SPECIAL ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002318 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: SPECIAL ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION -------------- SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: -------------- Ambassador Susan Rice to Israel -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- The media reported on last nightQs opening of President Shimon PeresQ QFacing TomorrowQ Conference in Jerusalem. The Jerusalem Post reported that in his opening address, Peres welcomed the world leaders attending the conference and reiterated Israel's support for a two-state solution. Ahead of the conference, Obama sent a message which praised Peres as a "great statesman." In videotaped remarks, President Obama said that Peres' "life stands as an extraordinary example how courage and perseverance help shape the future, turning harrowing challenges into historic opportunities." The Jerusalem Post noted that Obama stated that Israeli-U.S. relations were Qmore than a strategic alliance.Q Speaking about the conference itself, Obama said, "by drawing upon such a wide range of expertise within Israel, President Peres is harnessing the talent and dynamism of the Israeli people in facing the future. Bringing together such a broad and remarkable group of leaders from around the world is underscoring a fundamental truth -- we cannot meet the tests of our time unless we meet them together." Obama added that all of us Qmust share the responsibility for progress.Q Yediot reported that President Obama called for an immediate resumption of negotiations. In a related story, The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday in Jerusalem, WashingtonQs U.N. Ambassador, Susan Rice, met with Peres and, according to a statement issued by PeresQ office, said the U.S. would continue to stand by Israel as a Qtrue friend,Q including in the struggle against the Goldstone report. She is scheduled to meet today with PM Benjamin Netanyahu. QYour war against terrorism is clear to us as well as the complexity involved in itas the United StatesQ Ambassador to the U.N. I will continue to act in the future as I have acted up until now,Q Rice was quoted as telling Peres. The Jerusalem Post and other media reported that ObamaQs statements at the conference were followed by a speech by PM Netanyahu, in which he said that peace with the Palestinian was possible, but that it demanded Qleadership and courage from both sides.Q Addressing PA QChairmanQ Mahmoud Abbas, Netanyahu said the time had come to Qlead your people to peace,Q and to say that the time has come to Qend this conflict once and for all. With regard to the peace process, The Jerusalem Post quoted Israeli sources as saying that the Israeli Government did not accept two conditions set forth by the Palestinians and, apparently, backed by the U.S.: that the start of the negotiations be accompanied by a statement saying the goal was to reach an agreement within two years and that the goal was the establishment of a Palestinian state with permanent borders based on an Israeli withdrawal. HaQaretz quoted chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, who is in Washington to meet with senior U.S. officials, as saying in an interview with PA newspaper Al-Ayyam that the most important issue is freezing Israeli settlement construction. "There are no interim solutions. It's not a precondition for negotiations, but an explicit Israeli commitment that they have to meet." Erekat told Al-Ayyam there is an American plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace, but said it is irrelevant as long as Israel continues building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, adding that all peace talks are currently being held with the Americans, not the Israelis. He said the second most important issue to be discussed during his visit is the Palestinian request that U.S. President Barack Obama state that the peace process must lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders and that negotiations must include all the final-status issues. HaQaretz quoted Quartet Mideast envoy Tony Blair as saying during a visit to Hebron yesterday that he expects Israeli-Palestinian negotiations on a final-status agreement to resume within a few weeks. HaQaretz reported that PM Netanyahu instructed the Foreign, Justice, and Defense ministries to prepare an international initiative that would see the laws governing warfare adjusted to combating terrorism. Leading media reported that a proposal that was briefly discussed during yesterdayQs security-diplomatic cabinet meeting was for the establishment of an external committee of inquiry to investigate the events of Operation Cast Lead. The idea was backed by a number of ministers, but DM Ehud Barak led the opposition to the matter, and the discussion was cut off. Yediot reported that senior IDF officers told DM Barak privately that they fear that the creation of an independent commission of inquiry into the Goldstone report would leave the IDF unprotected. Deputy Prime Minister and Intelligence Affairs Minister Dan Meridor was quoted as saying in an interview with HaQaretz (lead story) that Israel should establish its own independent committee to investigate IDF activity in Gaza during last winter's Operation Cast Lead. HaQaretz and The Jerusalem Post reported that in a New York Times opinion piece, Robert L. Bernstein, founding chairman emeritus of the NGO Human Rights Watch, has sharply criticized the organization for Qhelping those who wish to turn Israel into a pariah. HaQaretz quoted a senior Shin Bet official as saying that Hamas failed militarily during Operation Cast Lead and did not achieve any of its aims. According to the official, the group's battle doctrine was proved hollow and failed to cause any real damage to Israel. Leading media reported that a U.S. court remanded Stewart David Nozette, the former NASA scientist who was arrested this week for offering to pass along classified information to an FBI agent posing as an Israeli intelligence officer, into custody until October 29. Key intelligence reporters