ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002124 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. World Financial Crisis ¶2. Mideast ¶3. U.S./India Nuclear Agreement -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- The headlines in today's media were split between the world financial crisis, the Kadima primaries, and Iran's nuclear threat. The media reported that Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer has hastily invited the heads of the country's banks to a meeting this morning to examine their exposure to the world financial crisis and ask how they will deal with the problem. The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange's TA-100 index of the 100 largest public companies fell 1.2 percent yesterday, completing a drop of 6.8 percent over the last two days. Bank stocks as well as companies controlled by Israel's biggest tycoons bore the brunt of the losses. Speaking on Israel Radio this morning, Finance Minister Roni Bar-On said that Israel used to look up to America, but now it is protected from the world crisis by being more independent. The Kadima primaries, in which 74,000 registered voters are supposed to participate, will take place between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. today, and the official results will be published tomorrow morning. The media reported that the main contest in the Kadima primaries is between FM Tzipi Livni and Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz, who ignore the other two candidates --- Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter and Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit. Likud Chairman Benjamin was quoted as saying in an interview with IDF Radio that entering a Kadima-led government is like joining Lehman Bros. The Jerusalem Post reported that David Wurmser, a key national security adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney up until last year, has told the newspaper that President Bush will not attack Iran to halt its nuclear weapons program before his term ends. Wurmser's comments came after a day-long roundtable this week in Brussels on nuclear nonproliferation sponsored by the European Jewish Congress. Leading media cited news agency reports quoting diplomats as saying that yesterday the IAEA showed documents and photographs suggesting Iran secretly tried to modify a missile cone to fit a nuclear bomb. Tehran again dismissed the findings as forged. The media reported that PM Ehud Olmert and PA President Mahmoud Abbas met at Olmert's official residence. The Jerusalem Post quoted Olmert spokesman Mark Regev as saying that Olmert believes that the negotiations can work, and that the "door has not been closed." The Prime Minister's Office said that the two will meet again after Abbas's trip to the UN General Assembly. Israel Radio reported that Livni or Mofaz could then be prime minister and impose their agenda on the talks. Yediot quoted Spanish FM Miguel Moratinos as saying in an interview with the Spanish TV station Antena 3 that the gap in the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians amounts to 70 sq km only. Yediot reported that yesterday settlers called on their supporters to come massively to the Yad Yair settler outpost, near the settlement of Dolev, to prevent its evacuation by army and police. Leading media reported that Gilad Shalit's parents have harshly criticized the transfer of millions of shekels to the PA, and in particular to Gaza, as tantamount to funding terror. Noam and Aviva Shalit also said Israel is not applying pressure that would lead to their son's release. The Jerusalem Post reported that Israeli defense officials expressed concerned yesterday that Palestinian terrorists will take advantage of Egypt's decision to open the Rafah border crossing next week to infiltrate into the Sinai Desert where they can join existing cells in targeting Israeli vacationers. Media cited a new report by the World Bank, which some economic improvement in the territories since May last year, when the previous report was published. Ha'aretz quoted a bank official as saying that while Israel removed a number of restrictions on movement and access in the West Bank, these steps have been limited. Ha'aretz reported that the IDF's Judge Advocate General has rejected the demand to increase the charges against the former commander of the 71st battalion, Lt. Col. Omri Burberg, who was filmed in June holding a bound and blindfolded Palestinian prisoner and ordering one of his soldiers to fire a rubber bullet at the prisoner's leg. The Jerusalem Post quoted the Free Gaza Group as saying that it plans to dispatch a ship from Cyprus later this month filled with doctors and European politicians to Gaza. The group had sailed two boats into Gaza harbor last month. Leading media quoted Hamas police as saying that 11 or 12 Palestinians, including a pro-Al-Qaida militant and a child, were killed yesterday in overnight gun battles in Gaza. Ha'aretz reported that the Arab League's foreign ministers met last week, and that some pretty harsh criticism was directed at the Palestinians. The Jerusalem Post reported that a group of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) arrived in Israel this week for a week-long tour. The newspaper reported that Paul Rieckhoff, director and founder of IAVA, told the newspaper: "Israel is a close ally of the U.S. and it was a great opportunity." Ha'aretz cited a recent survey of Israeli scientists and other experts commissioned by the Environmental Protection Ministry according to which Israel will have to continue to use and oil and coal for the vast majority of its energy needs. -------------- ¶1. World Financial Crisis: -------------- Summary: -------------- Eytan Haber, veteran op-ed writer and assistant to the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, wrote in an editorial of the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "It is hard to believe this: Not long ago America was at the height of its diplomatic, military, and economic power." The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "The United States may be to blame for the [international financial] crisis, but Israel needs to find solutions to problems it has created here." E Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "We'll Destroy the World to Its Very Foundation" Eytan Haber, veteran op-ed writer and assistant to the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, wrote in an editorial of the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (9/17): "It