ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002648 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: -------------- Major media (lead story in HaQaretz) reported that yesterday PM Benjamin Netanyahu told the KnessetQs Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Syria is now willing to negotiate without preconditions, having retracted its earlier insistence that talks could not begin unless Israel first agreed to withdraw from the entire Golan. Briefing the committee on the indirect feelers to Syria that he put out several weeks ago via French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Netanyahu said that Damascus had initially insisted on this precondition. However, Israel Radio quoted GOI sources as saying that Syria has not given up on the return of the Golan. The radio also quoted several senior Syrian spokespeople as saying that other options than negotiating with Israel are available to their country. This morning, Israel Radio quoted Deputy Syrian FM Faysal Mekdad as saying that he favors Turkish-mediated negotiations with Israel, in which the U.S. would have a role. Israel Hayom quoted senior GOI sources as saying that this week Israel will withdraw from the village of Ghajar, which straddles the Lebanon border. Similarly, other media wrote that U.N. diplomat Terje Roed-Larsen held unpublicized meetings over the weekend with top government leaders, adding fuel to the speculation that an Israeli withdrawal from Ghajar is imminent. Leading media reported that the foreign ministers of the E.U. will meet in Brussels today at SwedenQs behest to discuss the concept of Jerusalem as the capital of two nations. Israel Radio and other media cited the belief of GOI sources as saying that the ministers will reach a compromise agreement. Israel Radio and the leading Internet news service Ynet reported that Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, the senior Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has sent letters to the E.U. foreign ministers, calling on them to reject a proposition to recognize east Jerusalem as the future capital of a Palestinian state. Ros-Lehtinen wrote in her letter that Jerusalem has been a symbol of religious freedom for 42 years. The Jerusalem Post reported that the Netanyahu government has an undeclared but de facto policy of not letting senior political figures, such as foreign ministers, enter Gaza from Israel. According to government officials, the reasoning is twofold: to deny Hamas legitimacy that would accompany such visits and as a way of trying to apply pressure over Gilad Shalit. The policy has come to light after Irish FM Michael Martin told a parliamentary committee last week that Israel had banned a visit he had hoped to make to Gaza. Responding to criticism that Israel was trying to hide the situation in Gaza, Israeli government officials pointed out that statesmen can always enter Gaza through Egypt. Maariv reported that PM Netanyahu has decided to build a barrier along the border with Egypt to stem the flow of refugees into Israel. Leading media reported that the heads of the hesder yeshivas (which combine religious studies and military service) will meet Tuesday with Defense Minister Ehud Barak at his office in Tel Aviv to discuss the issue of insubordination after a series of incidents that have sparked tension between rabbinic and military authorities. The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday Barak insisted that settlers obey the rule of law, as they clashed with security personnel at the entrance to Jerusalem and across the West Bank. Eight right-wing protesters were arrested. HaQaretz reported that that the status of the Har Bracha yeshiva, which was attacked for its role in inciting soldiers, has actually risen since then, even among moderate religious Zionists. The Jerusalem Post and other media quoted opposition leader and Kadima chair Tzipi Livni as saying yesterday that Netanyahu is endangering IsraelQs interests by grouping settlement blocs together with outposts in his 10-month building moratorium. The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday, in a meeting with Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan Monday, President Obama called Turkey an "important player" in keeping Iran's nuclear energy program peaceful despite his recent criticism of the Western approach towards Tehran. Speaking beside Obama at a White House press conference, Erdogan said that the two leaders discussed what could be done "jointly in the region with regard to nuclear programs." He also stressed that "we stand ready as Turkey to do whatever we can do with respect to relations between Israel and the Palestinians, and Israel and Syria." Yediot quoted Col. Yossi Baidatz, head of research at IDF Intelligence, as saying yesterday