ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 TEL AVIV 000763 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. Iraq -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- All media led with tension between Israel and Jordan following an utterance by O/C Central Command Maj. Gen. Yair Naveh during a closed meeting on Wednesday with diplomats and journalists, including the Jordanian Consul-General, at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. Naveh warned that King Abdullah II risked being toppled by an "Islamic axis" and could be the last Jordanian monarch. Leading media quoted the Jordanian Charge d'Affaires in Israel, Omar al-Nadif as saying that the remarks could harm Israeli-Jordanian relations if "appropriate action" is not taken against the officer. Israel Radio reported that Naveh will send a letter of apology to his Jordanian counterpart. Media reported that Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and IDF C-o-S Dan Halutz hastened to issue statements of rebuttal, saying that Naveh's comments do not reflect Israel's position on the matter. Mofaz was quoted as saying that he and Halutz "demanded an immediate inquiry of the issue." Israel Radio reported that last night, FM Tzipi Livni called Jordanian FM Abdelelah M. Al-Khatib, clarifying to him that Israel views Jordan as a strategic partner. The media also highlighted remarks made Wednesday by Deputy IDF C-o-S Moshe Kaplinsky that the Middle East is in a state of uncertainty and that "even in Egypt we see initial signs of a possible undermining of President Mubarak's solid regime." Major media quoted Acting PM Ehud Olmert as telling the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee: "Hamas does not constitute a strategic threat to Israel. Nuclear weapons in the hands of Iran are the only strategic threat to Israel." Olmert also vowed to disband the parliamentary commission of inquiry into the evacuation of the Amona settler outpost on February ¶1. Ha'aretz and Yediot cited Radio Tehran that on Wednesday, Iran offered to fund the Hamas-led PA leadership. Major media reported that Fatah and Hamas officials met on Wednesday to discuss the formation of a joint government. The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel, the U.S., and Europe are looking for ways in which the Palestinians can continue to receive international money without it going through Hamas hands. The newspaper reported that FM Livni chaired a meeting Wednesday night examining the Palestinian budget. Ha'aretz and other media reported that Labor Party Chairman MK Amir Peretz met with Mubarak in Cairo on Wednesday to discuss how to transfer money to the PA without involving Hamas. Maariv quoted Israeli President Moshe Katsav as saying that the U.S. should exercise caution, particularly in Iraq, that democracy cannot happen at once, and that the "entire Muslim world is radicalizing in front of our own eyes." Yediot cited the belief of sources in Israel's defense establishment that 2006 will be a target year for a mass-scale terrorist attack by global Jihad in Israel. Israel Radio reported that two Palestinians were killed in clashes with IDF troops in Nablus this morning. The radio reported that five Qassam rockets were fired at the western Negev from the northern Gaza Strip last night, causing no injuries or damage. The Jerusalem Post reported that tests are under way in Israel to determine whether samples of blood and saliva from livestock and dead fowl found in Gaza and received from PA officials confirm fears of a possible outbreak of hoof-and-mouth disease and bird flu in Gaza. Ha'aretz printed an AP dispatch on the issue. All media reported that terrorists dressed as members of Iraqi security forces detonated powerful bombs inside one of Shi'ite Islam's most holy shrines in Samarra Wednesday, destroying most of the building and causing the collapse of its famous golden dome. The media reported that the attack triggered reprisals throughout Iraq. Several media wrote that Iraq is on the verge of a civil war. Israel Radio reported that the U.S. blamed Al Qaida for the Samarra attack. The radio reported that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused the U.S. and Israel of being behind the attack. Yediot correspondent Orly Azolai recounts her impressions from a visit to North Korea. Azolai quoted North Korean officials as saying that their country is next in line for a U.S. attack. Yediot and Maariv quoted FM Livni as saying during a meeting of the Foreign Ministry leadership that she will give up presenting political nominations in the ministry, except for the position of ambassador to Washington. Yediot and Maariv reported that the Foreign Ministry is confronting U.S. Ambassador to Washington Danny Ayalon over the issue of furniture in the embassy. Citing