ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000790 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. U.S.-Israel Relations -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- The media continued to report on Syrian military movements, which intelligence officials attributed "more to nervousness than a likelihood of conflict" (The Jerusalem Post). The Jerusalem Post quoted Israeli defense officials as saying that Israel had passed a message to the Syrian military via UN forces that Israel has no offensive intention. Nonetheless, the message said that Israel would respond forcefully if attacked. Israel Radio reported that Syrian FM Walid Muallem told European ambassadors in Damascus yesterday that peace is still Syria's priority but that Syria is watching possible signs of aggression by Israel. The Jerusalem Post and Israel Radio reported that Israel removed ten more roadblocks in the West Bank yesterday. Until now half of the roadblocks whose removal was agreed upon with the U.S. have been taken away. The radio quoted a senior defense source as saying that PM Ehud Olmert and FM Tzipi Livni forced the IDF to remove the roadblocks. In another development, The Jerusalem Post reported that this week Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem protested against a ban on East Jerusalem residents passing through a southeastern Jerusalem checkpoint. Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that Olmert promised Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that Israel would employ 50,000 Palestinians. Ha'aretz reported that Israel and the U.S. decided a few weeks ago to boycott the Durban II conference -- scheduled for early 2009 and likely to harshly criticize Israel's human rights record -- unless they receive firm guarantees that the event will not turn into an anti-Israel festival. The Jerusalem Post reported that newspaper ads in America are urging the U.S. to skip the conference. Yediot reported that Shin Bet is focusing its anti-terror alert on take-offs and landings of Israeli airliners. Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that Israeli Arabs form Olmert's political base, since they represent one-fourth of Kadima' new voters. The Jerusalem Post cited a report to be released today by the Israeli organization Palestinian Media Watch that the Netherlands and Denmark provide funding to Ma'an, a Palestinian news agency that the group says glorifies terrorists and promotes hatred for Israel. Maariv led with a report from Sanaa by a special Maariv and Kull al-Arab envoy about the "besieged "Yemenite Jewish community. Maariv reported that a yeshiva student who lost his friends in the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva murder rampage decided to return to Yemen, asking, "Did the Jews respond [to the massacre]?" Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post cited a report submitted to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee indicating that if Iran acquires nuclear weapons, this could set off a chain reaction in the Middle East, pushing other states in the region to launch their own nuclear arms programs. Electronic media reported that Mati Gil, the bureau head of Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter was shot and moderately wounded this morning by a Palestinian sniper near the Gaza Strip. Dichter, who was present at the time of the attack, was not hurt. They were touring the Givat Nazmit observation point overlooking the Gaza Strip and adjacent to the security fence. Israel Radio reporter that Dichter and his aide accompanied a group of Canadian Jews to familiarize them with the situation in Israeli communities bordering Gaza. The media also reported on sniper fire directed at agricultural workers in the field of Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha. Ha'aretz and other media reported that IDF forces killed three Palestinians yesterday morning during a military operation near the central Gaza town of Khan Yunis. Israel Radio reported that a resident of the Mitzpe Asael outpost in the southern Hebron hills was arrested yesterday after firing in the air in order to drive off Palestinians and left-wing activists who approached. Left-wing activists say that the man prevented Palestinian residents of the area from working their land, but the settlers say that the land is state-owned. Maariv ran a feature about Rabbi Yitzhak Ginsburg, the "religious leader of the far Right," who the paper said believes that the Arabs are a lower race, that the Zionist establishment must be smashed, and that private acts of revenge bring redemption [for the Jewish people] closer." Leading media reported that a bill approved yesterday by the Knesset's House Committee would ban anyone who has visited a hostile state for running for the Knesset for seven years after the visit. The bill was sponsored by two right-wing Knesset members. Leading media reported that three Knesset members who have split from the Pensioners' Party have stepped up contacts with billionaire politician Arkady Gaidamak to form a faction that would represent his Social Justice party. All media reported that a Jerusalem court ruled late on Wednesday to partially override the law barring stores and eateries from selling hametz (leavened) products during Passover. Religious leaders and lawmakers from religious parties were infuriated by the blow to Israel's Jewish identity. The Jerusalem Post reported that New York State official Eric Dinallo is urging insurance companies to stop telling Americans that they could forfeit life insurance payments, or risk being denied coverage entirely, if they travel to Israel. Yediot reported that PM Olmert and Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz intend to allocate 150 million shekels (around $42 million) for the planning of a Tel Aviv-Eilat railway line. China is in talks with Israel to build the railroad. A Petra branch of the railroad is also being weighed. Maariv published the results of a TNS/Teleseker poll conducted on March 25: Q: Which of the following people is the most suitable to be prime minister of Israel?: Binyamin Netanyahu -- 28%; Tzipi Livni -- 10.2%; Arkady Gaidamak -- 8.1%; Ehud Barak -- 7.8%; Ehud Olmert -- 7.1%; undecided -- 8%; none of the above -- 30.8%. ¶Q. Who will bring the most votes to the Labor Party if that politician becomes its leader? 100 percent of the sample: Ehud Barak -- 39.1%; Ami Ayalon -- 14%; Benjamin Ben-Eliezer -- 5.9%; Dalia Itzik -- 5.6%; Amir Peretz -- 4.8%; undecided -- 30.7%. Those who voted for the Labor Party in the previous elections: Ehud Barak -- 54.3%; Ami Ayalon -- 13%; Benjamin Ben-Eliezer -- 4.1%; Dalia Itzik -- 1.2%; Amir Peretz -- 1.5%; undecided -- 26.2%. ¶Q. Has your feeling of security grown stronger since Barak became defense minister? It is much improved -- 9%; improved somewhat -- 30.8%; not so much --18.6%; not at all -- 33.4%; undecided -- 8.2%. -------------- Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The Prime Minister's proximity to a diplomatic solution is more or less identical to the Defense Minister's distance from a military solution." Editor-in-Chief Amnon Lord wrote in the nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe: "When his box becomes full with far-reaching Israeli, U.S.