ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002126 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. Iran ¶2. Mideast -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- All media reported that, two days before the opening of talks between Iranian and U.S. officials, the Islamic Republic carried out a test launch of long-range missiles capable of reaching Israel. Iran test-fired its Shahab-3 missile, which puts Israel within reach along with Saudi Arabia and U.S. Army bases in the Gulf. HaQaretz reported that DM Ehud Barak is scheduled to meet today in Brighton, England, with British PM Gordon Brown to discuss the Iranian nuclear issue. HaQaretz also reported that Barak will meet with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband tomorrow for a talk on the same subject. The successful launch of the Shahab-3, which the military said has a range of 2,000 kilometers, came on the second day of war games led by the Revolutionary Guards. HaQaretz reported that the Israeli Foreign Ministry denied any link between the missile tests and the October 1 nuclear talks in Geneva. The war games had been scheduled many months ago, but were seen in the West as an act of defiance, especially in light of the recent exposure by the United States of a facility for the enrichment of uranium which the Iranians are said to have set up in Qom. Leading media reported that Israel has clamped down a blackout on GOI responses to the recent Iranian developments, saying that other countries are responding adequately and that there is no need for Israel to get publicly involved. On Sunday, HaQaretz reported that, following the discovery of a second uranium enrichment plan near Qom, Iran, PM Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Senators and Congress members in telephone conversations that now is the time to act to halt the Iranian nuclear program. A senior Israel official told The Jerusalem Post on Saturday that Israel believes that many Western countries now see that the Iranian mask is slipping, but that Israel does not yet know if Russia and China understand this. Leading media reported that tomorrow Israel and the U.S. will continue their talks in Washington on bridging the open issues between Israel and the PA that are delaying the relaunching of peace negotiations. PM Netanyahu's envoy, attorney Yitzhak Molcho, and DM Ehud Barak's chief of staff, Brig Gen. Michael Herzog, are slated to meet with U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Peace Senator George Mitchell and senior White House officials. Media reported that on Thursday Mitchell will meet Palestinian representatives (senior PA negotiator Saeb Erekat will head the Palestinian delegation, according to HaQaretz and Maariv) but that it is doubtful whether there will be any contacts between Israelis and Palestinians. HaQaretz reported that formulating the framework for the negotiations and the "terms of reference," or the opening conditions, are the focus of the talks. At the same time the sides will continue negotiating the terms of the settlement construction freeze. Next week Mitchell will come to Israel to continue the talks and meet with Netanyahu and Barak. HaQaretz reported that President Obama instructed Mitchell and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to report to him on progress in the talks by October 15, in an attempt to bridge the gaps between Israel and the PA by then and to allow Obama to hold an event marking the launch of peace talks. In light of massive U.S. pressure, the Palestinians have agreed to drop their main precondition to resuming negotiations, a demand that Israel completely cease all construction in the settlements and East Jerusalem. But HaQaretz quoted sources on all three sides as saying that Obama promised PA President Mahmoud Abbas that in return for his concession on a construction freeze, the U.S. would take under consideration the Palestinian demands on the framework of the negotiations. The framework includes such matters as how the talks will be managed and what the opening conditions for the talks will be -- and this is a matter of fierce dispute between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as with the U.S. administration. There are disagreements over a number of issues. First, the Palestinians want to restart the talks where the Government of Ehud Olmert left off, while Netanyahu argues that he is not bound by Olmert's proposals. Second, the Palestinians want the negotiations to focus on the principle of a solution based on the 1967 borders, and Netanyahu strongly disagrees. Third, the Palestinians want a two-year timeframe for the achievement of a permanent agreement, while Israel objects. In addition, the Palestinians want to hold negotiations on all the issues of the permanent settlement, including Jerusalem, refugees and borders, but Israel still has not completed formulating its policy on these points. Maariv reported that Qany negotiations for a permanent status arrangement between Israel and the Palestinians will be based on the 1967 lines," is one of the headlines from a document authored by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, which she gave to the current Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. Maariv says that the document constitutes the administrative link between the Bush and Obama administrations. Maariv quoted a high-ranking White House official as saying last week that this was the policy that the current administration had inherited from its predecessor, and that it was also the view of President Obama. This reportedly was also one of the reasons that Obama declared in his UN speech that Israel must end the occupation that began in 1967. According to Maariv, the document relays to the current administration everything that was achieved in the negotiations between the sides in Bush's eight years in the White House. The permanent status arrangement, the document states, must also include a solution of all the issues, including Jerusalem, refugees, water, borders, and so on. Israel is demanding of the American administration to also stand by the agreements between Jerusalem and Washington during Bush's time, first and foremost Bush's letters from April 2004 which mentioned the settlement blocs and said that the U.S. will support taking into account demographic changes on