ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002571 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.-Israel Relations ¶2. Iran ¶3. Mideast -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- HaQaretz quoted President Shimon Peres as saying in London yesterday that U.S. President-elect Barack Obama proclaimed himself Qvery impressed with the Arab LeagueQs peace planQ when he discussed it with Peres during a brief visit to Israel four months ago. HaQaretz reported that senior Saudi sources have called on Obama to turn the initiative into his Middle East diplomatic plan. The Jerusalem Post quoted Peres as saying yesterday that making peace with Syria depends on whether it is prepared to rein in Hizbullah. Israel Hayom reported that Peres hinted that Israel would return the Golan to Syria. Israel Radio reported that yesterday Obama called Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and vowed to continue pushing Middle East peace efforts. In their first conversation since the November 4 U.S. elections, Obama also reportedly reiterated his strong support for a Palestinian state living alongside Israel. The Jerusalem Post reported that Israeli officials still fear that President Bush will open an American interests section in Tehran, despite the strong message the U.S. official Stuart Levey carried to them this week that the outgoing administration intends to stay the course of isolating Iran diplomatically. Israel Hayom wrote that the governmentQs emergency economic plan might not provide an answer to the crisis. Leading media reported that the IDF is gearing up to forcibly evacuate the so-called "House of Contention" in Hebron, presuming its Jewish residents continue ignoring a court order to vacate the premises within three days. The deadline expires at noon today. Media reported that yesterday Knesset Member Nissim Zeev (Shas) moved into the building. HaQaretz reported that PM Ehud Olmert is expected to call several senior defense officials today to discuss the possibility of pulling out of the northern part of the border village of Ghajar and relinquishing control to UN forces. The Jerusalem Post reported that top Israeli defense and political officials are increasingly concerned that Germany might sell Dolphin-class submarines to Egypt. Yesterday HaQaretz quoted President Peres as saying on Monday that when Barack Obama asked him, during a conversation, what he could do for Israel, he replied: QBe a great president of the United States. HaQaretz reported that Hamas's military wing announced Tuesday it was "prepared for a confrontation with Israel" and for the end of the cease-fire with Israel. However, political sources said the cease-fire was expected to go on. The newspaper reported that over the past couple of days, Hamas has tried to rein in the other Palestinian factions and restrict rocket fire. The Jerusalem Post reported that Mirzan Hassan Dinnayi, a former adviser to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, told the daily yesterday that religious extremism is the biggest threat facing Iraq today and that it could ultimately see the war-torn country emptied of minority populations. The Jerusalem Post and HaQaretz quoted the Iranian news Website Jahan News, which is affiliated with the Iranian intelligence community, as saying on Monday that Hossein Derakhshan, an Iranian blogger who has visited Israel twice over the past three years, was arrested in Tehran upon his return from Canada. The Iranian blogger, who also holds Canadian citizenship, reportedly admitted to being involved in espionage for Israel. HaQaretz, The Jerusalem Post, and Israel Radio reported that Israeli officials reacted angrily to comments made yesterday by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanathem Pillay, in which she called for an immediate end to its blockade of the Gaza Strip, which she said breached international and humanitarian law. The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday PA officials n Ramallah accused Hamas of staging the latest blackouts in Gaza in a bid to win sympathy and incite the Palestinian public against Israel and the PA. Israel Hayom reported that yesterday Michigan Governor Granholm, an Obama associate, visited HaifaQs Carmel Hospital to promote the establishment of a joint vascular development center between the hospital and Michigan counterparts Leading media quoted former IDF chief of staff Moshe YaQalon, who joined Likud yesterday and might become defense minister if Likud wins the elections, as saying that the Qpath of withdrawals must stop. HaQaretz, Israel Hayom, and The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday a Cairo court ruled against an Egyptian government resolution to sell natural gas to Israel, and issued an injunction halting the supply. However, HaQaretz quoted legal sources in Egypt as saying that the court did not put a timeline on its ruling, and meanwhile the gas continues to flow. Leading media reported that the dollar continued to strengthen yesterday, gaining 1.25% to close at 3.964 shekels. The dollar is up 7% since the beginning of November, but only 3.2% for all of 2008, after losing ground over most of the year. Since its lowest point in July, the dollar has gained 24%. -------------- ¶1. U.S.