ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002250 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: -------------- Ha'aretz reported that an international summit is to be held in Egypt in November, with representatives from Israel, the PA, and the members of the Quartet. According to a senior official in Jerusalem, the Israeli and PA participants will brief the Quartet over progress made in the ongoing peace talks. The gathering is said to be the result of a compromise between the U.S., Israel, and the Palestinians. In recent months Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been urging both sides to draft a document detailing the points of agreement in the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. She suggested they compile an "inventory" detailing progress on each of the core issues, such as Jerusalem, borders, refugees' right of return, security, settlements, and water rights. Israel opposed Rice's suggestion and argued that it would set the talks back. "It would make each side harden its stance to appear as though it has made no concessions," Ha'aretz quoted the Israeli source as saying. "Finally, FM Tzipi Livni managed to persuade her Palestinian counterpart, the head of the PA negotiating team, Ahmed Qurei, to reject the inventory idea." Instead, the parties agreed on to give a detailed briefing to the Quartet that they claim would be less binding and would allow issues to be presented more freely. All media reported that the U.S. administration has announced the sale of 25 F-35 fighter jets to Israel, with an option for 50 more in coming years, for a deal valued at up to $15.2 billion. Ha'aretz quoted the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) as saying that the deal is vital to the U.S. national security interest in assisting Israel as it develops and maintains "a strong and ready self-defense capability." The Jerusalem Post reported that, fearing that the U.S. will sell the plane to Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern states, the Defense Ministry is seeking American approval to install Israeli-made electronic systems on the stealth fighter jets it buys. One reason Israel is asking for the changes is so that if the aircraft is sold to other states in the region, the IAF's version will be unique and superior. Unlike other media, Maariv wrote that the difficulty in identifying the aircraft might be useful in an Israeli attack against distant targets such as Iran. In another development, Maariv reported on first-of-its-kind cooperation since the Second Lebanon War that will allow commanders of ground forces to order IAF fighter planes to attack enemy targets. Ha'aretz reported that Israeli security officials told Reuters on Tuesday that the IDF will purchase Israeli-made cluster bombs with a self-destruct mechanism. The M-85 bomblets, manufactured by Israel Military Industries, explode shortly after they are dispersed on the ground, which can greatly reduce civilian casualties. During the Second Lebanon War, Israel made widespread use of cluster bombs, some of which were American-made. Cluster bombs are outlawed in many countries and the U.S. administration has prohibited Israel in the past from using them in populated zones. Maariv reported that the U.S. will stop selling cluster bombs to Israel. The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel had no formal reaction yesterday to the Bahraini FM's suggestion that all Middle East nations -- including Israel and Iran -- form a regional organization. A senior official in Jerusalem was quoted as saying that it was an "interesting idea," but one that would almost certainly not get off the ground. Bahraini FM Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa said in an interview with the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat that a regional organization should be formed "even if we don't recognize each other," and that the purpose would be to try to resolve disputes. In a speech to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, Sheikh Khaled called for such a Middle East organization to include countries "without exception." Asked by Al-Hayat if it would include Israel, he replied, "With Israel, Turkey, Iran and Arab countries. Let them all sit together in one group... This is the only path to solve our problems. Why don't we all sit together even if we have differences and even if we don't recognize each other? Why not become one organization to overcome this difficult phase?" The source said that no less interesting was the suggestion to invite the Islamic Republic, since there was a great deal of fear among Persian Gulf states that Teheran is pursuing nuclear weapons because it wants hegemony in the region. While reiterating that the regional forum was a "very interesting idea," the source in Jerusalem said it was much too early for Israel to jump on the "wagon," because "there was no wagon, no wheels, and no horses, just one newspaper interview." The source was also quoted as saying that the idea would be more significant were it to be taken up by a country with more regional weight than Bahrain. Ha'aretz reported that IDF GOC Central Command Maj. Gen. Gadi Shamni has leveled harsh criticism against extremist West Bank settlers who have attacked Palestinians and IDF soldiers in recent weeks. In an interview with Ha'aretz over the Jewish New Year holiday, Shamni said that the radical behavior among rightists has grown in light of encouragement they receive from the settler leadership, rabbis, and public. As the officer heading Central Command, Shamni is responsible for the entire West Bank. Under the headline, "The American Weapon that Pressures Hamas," Yediot ran a feature on the U.S.