ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002164 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: -------------- All media led with the deal reportedly brokered by Germany and Egypt, in which Hamas will give Israel tomorrow a video recording proving that Gilad Shalit is alive. In exchange Israel will release 20 Palestinian women from jail. Fourteen of the women were indicted over Qassassination attempts.Q The Jerusalem Post and other media quoted President Shimon Peres describing the swap as a Qsmall but important step.Q Maariv and other media quoted Hamas as saying that ShalitQs release can be finalized by the end of the year. The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday PLO Ambassador to the UN in Geneva Ibrahim Khraishi told the newspaper that the Palestinians Qhave enough votes" to get the U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC) to agree tomorrow to pass the controversial Goldstone Report on to the U.N. General Assembly in New York, and possibly on to the Security Council. On Tuesday the council held a six-hour debate on the conclusions of the four-person UN fact-finding mission that investigated Operation Cast Lead. The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday Israel's Ambassador to the U.N. institutions in Geneva, Aharon Leshno-Yaar, admitted it was unlikely that Israel could stop the report from heading to New York. The newspaper reported that yesterday PM Benjamin Netanyahu urged the ambassadors of Asian and Pacific Rim countries to block the report, saying Qthis is not politics as usual.Q The PM was quoted as saying: QThis report will stop the peace process. HaQaretz reported that Netanyahu rejected a call for an Israeli inquiry into Cast Lead. HaQaretz cited DM Ehud BarakQs officeQs confirmation that the DM has asked former Chief Justice Aharon Barak to contribute to the legal battle against the report. However, Ehud Barak was quoted as saying that he opposes an inquiry commission. ;The media reported that IranQs dialogue with the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany will begin today in Geneva. Yediot summed up the U.S. message to Iran as Qfreeze the enrichment; weQll freeze the sanctions.Q Media reported that yesterday Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suggested a third party enrich uranium for Iran. Yediot quoted The Financial Times as saying yesterday that Iran has secretly developed nuclear warheads. HaQaretz reported that yesterday Iranian FM Manouchehr Mottaki arrived in Washington, where sources were quoted as saying that he is not expected to meet with U.S. officials. The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday in Washington Israeli officials Yitzhak Molcho and Mike Herzog met with U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Peace Senator George Mitchell. The newspaper quoted Assistant State Department Spokesman Philip J. Crowley as saying before the meeting: QWe havenQt set aside anything. We do believe that the Israelis, Palestinians, and other countries in the region need to take affirmative steps which create the conditions for a successful negotiation.Q Crowley was also quoted as saying: QWe are also interested in getting to negotiations as rapidly as possible, as the President, the Secretary, and George Mitchell emphasized last week. Maariv and Israel Radio reported that Shmuel Polishuk, a senior member of the Nativ network, who holds an Israeli diplomatic passport, was interrogated in Moscow and then expelled by the Russian secret service FSB based on charges of spying. Nativ used to be a secret Israeli organization that fostered emigration to Israel. Leading media reported that the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee has declared a general strike in Arab communities in Israel today to mark the anniversary of the October 2000 riots. The Jerusalem Post and Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that yesterday Saudi Arabia denied a July report that it would allow IAF jets to fly over the kingdom during any strike on Iranian nuclear facilities. The Jerusalem Post reported that two leading U.S. Senators -- Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Charles Schumer (D-NY) -- have introduced a bill (the Boycott Disclosure Act of 2009) aimed at strengthening WashingtonQs opposition to the Arab economic and trade embargo against Israel. HaQaretz quoted the organization Physicians for Human Rights-Israel as saying, after analyzing data collected by the World Health Organization, that Shin BetQs slow response to requests by Palestinians seeking to leave the Gaza Strip for medical care via the Erez crossing was the main reason that more than one third of such applicants missed their medical appointments between January and August 2009. Yediot reported that Israel fears the ecological implications of the nuclear reactor that Jordan will reportedly build at Aqaba. Maariv claims that Maj. Gen. Yoav Galant, the IDFQs O/C Southern Command is taking over agricultural land without proper authorization. The article is a follow-up to an investigative report published in the newspaper in December 2008. HaQaretz and Maariv reported that three Israel tourists have asked the Israeli Foreign Ministry to help them leave Samoa after the island was hit by a deadly tsunami on Tuesday. Major media quoted Israeli police as saying yesterday that, as part of a two-year operation spanning three continents, a number of reputed crime bosses have been arrested over the past few weeks for attempting to smuggle 108 kilograms of cocaine from Panama to Israel. Two years of surveillance operations in Panama and France, as well as analysis of hundreds of wiretaps in those countries and Spain led to a raid on a warehouse in Panama where the drug was being stored. One of the suspects broke under questioning and signed an agreement to become a state's witness. The media reported that a key suspect in the affair is Zeev Rosenstein, who is serving his U.S.