ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001529 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: -------------- Leading media reported that yesterday, during a special cabinet session in Beersheva, PM Benjamin Netanyahu called on PA President Mahmoud Abbas and other Palestinian leaders to meet. Yediot reported that Haggai Hadas, PM NetanyahuQs point man on the issue of Gilad ShalitQs release, , will leave for Cairo for another round of talks. Yediot reported that senior State Department official Fred Hof, an assistant to Special Envoy George Mitchell, is trying to renew Israel-Syria negotiations. The newspaper reported that Hof will present a map that was worked out in Washington together with a proposal for future borders and security arrangements on the Golan. Leading media reported that French FM Bernard Kouchner, who met yesterday with Syrian President Bashar Assad and FM Walid Muallem, called on Israel and Syria to waste no time in renewing their peace negotiations and to mark 2009 as the year of peace. HaQaretz reported that the UK has slapped a partial arms embargo on Israel, refusing to supply replacement parts and other equipment for Sa'ar 4.5 gunships because they participated in Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip earlier this year. Britain's Foreign Office informed Israel's embassy in London of the sanctions a few days ago. The embassy, in a classified telegram to the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, said the decision stemmed from heavy pressure by both members of Parliament and human rights organizations. The embargo followed a government review of all British defense exports to Israel, which was announced three months ago. Expanding on previous media reports, The Jerusalem Post reported that President Obama will meet today with over a dozen heads of influential American Jewish organizations and is expected to respond to concerns that the White House is pressuring Israel over West Bank settlements while it is soft-pedaling with some of Israel's worst enemies. An organization leader who will be attending the meeting was quoted as saying. "American Jews more or less agree with the president on settlements, but it's the focus on criticizing Israel that's disconcerting." The daily quoted another participating leader as saying: QThere's no single monolithic voice speaking for American Jewry It's important not to appear divided." HaQaretz and Israel Radio quoted EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana as saying in London that the UN should recognize a Palestinian state even if no agreement is reached with Israel. The radio cited the GOIQs rejection of SolanaQs assertion and quoted FM Avigdor Lieberman as saying that SolanaQs comment was a parting statement. Israel Radio also cited the PAQs satisfaction over SolanaQs remarks. The media quoted DM Ehud Barak and IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi as saying on Friday that the IDFQs next deputy chief of staff will be Benny Ganz. The media speculated on the role that OC Southern Command Maj. Gen. Yoav Galant, who was a candidate for the post, will play in the IDF the future. Major media reported that Dan Halutz, the Chief of Staff during the Second Lebanon War, sharply criticized DM Barak for saying a few days ago that the courage of soldiers repeatedly compensated for the mistakes of decision-makers during that war. HaQaretz reported that PM Benjamin Netanyahu has distanced himself from statements by National Security Advisor Uzi Arad that the Netanyahu government inherited a "scorched earth" policy on the Iranian nuclear threat from the last administration. Yesterday Yediot reported that Colonel Ofer of the IDF Intelligence Branch, who was lent to the National Security Council, quit after just two days on the job. Sources within the council were quoted as saying that the reason for the colonel's departure was clashes with Arad. Yesterday leading media reported that police have given the Samaria (northern West Bank) regional council a list of eleven illegal buildings that it intends to demolish in the near future. Today, Makor Rishon-Hatzofe cited the concern of local settler leaders that the authorities may carry out a massive evacuation of outposts in the region. Leading media reported on FM Avigdor Lieberman's intent to appoint his close associate, Yisrael Beiteinu party member Shaul Kemisa, as Israel's ambassador to Cairo. Maariv, among others, quoted Foreign Ministry officials as saying that this appointment will lead to the Qisolation of the Israeli embassy in Cairo both because of Kemisa's close relationship with Lieberman and because of his being a military man rather than a professional diplomat." Yesterday Maariv reported that former Consul-General in New York Alon Pinkas may be appointed as responsible for the governmentQs public relations in the U.S. and Europe. -------------- ¶1. Mideast: -------------- Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "Getting Authority from the PA" Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (7/13): QNetanyahu has just pledged to renew direct negotiations with the Palestinians based on the two-state solution. That is the outline for discussions on all points of dispute including the request to expand construction to account for