ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001149 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. Iran -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- The media reported that PM Benjamin Netanyahu told his Likud party's Knesset faction yesterday, following a stormy debate on the outposts, that coordination with Washington over the Iranian threat is more important than illegal settlement outposts. The statements essentially adopt the American view that concessions to the Palestinians would make it easier to halt Iran's nuclear program. However, the media reported that Netanyahu adheres to the principle of Qnatural growthQ in settlements. Israel Radio reported that DM Ehud Barak and FM Avigdor Lieberman back NetanyahuQs outposts plan. Maariv reported that Barak and Lieberman are pressing Netanyahu to re-endorse the Roadmap. Yediot reported that in an interview with Aljazeera-TV over the weekend, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated the PresidentQs view that settlement construction must be stopped. HaQaretz reported that the State Department indicated on Sunday that despite PM NetanyahuQs comments last week that Jerusalem would never be divided, the cityQs future is yet to be determined. HaQaretz reported that, following heavy U.S. pressure, the GOI might permanently open the crossings to Gaza for food, medications, and other goods. Chief PA negotiator Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala) was quoted as saying in an interview with HaQaretz that settlers in Ariel and MaQaleh Adumim can remain in the Palestinian state as residents. HaQaretz quoted the PAQs Minister on Jerusalem Affairs as saying that the PA would be willing to transfer control of the Temple Mount to a third party. All media quoted Syrian President Bashar AssadQs comment on Saturday that IsraelQs most extreme government ever is the greatest obstacle to peace. The Jerusalem Post reported that, during his talks in Washington last week, Netanyahu expressed concern that Hizbullah could gain considerable strength in the upcoming Lebanese elections and possibly put together a ShiQite bloc that would control the country. All media cited the German weekly Der SpiegelQs online report that concluded that Hizbullah was behind the assassination of Lebanese PM Rafiq Hariri. The Jerusalem Post cited a Foreign Ministry statement as saying yesterday that a powerful underground nuclear test conducted by North Korea yesterday requires a determined international reaction Qin order to send a message to other countries.Q Yediot quoted DM Barak as saying that talk and sanctions will not stop rogue regimes. Barak called on the U.S. to learn the lessons of the test. The media quoted GOI sources as saying that PM Netanyahu asked Intelligence Agencies Minister Dan Meridor in recent days to replace Ofer Dekel as the governmentQs point man on Gilad Shalit. The Jerusalem Post reported that Deputy FM Danny Ayalon will travel to South America next week to attend the meeting of the Organization of the American States. Media reported on the growing influence of Iran on that continent. The newspaper reported that FM Lieberman is slated to visit South America and Africa later this year. The media reported that Israel was QdisappointedQ over Russian PM Sergey LavrovQs meeting with HamasQs political leader Khaled Mashal on Saturday. Over the weekend all media reported that the Ministerial Committee on Legislation on Legislation approved a bill proposal -- introduced by Alex Miller (Yisrael Beiteinu) -- criminalizing anyone who marks the PalestiniansQ Nakba Day by making it punishable with up to three years in prison. The media reported that Labor ministers and some of their Likud colleagues are opposed to the bill. HaQaretz reported that Interior Minister Eli Yishai, chairman of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, warned that if non-Orthodox conversion is recognized in Israel, Qthere are hundreds of foreign workers and Palestinians who will take advantage of the Reform conversion in order to gain Israeli citizenship. The media reported that the Home Front Command will conduct a five-day drill next week, dubbed Turing Point 3, which will send Israelis running for their bomb shelters on June 2. The Jerusalem Post cited a report released by the U.S. CongressQs General Accounting Office that the Joint Strike Fighter stealth jet that Israel wants to purchase from the U.S. is years behind schedule and will likely cost over 40% more than initially predicted. The Jerusalem Post reported on the success of the first visit of California Israel Chamber of Commerce (CICC) cleantech delegation to the country. Various media reported that Israel agreed to lift its objection to the appointment of Farouk Hosni, EgyptQs vehemently anti-Israeli Culture Minister, as head of UNESCO, following a recent meeting between Netanyahu and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. -------------- ¶1. Mideast: -------------- Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. No Free Lunch" Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (5/25): Q[At the White House.] in his distress, Netanyahu hinted that if Obama should succeed in convincing Saudi Arabia to begin normalization with Israel, he would make sure that construction in the settlements was frozen and that outposts would be evacuated. Obama promised to work for the normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. He aspires to great things in that sphere. But normalization and settlements are two separate issues. Netanyahu knows that the confrontation is not over.... Netanyahu has not engaged in settlement activity any more than his predecessors did. On the contrary. The settlement enterprise was nourished mainly by plans that were approved by previous governments. The problem is the diplomatic horizon.... Netanyahu came to Obama with politically empty hands. The moment that he ruled out the two-state solution, he stole away the ability of the President of the United States to advance negotiations. And without negotiations, the question of settlements pops up again, even more sharply. In all, Obama tried to remind Netanyahu of a brief and practical American proverb: There is no such thing as a free lunch. Netanyahu uses this term a great