ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002601 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: -------------- All media reported on today's meeting in Jerusalem between PM Ehud Olmert and PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas, which Israel Radio said started this afternoon. Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post said that the rescue by PA security personnel of an IDF officer who lost his way in the West Bank Jenin on Monday and found himself in Jenin will likely be acknowledged and improve the atmosphere. Leading media reported that FM Livni thanked Palestinian PM Salam Fayyad for the rescue during a meeting on Monday. The Jerusalem Post quoted Livni as saying: "These types of actions prove the growing strength of the Palestinian government and its forces in the field against terrorism." Yediot quoted PM Olmert as saying on Monday: "We are nearing the moment of truth in the dialogue between us [with the Palestinians], and today's meeting is expected to be of a definitive character." Ha'aretz quoted a senior GOI official as saying that the framework of discussions between Israel and the PA will be expanded to include the establishment of negotiating teams for each side, which will discuss the agreement of principles to be prepared ahead of the peace "summit" in November. The newspaper's Web site later reported that Chairman Abbas voiced concern on Monday that much has yet to be agreed to before the international conference in November. He was quoted as saying that the conference would be a "waste of time" if it stuck to a "declaration of principles" -- a phrase used by some Israeli officials to describe what they may offer in answer to demands for the rapid, final negotiation of a Palestinian state. Abbas was quoted as saying that he is still unsure about the timing, participants, and agenda of the planned meeting. "There are no answers to these questions," he was quoted as saying after talking with the Secretary of State by telephone. "I spoke with Dr. Condoleezza Rice today and she has no answers either." Makor Rishon-Hatzofe quoted a senior GOI source as saying that the gaps between the sides and the leaders' unsteady status are preventing the formation of an agreement. The Jerusalem Post quoted US Ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad as saying on Monday in an interview with the Austrian daily Die Presse that the Middle East and Islamic civilization are so unstable now that they could draw the world's nations into another global war. Maariv reported that Saudi Arabia has informed the US that, considering progress accomplished between PM Olmert and Chairman Abbas regarding an agreement of principles, it will consider coming to the Washington meeting. All media reported that today is the 21st birthday of abducted IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit. Ha'aretz quoted an Israeli advocacy group for abducted soldiers as saying that his father, Noam Shalit, has been attempting to get the leading Hamas newspaper to print a birthday letter to Gilad, but that the editor has refused to run it. Major media reported that Hamas has suggested that Israel release 1,000 women and minors from jail in exchange for a video recording of Gilad Shalit. A TV commentator noted that those prisoners have "blood on their hands." Makor Rishon-Hatzofe quoted Abu-Yusef, a senior Palestinian officer in the PA's Force 17, as saying in an interview with Israeli journalist Aharon Lerner from the conservative Web site IMRA that the training that his forces received from the US allowed them to kill over 1,000 Israelis during the 2000 Intifada and defeat Israel in Gaza. Maariv cited the concern of the Israeli defense establishment that Pakistan might become a bigger threat to Israel than Iran, because Muslim extremists might destabilize President Musharraf's regime. Maariv cited fears that Pakistan will give Iran nuclear weapons. The Jerusalem Post reported that on Monday Pakistan accused UN watchdog groups of launching a "smear campaign" to discredit the upcoming 2009 UN anti-racism conference. Ha'aretz, Yediot, Maariv, and Makor Rishon-Hatzofe quoted French President Nicolas Sarkozy as saying on Sunday in his first major foreign policy speech since he was elected in May: "I have the reputation of being a friend of Israel and it is true. I will never compromise on Israel's security." He was further quoted as saying that the "establishment of Hamastan in the Gaza Strip might be the first stage in the takeover of all Palestinian territories by radical Muslims. We cannot allow that." Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post quoted Defense Minister Ehud Barak as saying on Monday that Hizbullah has about 20,000 rockets and missiles of various ranges, more than it did prior to the Second Lebanon War. He was speaking before the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Leading media reported that new digs by the Muslim Waqf on the Temple Mount endanger the vestiges of the Jewish Temples. All media reported on controversy aroused by remarks made on Monday in a radio broadcast by Shas party Rabbi Ovadia Yosef that secular IDF troops die in war because they do not observe the Sabbath. Several media quoted Yosef as saying that he was misunderstood. Ha'aretz reported that Iran has joined a scientific project in which Israel is already a standing member. The Jordan-based Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSMI) project aims to build a synchrotron particle accelerator for advanced research in medicine and the life sciences. Financed by the EU and Jordan, the project aims to advance regional cooperation through science. Iran joined as a standing member of SSMI two years ago. Ha'aretz reported that the message carried by Martin Luther King III, the son of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., during his current visit to Israel was "bland," except for his declaration that the use of civil disobedience is irrelevant today. Instead, he recommended using the Internet to spread the message of nonviolence. Leading media reported that Gad Yaacobi, a former cabinet minister and ambassador to the UN, passed away in Toronto on Monday at age ¶72. Yediot highlighted the poor state of the Labor Party's finances. Yediot reported that respected Egyptian actor Amr Waked might be prosecuted in his country for playing alongside Israelis in a BBC series about Saddam Hussein's life. The media reported that on Monday Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer tightened monetary policy and raised the central bank interest rate by 0.25 percent to 4 