expressed their belief in Israeli media that there is an QobsessionQ about Israeli spying in the U.S. among the U.S. intelligence branches. Yediot cited the concern of officials in the Israeli military industries that the affair might harm relations between the U.S. and their enterprises. Major media reported that today the U.S. and Israeli militaries will launch their biggest joint missile defense drill yet, in the shadow of mounting missile threats from Iran, Hizbullah and Syria, and growing regional tension over Tehran's nuclear program. The Juniper Cobra 10 exercise will test responses to a range of incoming projectiles. The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday the IDF announced that more than 1,000 members of the U.S. military's European Command and a similar number of IDF soldiers will participate. Maariv reported that the IDF may install Arrow missile defenses on ships. Israel Radio reported that French FM Bernard Kouchner has canceled his scheduled visit to the region. The radio cited IsraelQs veto on a visit by Kouchner to Gaza as one of the likely reasons for the move. HaQaretz reported that the Israeli Embassy in the U.S. announced yesterday that it would send an "observer" to left-leaning Israel lobby J Street's first national conference next week, in place of Ambassador Michael Oren. J Street responded to the statement by saying it was still awaiting a direct response from Oren on the matter. The Jerusalem Post reported that on Monday, past and present Jordanian, Israeli, and American diplomats will come together at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem to mark the 15th anniversary of the peace treaty between Israel and Jordan. Maariv quoted Dan Schueftan, an influential Middle East scholar, as saying during a lecture at Tel Aviv University that the QArabs are the greatest failure of the human race.Q Schueftan also reportedly made other derogatory statements against Arabs and the Palestinian people. Leading media reported that Israel dropped 46 slots to 93rd place (out of 175 countries around the world) in the annual freedom of the press rankings released yesterday by Reporters without Borders. The fall was attributed to IsraelQs increased restrictions on journalists, notably during Operation Cast Lead. However, Reporters without Borders said Israel Qstill enjoys total [press] freedom that is unequalled in the region. The media reported that PM Netanyahu is turning 60 today. -------------- Ambassador Susan Rice to Israel: -------------- Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. QAn Investigation Will Guarantee a Veto Irit Kahan, the Vice President of the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists and a former head of the International Department at the State ProsecutorQs Office, wrote in the independent, left-leaning HaQaretz (10/21): QWe should recall that universal authority is complementary authority -- it will be used only if the country in whose territory crimes allegedly have been committed does not exercise its power of investigation and jurisdiction. And in fact, Goldstone operated according to this principle and gave Israel an opportunity to act on its own.... There is no question that investigating events that took place on the battlefield is a difficult task. Nevertheless, we must complete the investigation quickly because time is not on our side. We owe this investigation to ourselves, first of all. If we are equipped with the results of a serious investigation, as proposed, it will be easier for our friends in the Security Council to veto the proposal to transfer the matter to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. II. QNo More Pollards The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (10/21): QWhatever the truth, the FBI's arrest of Stewart David Nozette in Washington on Monday on charges of spying for Israel is bad news. It will provide fodder for enemies of this country and cause them to hope that the energies of the pro-Israel community will be diverted, dissipated, or delegitimized. It will bolster anti-Zionist extremists across the political spectrum who promulgate the canard that Jewish Americans are guilty of dual loyalty. And though there is no evidence whatsoever that Israeli intelligence had any connection to Nozette, the arrest will reinforce the slander about Israeli spying in the U.S.... Nozette is said to be Jewish. It's plain, however, that neither ideology nor ethnicity served as a catalyst for his alleged treason. QDon't expect me to do this for free,Q he told the FBI agent posing as a Mossad operative. Some will see this case as part of an ongoing vendetta by U.S. counterespionage against Israel -- contributing to an overzealousness that has seen some of its cases thrown out of court. The feud purportedly stems from a conviction in Washington that an Israeli Qsuper moleQ infiltrated the U.S. Government and that until Jerusalem admits this and makes amends, the witch-hunts will go on. But Israel's position since the 1984 Pollard affair is that it does not spy on the United States. The Nozette case only reinforces the need to adhere strictly to this promise and not to let anything undermine the special relationship between our two countries. III. QCaught in the Partisan Crossfire Jonathan S. Tobin, Executive Editor of Commentary Magazine, wrote in The Jerusalem Post (10/21): QBoth sides of the political divide [in America] are guilty at times of hypocritically judging their opponents more harshly than their allies. Not very long ago some on the right were happy to brand Bush-bashers as un-American or unpatriotic, a stance that liberals found intolerable since it blurred the very real distinction between extremists and mainstream dissent. Today, the Left is trying to play the same game in dealing with Obama-bashers. But this is not a pastime in which those who claim to represent American Jewry should play a part. While Jewish groups have an obligation to hold those who employ Holocaust analogies accountable, they would do well to stay out of the sort of partisan crossfire into which Obama's foot soldiers would like to fling them. CUNNINGHAM