ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002468 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. U.S. Elections ¶2. Middle East -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- All media covered the last day of the U.S. electoral campaign. The printed media predicted that Sen. Barack Obama would clinch the presidency. This morning the electronic media reported that Obama had won the race. ISRAEL Radio reported that President Shimon Peres called to congratulate him. The radio quoted FM and Kadima chairwoman Tzipi Livni as saying that ISRAEL and the U.S. share many interests, and that the relationship between the two countries will not harmed. Rev. Jesse Jackson told Maariv that the Jews share ObamaQs success. HaQaretz (English Ed.) led with IsraelQs worry about what the outcome of America's presidential election may portend for Washington's policy on Iran. On most Israel-related issues, Jerusalem foresees no dramatic changes in U.S. policy, regardless of who is elected. On Iran, however, it is worried that Democratic candidate Barack Obama will take a significantly softer line than the outgoing administration has. During his campaign, Obama repeatedly said that if elected, he would begin a dialogue with the Iranian regime. According to HaQaretz, ISRAEL is also worried that President Bush will use his final two months in office to open an interests section in Tehran -- a move his administration has been discussing for months. Over the last few weeks, ISRAEL has sent high-level messages to Washington in which it expressed its objections to the proposal to open an interests section. However, HaQaretz quoted a senior Israeli government source as saying that Jerusalem still has no definite information about the plan. HaQaretz and the leading Internet news service Ynet reported that FM Tzipi Livni has warned whoever is elected U.S. President against increased international pressure on Israel, saying the country would not take "shortcuts" in the peace process with the Palestinians. "The world must support the process that is being conducted and not expect ISRAEL to carry out shortcuts which would hurt its ability to safeguard its needs," Livni was quoted as saying ahead of a visit by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and of Sunday's MEETING of international peace mediators in Egypt. HaQaretz and other media cited a statement made by LivniQs office as saying that she met Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch to prepare for the Rice visit and a MEETING of the Quartet. Leaving today for a five-day trip to Israel, the West Bank, Jordan and Egypt, Rice is due to hold talks with Israeli officials in Jerusalem tomorrow and with Palestinian officials in Ramallah on Friday. The Jerusalem Post quoted diplomatic officials as saying yesterday that Secretary Rice will likely present the next U.S. administration with her own parameters for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The media reported that IDF Special Forces entered Gaza last night to blow up a tunnel dug by Hamas terrorists for the purpose of kidnapping Israeli soldiers. Five Hamas militants were reportedly killed and three IDF soldiers moderately injured. Electronic media reported that Palestinians fired rockets on Israel, up to Ashkelon. HaQaretz reported that Gaza Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh promised former Irish president Mary Robinson, while she was visiting Gaza, that Hamas will pass Gilad Shalit's family a letter from the kidnapped soldier, in response to the letter they sent their son a few months ago. Yesterday ISRAEL Radio reported that Hamas officials voiced skepticism that the U.S. presidential election would result in a change in U.S. policy in the Middle East and towards the group. The radio quoted a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Fawzi Barhum, as saying that the choice between McCain and Obama is Qawful. Yediot reported that President Shimon Peres will speak after SAUDI King Abdullah at the interreligious conference to take place in New York. The Jerusalem Post and Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that PM Ehud Olmert and DM Ehud Barak have agreed to permanently move the residents of the unauthorized outpost of Migron to a permanent settlement -- Adam. The Jerusalem Post quoted Rabbi YaQacov Yosef, the eldest son of Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, as saying yesterday during a visit to the unauthorized Federman Farm outpost on the outskirts of Kiryat Arba that those who destroyed Jewish homes will be barred from the world to come. The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday the PA told Arab residents of East Jerusalem not to vote in next weekQs municipal elections and that those who defied the boycott order would face punishment. Maariv reported that Nir Barkat, the leading contender in the race for Jerusalem mayor, intends to dig a tunnel for a railway line under Mount Zion, which would endanger holy Christian sites. Media reported on the municipalityQs project a few months ago. The Jerusalem Post cited a new report released on Monday by the human rights organization Yesh Din that says that even though police reject the overwhelming majority of complaints by Palestinians against Jews, the state prosecution does not fulfill its obligation to oversee the police investigations or seriously investigate appeals against their decisions. Leading media reported that on Monday Hizbullah official Nawaf Moussawi rejected the UN-demarcated Blue Line between Lebanon and Israel and laid claim to seven villages in northern ISRAEL and Qmillions of square metersQ that it says belongs to Lebanon. Maariv reported that Jordan has rejected the Israeli plan for cooperation on the Red Sea-Dead Sea Canal project. A senior diplomatic source told MaarivQs business reporter that the Jordanians made it clear that they intend to pursue an independent project and are currently examining the possibility of digging a canal on the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea. To that end, they contracted an American company to carry out the necessary tests. The Jordanian position came as a surprise to ISRAEL and to officials in President Shimon PeresQs office. HaQaretz quoted a new Human Rights Watch report, which says that Georgia used defective Israeli-made cluster bombs during its war with Russia, which detonated in populated areas and killed Georgian civilians. The Jerusalem Post reported that Labor, Likud, and Meretz agreed on Monday to vote against KadimaQs 2009 draft state budget. HaQaretz reported that former president Moshe Katsav and his family co-own land with the Gavrieli brothers, who have long been suspected of criminal ties. -------------- ¶1. U.S. Elections: -------------- Summary: -------------- The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: QYesterday, the U.S. once again justified its title as leader of the free world: It concluded a campaign that is a worthy model for emulation. Arab affairs correspondent Smadar Perry wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: QQObamaniaQ was born in Damascus a moment before the Black candidate with a promising Muslim name (Hussein) entered the race. Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn QadvisedQ the winner of the presidential elections in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: QThe chances of obtaining an agreement [on the Palestinian track] are slim.... The Syrian track is less complicated than the Palestinian mess. Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "Democracy at its Best" The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (11/5): QThe election took place in the shadow of a deep economic and social crisis, an army that has been unable to extricate itself from battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a worrying erosion of America's influence in the world. The grim mood brought millions of citizens to the polls who in the past had waived their right to have an impact. Whites and blacks, Jews and Muslims, all decided to give their votes to a candidate who is young, black and lacking in governmental experience. Old people and young people, including residents of QRepublican statesQ par excellence, enlisted en masse to bring about change -- one could even say, a revolution -- in the White House and in Congress. American democracy mobilized to rescue the U.S. from the serial disappointments of President George W. Bush's eight years in office. We must hope that over the next four years, both major parties and both houses of Congress will help the new president rehabilitate the status of a superpower that remains unrivaled in its influence over the peace and welfare of all humanity, regardless of race, sex or religion. Yesterday, the U.S. once again justified its title as leader of the free world: It concluded a campaign that is a worthy model for emulation. II. "The Arabs Are Looking Froward to Obama" Arab affairs correspondent Smadar Perry wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (11/5): QQObamaniaQ was born in Damascus a moment before the Black candidate with a promising Muslim name (Hussein) entered the race. Bashar Assad viewed Obama as a QmiracleQ who might save him from the International Court of Justice (for the Hariri assassination),grant him a status and involvement in Lebanon, widely open for him the gates of the White House, stop attacks by the U.S. and Israeli armies on designated targets in his country, and bring him economic assistance that is much more urgent to him than receiving the Golan Heights.... What is almost certain is that at least one country in the Arab world will gain from ObamaQs victory: the royal House of Saud will become a key player.... SAUDI Arabia, the power of which will increase, will be invited to mediate, fund, influence, enlist votes, and lead the fresh president by the hand.... [Editorialists in the Arab world] are suggesting that Obama nurture the leaders of the moderate nations, not intervene, and mostly erase the eight violent years of a president who drove an armored car that kept colliding with the Arab world Q- intentionally, arrogantly, and without apologizing. III. "Advice for the Winner" Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn QadvisedQ the winner of the presidential elections in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (11/5): QBush's Middle East problem was not a lack of ideas. He was convinced that a Palestinian state was in AmericaQs interest, and his rhetoric went beyond that of his predecessors in terms of his commitment to the two-state solution. But he had trouble backing up his ideas with action, and most of his initiatives soon evaporated in the face of Israeli and Palestinian determination to continue fighting. Condoleezza Rice succeeded in convening the Annapolis conference, in somehow preserving the Palestinian Authority as a partner for negotiations, and in extracting an offer from Ehud Olmert to leave all the territories solely because she nagged both Israelis and Palestinians. Therefore, do not let the sides wear you down with excuses. Wear them down, with polite insistence.... The chances of obtaining an agreement are slim. Good intentions and Q100 percent effortQ will not be enough to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.... The Syrian track is less complicated than the Palestinian mess.... The problem with the Syrian track is that the status quo is convenient for both sides: Israel wants to stay in the Golan, and Syria fears domestic change. Only active American leadership, to move the process forward and support it through security arrangements and economic aid, can break this stalemate. -------------- ¶2. Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: QThose determined to wage war on a different plane -- imbued by the delusion that they are the last of the Jews -- must be socially, politically, and religiously isolated first and foremost by supporters of the settlement enterprise. Block Quotes: -------------- "13 Years Unhealed" The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (11/5): QThirteen years after the assassination of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, both the Left and the Right have embraced a single corrosive motto: QNever forget, never forgive.Q If they persist, our Zionist enterprise is at risk. The Left appropriated Rabin's memory, distanced it from the nation as a whole, and exploited it for partisan ends. Rabin's murder was held over the heads of everyone who opposed Oslo. The Right closed its mind to the possibility that, maybe, just maybe, even if unintentionally, its leaders said things that contributed to the atmosphere which set the stage for the killing. Time has not healed our nationQs wounds. Instead, we've spent the past 13 years locked into Qnever forget, never forgiveQ.... Let no one on the Right wince when security officials warn that an atmosphere is being created that makes another political murder possible. No matter how passionately Israelis disagree, no matter how high the stakes, we absolutely must contend with one another exclusively within the political arena. Those determined to wage war on a different plane -- imbued by the delusion that they are the last of the Jews -- must be socially, politically, and religiously isolated first and foremost by supporters of the settlement enterprise. CUNNINGHAM