-assisted fight against tunnel smuggling between Egypt and Gaza. Ha'aretz reported that yesterday Syrian FM Walid Muallem denied the Israeli accusation that his country is arming Hizbullah. Speaking in an interview published by the Ash-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper, Muallem said: "It is not correct that Syria is supplying Hizbullah with weapons and equipment, as is claimed. Hizbullah does not need this." He argued that Israel was making the accusations merely as an excuse for IAF overflights of Lebanon. Major media quoted Iran's supreme religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as saying yesterday that his country will stand beside Gaza's Hamas rulers and that Israel is on the path to destruction. According to Iranian state-run television, Khamenei called Hamas's PM in the Gaza Strip, Sheikh Ismail Haniyeh, a "mojahed," or soldier of holy war, saying the Iranian nation will "never let you be alone." He was also quoted as saying that Israel's Zionist regime is moving toward weakness, destruction, and defeat and that the current generation of Palestinians will see "that great day." Leading media quoted PA President Mahmoud Abbas as saying that PM Ehud Olmert's comments in the Jewish New Year interview he granted Yediot were a "deposit" to be brought into play by the next government. Yediot quoted Kadima Knesset Member Yoel Hassan as saying that the PM's stances are contrary to Kadima's platform. Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that Shas is wondering whether Olmert's remark could mean an intention to divide Jerusalem. Various right- and left-leaning commentators noted that Olmert's political situation does not allow him to make far-flung commitments. Media reported that the police will interrogate Olmert for the eighth time today -- regarding the affairs of the "Investments Center" and the "house on Cremieux St." Ha'aretz reported that before the Jewish New Year, prime-minister-designate Tzipi Livni rejected demands from Meretz leaders to remove Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann. The media also reported that Livni and her husband hosted Defense Minister Ehud Barak and his wife for a holiday dinner. Maariv reported that increasing voices in the Labor Party are calling for the party's inclusion in Livni's future government. The Jerusalem Post quoted Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu as saying in a pre-Jewish New Year interview with the Walla web site that he will increase construction in existing West Bank settlements to keep pace with the population's natural growth if he is elected prime minister. The media reported that on Monday police arrested a 19-year-old Palestinian who planned to assault Jews in Jerusalem's Old City on the eve of the Jewish New Year. All media highlighted the U.S. Senate's compromise on a bailout bill. The media reported that the crisis is affecting Israeli savers. Ha'aretz reported that Boris Spiegel, one of the Russian Jewish community's most prominent supporters of President Vladimir Putin, is set to be appointed head of the country's Keren Hayesod, also known as the United Israel Appeal (UIA). The UIA is the central fundraising body for Israel around the world, with the exception of the United States. -------------- Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- Editor-in-Chief Amnon Lord wrote in the editorial of the nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe: "Olmert, as a senior representative of the leading Israeli elite, fully recognizes the Arab demands and concedes that none of the Israeli demands of the Arab side have any validity." Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The West Bank separation fence divides Israeli society into two worlds utterly different in their perceptions of reality and of the problems that affect them." Former Mossad director Ephraim Halevy wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "Once the decision is made, we must hope that the Palestinian troops eradicate the Hamas movement and again take control of Gaza and that Israel and the Israel and the U.S. will be able to complete the job." Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "When a fanatical terror organization with no inhibitions vows to take revenge on the Hizbullah leadership -- the Syrians' collaborators and allies -- Hizbullah officials begin to fear for their lives. Now it isn't only we who issue travel advisories. They do, too. That is what is known as receiving one's just deserts." Conservative Professor Gabi Avital wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv: "It is not clear who has now decided to violate the principle that foreign troops should not be stationed in Israel." Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "A Moral and Ideological Collapse" Editor-in-Chief Amnon Lord wrote in the editorial of the nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe (10/2): "The statements that were made by the outgoing prime minister, Ehud Olmert, in an interview to the media ... clearly signaled to the Palestinians, the Arab peoples and all the other ill-wishers for Israel in the international community that the long struggle against Israel has paid off. The implication from Olmert's statements is that justice -- both in terms of international law and from an ethical standpoint -- lies entirely with the Arab side. Since this is a struggle that has had a decidedly extremist and violent dimension to it, the Arabs and their supporters ought to ask themselves: why stop at the 1967 line? Olmert, as a senior representative of the leading Israeli