ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002644 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. Mideast ¶2. Mumbai Terror Attacks -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- Over the past two days all media highlighted the multiple terror attacks in Mumbai, in particular on the cityQs Chabad Hasidic headquarters, where up to 20 Israelis are being held hostage and four bodies were reportedly found. HaQaretz reported that the Indian government is not interested in hig-profile security assistance from Israel. HaQaretz reported that yesterday the Israeli defense establishment avoided stating explicitly if the attack on Chabad House was planned or accidental. Yesterday HaQaretz and The Jerusalem Post reported that the Jewish-American man who says he purchased the QHouse of Contention in Hebron moved in to live there on Wednesday, joining the 16 Jewish families already residing in the building and hundreds of activists who have come to prevent security forces from evicting the tenants. Yesterday major media reported that Attorney General Menachem Mazuz told PM Ehud Olmert on Wednesday that he is considering indicting PM Ehud Olmert in the Rishon Tours double-billing affair. In reaction to this announcement Kadima chairwoman and FM Tzipi Livni called for Olmert to suspend himself, and according to HaQaretz Olmert angrily her of opportunism. Yesterday The Jerusalem Post quoted several high ranking Israeli defense officials as saying on Wednesday that Israel should resume military operations against Hamas in Gaza when the cease-fire expires in three weeks to increase pressure on the terrorist group that could lead to a renewal of talks over the release of Gilad Shalit. Israel Radio reported that last night thousands gathered outside PM Ehud OlmertQs residence, demanding ShalitQs release. Yesterday The Jerusalem Post quoted that a boat has reportedly set sail from Libya for Gaza, significantly ratcheting up the challenges to IsraelQs naval blockade. The daily quoted an Israeli diplomatic official as saying that Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi causes concern to Israel Qbecause he is not rational.Q Yesterday Maariv reported that The IDF is preparing for the possibility that the Israel Navy might prevent the ship from reaching the Gaza coast. Yesterday The Jerusalem Post reported that the UN asked for $462 million on Wednesday to continue its assistance to Palestinians in 2009 and demanded that Israel allow humanitarian aid into the area in spite of Palestinian rocket attacks.. HaQaretz reported that yesterday the Foreign Press Association held a news conference to protest the GOIQs ban on international journalists entering Gaza. Yesterday The Jerusalem Post quoted a senior Israeli diplomatic official as saying that the UN has an interest in downplaying HizbullahQs rearmament and activities in southern Lebanon because it wants Qindustrial quietQ in Lebanon. Yesterday HaQaretz reported that despite increased naval cooperation, questions remain on where Israel and NATO fit together. Yesterday The Jerusalem Post reported that the already splintered Right will be split further, now that a new party calling itself Eretz Yisrael Shelanu (Our Land of Israel) announced that it will run in the upcoming national elections. Yesterday HaQaretz reported that Likud members blasted party leader Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday for his campaign against radical right-wing Likud member Moshe Feiglin and his followers, which they said blows FeiglinQs support out of proportion. HaQaretz and The Jerusalem Post reported that Jerusalem Mayor-elect Nir Barkat has formed a city council coalition without the two major ultra-Orthodox parties, United Torah Judaism (UTJ) and Shas. However, The Jerusalem Post quoted BarkatQs spokesman as saying that he will seek to add them in the near future. Yesterday The Jerusalem Post reported that a delegation of American Jews from the New York-based Orthodox Union presented Barkat with a petition against any future division of Jerusalem as part of a peace agreement with the Palestinians. The petition was signed by one million American Jews. Yesterday The Jerusalem Post quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor as saying on Wednesday that the Jordanian newspaper Al-Arab al-YawmQs refusal to publish an advertisement promoting the Arab League initiative because it displayed the Israeli flag shows there is a Qlong way to go before we reach peace. The Jerusalem Post and HaQaretz reported that Pope Benedict XVI may visit the Holy Land next year (in May, according to The Jerusalem Post). Yesterday The Jerusalem Post reported on a new initiative sponsored by the Interreligious Council, in Israel, Al-Qasimi College in Baka al-Gharbiya, the Nehemia Levtzion Center for Islamic Studies at the Hebrew University, and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, which is looking at religion not as a cause of war, but a jumping-off point for peace. Yesterday Maariv reported that Welfare Minister Yitzhak Herzog is promoting an initiative to have thousands of people who were fired from high-tech firms hired to work for the Israel Military Industries. Yesterday The Jerusalem Post reported that on Wednesday Secretary Condoleezza Rice downplayed reports that Iran fired a new rocket into space, and that she stressed AmericaQs heightened profile. HaQaretz reported that Israeli analysts told the daily yesterday that Iran has failed to launch a missile into orbit despite its claims to the contrary. The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday Knesset Member Avraham Ravitz (UTJ) announced that he as quitting politics after 20 years in the Knesset. -------------- ¶1. Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: QThe only achievement for which Olmert and Bush can take credit is the destruction of the nuclear reactor in Syria. All the rest ended in great disappointment. Liberal op-ed writer Yael Paz-Melamed commented in the popular, pluralist Maariv: QThe really terrible news is that in the battle against the hilltop youth and against the extreme right wing, we've already lost, big time. Anarchy already reigns. The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: QThe conflict between the Jewish people and the Palestinian Arabs has nothing to do with apartheid. Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "Swan Song for Two Lame Ducks" Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (11/28): Q[President Bush and Prime Minister Olmert do not] have much reason to celebrate. The Palestinian state is further away than ever, Iran is close to having nuclear weapons, the extremists in the Middle East are having a ball, and the moderate regimes are retreating. Nothing came of the big speeches, the summit meetings and the trips back and forth. The only achievement for which Olmert and Bush can take credit is the destruction of the nuclear reactor in Syria. All the rest ended in great disappointment: the convergence plan, the Second Lebanon War, the Annapolis process, and the pressure on Iran. II. "Anarchy Already Here" Liberal op-ed writer Yael Paz-Melamed commented in the popular, pluralist Maariv (11/27): QThe disputed house in Hebron will not be evacuated any time soon. Nor will Migron. Nor will a number of other illegal outposts. Israel, with its great army and security forces, is incapable, and mainly does not want, to clash with the extreme right wing.... And not a peep is heard from the political establishment -- because what do the politicians need this headache now for?.... There are, naturally, some successes. The good news is that in the last two years, not a single new outpost was built, and those that were, were destroyed that same night. But the bad news is that if the right wing bloc grows stronger in the next elections, as the polls forecast, [far-Right militant] Noam Federman's disciples will not need to threaten to attack IDF soldiers. Nobody will dare demand that they uphold the rule of law. The really terrible news is that in the battle against the hilltop youth and against the extreme right wing, we've already lost, big time. Anarchy already reigns. III. "Hipocrita" The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (11/27): QRather than blame the Arab and Muslim world which, between 1947 and 2002, explicitly rejected the two-state solution, or blame the Palestinian Arabs whose polity to this day is divided over the possibility of coexistence, [UN General Assembly President Miguel] d'Escoto Brockmann blames... the Jews. Then comes the Big Lie: QIsraeli policies in the Palestinian territories appear so similar to the apartheid of an earlier era, a continent away, and I believe it is very important we in the United Nations use this term," d'Escoto Brockmann said. QWe must not be afraid to call something for what it is.Q To state the obvious: The conflict between the Jewish people and the Palestinian Arabs has nothing to do with apartheid. There is no system of racial segregation in the West Bank. There is a state of de-facto belligerency between West Bank Palestinians and Israeli Jews. Hamas-controlled Gaza seeks Israel's annihilation, not civil rights. Jews are not colonizers in Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank]. Nevertheless, Israel's government is ready to abandon much of the Jews' ancient heartland for peace with security. As the padre speaks from the den of iniquity that is the General Assembly, we ask: QWhy do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?Q (Matthew 7:3). -------------- ¶2. Mumbai Terror Attacks: -------------- Summary: -------------- The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: QIsraelis have long argued that no political grievance, no perceived injustice and no religious creed can ever justify waging war against civilians.... If any consolation can be derived out of the heartbreak in Mumbai, perhaps it will be that India will work ever more vigorously in international forums to isolate terrorists and the states that sponsor them. Intelligence writer Ronen Bergman commented in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: QGlobal Jihad activity will put [Indian] stability, that model for the entire world, to an extremely hard test. Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "In Cold Blood" The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (11/28): QThe bloodbath reminds us that, though Muslim extremism is often traceable to some local grievance, it's in essence part of a larger conflict between civilizations. Islamists are violently affronted when Hindus, Jews, Buddhist or Christians are sovereign over a Muslim minority.... Israelis feel at one with the people of India, especially at times like these. Both countries are modern incarnations of ancient civilizations. We share common political values, overlapping security concerns and a growing commerce. India was established in 1947; Israel in 1948. Both peoples rejected British rule, both faced Muslim opposition to their independence.... Israelis have long argued that no political grievance, no perceived injustice and no religious creed can ever justify waging war against civilians. Others have sometimes made excuses for QresistanceQ movements. If any consolation can be derived out of the heartbreak in Mumbai, perhaps it will be that India will work ever more vigorously in international forums to isolate terrorists and the states that sponsor them. II. "Greetings from Al-Qaida" Intelligence writer Ronen Bergman commented in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (11/28): QWhat the media now erroneously call QAl-QaidaQ would have much better be dubbed QGlobal Jihad,Q a term invented in the Mossad in the mid-90s. The Mumbai attacks prove that, seven years after 9/11, the enlightened world is far from having found an intelligence or operational solution to this problem.... India, a country in which a Muslim minority ... and a Hindu majority reside, succeeds one way or the others to feed over one billion mouths, despite repeated attacks on its leaders ... by extremists from the north and an attempt by Tamils in the south to achieve independence. Global Jihad activity will put that stability, that model for the entire world, to an extremely hard test. MORENO