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. Ahmadinejad Speech at QDurban 2

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Key stories in the media:
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Most media reporting and comments are focused on Holocaust Martyrs'
and Heroes' Memorial Day.

All media underscored Iranian President Mahmoud AhmadinejadQs speech
at the UN anti-racism conference in Geneva (QDurban 2Q),in which he
called Israel the Qmost cruel and oppressive, racist regime.Q He
accused the West of dispossessing the Palestinians Qon the pretext
of Jewish suffering from World War II.Q The media reported that
some 40 diplomats from more than 20 countries, mostly Europeans but
including Morocco and perhaps Jordan, walked out of the hall. The
media quoted PM Benjamin Netanyahu as saying yesterday: QThe sad
fact that as we mark the events of the Holocaust here at Yad Vashem
in Jerusalem, there are those who choose to participate in a display
of hatred of Israel in the very heart of Europe." Netanyahu also
criticized the president of Switzerland for meeting Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday, and praised the diplomats
who walked out of the conference hall. President Shimon Peres
called the conference "the acceptance of racism rather than a fight
against it." He condemned those who would "attack the only country
in the world that was established as a haven for Holocaust
survivors, the only country that will prevent another Holocaust."

The Jerusalem Post reported that PM Netanyahu used yesterdayQs
cabinet meeting to reiterate IsraelQs belief that recognition of its
Jewishness would be an integral part of any final settlement.

The Jerusalem Post reported that instituting another cease-fire with
Hamas will be at the focus of talks tomorrow between DM Barak and
visiting Egyptian Intelligence Minister Omar Suleiman.

HaQaretz quoted IDF Intelligence head Amos Yadlin as saying
yesterday that President ObamaQs Middle East policy could endanger
Israel. "The Obama administration is determined to take initiative
and move forward central processes in the Middle East," Yadlin told
ministers at a special cabinet meeting. "Obama wants to advance the
peace process in the direction of realistic discussions with
extremist elements," Yadlin said, adding that the struggle between
extremist and moderate elements in the region was worsening.
Shifting his previous stance, Yadlin was quoted as saying that Hamas
has been deterred and is now interested in reaching a peace
settlement with Israel. Yadlin said the struggle between moderates
and extremists in the Middle East is intensifying, and that moderate
Arab states understand that Iran is a threat to the region. He said
Hizbullah's operations reach well beyond those uncovered recently in
Egypt. The Jerusalem Post quoted Yadlin as saying that the
worldwide economic crisis is hurting IranQs progress towards an
indigenous nuclear weapon.

HaQaretz reported that, fearing that it might upset Egypt, Hamas has
reduced the number of rockets it is firing into Israel.

HaQaretz reported that DM Ehud Barak has ordered his ministry to buy
the Vulcan-Phalanx system from the U.S. for the protection of
southern towns and strategic facilities. The systems will provide
early warning and interception of short-range Qassam rockets and
mortar shells fired from Gaza. "The Vulcan-Phalanx cannons and
radar will be part of a multi-layer defense to intercept rockets,"
Barak told HaQaretz yesterday. "Such defense, as far as I am
concerned, is a strategic goal. The goal is to create a situation
where as many rockets as possible launched at Israel are
intercepted."

The Jerusalem Post quoted UN officials in New York and Jerusalem as
saying yesterday that they were frustrated by the continued lack of
access to Gaza in the wake of last winterQs Operation Cast Lead.
Lynn Pascoe, the UNQs Under-Secretary General for Political Affairs,
was quoted as saying that he found the slow progress toward
reconstruction Qdeeply frustratingQ and blamed the situation equally
on the absence of progress toward political reconciliation among
Palestinian factions and on IsraelQs refusal to lift the border
restrictions.

The Jerusalem Post quoted Canadian PM Stephen Harper as saying
yesterday: QTime limits on negotiations with Iran could be
effective.Q Harper was responding to a question from the
newspaper.

