ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002109 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 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 -------------- SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: -------------- Mideast -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- Yediot reported that the heads of NATO told Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman that Israel cannot count on the international community to help it militarily against the Iranian nuclear program. Lieberman visited NATO Headquarters in Brussels a couple of weeks ago. The Jerusalem Post reported that Brig. Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, the former head of IDF Intelligence's Research Division, told the newspaper on Monday that time to launch an effective military strike against Iran's nuclear installations was running out. Kuperwasser predicted that sanctions will ultimately fail to stop Tehran's nuclear program. Yediot reported that Mossad employees are wondering whether the firing of the deputy director of the Mossad was due to a personal disagreement between him and Mossad Director Meir Dagan, or to an argument over Israel's Iran policy. Ha'aretz reported that on Monday visiting Italian PM Romano Prodi called for preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. But he added that Israeli leaders should distinguish between Tehran's legitimate civil nuclear energy program and any attempt to acquire nuclear weapons, which must be prevented. Prodi also denied reports in the Turin daily La Stampa that his government had prevented Italy's force in UNIFIL from obtaining information about the abducted Israeli soldiers in Lebanon. The media reported that the families of the three Israeli soldiers being held hostage found an attentive ear with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Maariv quoted Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman as saying that a deal to release IDF soldier Gilad Shalit has already been made in Israel-Hamas contacts under Egyptian mediation, but that the deal is stalled because of Israeli difficulties in drawing up an acceptable list of prisoners to be released. Citing Arab sources, Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that Hamas has rejected the list of prisoners presented by Israel. The Jerusalem Post reported that in a letter published in the French daily Le Monde, a group of 10 EU foreign ministers has called for an international conference on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, calling the Roadmap plan dead. The signatories of the letter were the FMs of France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Bulgaria, Romania, Cyprus, Slovenia, and Malta. Yediot cited data gathered by the IDF, according to which 25 tons of explosives have entered the Gaza Strip over the past month alone. Major media reported that in an interview to the Dubai-based satellite station Al Arabiya-TV, PM Ehud Olmert urged Syrian President Bashar Assad to "come to Jerusalem to talk." In his first appearance on a major Arabic news station in over six years, Olmert said: "Bashar Assad, you know You know I am ready to hold direct negotiations with you and you also know that it's you who insists on speaking to the Americans. The American President says: 'I don't want to stand between Bashar Assad and Ehud Olmert. If you want to talk, sit down and talk." Olmert added that Assad has "heard many things from me already." Israel Radio quoted PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas as saying that Fatah will not resume dialogue with Hamas. He accused Hamas of opening the gates to al-Qaida activists. The Jerusalem Post quoted a spokesman for the (Israeli) Fruit Growers Association as saying that on Monday Hamas's Finance Ministry barred Israeli fruits and vegetables from entering the Gaza Strip. The move is likely to cost Israeli fruit growers 3-5 million shekels a day (approx. USD 710,000 - 1.8 million). Ha'aretz reported that the office of the IDF Advocate General is considering petitioning the High Court of Justice against the Winograd Commission, because the commission has no plans to issue warning letters to any individual who may be harmed by the publication of its final report. The commission's final report on the Second Lebanon War is expected in the fall. The Jerusalem Post reported that legal appeals to the High Court of Justice continue to delay the construction of the West Bank security fence, which may not be completed until 2010. Yediot reported that 25,000 Israelis have acquired American citizenship over the past decade and that there has been a sharp increase in green card applications by Israelis. Ha'aretz reported that the Israeli defense establishment will be keeping a close eye on developments in Lebanon's domestic political scene, especially for the next two weeks. The newspaper cited Israel's concern that Hizbullah and its political allies may seek to establish an alternative government. Ha'aretz reported that Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is presently negotiating a USD 1.5 billion contract in India. The deal, a joint protect with the Indian Army, involves development and manufacture of ground-to-air missiles. Ha'aretz quoted Jewish-American academics and community leaders as saying that the trend toward delegitimizing Israel's existence as a Jewish state is