-Israel Relations: -------------- Summary: -------------- Columnist Elliot Jager wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: QOf course I worry that Obama may be bad for Israel. But will he be worse than Richard Nixon, who allowed Israel to slowly bleed during the 1973 War so that Henry Kissinger could start from a more advantageous bargaining position? Block Quotes: -------------- "On Obama Q What, Me Worry?" Columnist Elliot Jager wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (11/19): QOf course I worry that Obama may be bad for Israel. But will he be worse than Richard Nixon, who allowed Israel to slowly bled during the 1973 War so that Henry Kissinger could start from a more advantageous bargaining position?.... Will Obama be worse the George Bush Sr., whose secretary of state, James (f-ck the Jews) Baker, gave out the White House switchboard number during 1990 Congressional testimony, telling Israel: QWhen youQre serious about peace, call us.Q Worse than old Bill Clinton, who helped engineer Oslo, which begot the second Intifada and 1,000 Israeli dead? Will Obama be worse than George W. Bush who was the first president to explicitly make the creation of a Palestinian state U.S. policy? As if Palestinian society is now ready for the responsibilities of statehood.... so please excuse me if I donQt get all bent out of shape -Q at least not before he even takes office - at the prospect that Barack Obama will give Israel a hard time. One other thing: No U.S. president can be reasonably be expected to be more Qpro-IsraelQ than Israel itself. If our next government canQt build an internal consensus on where our borders should be, or what IsraelQs red lines are, on which settlements we keep and which we would give up for real peace -Q thatQs our problem. DonQt get me wrong. I am not saying Obama wonQt give us some tough innings. What I am saying is that weQd play a better game if we knew what we wanted and pulled together. And Obama might then hear what weQre saying -Q instead of a cacophony of conflicting voices. -------------- ¶2. Iran: -------------- Summary: -------------- Correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: QApplying the pressure [on IsraelQs nuclear program] ... will achieve the exact opposite of their intended outcome, unless a miraculous way will be found with which Iranian plans will be tamed. Block Quotes: -------------- "Pressuring Israel to Suspend Nuclear Activity Will Not QBuild ConfidenceQ" Correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (11/19): QA world free of nuclear weapons is a desirable thing. A Middle East in which no country will be touting nuclear weapons would also be a positive development, providing the countries involved live generally peacefully and do not try to destroy one another. The Institute for Science and National Security in Washington, which deals with such matters regularly, has a new paper that Israeli media were quoting this week with ... enthusiasm.... The paper, one must admit, does include a controversial recommendation: QThe Obama administration should make a key priority of persuading Israel to join the negotiations of a universal, verified treaty that bans the production of highly enriched uranium for nuclear explosives, commonly called the Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty (FMCT). As an interim step, the United States should press Israel to suspend any production of fissile material for nuclear weapons. Toward this goal, the United States should change its relatively new policy of seeking a cutoff treaty that does not include verificationQ.... HereQs the problem: Where [David] Albright and co-author Andrea Scheel see a plan that Qwould establish international confidence in the peaceful nature of Middle Eastern nuclear programs,Q Israel will see a plan concocted by people who failed to deal with a neighborhood bully and turned their attention to other places as to avoid a necessary confrontation. This is not establishing Qconfidence in the peaceful nature....Q Q- but, rather, establishing disbelief in the ability of the international community to deal with aggressors. In fact, applying the pressure that the authors seem to want will achieve the exact opposite of their intended outcome, unless a miraculous way will be found with which Iranian plans will be tamed: It will make Israel even more suspicious, and much less prone to give up on whatever capabilities it might have to defend itself. And rightly so. -------------- ¶3. Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- Veteran journalist Hemmi Shalev wrote in the independent Israel Hayom: QMaybe more than any Likud recruit, YaQalon is a multipurpose electoral asset. Block Quotes: -------------- "Multipurpose Asset" Veteran journalist Hemmi Shalev wrote in the independent Israel Hayom (11/19): Q[Moshe] YaQalon is the second chief of staff to join the Likud, after Shaul Mofaz. As Netanyahu has it, he represents the Qold Land of Israel.Q Maybe more than any Likud recruit, YaQalon is a multipurpose electoral asset; alongside Benny Begin, he drags votes from the Right due to his opposition to disengagement and to Qfurther withdrawalsQ; together with Dan Meridor, he holds a image of pure politics and clean hands, as a counterweight to Tzipi Livni; and especially with (former IDF Northern Command commander Yossi Peled and even [former police commissioner] Assaf Hefetz. But, more than they, he also pulls votes from the hawkish Right. This is the same crucial reservoir of ten mandates that was known in America as the QReagan Democrats. CUNNINGHAM