ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001689

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:
--------------

Mideast

--------------
Key stories in the media:
--------------

Leading media reported that yesterday PM Benjamin Netanyahu told
visiting U.S. National Security Advisor Gen. James Jones that Israel
will act to ease the lives of the Palestinians but that the
crossings into Gaza will remain closed until Gilad Shalit is
released. Media reported that, for the first time in months, Israel
will transfer a limited quantity of concrete and iron to the
Palestinians. (YediotQs headline: QCracks in the Siege.Q) Israel
Radio and other media reported that the IDF is attempting to prevent
those materials from being used for fortifications or tunnels.

Israel Radio reported that today NSA Jones met with President Shimon
Peres as well as opposition leader and Kadima head, Tzipi Livni.
Leading media reported that former FM Livni told NSA Jones that the
Middle East is keeping a close eye on the international community's
efforts to halt Iran's nuclear weapons program. Media reported that
the 15-member delegation headed by Jones includes special State
Department adviser Dennis Ross and Under Secretary of State for
Political Affairs William Burns. Israel Radio quoted a Qsenior
source in JerusalemQ as saying that Israel clarified to the U.S.
that Iran is dashing toward procuring nuclear capability; the source
reportedly said that the Americans were told that, should there be
no change in the Iranian attitude, significant sanctions should be
applied and that no options should be ruled out.

Israel Radio quoted Egyptian FM Ahmed Abu al-Gheit as saying that
President ObamaQs call for normalization of relations with Israel
should be heeded -- if Israel dismantles the settlements.

Yediot quoted senior associates of PM Netanyahu as saying that the
PM told Special Envoy Senator Mitchell that he will not leave Syrian
President Bashar Assad a Qdeposit on the Golan.

Israel Radio reported that yesterday, in testimony to the House of
RepresentativesQ Foreign Affairs Committee, U.S. Ambassador to the
U.N., Susan Rice, expressed her concern about the fact that UNIFIL
does not stop weapons smuggling into South Lebanon.

HaQaretz quoted Israeli intelligence officials as saying that the
smuggling industry into the Gaza Strip is like a long funnel, at one
end of which are the tunnels in the Strip and the other is the Sinai
Peninsula as far as the Red Sea coast. A reported decline in
weapons smuggling has forced Hamas militants in Gaza to invest more
effort in producing weapons locally. Technical experts in Israel
are divided over whether Hamas can meet this challenge, although its
desire to do so is not in question. The organization is apparently
not currently seeking renewed military conflict with Israel,
however. It would like the lull to continue so it can rebuild its
operational capabilities, which were severely impaired by Operation
Cast Lead in January.

Yediot reported that, for the fist time, the Foreign Ministry has
decided to appoint a legal adviser at the Israeli Embassy in The
Hague to prepare for International Court of Justice debates on
Operation Cast Lead. The Jerusalem Post and Israel Hayom reported
that IDF Judge Advocate-General Brig. Gen. Avichai Mandelblit has
reportedly ordered the Military Police to launch criminal
investigations into 14 cases of alleged criminal conduct during the
operation. HaQaretz quoted says Brig. Gen. Eli Shermeister, the
IDF's chief education officer, as saying that there has been a sharp
rise in requests from the armyQs combat units to the Education Corps
for material on military ethics and "values during wartime.
Speaking at a seminar yesterday in Jerusalem on "War and Peace in
Jewish Heritage," Shermeister acknowledged an inherent tension
between protecting soldiers and avoiding harm to innocent civilians.
The seminar was sponsored by the Beit Morasha center for Jewish
studies [an institution that bestows joint graduate degrees with
Bar-Ilan University]. With regard to the ongoing conflict between
the Education Corps and the IDF Rabbinate, Shermeister said that
"responsibility for education and Jewish identity is officially
conferred on the Education Corps, and that's how it has to be." He
extended an olive branch to the Rabbinate in saying "it has great
educational capacities and we must not fail to use them." HaQaretz
quoted a senior IDF source as saying that Rabbis for Human Rights,
the sponsor of another seminar held today in Jerusalem, has set
itself a goal of harming the army. The seminar's sponsor called the
army's failure to send a representative "surprising," and said it
raised questions about the IDF's willingness to examine its own
conduct. An IDF spokesman denied a boycott of public discussion of
the army's conduct, and said the army tries to send representatives
to conferences on Operation Cast Lead whenever possible, but it was
not possible in this instance.

