ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 TEL AVIV 001145 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. Iraq ¶2. US-Israel Relations ¶3. Mideast -------------- Election polls: -------------- Channel 10-TV and Ha'aretz published the results of a survey conducted by Prof. Camil Fuchs of the Amanet Group's Dialogue Institute: -"Were elections for the Knesset held today, for whom would you vote?" (Results in Knesset seats -- in brackets, results of poll conducted on March 9.) -Kadima 38 (37); Labor Party 17 (20); Likud 14 (16); Shas 11 (10); Arab parties 10 (8); National Union- National Religious Party 9 (8); Yisrael Beiteinu 9 (10); United Torah Judaism 6 (6); Meretz 6 (5). The Jerusalem Post cited a recent study by the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies that found that 63 percent of Israelis are willing to make concessions on the borders of Jerusalem in exchange for "real peace" with the Palestinians. -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- Major media (banner in Ha'aretz) reported that on Tuesday, two Nablus residents accused of heading an Al- Qaida terror cell became the first West Bank Palestinians to be indicted on charges of belonging to Osama bin Laden's worldwide terrorist network. All media reported that in a separate incident on Tuesday, police and the Shin Bet foiled a suicide bombing that was planned for the Tel Aviv region. A commercial vehicle carrying the suspected suicide bomber and eight other Palestinians was stopped on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway. This morning, Israel Radio reported that IDF troops killed an Islamic Jihad member in a refugee camp near Jericho and arrested two others. Israel Radio quoted State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack as saying Tuesday that the US welcomes comments made by the Crown Prince of Bahrain on Monday, during his official visit to Washington, that a Hamas- led Palestinian government had no alternative but to deal with Israel. The radio quoted McCormack as saying: "We would urge others throughout the Arab world to echo those sentiments and we have encouraged others to do so." Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz was quoted as saying on Tuesday in an interview with The Jerusalem Post that Israel will begin setting its final borders over the next two years according to a plan based on including the major West Bank settlement blocs and the Jordan Valley. Mofaz was further quoted as saying that Israel would prefer to set its borders in agreement with the PA and based on the Roadmap, but that if Israel sees it does not have a partner, Israel will need to take its fate into its own hands. The Jerusalem Post quoted FM Tzipi Livni as saying Tuesday at a gala reception held in Jerusalem in honor of the 100th anniversary of the American Jewish Committee that time was running out on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Livni was quoted as saying that questions have been raised -- "especially in Europe" -- about the need for a Jewish state, and that it was being suggested that a single state be created between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Yediot reported that the New York State Assembly unanimously decided that New York citizens cannot assist a Hamas government. The newspaper wrote that the assembly members expressed their support for Israel, and that they invited Israeli Consul General in New York Arye Mekel to attend their debate in Albany. Major media quoted President Bush as saying Tuesday at a White House news conference that "future presidents and future governments of Iraq" would make the decision to withdraw US forces from Iraq. Leading media reported that the President rejected calls to dismiss Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Ha'aretz, SIPDIS Yediot, and Maariv cited a disclosure made by NBC on Monday that in the period before the Iraq war, Saddam Hussein's foreign minister, Naji Sabri, was a secret paid source of the CIA. Citing unnamed current and former US intelligence officials, NBC said Sabri provided details of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction that turned out to be more accurate than CIA estimates. The Jerusalem Post quoted PA officials as saying that on Tuesday, during a meeting with EU Middle East special envoy Marc Otte, PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas urged the EU to continue its financial aid despite Hamas's victory in the January 25 parliamentary elections. Israel Radio reported that Jordan has demanded that Hamas not intervene in Jordan's internal affairs. Ha'aretz reported that at the Second World Congress of Imams and Rabbis for Peace being held in Seville, Spain, a panel discussion on holy sites discussed a proposal to establish a permanent committee comprising an equal number of Jewish and Muslim clerics to discuss issues affecting Jerusalem's Temple Mount. Israel Radio reported that the Palestinian parliament will vote today on a proposal to establish a commission of inquiry into the IDF's operation in Jericho and its consequences. The radio said that Hamas was initiating the proposal to confront the PA and Fatah. Leading media reported that in the interim report it published on Tuesday, the parliamentary commission of inquiry into the evacuation of the Amona outpost criticized the police, the protesters, and the government. The Jerusalem Post called the report "toothless." Yediot printed a Letter to the Editor by French Ambassador to Israel Gerard Araud, in which he denies that his country is opposed to Israel's entry to the OECD, as was reported in the newspaper last week. The Jerusalem Post reported that a group of American academics who visited Israel last week recommended the country for US study programs. The Jerusalem Post reported that Boston resident Yosef Israel Abramovich is third on the list of the Atid Ehad (One Future) party, which is headed by an Ethiopian immigrant. -------------- ¶1. Iraq: -------------- Summary: -------------- US Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "The vast majority of the Iraqi people want the coalition to succeed.... That is well worth remembering on this anniversary of Operation Iraqi Freedom." Columnist Yossi Sarid, the former leader of the Meretz party, wrote in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (March 22): "America has already lost [the Iraq war] -- and the entire free world, including Israel, has also lost it." Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "Now Is the Time For Resolve, Not For Retreat" US Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (March 22): "Consider that if we retreat [from Iraq] now, there is every reason to believe Saddamists and terrorists will fill the vacuum -- and the free world might not have the will to face them again. Turning our backs on postwar Iraq today would be the modern equivalent of handing postwar Germany back to the Nazis. It would be as great a disgrace as if we had asked the liberated nations of Eastern Europe to return to Soviet domination because it was too hard or too tough or we didn't have the patience to work with them as they built free countries. What we need to understand is that the vast majority of the Iraqi people want the coalition to succeed.... That is well worth remembering on this anniversary of Operation Iraqi Freedom." II. "Penitents and Rogue Bulls" Columnist Yossi Sarid, the former leader of the Meretz party, wrote in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (March 22): "America has already lost [the Iraq war] -- and the entire free world, including Israel, has also lost it.... America lost not only because of what is happening overseas, but mainly because of a lax helplessness at home.... In Israel, meanwhile, nobody is repentant. While the war in Iraq was not our war, nonetheless, all those who sowed an enormous panic here will not be forgotten or forgiven. They sent an entire country into panic and explained with signs and wonders the profit and gains that Israel would reap from a war of the children of light against the children of darkness. It is not the people who are wrong who are most dangerous. Who does not make mistakes? The really dangerous people are those who are wrong but do not admit their mistakes and refuse to take responsibility for them. Those who insist like donkeys on sticking to their mistakes are like the rogue bull that has already gored three times, even though its owner was warned each time to tie him up." -------------- ¶2. US-Israel Relations: -------------- Summary: -------------- Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "The [American] professors' article [on the Jewish lobby's alleged influence on US foreign policy] does not deserve condemnation; rather, it should serve as a warning sign." Military correspondent Danny Shalom wrote in nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe: "[The American professors' allegations] severely damages Israel's status in the US." Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "A Warning From America" Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (March 22): "The conclusion that Israel can draw from the anti- Israel feeling expressed in [a recent] article [by prominent American professors Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer] is that it will not be immune for eternity.... The fact that Israelis view the United States' support for and tremendous assistance to Israel as natural causes excess complacence, and it fails to take into account currents in public opinion that run deep and are liable to completely change American policy.... The unilateral withdrawal from Gaza did improve Israel's standing in the world, especially in Europe, but that is not enough.... The Jewish and Israeli lobby in America would do well to begin explaining the next withdrawal now, after years in which they primarily tried to win support for a continuation of the occupation and the settlement enterprise. Perhaps then it will be easier to explain Israeli policy and consolidate the true American and Israeli interests. The professors' article does not deserve condemnation; rather, it should serve as a warning sign." II. "The Iraq War: The Jews Are Guilty" Military correspondent Danny Shalom wrote in nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe (March 22): "Once in a while, an article, research, or book comes out, bringing up grave accusations against Jews over their influence on world events... A week ago, two US researchers published a study claiming that the Jewish lobby had a decisive influence on the decision by the President of the US to go to war in Iraq. The allegations are being published at the very time a phenomenon of massive opposition ... to the war is spreading in the US. This severely damages Israel's status in the US. Israel's representatives would be well advised to act swiftly in order to make those American researchers abandon the matter. It would also be worthwhile to check whether [former Saudi Ambassador to the US] Prince Bandar -- or another corrupt prince in his kingdom -- is oiling the distinguished professors. On the other hand, this elicits a small smile on our part: if this is the power of the US Jews, this is a good sign -- anti-Semitism or not." -------------- ¶3. Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "America could most usefully exercise its influence by delivering home truths to the PA about the need to fight terror as an essential condition, among other things, for the smooth passage of goods between Israel and the Gaza Strip." Palestinian affairs correspondent and far-left Palestinian sympathizer Amira Hass opined in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Israelis will not be voting only on the Palestinians' fate, but will also intervene in the lives of Egypt's citizens." Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "The Risk at Karni" The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (March 22): "Something curious has been going on at the Karni crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip. Until this week, that crossing -- popularly dubbed 'Gaza's lifeline' -- had been closed for more than two months due to a succession of alerts about an imminent major terrorist attack.... On Monday, despite the ongoing terror warnings, Karni was unexpectedly opened, but closed half-an-hour later. On Tuesday, it reopened. This strange sequence of events suggests Israeli irresolution and muddled thinking.... If the PA isn't compelled to safeguard the crossings, the problem will persist. The PA should not be allowed to have it both ways -- essentially facilitate terrorists' rampages, while bewailing the humanitarian impact of the consequent, inevitable Israeli closure measures. There are conflicting reports as to whether Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was pressured by Washington to open Karni.... In any case, America could most usefully exercise its influence by delivering home truths to the PA about the need to fight terror as an essential condition, among other things, for the smooth passage of goods between Israel and the Gaza Strip. Israel needs to safeguard its citizens' lives. The PA professes profound concern for the well-being of its people. The way to serve both causes is not to take a chance on the intermittent opening of an access route. It is to take the terrorists out of the picture." II. "Strangled in Gaza" Palestinian affairs correspondent and far-left Palestinian sympathizer Amira Hass opined in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (March 22): "The Israeli voter scorns the international community's choices. It has decided that Gaza would be "returned" to Egypt. That is the logical meaning of closing the Karni crossing for a long time -- after the number of Palestinians passing through the Erez crossing has already dwindled. Even if international pressure enables bringing 'humanitarian' aid through the Karni crossing here and there -- as though Gaza had been struck by natural disaster -- Israel's leaders will probably close it again for 'security reasons.' All this is intended to accustom Gaza residents and the international community to think that perhaps it is logical to direct Gaza's products, business and plans southward, to Egypt, which will not be able to remain idle while almost 1.5 million Arabs are being strangled under the Israeli siege. Thus Israelis will not be voting only on the Palestinians' fate, but will also intervene in the lives of Egypt's citizens." JONES