ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

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SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

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SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT:
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1. Mideast


2. Aftermath of Israeli Elections

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Key stories in the media:
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The Jerusalem Post quoted senior GOI officials as saying that PM
Ehud OlmertQs decision to condition a Gaza cease-fire and the
opening of the border crossings on the release of Gilad Shalit comes
amid a growing sense in Jerusalem that Hamas is not QseriousQ about
releasing Shalit and would be happy if the current situation
continued Qindefinitely.Q Maariv quoted senior Israeli defense
sources as saying, among mutual recriminations between the
entourages of Olmert and DM Ehud Barak, that the deal is not moving
forward. Leading media cited Egyptian mediatorsQ anger over
IsraelQs linkage of the two issues.

The media quoted President Shimon Peres as saying that until he
received the official results of TuesdayQs elections, he is
Qhesitant to even discuss with myself the subjectQ of assigning one
of the political leaders the responsibility of forming a government.
All media reported that yesterday Kadima agreed to all of Yisrael
BeiteinuQs demands but one, including toppling Hamas, changing the
electoral system, funding immigrants, reforming conversions, and
recognizing civil unions between men and women. The only demand
Kadima did not accept was initiating a loyalty oath to the state.
HaQaretz reported that Yisrael Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman
and Kadima chief Tzipi Livni are working to form a "civil front" to
counter the right-wing and ultra-Orthodox parties which Likud has
been wooing in the coalition talks. HaQaretz quoted sources in
Kadima and Likud as saying they don't expect Lieberman to recommend
any candidate to President Shimon Peres on Thursday as Yisrael
Beiteinu's choice to form a new government. Lieberman would instead
try to force the formation of a national unity government consisting
of Kadima, Likud and Yisrael Beiteinu, without the ultra-Orthodox
Sephardi party Shas. Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that Likud
Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu prefers a broad-based government.

Citing the AP, HaQaretz quoted visiting U.S. Senator Benjamin Cardin
(D-MD) as saying yesterday that there is little difference between
the policies of President Obama and his predecessor over Iran --
both want to keep Iran from getting nuclear weapons. Also citing
the AP, HaQaretz reported that Senator John Kerry is challenging
Syria to demonstrate its seriousness about encouraging peace and
stability in the Middle East. Kerry will meet with Syria's
president this week on a tour of the region that began yesterday in
Egypt. The senator said the U.S. is eager to talk to Syria, whose
president said last month he also wants a dialogue with Washington,
but without preconditions.

Leading media quoted Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah as saying
yesterday that his group has the right to possess an air defense
system to counter the Israeli war planes that regularly fly over
Lebanon. Israel Radio quoted Nasrallah as saying that Hizbullah has
acquired anti-aircraft weapons.

Yesterday HaQaretz reported that some 1,700 dunams (approximately
425 acres) of land in the northern part of Efrat were declared state
land last week, paving the way for the West Bank settlement to start
the process of seeking government approval to build there. The
Civil Administration issued the declaration after rejecting eight
appeals by Palestinians against the move.

HaQaretz reported that yesterday FM Tzipi Livni called on the U.S.
to not participate in the QDurban 2Q conference to be held in Geneva
in April. The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday senior White
House and State Department officials held a conference call with
American Jewish leaders to reassure them over the administrationQs
decision to participate in preliminary discussions about the
conference.

Maariv cited the belief of senior Israeli defense sources that U.S.
special envoy George Mitchell will recommend that the U.S. apply
economic sanctions against Israel by curtailing American aid so that
it relinquishes the settlements.

The Jerusalem Post quoted Bill Knapp, NetanyahuQs American adviser
who served as a strategist in President ObamaQs election campaign,
as saying that Netanyahu and Obama would enjoy a good working
relationship. The newspaper also reported that Netanyahu is not
ruling out participation in a Mideast conference in Moscow. The
Jerusalem Post also quoted Netanyahu as saying on Monday that he
wants to strengthen moderate Palestinian forces.
Leading media reported that yesterday the IDF bombed three smuggling
tunnels along the Gaza-Egypt border, in response to Qassam rocket
attacks earlier in the day.

Citing the German press agency DPA, HaQaretz quoted Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas as saying yesterday: QUnless settlements are
brought to a halt, then talks [with Israel] will be meaningless and
useless.

The Jerusalem Post and other media reported that the IDF announced
on Monday that it plans to partially re-open Zion Route in Hebron to
Palestinian vehicles.

Yediot reported that for the first time since a peace treaty was
signed with Jordan, that country is suing senior Israelis at the
International Court of Justice over war crimes -Q among them PM
Olmert, FM Livni, DM Ehud Barak, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi
Ashkenazi, Deputy DN Matan Vilnai, and Internal Security Minister
Avi Dichter. Speaking on Israel Radio today, Dichter noted that the
Israeli military was considerate and that official Jordan, which
repressed a Palestinian revolt in 1970, was not likely to back the
claim.

HaQaretz reported that a team trained to remove and destroy
unexploded ordnance has been operating in Gaza for three weeks, but
its work is being held up because Israel has not approved the entry
of its equipment nor an area for storing and neutralizing ordnance.

Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that British police have arrested
three British citizens suspected of planning a terrorist attack in
Israel.

Maariv reported that the Jewish community in Greece is angry over
the attitude of Israeli-Arab Ambassador to Greece Ali Yihia
regarding his reported lack of support for IsraelQs operation in
Gaza and its aftermath. The daily cited the Foreign MinistryQs
satisfaction with YihiaQs performance.