statistics released Wednesday by the GOI's Central Bureau of Statistics, Ha'aretz reported that immigration to Israel was at its lowest since 1989 though immigration from the U.S. rose in 2005. Two thousand immigrants came from the U.S. in 2005, marking a 5-percent increase compared to the previous year. Israel Radio reported that a delegation of Foreign Ministry officials and rabbis from Israel's rabbinical courts met with officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in an effort to return to Israel husbands who failed to give their wives a writ of divorce and later fled to the U.S., many of whom reside there illegally. Ha'aretz reported on a controversy in the U.S. following the transfer of control of six U.S. seaports to a company from Dubai. The Jerusalem Post printed an AP story on the issue. Maariv printed the results of a TNS/Teleseker Polling Institute survey conducted Wednesday evening, which shows a decline in support for Kadima: -"Were elections for the Knesset held today, for whom would you vote?" (Results in Knesset seats -- in brackets, results of last week's poll.) -Kadima 40 (39); Labor Party 20 (20); Likud 15 (15); National Union-National Religious Party 10 (9); Shas 9 (9 or 10); Yisrael Beiteinu 8 (7); Arab parties 7 to 9 (8); Meretz 5(6); United Torah Judaism 5 (6). Channel 10-TV and Ha'aretz published the results of a survey conducted Tuesday night 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 February 16.) -Kadima 39 (39 or 40); Labor Party 19 (19); Likud 14 (13); Shas 9 (10); National Union-National Religious Party 11 (10); Arab parties 9 (1); United Torah Judaism 7 (6); Yisrael Beiteinu 7 (7); Meretz 5 (5). -"How would you define the government's demeanor versus Hamas?" Too soft: 42 percent; appropriate for the circumstances: 38 percent; too harsh: 12 percent; undecided: 8 percent. -------------- ¶1. Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote in popular, pluralist Maariv: "The pent-up frustration [among the Israeli defense establishment] is pointed in one direction: Washington." Washington correspondent Nathan Guttman wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "If the U.S. loses Egypt's support, it will be even more difficult to get the Gulf countries, which really do have the money to save the Palestinian economy, to adhere to the limitations set forth by the U.S. and the international community." Settler leader Israel Harel wrote in independent, left- leaning Ha'aretz: "It is as if since Oslo there have not been thousands of victims of terrorism.... It is all so familiar, and so depressing." Intelligence affairs reporter Ronen Bergman wrote in mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "Intelligence can't predict the behavior of hundreds of thousands of people. All Israelis are bound to pay the price for this." Middle East affairs commentator Dr. Guy Bechor, a lecturer at the Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in Yediot Aharonot: "Israel must accept [the Palestinians'] free choice, but because it cannot live with it, it must disengage from them." Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "Israeli Generals Anger Egypt and Jordan" Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote in popular, pluralist Maariv (February 23): "The main problem with what the two talkative Israeli generals said on Wednesday, aggravating the already strained nerves in the Middle East, is that both of them were right. The statements of Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Moshe Kaplinski about the Egyptian regime and of O/C Central Command Maj. Gen. Yair Naveh about the Jordanian regime, are the essence of what has been said in the past few months, and more forcefully in the past few weeks, at many meetings behind closed doors here and in many parts of the world.... After the fire dies down, someone will have to listen to what [the two generals] said, and to give it some thought. The pent-up frustration that one can read between the lines is pointed in one direction: Washington.... The day will come when we will miss the eastern front that we had, with that likeable Saddam Hussein, generous Hafez Assad and even the stable Yasser Arafat." II. "Rice Aims to Prevent Further Cracks in the Wall" Washington correspondent Nathan Guttman wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (February 23): "Time is critical for the U.S. effort; if the international front against Hamas crumbles in the next weeks and months, it will be very difficult to restore it, which is exactly why the Americans are struggling now to prevent any crack in the wall. Egypt is not a major contributor to the Palestinians, but is seen as a leader of the moderate Arab world. If Cairo stays on board with Washington on the Hamas issue, most of the Arab countries will follow. But, if