ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001370 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 that yesterday PM Ehud Olmert "embarrassed" the Labor Party when he announced from the Knesset podium that he intends to run for reelection as Kadima chairman despite the deal reached overnight Tuesday in which Labor gave up its effort to initiate an early election. Maariv reported that Vice PM Haim Ramon, until now a staunch Olmert supporter, is quietly forging an alliance with FM Tzipi Livni. The Jerusalem Post reported that Shas is said to be the key to the government's survival. Ha'aretz reported that Israel and Hizbullah have a written agreement on a prisoner exchange that the cabinet will deliberate on Sunday and possibly approve. If approved, Israel will sign the deal that will then be taken to Beirut by the German mediators for Hizbullah's signature. The media reported that politicians and rabbis are fighting about a possible declaration that the two Hizbullah abductees are dead. The Jerusalem Post quoted Miki Goldwasser, the mother of captive reservist Ehud Goldwasser, as saying that Defense Minister Ehud Barak personally called last night to tell her that the IDF could not honor her request to halt the process of determining whether her son should be considered KIA. The media reported that yesterday IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Ashkenazi also rejected a request by Olmert to halt the KIA process. Ha'aretz reported that today Israel will present Egyptian mediators in Cairo with new formulas that it hopes will result in progress in the case of Gilad Shalit. Israel Radio reported that yesterday Israel agreed to free prisoners "with blood on their hands," provided they do not return to the Palestinian territories. The radio reported that Egypt turned down this condition. All media reported that yesterday the families of MIA Ron Arad and of the two IDF soldiers kidnapped to Lebanon attended a rally in Mitzpeh Hilah, Shalit's Galilee community, marking two years since the day he was captured by Hamas. The media quoted Ron Arad's brother Chen as saying at the event: "Dear Shalit family, don't let them sacrifice Gilad." The Jerusalem Post quoted defense officials as saying yesterday that they planned to open the crossings between Gaza and Israel on Friday if there were no more violations of the cease-fire. Israel Radio reported that Islamic Jihad promised that it would better coordinate its moves with Hamas. Ha'aretz reported that on Tuesday the Quartet decided to promote the convening of a peace conference in Moscow in the next few months. Ha'aretz quoted an Israeli diplomatic source as saying that the conference will take place in November and might produce a joint announcement for the future of the negotiations in 2009 or even the signature of an Israeli-Palestinian agreement. The Jerusalem Post cited AP quoting an Egyptian security official as saying yesterday that border guards discovered seven underground smuggling tunnels along the Gaza border. The Jerusalem Post cited AP quoting Olli Heinonen, a senior IAEA inspector, as saying yesterday that an initial probe of U.S. allegations that a Syrian site hit by Israeli warplanes was a secretly built nuclear reactor is inconclusive and that further checks are necessary. Ha'aretz reported that in the past six weeks there has been a marked drop in stone-throwing aimed at Israeli vehicles traveling on roads near the West Bank town of Qalqilya. The newspaper quoted a Palestinian liaison officer as saying that Palestinian police forces warned pupils that throwing stones at cars will be met by a harsh response. The paper reported that dozens of dirt barriers in the area have lately been removed to ease the Palestinians' daily lives. Leading media reported that yesterday Finance Minister Roni Bar-On agreed to cancel a controversial plan to tax savings in advanced-training funds, bowing to pressure from the Histadrut Labor Federation and economic organizations that had threatened a general strike in the public sector. The media reported that the Chords Bridge at the entrance to Jerusalem designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava was inaugurated yesterday in a controversial ceremony attended by 20,000 people. The Jerusalem Post reported that a contingent of about 300 Messianic Jews from the U.S. will protest this weekend in Jerusalem against what they call Israel's discriminatory immigration policy against Jews who believe that Jesus is the messiah. Ha'aretz quoted associates of Olmert as saying yesterday that Morris Talansky's July cross-examination will not create a sensation. Yediot reported that yesterday at an international conference in Berlin, former deputy Iranian FM Mohammad-Javad Larijani delivered an "anti-Semitic," hate-filled speech calling for the cancellation of the "Zionist project." The daily wrote that the meeting was sponsored and funded by the German government. Yediot presented the results of a Mina Zemach (Dahaf Institute) poll among registered Kadima voters: If Talansky's cross-examination shows that the suspicions against Olmert are less severe, how will you vote [in the party primaries]? Olmert: 30%; Tzipi Livni: 26%; Shaul Mofaz: 19%: Avi Dichter: 9%; Meir Sheetrit: 6%; 10% were undecided. If Olmert does not compete [in the Kadima primaries], who will you vote for? Tzipi Livni: 40%; Shaul Mofaz: 30%: Avi Dichter: 12%; Meir Sheetrit: 9%; 9% were undecided. -------------- Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "When Palestinian leaders find the courage to finally reconcile their people to the Jewish nature of the State of Israel; when they lead the way in replacing Palestinian victimization with a sense of self-reliance -- only then will the self-determination that Palestinians seek and Israelis can live with be realized." Settler leader Israel Harel wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "It would make some sense if in return for strategic, moral and political folly in the North and South we would at least receive [the IDF abductees] Shalit, Regev and Goldwasser alive and well. But to sow the seeds of the next kidnappings -- and at an exorbitant price -- is intolerable folly and loss of wisdom." Political and parties columnist Sima Kadmon wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "If the Prime Minister's defense attorneys should succeed in undermining TalanskyQs testimony, Olmert can certainly think about running for another term in KadimaQs leadership." Ha'aretz editorialized: "If Talansky's testimony caused a collective sense of shame, and if in its wake Olmert's leadership became untenable -- then, perhaps, this indicates a change in direction." Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "The Palestinian Track" The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (6/26): "It may be true, as Secretary Rice said at a conference in Berlin on Tuesday, that Palestinians seeking to build transparent institutions 'cannot succeed without the international community's support.' But, ultimately, they must themselves bring about the conditions for statehood. [Also], given that the rejectionist impulse has consistently prevailed, it is especially urgent for Palestinian leaders -- President Mahmoud Abbas, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, or others yet to emerge -- to prepare their people not only for the transition to statehood, but also to abandon the intransigence that has served them so poorly; to ready them for realistic concessions. To this end, Palestinians must, in any accord, recognize the sovereign rights of Israel as a Jewish state. Yet no preparatory effort has been made in the Palestinian street, which still views Israel as 'illegitimate.' If an agreement is to be viable, it must enjoy the support not merely of official negotiators but of a substantial majority of citizens on both sides. Abbas, who has insisted time and again that the 'right of return' remains non-negotiable, gives little sign of encouragement on this score. When Palestinian leaders find the courage to finally reconcile their people to the Jewish nature of the State of Israel; when they lead the way in replacing Palestinian victimization with a sense of self-reliance -- only then will the self-determination that Palestinians seek and Israelis can live with be realized." II. "When a Nation Loses its Wisdom" Settler leader Israel Harel wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (6/26): "One of the main reasons why Ehud Olmert embarked on the Second Lebanon War was to prove to Hizbullah and the other terror organizations that the era of Israel's acceptance of the kidnapping of soldiers and civilians, and payment of an unacceptable price for their return, was over. He also wanted to restore Israel's power of deterrence, and to prove that there is no truth to the famous statement by Hassan Nasrallah to the effect that Israel's tolerance for suffering is like a spider web, or that its end, according to the prophecy of Palestinian intellectuals, will be like that of the Crusaders, due to imminent polarization and demonstrations of weakness. The IDF and civil society did not pass the test of determination and did not give the political echelon -- first in Lebanon and later vis-a-vis Hamas -- the achievement that would have made it possible to prove to the enemy that Israeli society is in fact strong in body and soul, and that their attacks are no more than insect bites that the Israelis will easily withstand. Even worse: The outcome of the war, both on the battlefield and on the home front, only strengthened the enemy's basic assumptions.... It would make some sense if in return for strategic, moral and political folly in the North and South we would at least receive [the IDF abductees] Shalit, Regev and Goldwasser alive and well. But to sow the seeds of the next kidnappings -- and at an exorbitant price -- is intolerable folly and loss of wisdom." III. "It Is Too Early to Write Him Off" Political and parties columnist Sima Kadmon wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (6/26): "The most interesting figure [in the political poll among registered Kadima voters published today in this paper] appears in the question: What would happen if, after the cross-examination, it were to turn out that the allegations against Olmert were not as severe as they now appear? How would the registered members of Kadima then vote in a party primary in which Olmert also ran? It looks like the registered members of Kadima are only waiting for such a possibility. In that case, if the Prime Minister's defense attorneys should succeed in undermining TalanskyQs testimony, Olmert can certainly think about running for another term in KadimaQs leadership. Thirty percent of all the registered members promise him their votes. Livni will then have to give up the position that now seems so close, and remain with 26 percent of the vote. And Mofaz? He drops to only 19 percent. One wonders whether, when Barak forced Kadima to hold a party primary, he took into account that this could be the result." IV. "Talansky's Contribution" Ha'aretz editorialized (6/26): "There is no telling what will happen after Olmert leaves: whether a stable government will be established, and whether the candidate elected by Kadima will be able to form the same coalition and run the country. Ultimately, however, a solution has been reached, one that does not involve a compromise on what really matters. Labor and Kadima have agreed that the Prime Minister, who is suspected of serious bribery offenses, will be replaced within three months. This may be the beginning of a new era in Israel's attitude toward corruption among public officials.... Olmert did not invent the corruption, but it is his misfortune to be prime minister just when it was decided to stop treating such phenomena as a decree of fate. The law has always been clear and sharp on the matter, but the atmosphere was more forgiving toward the hedonism of the powerful. The public came to believe that all politicians were corrupt to some degree, until it seemed that replacing one prime minister with another was of no consequence, since the latter would presumably also be caught doing wrong. If Talansky's testimony caused a collective sense of shame, and if in its wake Olmert's leadership became untenable -- then, perhaps, this indicates a change in direction." JONES