the ground in the negotiations on the permanent status arrangement. Maariv comments: QNow it appears that the Bush administration has passed the stick, i.e. the 1967 lines, but it isn't clear if it also passed the carrot. On Sunday, citing the AP, HaQaretz reported that on September 26 Secretary Clinton urged Arab nations to take steps toward normalizing relations with Israel and supporting the Palestinians, in a an effort to help restart stalled Mideast peace talks. The media reported that yesterday IAF warplanes destroyed an armed missile launcher on northern Gaza aimed at Israel. The army reported a direct hit. Yesterday afternoon Palestinians fired a Qassam rocket and a mortar shell at Israel. The rocket apparently exploded within the Gaza Strip. Palestinians also fired two Qassam rockets overnight Sunday at the western Negev. Major media reported that yesterday, a day after several people were wounded and arrested in East Jerusalem, clashes started at the Temple Mount. Yediot reported that Palestinian organizations in Gaza and in the West Bank are threatening to ignite a third Intifada in wake of the clashes. IDF Radio reported that about 100 olive trees were chopped down in the last few days near the village of Burin in the northern West Bank. The IDFQs Civil Administration is permitting Palestinian landowners to begin olive picking today in order to prevent damage to the olives left. The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday Israel warmly welcomed German Chancellor Angela MerkelQs reelection victory, even as some officials expressed reservations regarding Free Democratic Party (FDP) leader Guido Westerwelle, the man expected to be her next foreign minister -- because he is a member of a post-World War II generation and because a top FDP politician, Juergen Moeelemann, was involved in a 2002 scandal that seemingly reeked of anti-Semitism. The Jerusalem Post cited an official IDF scorecard recently compiled by top navy officer Lt. Col. Robi Sandman showing that Hizbullah had better intelligence than Israel and better control of its forces during the Second Lebanon War. Over the weekend the media reported that QAjami,Q an Arabic-language movie about a Jaffa neighborhood, will represent Israel at the 2010 Academy Awards ceremony. Major media quoted the British newspaper The Daily Express as saying that the British intelligence agency MI6Qs chief Sir John Scarlett has bee told that Saudi Arabia is ready to allow Israel to bomb IranQs new nuclear site. The Jerusalem Post reported that the upcoming visit by Syrian Deputy FM Fayssal Mekdad is the first in about five years and is part of U.S. efforts to improve strained relations with Damascus. Over the weekend leading media reported that on Friday Egyptian FM Ahmed Abu al-Gheit urged Israel to release 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the release of Gilad Shalit. HaQaretz reported that the defense establishment recently relaunched its campaign with its Western partners to block Hamas's fund-raising network. The government, meanwhile, is considering launching an awareness campaign to highlight the link between fund-raising for Palestinian causes and terror funding. Israeli efforts have had some success in recent years, when Western governments forced certain charity organizations to reveal their records and sever ties with the Charity Coalition, the umbrella organization for groups that raise funds for Hamas abroad. However, HaQaretz reported that there are sometimes legal obstacles, such as a ruling by a U.S. judge in Ohio who ordered the lifting of a freeze on the assets of an Ohio-based charity called KindHearts following an investigation by the U.S. Treasury in 2006 concerning the charity's connection with Hamas. The judge ordered the charity to be allowed to regain control of its assets, ruling that the administration did not provide enough evidence to justify the freeze. HaQaretz reported that accusations PM Netanyahu a few weeks ago that the Swedish government attempted to create contacts with Hamas were apparently based on incorrect information. Maariv and HaQaretz (the latter, quoting the London-based A-Sharq Al-Awsat) reported that the board of directors of the powerful Egyptian media group Al-Ahram has decided to boycott Israel and Israelis of all positions. HaQaretz quoted PA Communications Minister Mashhud Abu-Daka as saying that the PA strenuously resists an Israeli attempt to link the allotment of frequencies to the second cellular phone provider in the territories, Al-Wataniya, to the cancellation of the Palestinian appeal to the International Court of Justice in The Hague regarding Operation Cast Lead. The Jerusalem Post also cited IsraelQs threat. Yediot reported that Israel and the Maldives -- the smallest Muslim state in the world -- renewed their diplomatic relations over the weekend. Yesterday, HaQaretz reported that a recently declassified U.S. report on the Yom Kippur War cited instance of intelligence blindness in Washington and self-deception in Israel and the West. In a story published by arrangement with the U.S. Jewish weekly The Forward, HaQaretz reported that David Remes, a Washington attorney, left a major corporate law firm to take on full-time representation of terrorism suspects held in the American detention center in Guantanamo Bay, stressed that he sees no equation between Guantanamo and the Nazi camps. Still, he added, "When you consider the way Jews were dehumanized as vermin, there's an unfortunate echo." The newspaper noted that Jewish attorneys are considered to be the backbone of the campaign to provide legal rights for the Guantanamo detainees, all imprisoned without charge or trial. -------------- ¶1. Iran: -------------- Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "Facing Iran with Obama" The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (9/29): QYom Kippur 2009 bore two pieces of news for Israelis. The bad news was Iran's ground-to-ground missile test. The good news was that the Western powers, led by the United States, are facing off against Iran and threatening to increase sanctions against it following the discovery of a secret uranium enrichment facility near the holy city of Qom. The plant's discovery and the missile launches have made clearer the increasing Iranian threat to Israel -- just days after the leaders of Iran