Leading media reported that yesterday an Israeli military court
convicted Fuad Shubaki, a former Arafat aide, of bankrolling a 2002
attempt to smuggle 50 tons of weapons by sea. The IDF said that
Shubaki would be sentenced at the end of August.

Maariv and Israel Hayom quoted Lawrence (Larry) Franklin, a former
senior analyst at the Pentagon, who was accused of revealing secret
information to Israel, as saying in an interview with The Washington
Post, that the FBI used him as a double agent.

Media reports and commentaries, such as the Ha'aretz editorial
("Don't Expel Children"),prominently feature the issue of the
anticipated expulsion of illegal migrants from Israel.

Yediot and Israel Radio reported that an agreement is taking shape
with the U.S. to send a second Israeli astronaut into space. Yediot
noted that there are no slots in the NASA programs until 2015.

HaQaretz reported that a senior engineer at El-Op Electro Optics
Industries is under investigation for fraud, breach of trust, and
conflict of interests spanning more than a decade. A court did not
allow the publication of the individual's name or exact position,
due to Qnational security concerns.

All media reported that yesterday PM Netanyahu and health officials
decided to buy swine flu vaccines for the entire population. This
would be the first such move in Israel. The Health Ministry has
warned that more than 700,000 people are expected to catch the
virus. However, some senior health officials have questioned the
plan, saying it would be impossible to vaccinate everyone.
Yediot reported that the Bank of Israel is expected to stop its
practice of buying $100 million every day, but that it will continue
to purchase foreign currency periodically.

Israel Hayom published the results of a poll that the religious
public has become more extreme in its views with regard to a
possible evacuation of settlements in the future. The survey,
carried out by Mutagim Market Research and Gal-Oren BSD [an
ultra-Orthodox advertising company] found that 79% of the
national-religious public would fight against evacuation of
settlements in the Land of Israel [Israel, including the
territories], with 16% saying "everything must be done so that

settlements are not removed, even if this means attacking police and
soldiers." 75% of the religious would disobeyif the order was given
to evacuate (36% of the national-religious public would disobey
orders, and 39% would ask not take part in evacuating). Another
surprising figure is the position of the religious to the
possibility of two states for two peoples: a quarter (25%) of the
national-religious public think that ultimately there will be "two
states for two peoples," and one out of four national-religious
people think that the future establishment of a Palestinian state is
an established fact. Israel Hayom quoted Meir Gal and Dr. Avi Peer,
who conducted the poll, as saying: "Four years after disengagement
from Gush Katif, the national-religious public's scars are not
healing. Everything is as open as it as, and it appears that its
score with the state that disengaged them from the land of their
forefathers remains fairly open."

--------------
Mideast:
--------------

Block Quotes:
--------------


I. "A New Palestine"

Senior commentator Ari Shavit wrote in the independent, left-leaning
Ha'aretz (7/30): QRemember the name: Rawabi. The city of hills to
be built nine kilometers northwest of Ramallah. The first planned
city in Palestinian history. The first planned city in the West
Bank to be inhabited by Palestinians rather than settlers. A city
designed to be a Palestinian city of abundance -- secular, open and
vibrant.... A city that will pave the Palestinians' way to the 21st
century.... As a result of [Palestinian Authority leadership
policies and Israeli easing measures] Arab and Western investors are
once again investing in Palestine.... In Israel there is little talk
of Fayyad's revolution. Since the lynching in Ramallah, most
Israelis have erased it from the map of their awareness. They have
no interest in the Palestinians, one way or another. However, even
Israelis who have taken it on themselves to defend Palestinian
rights do not always show an interest in Palestinians as human
beings. They prefer them as victims.... Rawabi is both a symbol and
a test of the new sanity.... But for Rawabi to become a reality,
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak
must give the Palestinian Authority control over the land corridor
that will link it to Ramallah. They must cut the red tape and let
the city of the future receive water, electricity and access roads.
There is now a real opportunity in the West Bank. We must not miss
it.

