ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000246 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: -------------- ¶1. Mideast ¶2. Iran -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- All media reported and all major media, except Maariv and The Jerusalem Post, bannered last night's joint statement by PM Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister announcing their decision to appoint Defense Ministry Director General Maj. Gen. (res.) Gabi Ashkenazi to the post of IDF Chief of Staff. Leading media quoted former IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon at saying on Monday at the Herzliya Conference that the IDF would "come back to itself with the changes now." Major media quoted Ya'alon as saying that Peretz and Olmert should resign. Ha'aretz cited discussions among the IDF's General Staff during the war in Lebanon that indicate that IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz objected to a ground offensive almost until the end of the war. Saying that Olmert is "losing control," Ben Caspit of Maariv reported that at least 13 Knesset members from the ruling party Kadima are trying to depose him. The newspaper said that senior Kadima members as saying that they view the Winograd Committee probing the war in Lebanon as an opportunity to let Olmert go. Maariv cited an assessment according to which several ministers will convene and decide who among them will take over from Olmert and who will get key posts in the next government. The Jerusalem Post reported that in an effort to establish more effective more effective deterrence in the face of Iran's race to obtain nuclear weapons. GOI ministries, headed by the National Security Council, are, for the first time, working on drafting a position paper that will include guidelines and a strategy for turning Israel into a full-fledged member of NATO. Jose Maria Aznar, the current President of the Spanish think tank FAES (Foundation for Analysis and Social Studies) and former Spanish PM, was quoted as saying on Monday in an interview with The Jerusalem Post that "Israel needs to join NATO as soon as possible." Aznar was further quoted as saying in the interview that the Iranian threat serves as an "excellent occasion to enforce [Israeli] deterrence by making Israel a member of NATO. Aznar was also quoted as saying that if Israel became a member of NATO, "the perception in Iran would change, knowing that it's not only Israel [they are dealing with], but all of NATO." Aznar was quoted as saying that NATO needed to change its focus to counter the growing threat of global terrorism. "The threat today is terror and we need to restructure NATO to deal with this threat," he was quoted as saying. Aznar was quoted as saying that he believed that diplomatic efforts and sanctions -- at the current level like those passed last month -- would not succeed in getting Iran to suspend its nuclear ambitions. The Jerusalem Post quoted Aznar as saying later, at the Herzliya Conference, "We must do everything we can to prevent a nuclear Iran, but we must also prepare to seek a possibility to make a nuclear Iran act appropriately." He hinted that he would understand if Israel decided to take unilateral military action to stop Iran, claiming that "Israel has what to be concerned about." The Jerusalem Post reported that Sen. John Edwards of South Carolina, who is running for president of the United States on the Democratic ticket, told conference members via satellite that one day Israel could be a member of NATO. The newspaper quoted General Lord Charles Guthrie of Craigiebank, former chief of the UK Defense Staff, as saying that he favored Israel joining NATO even though he doubted that it could happen any time soon. However, The Jerusalem Post quoted the editor and publisher of the German weekly Die Zeit, Josef Joffe, as saying that he believed that joining NATO would restrict Israel militarily. He was quoted as saying that NATO would likely make such restrictions a requirement for membership. Israel Radio reported on clashes in Lebanon, as the opposition, including Hizbullah, is initiating a mass protest and road blockages in Beirut today. The radio reported that one person was killed and four others wounded in the clashes this morning. Maariv reported that Kadima MK Prof. Shlomo Breznitz, who is considered a close associate of Olmert, is drafting a "revolutionary" diplomatic plan including an Israeli withdrawal from most of the West Bank; the end of the occupation and the handover of the territories, including the Gaza Strip, to a European force until the establishment of a Palestinian state. Maariv reported that Breznitz rules out a military presence of the US, which he said lost its honest-broker status in the eyes of the Palestinians and the Arab world following the war in Iraq. Breznitz reportedly suggests a gradual pullout of Israeli troops and the evacuation of settlements according to Olmert's realignment plan. The Jerusalem Post quoted former CIA Director James Woolsey as saying on Monday at the Herzliya Conference: "I do not believe the current Sunni concern over the Shi'ite nuclear weapons program in Iran will lead to some sort of covert Saudi, Egyptian, American, Israeli modus vivendi to protect ourselves against the Shi'a." Hatzofe reported that the Popular Resistance Committees announced on Monday that they will kidnap more