deal about others. Regrettably, he is not very good at listening. II. "The Penny Has Dropped For Bibi" Diplomatic correspondent Shimon Shiffer wrote in Yediot Aharonot (5/26): Q [Netanyahu] now knows that the Obama administration isnQt willing to concede the linkage, which is awful for Netanyahu, between Iran and the settlements. That if Israel wants Washington to help it stop IranQs nuclear armament, it is going to have to hold up its end of the bargain. And IsraelQs end of the bargain is rather clear. Obama and his aides repeat their mantra every day: Israel has to stop expanding its settlements in the territories and to remove the illegal settlement outposts.... Evacuating a few settlements that will make the Americans happy pales against dealing with the Iranian nuclear issue. QThe most dangerous thing that can happen to any organization or state,Q said Netanyahu, Qis that it should fail to recognize the danger looming closer.Q Netanyahu has identified the looming danger. That is also why he sent his advisers, Yitzhak Molcho and Uzi Arad, along with Minister Dan Meridor, to London. They will meet there with senior Obama administration officials in order to establish work teams for the implementation of the policy that pertains to stopping the Iranian nuclear program, stopping construction in the settlements, easing restrictions on the lives of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, and in enlisting the Arab states to join the peace process. But Netanyahu also knows that his real test isnQt going to be faced in Washington. His real test will be in [the outposts of] Mitzpe Yitzhar and Ramot Gilad: To what extent will he succeed in enlisting the settlers to his side and at enforcing law and order in Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank]? To what extent, basically, can he prove himself to be the person in charge here? III. "Listening and Talking to Syria" The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (5/25): QThe statements Syrian President Bashar Assad made in Damascus on Saturday are subject to two contradictory -- or complementary -- interpretations, depending on one's point of view. Assad said the failure to use diplomatic means to win back the territories Israel conquered in 1967 justifies the QresistanceQ -- a term that is generally used by members of organizations like Hizbullah and Hamas and can also be applied to military activity by countries like Syria. Nonetheless, Assad added, Damascus' preferred route is peace. So is this a call for peace or a threat of war? The resolution of this dilemma can be found, to a large extent, on the Israeli side.... The Syrian issue has been pushed to the margins of public discourse due to last week's meeting between Netanyahu and Obama.... So far, both sides have avoided actually paying the price, with Israel's refusal to do so leaving the initiative in the hands of Assad (and Obama). It may also provide Syria with the justification for dealing a short, painful military blow in a bid to break the diplomatic stalemate. It would be wise to listen attentively to Assad's words and to resume discussions with him, posthaste. IV. QDangerous Legislation HaQaretz editorialized (5/26): QIsrael was established with the encouragement and approval of the United Nations to give a homeland to the Jewish people.... The Zionist act was daring and justified, but the renaissance of one people extracted a tragic price from the other, which lived on the soil of the Promised Land. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in which Israel's Arab citizens find themselves between a rock and a hard place, will not end until each side recognizes the injustice caused by the other, at least at the level of awareness. The attempt to force Israel's Arab citizens to identify with the state and discard the memory of their past, or to threaten them with imprisonment, will only deepen the sense of discrimination and alienation felt by every fifth Israeli. The prohibition against marking the Nakba destroys the chances for reconciliation, suggesting that it be replaced with separatist nationalism and hatemongering. We must hope the Knesset does not pass this dangerous bill. It's not a patriotic or nationalist law, as its proponents argue, but one that is destructive to democracy and society. -------------- ¶2. Iran: -------------- Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "A Lesson about the Good and Bad Guys" Veteran journalist and anchor Dan Margalit wrote on page one of the independent Israel Hayom (5/26): QNorth Korea and IranQs unrestrained world, backed by Hizbullah and HamasQs arms, should teach Obama that words are no substitutes for actions, and that formulations cannot replace the use of force. The President of the U.S. is very sophisticated. But he doesnQt understand that the world is sometimes divided in a simple, clear, unpolished way. Nor in a high-tech way -- it is split into good and bad guys.... Pyongyang is the indispensable introductory lesson ahead of his complex dialogue with Iran. II. "Pyongyang Lesson" The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (5/26): Qit has no doubt been instructive for Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to observe the civilized world's reaction, over the years, to North Korean provocations.... By learning from the North Koreans, the mullahs may be laying the groundwork -- literally -- for an underground nuclear explosion of their own. Khamenei knows that while the West spins its wheels, Iran's quest for nuclear arms proceeds apace.... Still, the Ayatollah worries. It's not inconceivable -- even at this late stage -- that he could be forced to freeze Iran's program. What if the new American President runs out of patience, sooner rather than later? What if Barack Obama convinces Europe, Russia and China that the world can't afford another North Korea on top of an unraveling nuclear Pakistan? Certainly not one whose imperial ambitions are fueled by high-octane religious extremism. Realistically, Khamenei reassures himself that the prospects of crippling sanctions don't figure even remotely on the international agenda. Still, he will sleep a lot more soundly once stopping Iran becomes as unthinkable as trying to roll back nuclear-armed North Korea. CUNNINGHAM