natural population growth, the demand to demilitarize the West Bank, and the expectation that the Palestinians will recognize Israel as a Jewish state. In these discussions, issues such as roadblocks, the route of the security fence and prisoners can also be hammered out. Instead of wasting presidential prestige and valuable time pathetically bargaining with Netanyahu over another kindergarten, Obama should give him the phone number of the Muqata government headquarters [in Ramallah] and demand that [Mahmoud] Abbas keep a line free. If in a reasonable period of time, say two or three months, the two leaders cannot reach understandings on all core issues, the time will come for the President to put the Obama plan on the table. II. "AradQs Jerusalem" Ha'aretz editorialized (7/13): Q[National Security Adviser Uzi] Arad's argument [in an interview with HaQaretz Magazine on Friday] that previous governments used a Qscorched earthQ policy regarding the Palestinian and Iranian nuclear issues raises the suspicion that he is preparing an alibi for a failure by Netanyahu's government on these key matters.... Arad worries about Iran's impact on the nuclearization of the Arab Middle East. Does he have a better way to deal with this threat than an American umbrella? Instead, he heaps contempt on the United States, bluntly calling it QRome,Q and crediting Netanyahu with the phrase. Can it be that one who purports to be a historian does not know what happenedto the Jewish people after the fateful clash with Rome? Perhaps Arad believes that QRomeQ will bow its head before Arad's Jerusalem? Netanyahu must distance himself from Arad if he expects Israelis and the international community to trust the policy he recently presented. An official who espouses such positions has no place in a peace-seeking Prime Minister's Bureau. III. "They Don't Know How to Decide" Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (7/13): QYesterday marked three years since the Second Lebanon War: not exactly cause for celebration. Some things have changed here since July 12, 2006, and some things haven't changed at all. In at least one sphere, there has been a veritable turnabout: in the national leadership. We ousted the political echelon that made overly hasty decisions, and in its place we have a political echelon that is incapable of deciding at all. We wanted Julius Caesar and we got two Hamlets, princes of Denmark.... Two and a half years after the war, a new government came to power with two people at its center: Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak. They reached the summit of power after trying everything else in government and in the opposition, as prime ministers and in running its most senior ministries. There is no position in which they haven't been, there is no process that they did not closely observe. Their accumulated experience should be able to serve them in their new-old positions today. However, going through an experience and being experienced are two different things. Experience is something one learns from; living through an experience is a biographical detail that adorns the paper on which one's resume is written.... Netanyahu concluded, from his experience, that the role of the prime minister is to be good and do good by others.... Barak is known for having trouble making decisions back from his previous government, including decisions that are vital to security. Last week he made a speech at a memorial marking three years since the Second Lebanon War. In his speech, he drew a distinction between the combatants, whose heroism he praised, and their superiors, whom he criticized. Had Barak learned anything from experience, he would know that those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. For months, Barak could not decide whom to appoint to the position of deputy chief of staff. This decision has ramifications not only for whoever should become the next chief of staff, but also for the one who will be chief of staff after him. In the end he made a decision which is neither coffee nor tea. -------------- ¶2. Iran: -------------- Block Quotes: -------------- "At the Traffic Lights of U.S.-Israel Relations" Visiting Professor of Political Science at Haifa University Avraham Ben-Zvi, an expert in U.S.-Israeli relations, wrote in the independent Israel Hayom (7/13): QAt first sight, ObamaQs remark that the administrationQs aspiration has been and still is to settle the Qnuclear crisisQ with Iran through diplomatic ways, can be interpreted as a clear presidential expression of reservation about the Qgreen lightQ to Israel statement made by Vice President Joe Biden a few days earlier.... But it is also possible that Washington is conducting a deliberate strategy of doubletalk in order to produce a deterrent effect of uncertainty regarding its positions, thus adding a more robust dimension to its conciliatory deportment.... Over four decades after the six fateful days in June 1967, the same signals [from the U.S. administration] are blinking. The coming months will make clear whether they are ... deliberate and meant to convey various messages to different target audiences, or whether -- behind the curtain of ambiguity and the double talk -- a bright, blinding red light is dawning, as President Obama has declared. CUNNINGHAM