percent. -------------- Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- Military correspondent Amos Harel and Palestinian affairs correspondent Avi Issacharoff wrote on page one of the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Israel ... is continuing to hold negotiations with the only partner left.... The problem is that all this effort appears to be virtually hopeless in light of Fatah's failure." Yehuda Bauer, Professor Emeritus of Holocaust Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, wrote about West Bank settlers in Ha'aretz: "There are two states; one committed to a Western democratic government, and the other committed to extremist, messianic religious rule." The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "The continued captivity of Shalit is an outrage. Abbas, who has garnered Israeli and international backing as the exemplar of moderation, can use today's meeting as a platform to demand Shalit's release." Jonathan S. Tobin, Executive Editor of The Jewish Exponent in Philadelphia, wrote in The Jerusalem Post: "Extremist Muslims are a genuine threat to both peace and the West; while most settlers are no threat to anyone and are, if anything, among the primary victims of Muslim terror." Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "Much Ado" Military correspondent Amos Harel and Palestinian affairs correspondent Avi Issacharoff wrote on page one of the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (8/28): "Israel -- realizing that it must help Abbas as much as is possible -- is continuing to hold negotiations with the only partner left. The IDF is also getting involved in trying to save the Abbas government, such as by maintaining the Erez crossing [into the Gaza Strip], on the assumption that this will hamper Hamas sovereignty in Gaza and win points for Abbas. The problem is that all this effort appears to be virtually hopeless in light of Fatah's failure to become stronger in either the West Bank or Gaza and the continuing trend of radicalization in Palestinian society.... Abbas and his Fatah movement face another obstacle, which was raised by the deputy director of the Shin Bet security service at the cabinet meeting on Sunday. If Hamas suspects that a breakthrough in the Olmert-Abbas talks is imminent, it will try to disrupt the process by carrying out terror attacks from the West Bank.... The situation in Gaza is a lot worse.... With [improved military] equipment and with the close guidance of Hizbullah, it is no wonder that Hamas is moving forward with attempted attacks that are becoming ever more daring." II. "Who's in Charge in the West Bank" Yehuda Bauer, Professor Emeritus of Holocaust Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, wrote in Ha'aretz (8/28): "Israel does not control the several hundred thousand Jewish settlers in the West Bank. They accept Israeli rule only to the extent that it works in their favor. When they think it does not, then in the best-case scenario they ignore it; otherwise, they succeed in resisting it.... There are two states; one committed to a Western democratic government, and the other committed to extremist, messianic religious rule.... There is no truth to the well-known tradition that the Second Temple was destroyed due to baseless hatred or internecine rivalry. The Temple was destroyed because religious, messianic extremists forced the nation to rebel against a global empire that it had no chance of defeating.... There may be a scenario (an imaginary one) in which a radical religious minority thwarts peace because the fanatic political assassins of the Second Temple period have found worthy successors." III. "Shalit's Birthday" The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (8/28): "Today is Cpl. Gilad Shalit's 21st birthday, his second in captivity.... Hamas knew exactly what it was doing when it released an audiotape from Shalit on June 25, the fist anniversary of the kidnapping.... Monday was the turn of Ahmed Youssef, an aide to Hamas's 'prime minister,' Ismail Haniyeh, who said in an interview with Israel Radio that if Israel freed Palestinian women and children from jail (he didn't say how many),Hamas might release a videotape of Shalit revealing his current condition as a 'gesture of goodwill'.... The continued captivity of Shalit is an outrage. Abbas, who has garnered Israeli and international backing as the exemplar of moderation, can use today's meeting as a platform to demand Shalit's release, to condemn Hamas for holding him, and to underline the damage caused to Palestinian interests by the ongoing acts of terrorism, including Shalit's imprisonment, carried out or fostered by Hamas. If followed by long-required action against terrorism that would improve security for both Israelis and Palestinians and begin to enable a return to substantive dialogue, this would be a fine birthday present for Shalit and, it is to be hoped, the beginning of a speedy process leading to his release." IV. "CNN's False Symmetry" Jonathan S. Tobin, Executive Editor of The Jewish Exponent in Philadelphia, wrote in The Jerusalem Post (8/28): "[In the age of political correctness], we are asked to pretend that there is an intrinsic connection, or even symmetry, between Christian, Jewish, and Muslim extremists. That was exactly the premise of a widely heralded three-part series on CNN last week. Titled 'God's Holy Warriors' and fronted by international correspondent Christiane Amanpour, it was a triptych across the globe to highlight the danger from Jewish, Muslim, and Christian extremists, who are all given the same treatment and air-time in the guise of even-handedness.... Extremist Muslims are a genuine threat to both peace and the West; while most settlers are no threat to anyone and are, if anything, among the primary victims of Muslim terror. As for Evangelical Christians, who were the targets of Amanpour's third program, most American Jews may disagree with most of their political positions but, to date, they have launched no terror attacks, nor do they plan any. Any analogy between them and Islamists is the figment of Amanpour's fevered imagination. If anything, their main sin, in the eyes of many Western apologists for the Islamists, seems to be their support for Jewish victims of Arab terror. CNN cannot be allowed to get away with this sort of despicable bias. Decent persons of all faiths need to speak out against this network and make sure that it, and its arrogant star Amanpour, are made to hear of our outrage at every possible opportunity and in every way possible, including the use of economic leverage by both sponsors and viewers." JONES