is astounding to find out these days to what extent the world leader of capitalism revives the Socialist motto: 'The world is about to change its foundation; we are nothing, let us be all'.... It is hard to believe this: Not long ago America was at the height of its diplomatic, military, and economic power.... In a weak Western world the Venezuelan President ... can mock the U.S. President, Putin dispatch his planes to South America, and China break all the rules of the business world." II. "The Crisis Is on Its Way Here" The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (9/17): "Israel may be a bit player in the financial shake-up rocking America and the entire world, but as a global player, Israel's companies are clearly feeling the shock. In the short term, the effects are losses from investments in U.S. financial instruments. The big banks, Hapoalim and Leumi, and pension funds ... are exposed to these losses. Every business in Israel is now trying to estimate its exposure to the institutions that collapsed, or might. In the longer term, we will feel other effects of the crisis such as a drop in foreign investment and lower trade with the United States and other countries. The reduction in such business is likely to spur further losses for Israeli firms, as well as layoffs. It would be a mistake to view this crisis as a twist of fate that we can do nothing about. Israeli decision makers, in the government and private sector, must strive to identify our exposure to the crisis and reduce it. They must manage a responsible budgetary policy that ignores the election season's rising populism, and conduct an interest-rate policy that allows businesses to survive without allowing inflation to rear its head. The United States may be to blame for the crisis, but Israel needs to find solutions to problems it has created here." -------------- ¶2. Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "On the Palestinians, the Right has a record of criticizing without offering alternatives, while the Left ignores the harsh realities on the ground. Kadima must demonstrate a viable alternative." The nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe editorialized: "[Both Tzipi Livni and Shaul Mofaz] embody a grave deterioration in the level of Israel's national leadership." Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "The Kadima Way" The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (9/17): "Ignoring the Winograd Commission's recommendations and the crippling effects of a slew of corruption investigations, Olmert put his political survival ahead of country and party. Only recently did he agree to go. With this kind of leadership, is it any wonder that Kadima suffers from arrested political development? Many of its 'members' -- in whose hands the fate of the nation may rest -- have come to Kadima not out of ideological conviction (though some did during Sharon's tenure),but because they were recruited by the four leadership candidates. More troubling still are those who will be delivered to the polls by 'brokers' -- old-style political bosses who trade the support of large sectoral voting blocs in the hope of patronage. There's a strong case to be made for a centrist third way party. But if Kadima wants to rehabilitate itself and provide that possibility, it needs to address Israel's tough security dilemmas with the right combination of diplomatic savvy and military toughness. On the Palestinians, the Right has a record of criticizing without offering alternatives, while the Left ignores the harsh realities on the ground. Kadima must demonstrate a viable alternative.... Thursday's outcome will help determine whether Kadima is a third way, or another dead end." II. "Two Failed Leaders" The nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe editorialized (9/17): "[Both Tzipi Livni and Shaul Mofaz] embody a grave deterioration in the level of Israel's national leadership. Tzipi Livni is a mediocre woman, who has not left her footprint in any ministry where she served.... Livni is also responsible for handling the diplomatic side of the sanctions against Iran. The Winograd Commission has shown that she is unable to initiate moves or take responsibility. On the other side, Mofaz is the dominant security figure since he was appointed chief of staff in 1998. The IDF, as seen during the Second Lebanon War, is in great part the product of his policy and decision over the past years." -------------- ¶3. U.S./India Nuclear Agreement: -------------- Summary: -------------- Avner Cohen, a senior fellow at the United States Institute of Peace and author of "Israel and the Bomb," wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "India's exemption could become a precedent for a new approach to Israel's nuclear question." Block Quotes: -------------- "Why India and Not Israel?" Avner Cohen, a senior fellow at the United States Institute of Peace and author of "Israel and the Bomb," wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (9/17): "After some arm-twisting and several power struggles, the Bush administration proved to the world, and to America itself, that it is still capable of imposing its will on the international community when it comes to matters it considers important. Two weeks ago, the U.S. and India forced the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, responsible for overseeing global nuclear trade, to grant India a special exemption from the body's laws.... India's exemption could become a precedent for a new approach to Israel's nuclear question. For the first time, Israel is presented with an opportunity for a new, different nuclear future on both the international and regional levels. Israel is also boycotted, if not treated as a leper, over the nuclear issue, despite the fact that it has demonstrated more caution in relation to nuclear weapons than India.... Why, then, is India exempt while Israel is not? Neither the U.S. nor the other Nuclear Suppliers Group states have a principled, ethical answer to the question. The answer, of course, stems from political and pragmatic factors that are discomforting to utter in public: India is on its way to becoming a superpower and borders yet another emerging giant, China. India's place in the global nuclear calculus is thus deserving of an upgrade.... Unfortunately, Israel does not know exactly what it wants when dealing with this complex issue. In addition, it lacks a national leadership that possesses a vision of what direction its nuclear policy should take." CUNNINGHAM