the Egyptian border to better defend against increasing attempts by armed infiltrators crossing the frontier, which has been a so- called "peace border" for the past quarter century. The newspaper quoted a senior IDF officer as saying Tuesday that the new regulations were required to deal with the "dangerous criminal elements" on the border. In its lead story, The Jerusalem Post reported that, facing a violent uprising by representatives of the young guard in his ruling Fatah party, PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas was under enormous pressure on Tuesday to postpone parliamentary elections scheduled for next month. Leading media reported that this week, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made remarks reiterating his doubt about the Holocaust. The Jerusalem Post reported that two IDF paratroopers were wounded by an improvised explosive thrown at them during an operation in Nablus on Tuesday. Yediot and The Jerusalem Post cited statistics released by the IDF on Tuesday, according to which the number of Israelis killed in terrorist actions in 2005 (52) was half that of 2004 (112). The Jerusalem Post wrote that the army still hesitates to declare the Intifada over. The Jerusalem Post reported that a map of the Middle East presented at the UN did not include Israel and had no mention of the Jewish state in the region. The map was used at a formal event on November 29 -- "A Day of Solidarity With the Palestinian People" -- that was attended by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the presidency of the UN Security Council and General Assembly. The newspaper quoted Farhan Haq, a spokesman at UN Headquarters in New York, as saying that the map does not represent the UN's views on the region and that it would not be presented at next year's event. The Jerusalem Post reported that the Israeli delegation to the UN is considering its actions following the use of the map, and quoted sources in the delegation as saying that Israel does not accept such behavior on behalf of the international body and that it views the event in a very serious light. Maariv's web site, NRG, reported that Maariv's correspondent Jackie Hoogie, whose father was born in Iraq, voted for the second time in Jordan as an exile in the elections for the Iraqi parliament. Maariv cited a report in the latest issue of the magazine Karka, published by the Jewish National Fund's land policy branch, which found that the IDF directly controls over 50 percent of the state-owned land inside the Green Line. Noting that the IDF also controls most of the state land in the West Bank, Maariv says that the absolute majority of the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea is "military." The Jerusalem Post and other media reported that recent polls suggested that FM Silvan Shalom has gained on Netanyahu since Mofaz quit the race for Likud leadership and joined Kadima. So far, every poll had predicted that Netanyahu would win the contest. Ha'aretz cited the results of a Tel Aviv University poll due to be released today, according to which Israeli Arab voters will supply the Labor Party with between three and four seats in the next Knesset and Kadima with at least one. -------------- ¶1. Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one of popular, pluralist Maariv: "Sharon's group over the past two weeks has been suffering megalomania." Conservative columnist Yosef Harif wrote in Maariv: "In the new framework movement [Sharon] has created, he is assured of general support for his ideas.... But there's no certainty that he can reach peace." Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "Nonsense" Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one of popular, pluralist Maariv (December 14): "There has already been more than one report that Sharon could/would carry out additional disengagements. In order for this to happen, the road map must fail (which would take a year or two),there must be the right conditions (there is no partner, etc.). This disengagement, should it take place, would include taking down isolated settlements in Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank], with some agreement with the Americans about the practical ramifications of the new line. Sharon, as of now, is not thinking about this. He is hoping for a sweeping victory by Abu Mazen in the elections, and perhaps even a resumption of negotiations on the basis of the road map. To attribute to him the division of Jerusalem, is like attributing to Avraham Poraz [a former Shinui Party cabinet minister who opposes religious coercion] the intention to become religious. If Sharon has a casus belli, it is in Jerusalem. True, he knows that it could be that sometime, in some permanent status agreement, the periphery neighborhoods of East Jerusalem could be handed over to the Palestinians. Olmert has known this for a long time, but Sharon will not be the person to sign such an agreement. Even Netanyahu knows this. We are entering the wild territory of this endless election campaign -- the territory in which mistakes are made. Sharon's group over the past two weeks has been suffering megalomania. Arrogance is the great enemy of the victorious. This story in Newsweek, which shook up the Prime Minister on Tuesday, will remind them that they have not yet won. Nor will they win, if they continue this way." II. "Short-Term Utopia" Conservative columnist Yosef Harif wrote in Maariv (December 14): "Sharon aspires to achieve peace during his [upcoming] term; if he wins a majority he will not hesitate to make what he calls 'painful concessions.' In the new framework movement he has created, he is assured of general support for his ideas, including the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. But there's no certainty that he can reach peace.... It is very doubtful whether those 'painful concessions' will satisfy the Palestinians. In that situation, Sharon might strive to achieve an agreement in stages. The Palestinians have so far rejected an interim agreement and insisted on Israel withdrawing from all the territories, including East Jerusalem, in exchange for a peace treaty. The Labor Party members who are joining Sharon haven't concealed their views that it is worthwhile for Israel to withdraw to the 1967 borders in order to achieve peace. This is totally unacceptable to Sharon. Such divergences could herald the first kernels of disagreement in the party and dispel the euphoric atmosphere in the first steps of the Kadima party." -------------- ¶2. Iran: Nuclear Program: -------------- Summary: -------------- Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev Schiff wrote on page one of independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The real crossroads regarding Iranian nuclear weapons will be reached in another 2.5 to 3 years." Senior op-ed writer Uzi Benziman commented in Ha'aretz: "Israel should take into account the pessimistic scenario and see the position expressed by Ahmadinejad as a real threat." Mordechai Kedar, a research associate at Bar-Ilan University's Begin-Sadat Center, wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "No negotiations, no pressure can change Allah's decision as executed by the Ayatollahs." Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "Nuclear Confusion" Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev Schiff wrote on page one of independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (December 14): "There are several crossroads in Iranian nuclear development. To help out anyone who has trouble making head or tail of things with all the declarations [by senior Israeli political and military leaders], I think the real crossroads regarding Iranian nuclear weapons will be reached in another 2.5 to 3 years. That will occur once Iran manages to operate between 2,000 and 4,000 centrifuges to create fissionable materials, or enriched uranium, for nuclear weapons. That would enable the Iranians to produce between two and four nuclear bombs. Iran today has 164 centrifuge cascades. No wonder there is no agreement among intelligence services as to when Iran will have a full military nuclear system. Whereas Israel says that critical time will arrive in 2010-2011, the Americans are talking about a later date -- 2015. Despite this determination, we do not know what sort of nuclear bombs, if any, the Iranians will produce.... There is also no predicting the reactions of Iran's neighbors and the international community, first and foremost the U.S., to Iranian progress in developing nuclear weapons, or what the response would be, should Iran decide to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty." II. "What to Do With Ahmadinejad" Senior op-ed writer Uzi Benziman commented in Ha'aretz (December 14): "There are two schools of thought as to how Israel should respond to the Islamic outlook. One recommends not getting worked up, and the other calls for taking the most serious view of the matter.... Israel should take into account the pessimistic scenario and see the position expressed by Ahmadinejad as a real threat. Practical conclusions should also be drawn -- to focus on this threat and as soon as possible to solve the Palestinian and Syrian conflicts, because the very capability of the Iranians to create a balance of nuclear terror with Israel changes for the worse its image and status in the eyes of its neighbors. In the world of images, Israel, free from the burden of occupation, challenging Iran's intent to wipe it out, is once again David standing up to Goliath." III. "Nucleotheism" Mordechai Kedar, a research associate at Bar-Ilan University's Begin-Sadat Center, wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (December 14): "Inasmuch as the diplomatic pressure exerted against the mullahs is not legitimate in their eyes, they believe they have every right to deceive Europe and the U.S. by whatever steps are necessary to conceal their nuclear program. This deception is not regarded as sinful, because the foreign pressure is directed against Allah and His decisions; thus Iran possesses a divine power of attorney to oppose their pressure in every way. It is this utter disregard for the West, in particular for Western demands directed against Iran, that prompted Ahmadinejad to make pronouncements which, as he well realizes, are in complete defiance of Western ethos. His latest declarations are directed against Israel, which he regards as a European colony, an infidel implant in the heart if the Islamic world.... No negotiations, no pressure can change Allah's decision as executed by the Ayatollahs. Unless the Western world succeeds in driving them to the brink of the abyss and threatens to push them beyond, Allah will not authorize them to change their thinking." -------------- ¶3. Syria: -------------- Summary: -------------- Ultra-Orthodox Yated Ne'eman editorialized: "It looks as though Syria is unimpressed by the American threat." Block Quotes: -------------- "Assad Spurns the U.S." Ultra-Orthodox Yated Ne'eman editorialized (December 14): "It looks as though Syria is unimpressed by the American threat.... No one has any doubt that Syrian President Bashar Assad is behind the assassinations [of Rafiq Hariri and Gibran Tueni].... Syria is relating to threats of U.S. sanctions in a limited fashion, assuming that the President of the U.S. who is caught up in the Iraqi quagmire will not want to/be able to open a new front.... The only concern [of Israel's leadership] is of Israel turning into a 'hostage' in Syria's struggle against the Western states. Syria could encourage Hizbullah to attack along Israel's northern border, in order to divert international attention from the assassinations in Lebanon." -------------- ¶4. U.S.-Israel Relations: -------------- Summary: -------------- Columnist Dr. Avi Beker, a former director-general of the World Jewish Congress and a former member of Israel's UN delegation, wrote in independent, left- leaning Ha'aretz: "Anti-Semitism in American streets and cities or in the press is virtually nonexistent, while the campuses there have turned into throbbing centers of anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic activity." Block Quotes: -------------- "An Anti-Semitic Atmosphere" Columnist Dr. Avi Beker, a former director-general of the World Jewish Congress and a former member of Israel's UN delegation, wrote in independent, left- leaning Ha'aretz (December 14): "Whereas in Europe anti- Semitism, which has risen drastically in the past five years, has been expressed in violent incidents, attacks on synagogues and Jewish institutions as well attacks in the media, but far less so in the universities, in the United States and Canada, an anomalous situation has come into being: Anti-Semitism in American streets and cities or in the press is virtually nonexistent, while the campuses there have turned into throbbing centers of anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic activity. Many feel that the calm during demonstrations and in recently emerging public expressions of anti-Semitism on the American campuses is a cover for its malignant spread on the intellectual level.... Thus, Jewish organizations are suddenly finding themselves facing difficult dilemmas involving academic freedom, on the one hand, and the need to fight anti-Semitism and the continuing trend of delegitimization of the State of Israel in an academic context, on the other." CRETZ