and Israel addressed the United Nations General Assembly and accused each other's countries of Qbarbarism.Q Talks are to begin the day after tomorrow between Iran and the major powers, among them the United States, but success seems unlikely considering the developments of the past few days.... Under these circumstances, Israel should support Obama and give him the chance to exhaust the move combining dialogue with the threat of sanctions. This is not the time for Jerusalem to threaten and badger. The Iranian threat is not only Israel's problem, it's that of the entire international community. It's best for Israel if the issue is dealt with on an international level. II. "In Praise of Actions" Military correspondent Amos Harel wrote on page one of Ha'aretz (9/29): Q Just before Iran and the international community begin talks on Iran's nuclear program, Israel is sending out messages of measured and cautions optimism. Israeli official are praising the proposed sanctions against Iran to journalists, explaining that a stiff cost could prompt the Iranians to rethink their actions, especially in light of the domestic troubles the regime of ayatollahs has faced over the past few months. The New York Times, meanwhile, reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is lobbying U.S lawmakers, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to impose Qcrippling sanctionsQ on Iran. This constitutes a certain change in the atmosphere surrounding Israel's approach to the issue. Until a few weeks ago, Israeli officials expressed serious skepticism, bordering on cynicism, about American efforts to divert Iran from its gallop toward obtaining nuclear capability.... Israel, from its point of view, now needs to show the Obama administration E and the international community that it is a team player, one that supports exhausting all non-military options. At some point in the future, there will come a time when it would make sense to once again threaten to attack Iran in order to pressure Tehran, but now is still the time for negotiations. III. "Think Cuban Missile Crisis" The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (9/29): QIran's stratagem is to QengageQ as it pushes ahead with its bomb, thereby making it hard for the international community to impose meaningful sanctions. Once it feels certain it has all the pieces of the nuclear weapon's puzzle in place -- fuel, warhead, delivery system -- it might offer Obama a stop just short of a test detonation, in return for a long list of Western concessions. Anyway, the pace of economic sanctions is way out of sync with the progress the mullahs are making on their bomb. Even if Russia and China accepted a winter embargo on refined petroleum products entering Iran, is there any reason to imagine that the mere discomfort of the Iranian masses would take precedence for Khamenei and Ahmadinejad over the bomb? Obama should leapfrog over futile intermediate steps and place draconian sanctions on the table, now. To paraphrase John Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis, this would mean that all ships and planes bound for Iran, from whatever nation, would be turned back. Perhaps this prospect, coupled with a complete land, sea and air quarantine, can influence Iran's leaders to rethink their one-step-forward-two-steps-back strategy, and save humanity from an Iranian bomb. IV. "The Ineffectual West" Veteran journalist and television anchor Dan Margalit wrote in the independent Israel Hayom (9/29): QThe Qom reactor (have other facilities gone unreported?) is making American willingness to dialogue with the current Iranian regime superfluous. There is nobody to talk with. The sanctions must start -- as early as possible. Will the West act determinedly? Let us hope so. But the Western leadersQ collective biography teaches that a few days after a quick discovery [of international misconduct] and a feeling of panic, they return to their good old selves. -------------- ¶2. Mideast: -------------- Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "The Notable Shift in the Obama Administration" The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global Research in International Affairs Center, columnist Barry Rubin, wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (9/29): QTo say that U.S. President Barack Obama hates, seeks to destroy, and/or is pressuring Israel is a staple of the Internet rumor mill. A large portion of the far Right would like to believe it. But it isn't true.... So why did Obama shift his stance? During the campaign he came to learn that Israel's supporters were active, energetic, and would fight back even when almost no one else would confront him. In addition, the fact that he could gain Jewish support gave him an added incentive to pull back. Put simply, being anti-Israel was a political liability. Obama knew it and shifted accordingly.... The [Israeli] Government could not possibly have handled Obama better. At the same time, the obvious fragility of the current coalition proved another persuasive factor that made Obama pull back. I shudder to think what would have happened if Tzipi Livni had been prime minister. In addition, as always, intransigence on the Arab and Palestinian side was so extreme that even the Obama administration couldn't ignore it.... To this day, the U.S. Government under Obama has not taken a single material step against Israel and no such development seems to be on the horizon either. While there are many criticisms that can be made of Obama's Middle East policy, it has swung in a more pro-Israel direction while still maintaining the kind of QevenhandedQ balance frequently seen in his predecessors. II. "No More Grey Areas" Liberal columnist Yael Paz QMelamed wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv (9/29): QThe President is unhappy about the fears of each of the [Mideast] leaders from their own factions. Experience has taught him that those who do not look thousands of miles ahead and do not aspire to reach as far as they can, will forever remain stumped and unable to move. Benjamin Netanyahu now has a unique opportunity to turn from a politician who fears minor Knesset members into a true leader -- to lead a courageous move of real change involving hard concessions. If he follows this road with all his might, the entire public will follow him. CUNNINGHAM