II. Points of Forgery and Fraud

Professor Asher Susser, who teaches Middle East history at Tel Aviv
University, wrote in HaQaretz (7/30): QThrough their actions, the
settlers not only undermine the legitimacy of settlement in the
territories, they also undermine international legitimacy for the
very existence of Israel. The grave results are in plain view.
Zionism's just cause and existential interests are grounded in the
equality and mutuality of partition. David Ben-Gurion understood
this even during the Arab Revolt more than 70 years ago, as did the
international community in its support of partition in 1947. It
also reflects the international consensus today. It is patently
apparent that, beyond the issue of basic justice, dividing the land
is also in the clear interest of Zionism and anyone who wants to
maintain Israel as the state of the Jews. In the arrogance of their
position, which tramples on the rights of others, the settlers are
compromising the foundations of the justice of the Zionist
enterprise, and acting against the State of Israel's existential
interests. By making the Land of Israel the supreme value over and
above the State of Israel, they are joining, in a bizarre way, their
left-wing post-Zionist Qbrothers,Q who also propose a single state
that will succeed the state of the Jews.





III. "They're Going Dry"

Middle East affairs commentator Dr. Guy Bechor, a lecturer at the
Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist
Yediot Aharonot (7/30): QSyria is undergoing an economic holocaust.
There is no other way to describe what the Syrian regime is making
such an effort to conceal. The country is going dry; more than one
quarter of a million farmers have been forced, over the past three
years, to abandon their lands and migrate to the major cities.
There they live in tents, completely abandoned by the regime. This
data recently emerged in a special study conducted by the UN and was
published on the Al-Arabiya Web site. The great Euphrates, Syria's
most important source of fresh water, is going dry.... Now with the
horrible drought, some 20 million residents, half of whom live in
agricultural regions, are suffering the consequences. Syria is
importing its crops these days, and it has no money to do so. Syria
has an existential interest to get its hands on the Sea of Galilee
in order to pump its waters and irrigate the fields in the areas of
Damascus, Aleppo and Homs. Our poor Sea of Galilee, whose waters
today are already used by Israel and Jordan (we supply the latter
with a regular amount every year as part of the peace treaty). If
Syria gets its hands on the Sea of Galilee, it will pump large
quantities of water from it. The same way it devastated its rivers
and aquifers, so will it devastate our main source of water. It is
setting its sights on it, despite the fact that it has no interest
in peace with Israel. Should Israel pay the price for the errors
and pathetic conduct of the Syrian BaQathist party? Furthermore:
When one sees the extent to which Turkey is exploiting Syria, should
we really choose the Turks to mediate between us and the Syrians?
After all, Turkey has an existential interest that the Syrians get
the Sea of Galilee; this would take the pressure off of them.
Before any possible commencement of negotiations with Syria, it is
important that we are familiar with these data and be cautious. It
must be hoped that the Americans, who want to advance negotiations
on the Syrian track, will also inform them of this.

IV. "Let Us Go up to Zion"

Conservative columnist and Jewish affairs writer Nadav Shragai
opined in HaQaretz (7/30): QQTisha B'Av [the day of the Jewish
lament over the loss of biblical Jerusalem] will last forever,
promised Kamal al-Khatib, deputy head of the Islamic Movement in
Israel, to thousands of cheering Muslims at the Temple Mount a few
days ago. Even the hearts of Jews far from the mountain saddened.
Palestinian Preident Mahmoud Abbas mocked us in the same spirit a
few months ago when he said, QCall yourself the Hbrew Socialist
Republic -- it is none of my busiess.Q He refused to accept
Israel's Jewish idenity.... Beside the [BibleQs] Book of
Lamentations and the traditional laments, it is time to call,
QArise! Let us go up to Zion,Q let us go to the Temple Mount.
Within the limitations of halakha [Jewish religious law] and of
police directives, not as a provocation or demonstration. A
heritage trip to Morocco or Poland is all well and good, but going
to the Temple Mount is the real heritage trip. A trip of
consciousness and study, with maps and history books in the company
of archaeologists, historians, rabbis, academics, educators and
commanders. A trip intended to remind us where the Jewish people's
genealogical record is buried in Jerusalem.

CUNNINGHAM