ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000785 SIPDIS 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. Zimbabwe Elections -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- Yediot reported that senior advisers of President Bush (headed by National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley) and PM Ehud Olmert (Yoram Turbowicz and Shalom Turgeman) met over the weekend in Washington to discuss the Iranian nuclear program and Hizbullah. Major media (lead stories in Ha'aretz, Maariv, and The Jerusalem Post) reported that Israel fears that recent moves by the Syrian army foreshadow a cross-border Hizbullah operation. The Deputy IDF Chief of Staff, Maj. Gen. Dan Harel, warned yesterday that Israel will respond with heavy force if targeted. Speaking on Israel Radio this morning, Vice PM Haim Ramon said that Israel has no intention of launching a preemptive attack on Syria. Yediot reported that over the weekend that Syrian President Bashar Assad will soon reveal the findings of an inquiry into the assassination of senior Hizbullah operative Imad Mughniyah. According to the paper, Assad will say that an Arab intelligence service, likely Saudi Arabia's, cooperated with the Mossad. Defense Minister Ehud Barak has canceled a planned to trip to Germany over concern of escalation along the Northern border. Ha'aretz reported that Barak's visit to the border region on Tuesday was directly linked to the growing tensions with Syria and Hizbullah. Additionally, while Israel has sent a number of messages to Syria recently stating that it has no offensive intentions, it has also warned that it will strike back if attacked. Citing intelligence sources, Ha'aretz, reports that Israel does not expect offensive action from Syria, however, there is concern that Hizbullah with support from Syria and Iran may try to assassinate a senior Israeli official. The defense establishment is also concerned that Israeli interests in the developing world will be targeted. Israel Radio and the leading Internet news site Ynet reported that deputy Al-Qaida leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri has made threats that he will do "all he can" to harm Jews in Israel and all over the world. Israel Radio reported that a "senior American official in Jerusalem" as saying that the administration will monitor the implementation of IsraelQs recent commitment to lift certain restrictions for Palestinians in the West Bank. The senior American official reportedly told AP that next week an American observer will return to the region to check the progress. Leading media reported that on Wednesday the Knesset passed the Reservists' Law, which anchors in legislation a series of reforms regarding the remuneration, conditions of service and government supervision of the IDF reserve corps. Ha'aretz noted that the Second Lebanon War was not the impetus for the legislation. Makor Rishon-Hatzofe focused on what it calls Peace Now's systematic bias, distortion, and basic mistakes in its reports on Israeli actions in the territories. Ha'aretz and Ynet reported that on Wednesday night in Cincinnati Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie, President of the Union for Reform Judaism, told the annual conference of the movement's rabbis and cantors that his movement cannot cooperate with the "Christian Zionists," whose support of Israel he says is different from his. Yoffie's speech focused on John Hagee, founder of the Christians United for Israel lobby. Ha'aretz reported that on Wednesday West Bank settlers clashed violently with peace activists and Palestinians hours after the evacuation of an illegal outpost close to the Kedumim settlement. The Jerusalem Post reported that on Wednesday senior defense officials dismissed speculation that Palestinian terrorists took advantage of the opening of the Sinai border on Tuesday to cross back into Gaza after undergoing training abroad. Leading media reported that on Wednesday former Labor Party leader Amir Peretz called for reconciliation with present party chairman Ehud Barak. Media reported that Peretz will begin a campaign after Passover (late this month) to bring about the release of Fatah terrorist Marwan Barghouti. Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post reported that on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day -- May 6 -- Tunisian Ambassador to the PA Ahmed Al-Abbasi, will deliver a speech at Yad Vashem. Israel Radio and Arabic-language newspapers reported that Knesset Member Ahmed Tibi arrived in Beirut today accompanied by three Arab journalists, one from the Arabic-language Assennara, despite Israeli restrictions on visits to "enemy countries." Speaking on Israel Radio upon his return, Tibi said in Jordan that Beirut International Airport was a one-hour stopover on his return from Sanaa, Yemen. The radio cited the anger of right-wing politicians over Tibi's stay in Beirut. Yediot and the Arabic-language Kull Al-Arab reported that Jewish right-wing activists have called on their supporters to follow and harass Arab Knesset members. The media reported that high school students are asked to berate and provoke the parliamentarians with insults and curses. (Kull Al-Arab reported that the threats are focused on Jewish schools in the Jerusalem area.) It is reported that 350 activists have already joined this group. Israel Hayom quoted former chief justice Aharon Barak as saying that the independence of the courts is under threat. He was implicitly referring to Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann's course. Today the Arabic-language Arabs48 web site cited the results of a poll conducted by the Israeli institute Geocartographia that 55% of the Israelis believe that the 'LeftQ no longer exists. And on solutions presented by the parties, 23% believe that Likud presents the right and logical solutions, Kadima 13%, and the Labor party only 7%. -------------- ¶1. Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- Columnist Ari Shavit wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "[Ehud Barak] must finally address his agenda in a speech. Here is a draft: 'Dear citizens.... The shelf-agreement idea is surreal and dangerous. The Annapolis process is reckless and groundless. Don't let the cynics mislead you: Those racing toward peace are the enemies of peace.'" Middle East affairs commentator Dr. Guy Bechor, a lecturer at the Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "After the stage of hysteria and embarrassment, Nasrallah wished to calm the situation and to reduce the risk of a new war along [Israel's] northern border." Dr. Gabi Avital, managing member of the conservative group Professors for a Strong Israel, wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv: "Isn't talk about demilitarizing the Galilee and seeking an arrangement in the Golan in the form of a light defense system, a safe recipe for the next war?" Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "Will the Real Barak Please Stand Up?" Columnist Ari Shavit wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (4/3): "If [Ehud] Barak wants to live, he must emerge from the bunker immediately, face Israel and speak out. He must finally address his agenda in a speech. Here is a draft: 'Dear citizens.... Just as Camp David 2000 burst the peace bubble, the Hamas victory and Second Lebanon War in 2006 put an end to any concept of a solution by unilateral action. After the shattering of those two great illusions, is it absolutely clear that in the years to come no one-sided Israeli pullout to the Green Line will be possible. As the leader of the peace camp and as one who did more than anyone else to achieve peace, I say today with pain that we will not achieve true peace in our generation. Therefore our generation's duty is to manage the conflict, while reducing the occupation and setting its limits. Our generation's role is to build the infrastructure that will enable Israelis and Palestinians to achieve peace -- but not in our time. Our Palestinian neighbors must follow Salam Fayyad's way -- they must build the emerging Palestine and adopt a positive life ethos. We Israelis must establish a strong government and form broad national agreements, which will enable us, when the time comes, to dismantle our Algeria as France dismantled hers. But the ripening process will take time for both Palestinians and Israelis. The shelf-agreement idea is surreal and dangerous. The Annapolis process is reckless and groundless. Don't let the cynics mislead you: Those racing toward peace are the enemies of peace.... However, there is another truth, which is even more difficult to accept. The Second Lebanon War laid bare the real challenge Israel now faces -- its intentions don't count, only what may be achieved counts." II. "Nasrallah Does Not Want War" Middle East affairs commentator Dr. Guy Bechor, a lecturer at the Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (4/3): "[Hassan Nasrallah's] speech to mark 40 days since the elimination of Imad Mughniyah was a ... rectification speech. After the stage of hysteria and embarrassment, Nasrallah wished to calm the situation and to reduce the risk of a new war along [Israel's] northern border. His concern that one of his enemies, for instance Al-Qaida, might harm an Israeli or Jewish target in the world would force him to bear the consequences of a renewed war.... In the speech he delivered this week, Nasrallah constantly made use of a new spin about the annihilation of Israel that he had learned in Iran. It is clear why he did so: he needs a reason to exist. 'Do we believe that it will disappear some day? We definitely do!,' he said. But since this was a reassuring speech, and so that nobody in Israel interprets it, God forbid as far as he is concerned, as a real and repeated threat against Israel, he added, pay attention: 'This does not mean that we will start a front in the south [of Lebanon] to topple the Zionist regime, because this task is not a Lebanese responsibility. Neither are we calling for it." III. "Middle Eastern Symmetry" Dr. Gabi Avital, managing member of the conservative group Professors for a Strong Israel, wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv (4/3): "When a few days ago [Israeli] newspapers printed headlines such as 'New Hizbullah Missiles Can Reach Dimona' and 'Hizbullah's Arms Race, the radio somehow festively cited the Prime Minister's willingness to conduct secret negotiations with Syria, along with the axiom that the 'price has already been set.' This means the loss of the Golan Heights, including its waters, its residents, and its houses. This happens at the same time the radio reports on large-scale maneuvers by the Syrian Army, and the newspaper report on extra efforts to negotiate with Assad, under well-known terms.... A blatant asymmetry exists in the domain of missile procurement.... Will the payment to Syria -- the Golan in exchange for a piece of paper -- provide an answer to those threats ... ? Isn't talk about demilitarizing the Galilee and seeking an arrangement in the Golan in the form of a light defense system, a safe recipe for the next war?" -------------- ¶2. Zimbabwe Elections: -------------- Summary: -------------- The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "Mugabe's regime, quite apart from its abysmal abuses of its own people, has been no friend to Israel." Block Quotes: -------------- "New Dawn for Zimbabwe?" The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (4/3): "Mugabe's regime, quite apart from its abysmal abuses of its own people, has been no friend to Israel. It gave consistently strong support to the PLO, and its state-run newspaper, The Herald, regularly and intemperately condemns the Jewish state. In March 2003, Mugabe responded to critics comparing him to Hitler by sayng, 'This Hitler has only one objective: justice for his people, sovereignty for his people, recognition of the independence of his people and their rights over their resources. If that is Israel, then let me be a Hitler tenfold.' This is one tyrant Israel -- and the rest of the world -- has no interest in sustaining." JONES