ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002870 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: -------------- Israel Radio reported that FM Tzipi Livni may meet PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas in New York. The radio reported that in her speech to the UN General Assembly, Livni is expected to cite the West Bank as the model for the future Palestinian state and to call for a world alliance of democratic countries, in which Hamas would not have a place. All Israeli media reported that Hamas warned on Thursday that Israel will pay a heavy price for its attacks in the Gaza Strip, which have killed at least 12 Palestinians over the last two days. A spokesman for the organization threatened to call on all Palestinian groups to undertake all means of defense, which hints at the resumption of suicide bombings. The Jerusalem Post and Israel Radio reported that Chairman Abbas called for the cessation of the "massacre" of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Maariv quoted Yasser Abed Rabbo, head of the PLO's Executive Committee, as saying that the PA is considering bringing the issue to the UN Security Council. The IDF operations began on Wednesday following several hours of mortars and Qassam rockets being launched at the border area and the western Negev. Hamas claimed responsibility for firing 54 mortars against Israeli targets -- primarily the crossings into Gaza. At least 10 Qassam rockets were fired against towns in Israel. The Jerusalem Post reported that Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned that Israel was getting closer to launching a large-scale military operation. The Jerusalem Post reported that the IDF praised the PA for thwarting the production of Qassam rockets near Bethlehem. Leading media reported that the bureaus of Syrian FM Walid Mualem and FM Livni denied a report published in the Israeli Arab newspaper Assennara that the two met in New York. Yediot reported that its reporter Ron Ben-Yishai spent Yom Kippur in the Great Synagogue of Damascus. Yediot said that dozens of media outlets in the Arab world reported on Ron Ben-Yishai's visit to Syria. All media reported that for the second time in less than a week, IAF fighter jets were scrambled to the northern border on Thursday after radar systems picked up Syrian helicopters making their way towards Israel. The Jerusalem Post quoted senior Israeli diplomatic sources as saying on Thursday that Israel has no intention of stopping work on the security barrier to lure Saudi Arabia to the US-sponsored meeting on the Middle East later this year. The sources were responding to remarks made by Saudi FM Saudi al-Faisal. An Israeli source was quoted as saying that he is encouraged by positive remarks made by al-Faisal. The Jerusalem Post reported that the US sharply dismissed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's assertion on Tuesday that the "nuclear issue is now closed" and that it spent a week gathering support for a new round of Security Council sanctions. Major media reported that on Wednesday during a debate among Democratic presidential candidates, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton defended Israel's alleged air strike in Syria, saying that it was justified by intelligence reports which indicated that North Korea was helping Damascus build a nuclear facility. In Ha'aretz, Middle East commentator Noah Pollack described his trip to Beirut. He wrote that despite the political turbulence and the bitterness of last year's war, Israel and Lebanon have more in common than meets the eye. Yediot reported that Western countries have refused to help Israel obtain technologies to build a civilian nuclear reactor. The Jerusalem Post reported that over 240 members of the (British) University and College Union have signed a petition calling for a vote over the boycott of Israeli academic institutions. Yediot reported that the IAF has fired a commander who was involved in setting up a "private" bank in an Arrow base two years ago. Another commander will be promoted. Major media reported that compared with 2006, Israel has shown improvement in decreasing level of corruption, according to the annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) from Transparency International (TI). The same statistics sow that over recent years there has been an overall increase in corruption. All media reported on the deaths of former Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel Avraham Shapiro, 96, who led the struggle for Greater Israel, and of Yisrael Segal, a respected journalist and writer. He was 63. Veteran pollster Hanoch Smith died on Thursday at the age of 85. -------------- ¶1. Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- Palestinian affairs correspondent Avi Issacharoff wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The events in the Gaza Strip over the past two days, in which 12 Palestinians were killed amid dozens of Qassam rocket and mortar attacks, suggests that the logic driving the policies of Israel and Hamas are diametrically opposed." Palestinian affairs correspondent Avi Issacharoff wrote in Ha'aretz: "Israel's conditioning of Barghouti's release on an exchange for Shalit is actually liable to result in Hamas holding him for a long time." The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "Responses [by the Palestinian Authority] cast enormous doubt on the Olmert government's premise that [prisoner] releases are mandated and justified by straightforward cost-benefit computations." Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "Gaza Strip Logic" Palestinian affairs correspondent Avi Issacharoff wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (9/28): "The events in the Gaza Strip over the past two days, in which 12 Palestinians were killed amid dozens of Qassam rocket and mortar attacks, suggests that the logic driving the policies of Israel and Hamas are diametrically opposed.... As such, a paradox has emerged in which the Israeli government, the US, and Fatah believe that by exerting greater pressure on the Gaza Strip's residents, the people will overthrow ... Hamas ... while the Islamic group is doing its best to shut down the crossing -- perhaps assuming that if the civilians suffer more, they will side with Hamas.... How is shooting at the crossings expected to contribute to lifting the siege? Only Hamas seems to know the answer. Perhaps it is meant to be a message to Israel that the organization is not afraid of a direct confrontation with the IDF and that only a cease-fire agreement with Hamas -- an offer Israel rejected recently -- will end the attacks. However, it is doubtful whether all Hamas factions support this approach." II. "Is Barghouti the Answer?" Palestinian affairs correspondent Avi Issacharoff wrote in Ha'aretz (9/28): "The Rais [Mahmoud Abbas] coordinated practically every significant move with [Marwan] Barghouti. But according to several people close to Abu Mazen, if Barghouti is released and negotiations with Israel produce significant understandings on a permanent-status accord, only Barghouti would be capable and eager enough to undermine Abu Mazen's leadership. These Abu Mazen associates do not forget how in July 2000, on the eve of the current Intifada, Barghouti posed the strongest opposition to Yasser ARAFAT within Fatah.... According to ... Barghouti loyalists, the only one who enjoys broad public support today and would be capable of implementing a peace accord with Israeli is Barghouti. They are right. There is no other potential heir on the horizon.... National Infrastructure Minister [Binyamin Ben-Eliezer] said Israel should condition Barghouti's release on the release of Gilad Shalit, who is being held by Hamas. But it appears Ben-Eliezer failed to note that Hamas fears Barghouti's release. Israel's conditioning of Barghouti's release on an exchange for Shalit is actually liable to result in Hamas holding him for a long time." III. "Risky Gesture" The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (9/28): "Israel is set to free 87 more duly convicted terrorists next week. They will join 255 other terrorists who were let loose last month.... The rationale underlying these unilateral 'gestures' of goodwill' is that the release of terrorists not affiliated to Hamas bolsters the position of Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah faction.... The PA has not concertedly cracked down on terror, despite abundant promises.... There's no PA gratitude to Israel for these releases. Indeed each Israeli goodwill measure is greeted with outright ill will and fiery rhetoric about how insufficient the concession is. Such responses cast enormous doubt on the Olmert government's premise that the releases are mandated and justified by straightforward cost-benefit computations. Furthermore, of course, each additional release further erodes what remains of the already diminished Israeli deterrence.... Rather than a credible calculated risk, this could well turn out to be an unwarranted and dangerous gamble." -------------- ¶2. Iran: -------------- Summary: -------------- The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "The events at the UN General Assembly justify Sarkozy's recent declaration that the Iranian nuclear plan is the most urgent international problem." Block Quotes: -------------- "Know Your Enemy" The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (9/28): "[Ahmadinejad] is a foe who rejects all efforts at compromise between Israel and moderate Palestinians and Arab states, and who tries to tip in his favor the regional balance of power by exploiting the American entanglement in Iraq. Against Ahmadinejad's statements comes the clear voice of France' new President, Nicolas Sarkozy, whose election is emerging as a significant event in international affairs in general and in Middle East policy in particular. In his first appearance before the UN General Assembly, Sarkozy declared that allowing Iran to attain nuclear weapons would be an 'unacceptable risk to stability in the region and the world.' US President George W. Bush chose to avoid confronting Ahmadinejad, but criticized the UN's hypocritical attitude toward Israel. The events at the UN General Assembly justify Sarkozy's recent declaration that the Iranian nuclear plan is the most urgent international problem." JONES