elite, fully recognizes the Arab demands and concedes that none of the Israeli demands of the Arab side have any validity. We ought to take note that Olmert clearly admitted that there could not be peace unless Israel gave up (nearly) everything that was conquered in ¶1967. What does that tell us about Jerusalem and about any territorial compensation to which Israel is going to commit in order to absorb the settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank]?.... It seems that Olmert is adding to the crime of personal corruption the sin of ethical stately corruption. He has lost any faith in Israeli justice, but not his faith in his justice and in the rotten elite's support for him. He believes that such a far-reaching statement will give him legitimacy to 'fight' for the sake of 'peace' in his last days or months in office." II. "A Schizophrenic State" Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (10/2): "The West Bank separation fence divides Israeli society into two worlds utterly different in their perceptions of reality and of the problems that affect them. On one side are those disturbed by the crisis on Wall Street, by the lack of leadership and the Iranian threat. Few worry about what is happening in the West Bank, and certainly no one visits there. The Palestinians are forgotten when there are no suicide bombings, the settlers are viewed as a strange society, and the peace talks pursued by Ehud Olmert seem like irrelevant spin. On the other side of the fence, in Settlers' Country, things look quite different. There, no one worries about Wall Street or Ahmadinejad, but about survival. The settlers are angry with the state that evacuated the Gush Katif settlements in the Gaza Strip, at the army and the Supreme Court and the leftist media. They take seriously Olmert's declarations of support for withdrawing from nearly all of the West Bank, prepare for the coming withdrawal and make pilgrimages to abandoned outposts like Homesh. This schizophrenia, convenient for both sides, has been nurtured by the Olmert government. Despite the Prime Minister announcing his backing for the evacuation of settlements beyond the fence, he essentially gave the settlers free rein after the destruction of the Amona outpost [in February 2006].... As violence continued across the fence, it raised only minimal interest on this side. Then came the attack on Prof. Zeev Sternhell as a reminder that ideological struggle knows no borders or barriers. The remonstrations of Olmert and company were turned up a notch, but the government restrained itself, hoping the quiet would return or that a catastrophe would come along requiring it to act. In the absence of such a catastrophe, Olmert's successors will likely act just as he did, distancing themselves from the goings-on in the territories, and nurturing the national schizophrenia on both sides of the separation fence." IV. "The Decisive Battle" Former Mossad director Ephraim Halevy wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (10/2): "It is clear to anyone with eyes in his head that the success of the PA is dependent on this or that aid from Israel. The extent of the aid, the kind of aid, and the degree of indirect or direct involvement will be the outcome of the degree of the success of the Palestinian units. Since this will be an ongoing operation, Israel may have to make some weighty decisions in real time, based on developments on the ground.... As said, once the decision is made, we must hope that the Palestinian troops eradicate the Hamas movement and again take control of Gaza and that Israel and the U.S. will be able to complete the job." ¶V. "Now It's Their Turn to be Afraid" Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (10/2): "The recent terror attacks in Damascus and Lebanon are part of the revenge campaign by a fringe organization that declared that it would not rest until the Syrians and the people who helped assassinate the commander of their organization had paid for their actions. It is ironic that the Syrians and Hizbullah, who announced a campaign of revenge against Israel following the assassination of Imad Mughniyah, are now experiencing first-hand what they had planned to dish out to us.... This isn't a particularly difficult puzzle to piece together. The organization that swore that it would take revenge was Fatah al-Islam. As odd as this may sound, this is an organization that was linked at its inception to Syrian intelligence.... When a fanatical terror organization with no inhibitions vows to take revenge on the Hizbullah leadership -- the Syrians' collaborators and allies -- Hizbullah officials begin to fear for their lives. Now it isn't only we who issue travel advisories. They do, too. That is what is known as receiving one's just deserts." IV. "The Radar: a Very Dangerous Trap" Conservative Professor Gabi Avital wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv (10/2): "The positioning of a new radar at the Nevatim base in the Negev, with its American crew, was announced loudly this week. We were spared no praise about the brilliant capabilities of the radar, which will improved deterrent capability facing missiles from the East.... If there was any doubt about Israel being no more than the cheapest mercenary in the world, and, unfortunately, in the words of [right-wing] Professor Ezra Zohar, a 'concubine in the Middle East,' the radar and the American soldiers are the ultimate stamp of this.... It is not clear who has now decided to violate the principle that foreign troops should not be stationed in Israel. Are the dangerous implications of this violation known to the decision-makers?" CUNNINGHAM