growing not only in Europe, but also in the US. The media reported that Israeli authorities have confined refugees from Sudan to prisons and other facilities. Media said that the Defense Ministry is waiting for Cairo to establish a deportation administration that will be responsible for coordinating the refugees' return to Egypt. Ha'aretz cited London -based daily Al-Hayat assaying that that Sudan has announced that it will institute legal proceedings against Sudanese who arrived in Israel as refugees. Ha'aretz reported that 25 Jewish and Arab Israeli youth attended a three-day filmmaking seminar at Kibbutz Ramat Hashofet, sponsored by the Education Ministry's Communications and Film Education Department in conjunction with the Haifa Cinematheque. Their short works included personal histories related to the Israeli-Arab conflict. Organizers hoped to help forge collaborative relationships between the Jewish and Arab participants. Ha'aretz reported that IBM Israel focuses on innovation. -------------- Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- Liat Collins, Editor of The International Jerusalem Post, wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "Olmert has temporarily gained a second chance to form the government. It won't take long to see whether a second round means second best." Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "With Assad trying to inch closer toward the West, Syrian tourism on the rise, and moderate Islamic countries headed by Saudi Arabia urging Assad to act wisely and cautiously, Israel's leaders need to focus on Assad's peace proposal." The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global Research in International Affairs Center, columnist Barry Rubin, wrote in The Jerusalem Post: "If deterrence must turn into implementation, the guns should be pointed in the right direction. Let the Syrian rulers tremble where now they swagger." Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "Double Trouble" Liat Collins, Editor of The International Jerusalem Post, wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (7/10): "The [Second Lebanon] War blurred the borders between the home front and the front lines.... A year later, it is business as usual. And as usual, politics dominates.... Olmert's well-honed sense of political survival has ... enabled him to -- at least for now -- keep his coalition alive (albeit struggling). But his political enemies are just waiting for an opportunity to trip him up. And it does not bode well that his No. 2 ([Haim] Ramon) hates his Defense Minister (Barak) and his Defense Minister would like nothing more than a second chance in the prime minister's seat. Olmert has temporarily gained a second chance to form the government. It won't take long to see whether a second round means second best. Olmert is fighting the political battle of his life while Judge Eliahu Winograd is preparing his report and recommendations following last summer's war in the North. A case of double jeopardy?" II. "The Hot Air of August" Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (7/10): "How can you tell that August is around the corner? Because the country is talking itself silly over the terrible war that we are supposedly expecting this summer.... Large-scale war games conducted by the Syrian army near the border had all our big chiefs up in arms. But Israel's war games in the Negev, preparing for a Syrian offensive, could have the same effect on Bashar Assad.... Coming from the dictatorship world, Assad is liable to think that Israel wants to erase the fiasco of the Second Lebanon War by means of a strike against Damascus. An attack like that could bring down the Alawite regime and spell the end of Assad. Syria is not one of those countries that goes to war all of a sudden, says a political analyst who knows the score. In fact, the whole idea of a war this summer is absurd. Why would Syria be the one to declare war when no Arab country has ever gone into battle alone against Israel? With Assad trying to inch closer toward the West, Syrian tourism on the rise, and moderate Islamic countries headed by Saudi Arabia urging Assad to act wisely and cautiously, Israel's leaders need to focus on Assad's peace proposal and stop driving him crazy with their hot air forecasts for August." III. "Getting Serious About Syria" The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global Research in International Affairs Center, columnist Barry Rubin, wrote in The Jerusalem Post (7/10): "Clearly, Israel does not want war with Syria. Yet the whole concept of deterrence is to make clear to the Syrians that Israel is not afraid of war, and that Syrian support for terrorism against Israel will have real and costly consequences. Without this fear, there is no deterrence. And without deterrence, war -- either directly with Syria or with Syria's clients in Lebanon -- is far more likely. The weakness of Syria should also be a factor in Israeli thinking.... To rebuild Israeli deterrence requires a proper degree of credible threat against those inciting, planning, financing and equipping attacks on Israel. This should be directed against those forces that are both implacable enemies and that have to take material losses into account. If deterrence must turn into implementation, the guns should be pointed in the right direction. Let the Syrian rulers tremble where now they swagger." JONES