Israeli soldiers. The Jerusalem Post and Hatzofe cited a claim by the Palestinian Preventive Security apparatus that last month it captured a collaborationist in the Gaza Strip who had helped Israel locate firing sites of rockets. The Jerusalem Post cited an upcoming book by Hebrew University Prof. Raphael Israeli, "The Third Islamic Invasion of Europe," which says that as many as 100,000 French and British citizens have converted to Islam over the past decade. The Islamic history professor writes that Europe is in danger of becoming "Eurabia" within half a century. Maariv and Yediot reported that David Dahan, the deputy head of Israel's defense acquisitions delegation in Paris, has mysteriously disappeared. The dailies reported that he left a suicide note behind. Major media quoted Swiss President and FM Micheline Calmy-Rey as saying on Monday that Switzerland had mediated the secret back-channel negotiations between Israelis and Syrians. Ha'aretz reported that the parties to the back-channel talks with Syria met with relatives of Israeli spy Eli Cohen's family and that they discussed the possibility that Damascus would allow his remains to be repatriated once peace talks are renewed. Leading media reported that on Monday in the Tze'elim military base in southern Israel, the IDF unveiled an Urban Warfare Training Center (UTC) in a mock city that simulates an Arab town. The Jerusalem Post cited a study released on Monday by the human rights organization Bimkom that some 250,000 Palestinians will be trapped in enclaves either on the "Israeli" side of the security barrier or almost surrounded by concrete walls or fences inside the West Bank. Yediot and Israel Radio reported that this week the US delegation to the UN will present a draft resolution to the UN Security Council condemning Holocaust denial. Yediot said that the proposal was worked out jointly with Israel's UN delegation. The Jerusalem Post quoted Canadian FM Peter Mackay as saying at the Herzliya Conference on Sunday that the formation of an independent Palestinian state is the best way to ensure Israel's security and gain legitimacy in the eyes of its neighbors. The Jerusalem Post reported that, ahead of President Bush's State of the Union Address, a group of prominent American political figures urged the President to prioritize efforts to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by emphasizing the importance of the issue in his speech on Tuesday. The call is part of the Campaign for American Leadership in the Middle East's (CALME) overall push for greater American involvement in pursuit of a two-state solution to the conflict. The newspaper said that former US Defense Secretary William Cohen is an important supporter of CALME. SIPDIS The Jerusalem Post reported that Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice-Chairman of the Conference of Major American Jewish Organizations, told the newspaper on Monday that in the coming years American Jewry will face the most significant delegitimization of Israel it has encountered. Yediot reported that members of an Iraqi organization that plans to memorialize hundreds of thousands of victims of Saddam Hussein's regime in three museums dedicated to the "Holocaust of the Iraqi people" have secretly visited the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington and Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. Leading media cited the Saudi daily Al-Watan as saying on Monday that some 45 Jews in Sa'ada in Yemen have left their homes after being threatened by radical Muslims and that they are seeking the help of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and his government. Yediot reported that the Israeli billionaire and media tycoon Haim Saban tops the list of donors in US political campaigns. Yediot cited FOX-TV as saying that he has contributed around USD 13 million to various candidates so far. Yediot reported that on Monday, in a solidarity gesture, Moshe Samooha (phon.) and Carmel Elazar, two wealthy members of the Iranian Jewish community in New York, paid up the debts of customers of 12 grocery stores in Sderot. Yediot reported that El Al has decided to put an end to its flights on the Tel Aviv-Istanbul route, due to competition by foreign charter airlines and heavy security costs. The newspaper quoted Israel's Ambassador to Turkey as saying that this constitutes a slap in the face of the Israeli government and Turkey's Jewish community. Yediot cited El Al as saying that that it will cancel routes that do not generate profits. -------------- ¶1. Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "For [most US Jews], choosing between Clinton and the Republican candidate is a no-brainer. By all indications, Hillary is avoiding the oldest conflict in the Middle East like the plague." Columnist Zali Yafe wrote in the nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe: "When the former President of the United States lies, distorts facts, and advocates terrorist actions against innocent civilians, the American nation is in a very tight spot." Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "A No-Brainer For American Jews" Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (1/23): "For her friends on the Jewish Left, Senator Clinton stirred longings for First Lady Hillary. Given her flip-flopping attitude toward the Israeli-Arab conflict, they regard the possibility of First Man Bill with a mixture of joy and fear. The closer she got to launching her campaign, the more Clinton distanced herself from the democratic left and positioned herself in the center. Her friends on the Jewish left accept this with understanding, even if they are not too pleased about it. Like most of the Jewish community, liberal Jews support Clinton's positions on domestic issues, especially social matters (such as workers' rights, abortion, stem cell research and health insurance). Clinton's positions on these matters are considered anchored in solid values. According to public opinion surveys by Jewish organizations, most community members are more concerned by domestic issues than by the candidate's 'Israeli-Arab' record. For them, choosing between Clinton and the Republican candidate is a no-brainer. By all indications, Hillary is avoiding the oldest conflict in the Middle East like the plague. In any case, the next president will be very occupied by the Iraqi mess and the Iranian quagmire, as well as the more pressing matter of North Korea." III. "When a President Lies" Columnist Zali Yafe wrote in the nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe (1/23): "How could the most awesome democracy in the world manage to place at his head a man who later turned out to be a rapacious liar who does not hesitate to 'rewrite' documents, produce citations that never existed, and call for the continuation of suicide bombings against innocent civilians?.... Jimmy Carter claims in his [latest] book that according to [UN Security] Resolution 242, Israel must withdraw from the territories. But the word 'must' does not appear in the text of the resolution.... One may disagree with Israel's policy and criticize it. But when the former President of the United States lies, distorts facts, and advocates terrorist actions against innocent civilians, the American nation is in a very tight spot. If the Palestinians are allowed to harm Israeli civilians, why should the Iraqis not be allowed to murder children in New York?" -------------- ¶2. Iran: -------------- Summary: -------------- The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "Under its current regime, Iran must become no less of a pariah state than was South Africa under apartheid. Israel should not shy away from becoming the state most actively pressing for this." Meir Ezri, a former Israeli ambassador to Iran and the President of the Ezri Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies at the University of Haifa, wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv: "If Khamenei indeed looks down on Ahmadinejad, he has the power to remove him from power. He does not need to fight with him through foreign press headlines." Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "Clarity, Ambiguity" The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (1/23): "In what seems to be another uncalculated slip, Ariel Levite, the Deputy Director-General of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission, on Sunday openly labeled Israel as a nuclear 'threshold state'.... Ambiguity, it seems, is not our strong suit..... It is disturbing when our officials cannot seem to abide by a long-standing policy, or alternatively, decide in an orderly way to change that policy. Such mistakes are embarrassing, and add to the sense that our government suffers from a lack of basic competence. The more serious problem, however, is not that we are too clear when we are supposed to be ambiguous, but too ambiguous when we must be clear.... Neither the US nor Israel have demanded that a 'terrorism file' be opened against Iran in the UN Security Council, as if Iran's nuclear program is the regime's only sanctionable activity.... Under its current regime, Iran must become no less of a pariah state than was South Africa under apartheid. Israel should not shy away from becoming the state most actively pressing for this, since no nation will press harder than we do. Like it or not, we set the standard for action -- or for doing nothing." II. "Iranian Deceit" Meir Ezri, a former Israeli ambassador to Iran and the President of the Ezri Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies at the University of Haifa, wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv (1/23): "The headline in London's Sunday Times according to which Iran's spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is considering changing [Iran's] nuclear policy in an effort to appease the tension with the West, is yet another deception and lie by the Iranian leadership.... Even during the term of the previous president, Muhammad Khatami, the Iranians took care of creating 'tension' around various issues between him and his country's spiritual leaders.... The reality is that the Iranians have neither an interest nor an intention of reaching a compromise with the United States and the West.... If Khamenei indeed looks down on Ahmadinejad, he has the power to remove him from power. He does not need to fight with him through foreign press headlines.... The West should not be fooled by the disinformation planted by the Iranians. As long as Iran does not take a concrete step to put an end to nuclear development, the world must assume that the 'conflict' at the top of the regime is a figment of the imagination. Thus, the pressure on Iran should be bolstered before it is too late." JONES