-imposed sentence in an Israeli prison. The Jerusalem Post, HaQaretz, and Makor Rishon-Hatzofe cited the results of the American Jewish CommitteeQs 2009 Annual Survey of American Jewish Opinion conducted August 30-September 17: - A majority of American Jews support military action against Iran to prevent the Teheran regime from obtaining nuclear weapons. Asked if they would support American military action, 56% of American Jews said they would, while just 36% opposed it. An even greater number support Israeli military action against the Iranian nuclear program, with 66% in favor and just 28% against. - The survey found that a majority of American Jews oppose the Obama administration's recent policy of demanding a total Israeli settlement freeze, but this did not translate into support for keeping these settlements in the long term. While 51% oppose the American freeze demand (though a substantial 41% agree with it), fully 60% said Israel should dismantle all (8%) or some (52%) of the West Bank settlements in the context of a permanent settlement with the Palestinians. - Despite any criticism, however, American Jews believe that Israeli-American relations were being handled well by the two countriesQ leaders. The Obama administration received 54% approval, compared to 32% disapproval, in its handling of this relationship, while Netanyahu garnered a slightly better ratio (59%-23%.) In general, the vast majority of respondents believe U.S.-Israeli relations are strong, with 81% saying they were either "very" or "somewhat" positive and just 16% disagreeing. - Asked about the prospects for peace, three-quarters (approx. 75%) of the respondents expressed profound skepticism over Arab intentions, saying they agreed with the statement: "The goal of the Arabs is not the return of occupied territories but rather the destruction of Israel." Just 19% disagreed with this statement. Thus, it is perhaps not surprising that 51% do not believe there will ever "come a time when Israel and its Arab neighbors will be able to settle their differences and live in peace." That pessimism rises substantially to 79%, when the Palestinian side of the equation is Hamas: just 17% think peace is achievable between Israel and Hamas. But the pessimism is not reflective of their hopes. American Jews favor a Palestinian state, even "in the current situation," by a factor of 49-41%, through they are opposed (58-37%) to compromising on Israeli jurisdiction over Jerusalem. - The survey briefly delved into questions of identification. Asked for their political affiliations, respondents revealed the expected overwhelming identification with the Left and Center. Fully 53% said they were Democrats, 30% Independent and just 16% Republicans. As for religious affiliation, 27% said they were Reform, 24% Conservative, 9% Orthodox and 2% Reconstructionist. But the most popular answer, at 36%, was "just Jewish." Jewishness was important to the respondents, with 51% saying it was "very important" in their lives, 33% "fairly important," and just 15% responding "not very important." This Jewish identification, however, did not necessarily translate into a feeling of connection with Israel. Just 28% said they felt "very close," 41% "fairly close," and fully 30% were either "fairly distant" or "very distant" from the Jewish state. -------------- ¶1. Mideast: -------------- Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "A Fitting Deal" The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (10/1): QYesterday's decision by the security cabinet to approve the Egyptian-German initiative to release 20 Palestinian female prisoners and detainees in exchange for a sign of life from kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit is not a balanced deal. For a piece of information, Israel is paying in Qhard currencyQ -- people who were convicted or are suspected of hostile acts against its citizens.... Still, no step toward the release of the soldier who fell into the enemy's hands three and a half years ago will be an economical deal. Israel has more than once paid a high price for its captured soldiers, and even for bodies and body parts of the dead. This is not the first time it will have paid for information about a captured or missing soldier.... Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the decision to agree to the new initiative a Qconfidence-building measureQ in the indirect negotiations with Hamas. It is reasonable to assume that documented proof that Shalit is still alive will encourage the government to go another step further and pay the set price to extricate him and end this painful affair. II. "No Cause for Celebration" Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote on page one of the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (10/1): QIf indeed a tape should arrive here in which we see [Gilad] Shalit alive and well, we will be excited and glad with the family. But as a nation, we must not forget that this tape only highlights the fact that Shin Bet and other security agencies have not succeeded in bringing information that would make it possible to rescue Gilad from captivity. Three years, ten kilometers from home, and no one has an idea what his situation is, until Hamas does the German envoy a favor and releases a tape at an exorbitant price. Why is it that when we are negotiating over receiving one soldier for hundreds of prisoners, we still have to pay interest in advance to receive a sign of life? It is sickly logic. We have become accustomed to being dishrags.... Meanwhile, the basic obstacles remain as before. The specific discussions on the terrorists slated for expulsion continue. Each name is being examined, in an attempt to prepare an Qexpulsion packageQ for each one that will be acceptable to all sides. If the current initiative, of building mutual trust, is indeed indicative of the intentions of the two sides, perhaps the deal for Shalit's release will be signed sooner. And perhaps it won't. III. "Cruel Paradox" Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one of the popular, pluralist Maariv (10/1): QThe effort to bring Gilad Shalit back home is imprisoned within a cruel paradox. On the one hand, Hamas needs an achievement desperately, given Abu Mazen's success on the West Bank. On the other, if Israel exploits this situation and opts to close a deal, Hamas will become stronger, will become the only one that is capable of delivering the goods and making the Zionists capitulate, and might just win the elections once again. In a situation of that sort, Gilad Shalit will be back home, but all the moderates in the region will have been dealt a strategic death blow. It will be a decision to lament over for generations to come. Hamas' reign over the Palestinian people will be extended, perhaps into perpetuity, and we, as always, will be left with our longing for Abu Mazen and Salam Fayyad.... We are now strengthening the extremists, the ones who regard our annihilation to be a religious imperative, and weaken anew the people with whom we can still talk.... A leader with endurance and patience could have redefined the rules and forced Hamas to climb off the high limb of its insane demands. Now the deal is that much more unpalatable. Netanyahu talks Right, but acts Left. In the meantime, he is building a lot less than his predecessors did in Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank] and appears poised to release a very large number of murderers. The charts don't lie. IV. "A Deceiving Quiet" Conservative columnist Nadav Haetzni wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv (10/1): QOver the recent period we have been exposed to a wave of reports praising the dramatic change among the Palestinians under Abu Mazen.... But this is yet another deception campaign that incredibly fits the tradition of the Oslo spirit.... To find a fresh illustration that nothing has changed among the Palestinian partners, it is enough to pay attention to what has been happening over the past week around the Temple Mount. All the riots that broke out there were produced by Abu Mazen and his men. As Abu Mazen returned from Washington, Palestinian Authority spokesmen invented a new anti-Israeli libel that now accuses Israel of knocking down the mosques on the Mount.... The current libel is developing in exactly the same way Arafat, in his distress after Camp David, started what is called the QSecond IntifadaQ.... Here lies the challenge of the Netanyahu government, which must decide whether it is willing to play the game that Israel always loses, or whether the time has come to tear the mask of deception off the PalestiniansQ faces. Abu MazenQs regime relies on IsraelQs bayonets. The time has come to scatter all illusions surrounding it. -------------- ¶2. Iran: -------------- Block Quotes: -------------- "The Home Stretch" Senior commentator Ari Shavit wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (10/1): QThe basic facts have not changed: Iran is galloping toward nuclear weapons.... Nor have the strategic implications of the basic facts changed: if one fine day Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announces he has a nuclear bomb, the world will be a different world.... And yet, something fundamental has changed: The events of the past week proved that with regard to Iran, the West of fall 2009 is different from the West of spring 2009. The Pittsburgh declaration issued by Barack Obama, Nicolas Sarkozy, and Gordon Brown was merely the visible tip of the iceberg. Beneath the water, the United States has been engaging in energetic and enthralling diplomacy for the last few months. Thus, if at the beginning of the summer it was still possible to wonder whether Obama had internalized the Iranian problem, today the picture is clear: very belatedly, the U.S. President [and the other Western leaders] are trying to impose a real diplomatic siege on Iran. They are doing everything that can be done via diplomatic efforts to try to stop the catastrophic centrifuges of Natanz and Qom. In this situation, there is no genuine fear of an imminent Israeli attack on Iran. But the fact that, for now, Israel is showing restraint and even lowering its profile should not mislead anyone. If the international community does not employ harsh diplomacy now, it will put itself in an impossible dilemma: an Iranian bomb or bombing Iran. And if that happens, the quartet of Obama, Sarkozy, Brown and Angela Merkel will bear personal responsibility -- not only for the emergence of a new Middle East, but for the emergence of a whole new world. CUNNINGHAM