-backed concessions, Abu Mazen will join -- as he is signaling -- the Damascus=Tehran axis. Political commentator Shalom Yerushalmi wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv: "[A] 'shelf agreement' has great importance as far as [Tzipi Livni] is concerned, because it establishes Israel's understandings and interests, and halts the severe erosion of its positions." Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv: "Israel's waiting -- for the change in the U.S. administration or for war [with Syria]. Whatever comes first." Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "The Lie of Peace and the Nonsense of Security" Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (4/4): "Presumably there is a strange but legitimate dispute between a leader who comes from the right, who believes that if Israel continues to hold on to the territories the Jewish state will be in danger, and a leader who comes from the left, who claims that if Israel stops holding to the territories Jewish lives will be in danger. Ostensibly one proposes reaching a quick solution to the conflict by negotiating with Fatah, and on the other side prefers long-term resolution via a military struggle with Hamas. In effect, the argument between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak is divorced from reality. The Prime Minister's proximity to a diplomatic solution is more or less identical to the Defense Minister's distance from a military solution." II. "What's Going On in the Pressure-Cooker?" Editor-in-Chief Amnon Lord wrote in the nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe (4/4): "It seems that both the Foreign Minister and the Defense Minister do not want to see Olmert waving to the Israeli public and the world an agreement that represents a unilateral commitment by Israel to far-reaching concessions. The question is how negotiations with a partner such as Abu Mazen are being conducted. On the eve of Rice's visit he found it fit to make a pilgrimage to Damascus: When his box becomes full with far-reaching Israeli, U.S.-backed concessions, Abu Mazen will join -- as he is signaling -- the Damascus=Tehran axis. He just wants to live. The 'agreement' that Olmert will leave him, will become ... a genetic disease: the moment conditions are ripe, the disease will break out." III. "When She Wants Something, She Gets It" Political commentator Shalom Yerushalmi wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv (4/4): "Many people have grave doubts about the negotiations between [Tzipi] Livni and the Palestinians. The Prime Minister himself sounds skeptical.... Livni hears the background noises and does not let them bother her. Even if she still believes in the possibility of reaching an agreement, she doubts the possibility of implementing it. This 'shelf agreement' has great importance as far as she is concerned, because it establishes Israel's understandings and interests, and halts the severe erosion of its positions.... Today Livni says that she still wants to be prime minister, because that is the only place from which one can really have an effect.... On the way to the post of prime minister, she will have to overcome three seemingly insurmountable obstacles. She will have to beat Olmert in the battle for the leadership of Kadima, overcome Ehud Barak in the war for the leadership of the Center-Left camp, and beat Binyamin Netanyahu in the battle for the leadership of the country. There is almost no one who is willing to gamble that she will reach the finish line. The obstacle posed by Olmert is the most difficult. He does not have strength in the public, but he enjoys immense support in Kadima.... When she was elected to the Knesset in 1999, she embarked on her political path in the left lane of the Likud. Most people in Kadima could find their way back to the Likud. Not Livni. The bridges have been burned. Today she is the darling of the left wing camp." IV. "Assad on Call Waiting Mode" Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv (4/4): "What is really happening with Syria? Not much. Israel's waiting -- for the change in the U.S. administration or for war. Whatever comes first. In the mean time emissaries come and go, but nothing happens. If one were to organize a convention and invite all the people who have traveled to Damascus over the past few years with messages from an Israeli leader, one could fill quite a large hall. What does Assad want? No one really knows.... Even if he knew, it is not sure whether he could do something. And he's afraid. He is afraid that peace with Israel could take his power away. He's also afraid of war with Israel. He knows that if Iran is attacked, this could effect him. And if Hizbullah carries out a massive retaliatory terrorist attack, Israel might blame him." -------------- ¶2. U.S.-Israel Relations: -------------- Summary: -------------- Ha'aretz editorialized: "Are Americans who see themselves as friends doing Israel a favor by supporting even its faulty policies and urging the administration and Congress to support them?" Block Quotes: -------------- "With Friends like These" Ha'aretz editorialized (4/4): "The President of the Union for Reform Judaism, Rabbi Eric Yoffie, has called for non-cooperation with the Christian Zionists, a movement of millions of Americans who ardently support Israel. Yoffie represents a movement that supports Israel for very different reasons from those of the Christian Zionists, who identify largely with the most right-wing sectors of Israeli society. His call on Wednesday reawakens the controversy over Israel's practical approach toward its supporters in the United States.... Are Americans who see themselves as friends doing Israel a favor by supporting even its faulty policies and urging the administration and Congress to support them? This is an extension of President Lyndon Johnson's question to then-prime minister Levi Eshkol after the Six-Day War, the occupation of the territories and the Security Council's adoption of Resolution 242. LBJ asked: What kind of Israel do you want? Perhaps Eshkol knew the answer, but for the past 40 years Israel's governments have been struggling to formulate it to themselves and to the world. Consequently, even in the midst of peace talks involving concessions, less compromising Israeli officials, not always outside the government, are busy recruiting Americans to foil conciliation. Instead of recruiting supporters for its mistakes, Israel should be bolstering the support for its existence against those who believe that it was established in error, that it is temporary or should not necessarily be Jewish." JONES