HaQaretz reported that half of the Jews in the U.S. support direct
American negotiations with Iran without preconditions, according to
a new Anti-Defamation League survey. The poll results, released
Monday, show that 45 percent of Jews in the U.S. think that the U.S.
administration should engage Iran in negotiations only if Iran
suspends its enrichment of uranium. Fifty-five percent of
respondents support a U.S. military assault on Iran if negotiations
and sanctions don't result in a halt to the country's nuclear
program, while 27 percent oppose such an attack. By a slightly
larger margin (58 percent),American Jews support Israeli military
action against the Iranians if the Islamic Republic persists in
moving toward the development of a nuclear bomb. Twenty-seven
percent of those surveyed opposed such an Israeli assault.

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1. Mideast:
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Summary:
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Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in the independent,
left-leaning Ha'aretz: QIt will be interesting to see [Mahmoud]
Abbas's expression when Netanyahu presents him with his very own map
of Palestine, covering some 40 percent of the West Bank. No less.

Block Quotes:
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I. "Forever Stalling"

Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in the independent,
left-leaning Ha'aretz (4/21): QAfter shaking Obama's hand -- as a
sign of agreement to the immediate renewal of negotiations with the
Palestinians -- the Prime Minister will pull out the Clinton-Barak
and the Bush-Olmert understandings, according to which Qnothing is
agreed upon until everything is agreed upon.Q Netanyahu will claim
that since his predecessors' contacts failed to bring about an
agreement, he is entitled to start from scratch. He will demand
that the map of Palestine covering more than 90 percent of the West
Bank's area -- the map Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert presented to both
Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas -- be removed from the negotiating
table. It will be interesting to see Abbas's expression when
Netanyahu presents him with his very own map of Palestine, covering
some 40 percent of the West Bank. No less.

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2. Ahmadinejad Speech at QDurban 2Q:
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Summary:
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Nobel Peace Prizewinner Elie Wiesel wrote on page one of the
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: QIsrael isnQt a country
of saints. But compared with what others -Q including the great
powers -Q did in similar circumstances, Israel isnQt the worst
offender.

The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: QIt's
hard to decide which is worse -- outright Holocaust-denial of the
Ahmadinejad variety, or insidious assertions by Euro-leftists and
anti-Zionists that would lull Israelis into letting down our guard
and robbing us of the will to fight for our survival.

Block Quotes:
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I. "Today WeQre Fighting with Words"

Nobel Peace Prizewinner Elie Wiesel wrote on page one of the
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (4/21): QIs the Israeli
government always blameless? Certainly not. Israel isnQt a country
of saints. But compared with what others -Q including the great
powers -Q did in similar circumstances, Israel isnQt the worst
offender.... Israel-hating orators at QDurban 2Q made their
customary accusations against Israel, hoping that we wouldnQt
remember, but we do remember. Sixty-five years ago, on April 19,
the last fighters began a rebellion against the then-strongest army
in Europe. They fought with weapons that were bought with gold.
Today weQre fighting with words -Q because we remember.

II. "The New Deniers"

The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (4/21):
QWe watched in distress as many in the audience and galleries
applauded [Ahmadinejad]. Such barefaced anti-Zionism is, however,
offensive to Western governments and we were gratified that dozens
of EU delegates -- including those from France, Finland and the UK
-- walked out as Ahmadinejad spewed forth his venom. Of course, the
real heatbreak was that these countries were represented i the
hall in the first place. Yesterday's farcein Geneva proved again
how the charge of "racism has been cheapened to the point of having
lost much of its meaning. The same holds true for the words
Qgenocide,Q Qwar crimes,Q Qapartheid,Q and Qghetto.Q Those who
distort -- willfully or through ignorance -- the meanings of the
dreadful vocabulary of hate for tawdry political purposes commit an
unpardonable injustice.... A variation on the theme that Israel uses
the Holocaust as a battering ram against the Palestinians is the
disingenuous argument that it's time for us Israelis to move on: We
need Qclosure,Q runs this line of more subtle attack, because
Zionism's guiding principle of QNever AgainQ supposedly deludes us
into thinking that we face existential threats (from Iran, Hamas,
Hizbullah) or demographic threats (posed by the Palestinian demand
for the "right of return"). None of these factors, these
manipulators would have the world believe, really threatens our
existence.... It's hard to decide which is worse -- outright
Holocaust-denial of the Ahmadinejad variety, or insidious assertions
by Euro-leftists and anti-Zionists that would lull Israelis into
letting down our guard and robbing us of the will to fight for our
survival.

CUNNINGHAM