at the KnessetQs Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Iran now possesses 1,800 kg of enriched uranium -- enough to produce Qone and a halfQ nuclear weapon. Baidatz also said that Israel has missiles capable of reaching Israel. Leading media reported that last night, after months of heated debate, the Knesset approved the Biometric Database Law, paving the way for the introduction of "smart" identification documents for all Israelis. The Interior Ministry can now store the fingerprints and facial contours of all Israeli citizens in a central data bank. Once the law goes into effect, there will be a trial period of two years, during which participation in the biometric database will be voluntary. If the trial period is deemed successful, Interior Ministry officials will be authorized to take the fingerprints and facial contours of all Israeli residents before providing them with identifying documents. The documents will include a micro-chip, which will contain photos of two fingerprints and the person's facial contours. The plenum finally approved the legislation by a vote of 40 to 11, with three abstaining, after coalition skeptics forced the Government to draft a compromise to allay fears that a biometric database would provide fertile ground for computer hackers and violate citizens' basic privacy rights. The Jerusalem Post and Israel Radio reported that an Islamic Jihad operative suspected of transporting two suicide bombers to perpetrate an attack in Kfar Sava in 2002? was arrested in a joint IDF-Shin Bet operation in Nablus overnight yesterday. The man went underground after the attack -- in which several Israelis were wounded -- and has been in hiding for the last seven years. In an unrelated story, The Jerusalem PostQs Web site reported that three Arab-Israeli residents of East Jerusalem were indicted three weeks ago for suspected membership in the Muslim Brotherhood, a terrorist organization. HaQaretz reported that coalition and opposition Knesset members are drafting a bill to bar foreigners from owning an Israeli newspaper. The law appears to target the free daily Israel Hayom, owned by American billionaire Sheldon Adelson, an associate of PM Netanyahu. Among the bill's initiators are Knesset members Daniel Ben Simon (Labor),Yoel Hasson (Kadima) and Ofer Nimrodi, who owns the daily Maariv. Israel Hayom's popularity is seen mainly as a threat to Maariv. All media reported that early yesterday Israeli security forces shot and killed Yakir Ben Melech, 34, an Israeli man who attempted to infiltrate Gaza near the Erez Crossing. Some media reported that the man may have been mentally unstable. Yediot quoted him as having said that he decided to Qsave Shalit. IDF Radio quoted Justice Minister Yaakov Ne'eman as saying last night at a rabbinical conference that he believes Jewish law (Halakha) should be the binding law in Israel. The electronic media quoted NeQeman as saying last night that he wanted to "restore glory" to the judicial system in Israel by reinstating the law of the Torah. He added that this would best be achieved slowly and "step by step." Following the stir he caused, Ne'eman this morning clarified that his statements didn't imply a Qcall to replace state laws with halachic [Jewish religious] laws, not directly or indirectly." His office issued a statement which read, "The minister spoke in broad terms on restoring the Jewish law and its importance in state life." HaQaretzQs Web site reported that this morning Tzipi Livni harshly criticized Ne'eman's comments, saying they should be troubling to "every citizen who cares about what happens in Israel in terms of its values and democracy." Ne'eman's remarks also drew criticism from left-wing politicians, including Meretz leader Haim Oron and Hadash chairman Mohammed Barakeh. Ynet quoted senior members of the Israeli judicial establishment as saying that NeQeman will not be able to hold on to his post following this controversy. Yediot reported on a campaign by the Israeli Foreign Ministry to encourage Israelis to seek jobs at the U.N. Israel Hayom wrote that it is the U.N. that is actually looking for Israeli employees. Maariv reported that an Israeli was among four people arrested in connection with a lethal fire at a nightclub in Perm, Russia, on Saturday, in which 113 people were killed. Citing the American-Jewish newspaper The Forward, HaQaretz notes that the QcolorfulQ family of Chelsea ClintonQs fianc, Marc Mezvinksy, is a Qprominent Jewish political clan that includes a former U.S. congressman convicted of fraud; another member of Congress who fell on her sword for a future in-law in a vote that ended her political career; no fewer than 10 brothers- and sisters-in-law, and a fervently anti-Zionist uncle. -------------- ¶1. Mideast: -------------- Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. QAll Pain, No Gain The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (12/8): QThe [U.S.] administrationQs minimalist response to NetanyahuQs two historic announcements [the Bar-Ilan University speech recognizing a demilitarized QPalestineQ and his November 25 announcement of a 10-month moratorium on new settlement construction], along with its failure to persuade Arab governments to take steps toward normalization with Israel and demonstrate that the Arab Peace Initiative is not simply a propaganda ploy, can only make one wonder where this freeze is going to lead. If it means so little to the White House and nothing to the Palestinians Q if it is, moreover, not part of some larger coherent strategy in which Netanyahu enunciates what IsraelQs boundaries ought to be Q and if the moratoriumQs gut-wrenching impact domestically is all pain and no gain, what are its benefits?.... The real reason [Mahmoud] Abbas does not want to talks [with Israel] is because he hopes that by hanging tough, an exasperated Washington will impose the Fatah position on Israel. On top of that, he does not want to appear conciliatory when HamasQ fortunes are on the rise. So NetanyahuQs U.S.-pressed freeze has pitted settlers against soldiers. It hasnQt swayed Abbas or the Arab League. HAMAS is bemused. Europe is little impressed. The Obama administration, which so far has merely offered parsimonious praise, needs to do better. II. QThe Wink Became a Rebellion Senior columnist and longtime peace advocate Yoel Marcus wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (12/8): QWhat this column described on Friday as Benjamin Netanyahu's Qbig wink,Q a clever tactical ruse designed to freeze construction in the West Bank for 10 months only, has turned into a full-fledged revolt much faster than we expected.... [Beside antagonism within the government], in the settlements ... the waves of protest and opposition currently look like a tsunami in the making. The concern that it could eventually flood the country, sweeping aside everything in its path, is a serious one.... Instead of Qtwo states for two peoples,Q Bibi's initiative has revealed an Israel with two peoples inhabiting a single state. It is not clear whether he realized the opposition would be this fierce and this violent. But it is clear that when the time comes to evacuate outposts the opposition will be even more violent and could even degenerate into bloodshed. Because over there, they don't buy ruses accompanied by a wink. If negotiations with the Palestinians resume before the 10 months are over, as the settlers fear will happen, this will not be an Qedict of destruction,Q as Danny Dayan [who chairs the Yesha Council of Settlements in the Territories] claims, but rather a renewed effort to determine the state's permanent borders. Ze'ev Jabotinsky [LikudQs ideological forefather] is dead and the dream of the QGreater Land of IsraelQ was buried by Sharon. Netanyahu must prove that he is cut from the cloth that turns a compulsive manipulator into a leader of the nation as a whole -- and that he has the strength of mind to suppress the rebellion. III. QA Firm Hand Will Prevent Insurgence Prominent liberal-centrist playwright Yehoshua Sobol wrote in the independent Israel Hayom (12/8): QAny Israeli who wishes to destroy, from the outset, any possibility of negotiations, has to prove that Israel is not a serious partner. In order to do this, he must prove that the Israeli government is incapable of carrying out decisions that it itself passed. In other words: he must show the Israeli government as an empty vessel and the person heading it as spineless and as incapable of compelling the government and the security forces to carry out the governmentQs policy. This is precisely what the efforts of the extremists among the settlers aim for.. This act of the settlers will bring IsraelQs image as a country of law and order to a nadir that has no compare in recent years. The anarchy that will be created here in wake of the governmentQs failure to instate its policy will threaten the future of Israel more than all its external enemies. IV. QA Convenient Distractions Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (12/8): QOn the eve of signing the settlement construction freeze order, Avigdor Lieberman told reporters that the settlements had never been an obstacle to peace. The proof, the Foreign Minister explained, is that the Jewish settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank] did not stop Egypt and Jordan from signing peace agreements with Israel. Therefore, the settlements are not the real reason why the Palestinians are refusing to resume peace negotiations. The natural growth and mortality rates among residents in Judea and Samaria since the two Arab