the U.S. loses Egypt's support, it will be even more difficult to get the Gulf countries, which really do have the money to save the Palestinian economy, to adhere to the limitations set forth by the U.S. and the international community." III. "Between Hamas and Kadima" Settler leader Israel Harel wrote in independent, left- leaning Ha'aretz (February 23): "In Israel, once again the escapist and overused line from the days when Arafat and the Palestinian covenant has been given legitimacy: true, the Hamas covenant exists, but they do not really intend to implement it; realpolitik will obligate them to revise it. And just as on the eve of the Oslo Accords, Israelis and Palestinians are already meeting abroad -- and led by top Israeli figures from those days -- with the goal of moving Hamas and Israel closer. They haven't learned, they haven't forgotten. It is as if since Oslo there have not been thousands of victims of terrorism; as if the results of the war of terrorism, the fruits of the Oslo Accords, have not eroded Israel's status in the eyes of itself and in the eyes of the world; as if there are no dark waves of Islam threatening from near and far. It is all so familiar, and so depressing." IV. "IDF Intelligence-Induced Chaos" Intelligence affairs reporter Ronen Bergman wrote in mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (February 23): "After it failed in predicting Hamas's victory in the elections -- to say nothing about preventing its growth as a leading social movement over the past two decades -- the [Israeli] intelligence community aspires to topple it by producing chaos. Historical experience, which the heads of [Israel's] defense establishment and the politicians that direct them had better learn -- as soon as possible -- shows that, as efficient as they are, security services are good at the micro level ... at most.... They almost always fail to understand comprehensive social processes at the macro level -- obviously so when they try to lead those processes.... Intelligence can't predict the behavior of hundreds of thousands of people. All Israelis are bound to pay the price for this." ¶V. "Divorce -- And It Is Better That Way" Middle East affairs commentator Dr. Guy Bechor, a lecturer at the Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in Yediot Aharonot (February 23): "The destructive wording of Oslo has collapsed. This wording stipulated that the Palestinians would give the Israelis an agreement, and in exchange Israel would take measures that would lead to its own destruction, mainly by accepting refugees into its territory.... Paradoxically, Hamas ... will welcome any unilateral move by Israel. It has an interest in such moves, just as Hizbullah had an interest in an Israeli withdrawal. Thus, the path of unilateralism is the only one left, and it is also the only one that will work. Thus it happens that those who pretended in the past to bring a solution and brought anything but, and today, when no one pretends to bring a solution anymore, the solution, too, will come. We should remember that today the Israelis and the Palestinians are not getting married but rather getting divorced, and it is better that way. Another blessing for Israel is the demographic disengagement.... [The Palestinians] rejected the vision that was offered to them and chose political Islam, Iran and the despair of Hamas. Israel must accept their free choice, but because it cannot live with it, it must disengage from them. It must explain to the world: this is neither punishment nor revenge, but disengagement. Thus Israel will maximize its new situation, in order to sever once and for all the Israeli-Palestinian Gordian knot, which does not allow Israelis to live a normal life." -------------- ¶2. Iraq: -------------- Summary: -------------- Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Those most interested in additional large terror attacks are Sunni political elements who wish to use the terror to impose vetoes on political decisions. Preventing a deterioration will now be a function of the degree of control Shi'ite religious leaders have over their public." Block Quotes: -------------- "A Question of Who Will Control Iraq" Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (February 23): "The U.S. knows that if the Sunnis are left out, or if the new government fails to take into account Sunni interests, it will be impossible to reduce terror in Iraq -- and will delay the withdrawal of the U.S. forces from the country. It appears, therefore, that those most interested in additional large terror attacks are Sunni political elements who wish to use the terror to impose vetoes on political decisions. Preventing a deterioration will now be a function of the degree of control Shi'ite religious leaders have over their public." JONES