ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002400 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. Israeli Politics ¶2. U.S. Operation against Syria -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- All media reported that yesterday PM-designate Tzipi Livni told President Shimon Peres that she has exhausted all options of forming a government. Peres is consulting all factions as Israel appears headed to general elections in February. All media quoted the Syrian government as saying that yesterday U.S. military helicopters attacked an area along the Syrian-Iraqi border, killing eight people. HaQaretz quoted GOI sources as saying that the U.S. is taking an extremely harsh line with Syria, especially when it comes to shielding terrorists. Israel Radio quoted DM Ehud Barak as saying that the American operation will not affect Israel. The media reported that yesterday West Bank settlers rioted, desecrating headstones at a Muslim cemetery near Kiryat Arba. During the rioting, settlers hurled abuse at security forces personnel and called for a "revenge attack" against them in response to the evacuation of an illegal outpost built by right-wing activist Noam Federman near Kiryat Arba. HaQaretz and The Jerusalem Post reported that Attorney-General Menachem Mazuz called for an incitement investigation against right wing activists involved in the violence. HaQaretz reported that IDF Intelligence, which until recently believed that Western action could halt Iran's nuclear program, now believes this will not be the case, according to a new intelligence assessment given last month to PM Ehud Olmert. Leading media reported that Hamas operative Jemal Abu Duabah was arrested five weeks ago after he infiltrated Israel from Gaza in a bid to kidnap Israeli soldiers. While in Sinai, he made his final arrangements to abduct troops, whom he planned to smuggle back into Gaza. The would-be abduction was intended to capture more soldiers to use as bargaining chips in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. Maariv reported that the U.S. Army and the IAF will soon cooperate on an anti-missile defense system involving the Arrow and an advanced American radar. Yesterday The Jerusalem Post reported that UN special rapporteur Richard Falk censured Israel for failing to halt settlement expansion consistent with the Annapolis protocols and for violating the Geneva Conventions in Gaza. Yesterday The Jerusalem Post quoted Israeli diplomats as saying that Jerusalem has not received any word of U.S. intention to announce the establishment of an interest section in Tehran in mid-November, after the U.S. elections. HaQaretz reported that Brig. Gen. Rabbi Avichai Ronski, the chief rabbi of the IDF, has in the past year been visiting prisoners associated with extreme right-wing groups, some of whom are serving jail sentences for planning or helping to carry out terrorist attacks against Arabs. Rabbi Avichai Ronski, who assumed his position in 2006, has met with the prisoners to teach them about Judaism. HaQaretz reported that the Labor Party might remove its support for Nir Barkat over statements made by the secular candidate for Jerusalem mayor. Last week Barkat declared his support for the establishment of a Jewish neighborhood near the village of Anata, beyond the Green Line (1967 border),on the city's eastern slopes. Yediot reported that Israeli emigres are coming back to the country because of the worsening economic crisis overseas. Fifteen thousands emigres are expected to return to Israel by the end of next year. Sixty-four percent of the returnees arrived so far from North America. Nir Barkat The Jerusalem Post reported that an Israeli delegation of start-up companies is in the U.S. this week to meet on furthering clean technology innovation and investment. Maariv reported that Sen. John McCain has a QweaponQ: an Israeli documentary about the Islamic peril. HaQaretz reported that a new Interior Ministry regulation would bar certain foreign nationals who had illegally lived in Israel and then E left of their own volition from entering Israel again. This severely tightens immigration policy in Israel, as it bars the entry of foreign nationals from 60 countries exempt from visa requirements, including Russia, Romania, Colombia and the Philippines, for at least a year and up to a lifetime. It will affect tens of thousands of people, including the families of immigrants from the former Soviet Union and of former foreign workers, who were granted Israeli citizenship according to an arrangement for foreign workers' children. Maariv printed the results of a TNS/Teleseker poll conducted yesterday: Were elections for the Knesset held today, and the competing parties be the following whom would you vote for? (Results in Knesset seats) Kadima: 31; Likud: 29; Labor Party: 11; Yisrael Beiteinu: 11; Arab parties: 11; Shas: 8; National Union-National Religious Party: 7; Meretz: 5; United Torah Judaism: 4; Green Party: 3; Gil Q Pensioners Party: 0; Social Justice (under Arkady Gaidamak) 0. -------------- ¶1. Israeli Politics: -------------- Summary: -------------- Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one of the popular, pluralist Maariv: QThere will be a Turkish bazaar here after the elections, and it is possible that even if Livni wins by a seat or two, the prime minister will be Netanyahu thanks to blocking work (such as he did this week). Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: QThe time has come for someone to tell [Ehud Barak] that Benjamin Netanyahu has won the battle over the declaration that Qthere is no partner,Q but the battle for peace is still on. Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "Everything is Still Possible" Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one of the popular, pluralist Maariv (10/27): Q[In the upcoming elections] Netanyahu [will get] a firm core of support, but limited. The peace camp [will sustain] a severe blow.... Against the backdrop of the economic collapse around the world and the security challenges, there is more than a reasonable chance that the next government will include the three major parties: Likud, Kadima and Labor. The question is who will form it. Who will block whom. There will be a Turkish bazaar here after the elections, and it is possible that even if Livni wins by a seat or two, the prime minister will be Netanyahu thanks to blocking work (such as he did this week). The Labor Party? It needs to pray for a miracle.... All this is conditional. In the insane place where we live, anything possible can happen at any given moment, to reshuffle the deck and turn all the forecasts and analyses into dust. We should remember that the incumbent prime minister is still called Ehud Olmert, and he wants to leave behind something that is not related to Nasrallah or [Attorney General] Meni Mazuz. A diplomatic flurry of activity by Olmert could hurt Livni and benefit Netanyahu. So that everything, including everything, is still possible. II. "The Battle for Peace Is Still On" Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (10/27): QThe candidate of the ruling party for the premiership will have to reveal to the electorate the positions she presented in negotiations with the Palestinians. Because the positions of the Palestinians and of the Arab League have barely changed during the past year, it will not be difficult for people to find the differences. And where is the Labor Party, the one that paved the way for dialogue with the Palestinians and eight years ago began the negotiations over the final status agreement?.... Instead of demanding that Livni give an accounting of her achievements in the negotiations with the Palestinians, Ehud Barak last week repeated the mantra that Abu Mazen is not ready for a peace agreement. It turns out that in the draft of his coalition agreement with Livni, there was no mention of the Annapolis process, of evacuating outposts, or of freezing settlements. The time has come for someone to tell him that Benjamin Netanyahu has won the battle over the declaration that Qthere is no partner,Q but the battle for peace is still on. -------------- ¶2. U.S. Operation against Syria: -------------- Summary: -------------- Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: Qthe Americans decided to send [Bashar Assad] a public, noisy and humiliating message. Block Quotes: -------------- "Humiliating Message" Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (10/27): QThe Americans decided to humiliate the Syrians. TheyQre fed up with AssadQs games. Every time his relations with the American regime cool, he punishes them and opens the border to global jihad groups that train on Lebanese soil, stay on Syrian soil, and act against the American forces in Iraq. The Americans protested to the Syrians, but the latter feigned innocence.... So this time the Americans decided to send [Bashar Assad] a public, noisy, and humiliating message. The target of the commando operation was an activist in one of global jihadQs branches, who was linked to terror activity in Iraq. Israel, incidentally, did not receive from the Americans any prior notice of the operation, and itQs good that it was so. Operations of this sort are built, first of all, on secrecy. The Americans share with Israel in those cases in which there is concern that an American military operation will spark a response against Israel (for example, the U.S. informed Israel three days before the second Gulf War began). What isnQt clear in this case is why the Syrians, of all people, were in a hurry to be the first to report the attack on their sovereignty. Incidentally, they were also the first to report the Israel Air ForceQs attack. CUNNINGHAM