Yesterday The Jerusalem Post reported that senior defense officials
told the newspaper on Sunday that an American refusal to permit the
installation of Israeli-made defense systems in the Joint Strike
Fighter (JSF) may postpone the planned delivery of the
fifth-generation stealth jet beyond the target date of 2014.

Yesterday HaQaretz reported that Abdel Wahid al-Nur, the leader of
the Sudan Liberation Movement, one of the rebel groups in Sudan's
Darfur region, recently visited Israel to discuss with a senior
Israeli official the situation in Sudan. Al-Nur came to Israel
earlier this month on his own initiative to attend the annual
Herzliya Conference

HaQaretz reported that yesterday a Tel Aviv-based female chemist was
arrested on suspicion of selling dangerous substances to
Palestinians and criminals.

HaQaretz quoted former Meretz leader Yossi Beilin as saying in his
new book in Russian that Muhammad Dahlan, who was a member of the
Palestinian delegation at Camp David in 2000, called former Shas
leader Aryeh Deri and Avigdor Lieberman a Qkey to peace.Q Over the
weekend major media cited LiebermanQs desire to become defense
minister. Yediot reported that a group of Jewish university
professors headed by Dennis Gaitsgory, who teaches mathematics at
Harvard, has issued a petition warning that elations between Israel
and U.S. Jews might be seriously harmed if Lieberman gets a key
ministerial position.

The media reported that Attorney General Menachem Mazuz has decided
not to investigate Finance Minister Roni Bar-On over an alleged case
of double voting in the Knesset in 2003.

Yediot reported that an urban project in the city of Acre (Akko)
might remove the city from the list of UNESCOQs World Heritage
sites.

HaQaretz and The Jerusalem Post reported that former British PM Tony
Blair will be one of the three laureates of the prestigious Dan
David Prize for 2009, awarded annually by Tel Aviv University.

The Jerusalem Post cited a Market Watch survey that found that 65%
of Israelis would like Kadima and Likud to form a unity government
-- 47% thought that Netanyahu should form the next government, while
39% thought that Livni should.

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1. Mideast:
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Summary:
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The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized:
QDisseminators of news should have learned better than to take
Palestinian death-toll claims at face value, least of all when
sourced directly or indirectly from the Hamas-run government of
Gaza.

Block Quotes:
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I. "The First Casualty"

The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (2/17):
QPalestinian propaganda is insidious because those being manipulated
are oblivious to what is happening. Chaotic images of casualties
being hurried to hospitals, gut-wrenching funerals and swaths of
shattered buildings create an overarching Qreality.Q Against this,
Israel's pleadings that the Palestinians are culpable for the
destruction, and that the above images lack context, scarcely
resonate. Despite six decades of intransigence and a virtual
copyright on airline hijackings and suicide bombings, the
Palestinians have created a popular QbrandQ for themselves by
parlaying their self-inflicted victimization into a battering ram
against Israel. Disseminators of news should have learned better
than to take Palestinian death-toll claims at face value, least of
all when sourced directly or indirectly from the Hamas-run
government of Gaza.



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2. Aftermath of Israeli Elections:
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Summary:
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The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: Q[Avigdor
Lieberman] serving in any ministry, due to the depth and scope of
the investigation, is highly unreasonable and inappropriate, and it
is doubtful whether it will pass legal muster.

Leading industrialist Moshe Gaon, whose late father, Benny Gaon, was
a strong backer of the Oslo process, wrote in an editorial of the
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: QNow is the time to
respect the rules of the democratic game and to understand that the
majority opinion must be deferred to even if this is a Right-wing
majority of voters.

Block Quotes:
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I. "Lieberman Unfit to Be Minister"

The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (2/17): QAn
investigation against Knesset Member Avigdor Lieberman is being
pursued by the police, the Tax Authority, and the Israel Securities
Authority on suspicions of serious charges including bribery,
falsifying corporate documents, fraud, breach of trust, and money
laundering. Attorney General Menachem Mazuz has said the
allegations are QsignificantQ.... Lieberman is thus disqualified and
forbidden from heading the Public Security Ministry, the Justice
Ministry, and the Finance Ministry in light of the investigations by
the police and the Tax Authority, which operate under the Finance
Ministry. But his serving in any ministry, due to the depth and
scope of the investigation, is highly unreasonable and
inappropriate, and it is doubtful whether it will pass legal muster.
In this situation it would behoove the investigators and
prosecutors to make every effort to expedite the matter of the
Yisrael Beiteinu chairman, removing the cloud over him. It is
incumbent upon Mazuz to update the public and the person who forms
the next government on the latest developments regarding the
QsignificantQ suspicions against Lieberman, without harming the
investigation.

II. "What Are They Afraid of?"

Leading industrialist Moshe Gaon, whose late father, Benny Gaon, was
a strong backer of the Oslo process, wrote in an editorial of the
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (2/17): QOver the past
few days I have been hearing the voices of many of my friends in the
business and media communities angrily demanding a national unity
government. Most of them voted for Kadima or Labor. They now want
to see their representatives sit with Likud and the Right.... There
have not been any rules in Israeli politics for a long time.... A
lame and forced solution in the form of a broad-based government
that would rule by rotation is not intended to serve the state. It
is a cover-up for lack of willingness on the part of some
politicians and media people -Q which I regret, too -Q to see the
Right win and the Left lose.... Now is the time to respect the rules
of the democratic game and to understand that the majority opinion
must be deferred to even if this is a Right-wing majority of
voters.

CUNNINGHAM