neighbors signed peace agreements provide the strongest proof that Lieberman is correct. He just forgets to mention that the Egyptians and Jordanians took Israel's promises to end the occupation seriously. Even the Palestinians, the direct victims of land theft, did not present the construction freeze as a condition for negotiations. The settlements are not the real reason for President Mahmoud Abbas's refusal to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The point of contention hinges on a completely different issue: the peace process. Abbas insists that the talks on the permanent status agreement be based on the parameters of the 2003 Roadmap, which received affirmation in a U.N. Security Council Resolution. The map is reminiscent, among other things, of the Arab peace initiative which focused on normalization in return for an Israeli withdrawal from the territories occupied in 1967. Netanyahu has yet to utter the word QRoadmapQ and refuses to revise its timetable (which originally called for the conflict to end in 2005). The Prime Minister is also rejecting the Palestinian demand to resume the negotiations at the point where Abbas and Ehud Olmert ended them a year ago. For Netanyahu, the crisis regarding the settlements was therefore the perfect diversionary tactic; first he wore out the Americans with fights over the wording of the construction freeze and now the clashes with the settlers over the freeze orders are distracting the public from the wording of the negotiations. A foreign diplomat this week offered another indication that the Netanyahu-Lieberman government managed to transform the settlements into an obstacle to peace. ¶V. QAfter Three and a Half Years Chief Economic Editor and senior columnist Sever Plotker wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (12/8): QIt could be that Gilad Shalit will be released soon; I hope. It could be that the negotiations for his release will reach a positive end; I hope. Even if this happens, that will be insufficient to make up for the flawed way in which these negotiations were conducted. The first flaw: the secrecy. The negotiations have been held behind closed doors, under a heavy mantle of censorship and disinformation. The second flaw: passivity. The Palestinian side submits a list of names of prisoners and Israel removes those that are not to be considered and discusses the others. The third flaw: lack of proportionality. In exchange for kidnapped soldiers of low military rank, Israel is willing to discuss the release of prominent and senior terrorists, on condition that they are few in number. We can learn a lesson from these flaws and propose, in their place, another format, one that is completely opposite, when bargaining with Hamas.... Common Israeli thinking reflects the belief that it is better to release one terror leader than 100 field activists. That is a mistake: the starting point for a discussion on a prisoner exchange must be that a soldier is not exchanged for a general, only a soldier for soldiers. The damage to IsraeliQs security from the release of 50 infamous terror leaders is immeasurably greater than the damage from the release of 2,500 rank and file field activists -- on condition that there is not among them even one senior terrorist. Let HAMAS bargain and say: please remove 500 prisoners from the list and instead release a terror bigwig who is close to our leadership. LetQs see them do that. ItQs still not too late to think outside the box and begin a new strategy in the negotiations for Shalit -- unless the Israeli government has already committed to a secret, passive and QqualityQ deal from which it cannot retract. If not, let us turn things upside down. -------------- ¶2. Iran: -------------- Block Quotes: -------------- QA Regime Whose Days Are Numbered Columnist Boaz Bismuth, who was IsraelQs Ambassador to Mauritania between 2004 and 2008, wrote in the independent Israel Hayom (12/8): QDemonstrations by the Iranian opposition have long ceased to be a QrebellionQ attempt against President Ahmadinejad and they represented the will to depose Supreme Leader Khamenei and unsettle the idea of QVelayat e-FaqihQ (the Islamist regime) which is the basis of the Islamic Republic. All signs point to the fact that the question is not Qwhether,Q but when the street will topple the regime.... Iranian rule is isolated more than ever -- domestically and abroad. When it has nothing to offer and when the rest of the Arab world [sic] closes its door to it, it can only further radicalize and choose the option of conflict at every opportunity. February 11, Islamic Revolution Day, will probably be yet another day of demonstrations against the Ayatollahs. So will every future festive day turn into a nightmare for a regime, the days of which are numbered. CUNNINGHAM