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. Iran

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Key stories in the media:
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Major media led with tension between the offices of the Defense
Minister and the IDFQs Chief of Staff, following Israel TVQs
unconfirmed disclosure that the tenure C-o-S Gabi Ashkenazi would be
extended by one year.

The media reported that the U.S. is moving towards sanctions against
Iran. A Yediot headline reads: QThe Entire World vs. Iran.Q PM
Benjamin Netanyahu called for crippling sanctions against that
country Qright now.Q Israel Radio reported that Iranian FM
Manouchehr Mottaki warned Israel against attacking his country.

All media reported that yesterday Michael Oren, IsraelQs Ambassador
to the U.S., was heckled by pro-Palestinian protesters at the
University of California, Irvine. Deputy FM Daniel Ayalon underwent
a similar experience at Oxford University, England. A student
shouted QKill the JewsQ at Ayalon.

Based on revelations by PA President Mahmoud Abbas' former
corruption-buster, Fahmi Shabaneh, last night Channel 10-TV
presented an expose on alleged wide-scale corruption in the PA. In
an interview with The Jerusalem Post, Shabaneh, warned that what
happened in the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2007, when Hamas managed
to overthrow the Fatah-controlled regime, is likely to recur in the
West Bank.

Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau (Yisrael Beiteinu) was quoted as
saying in an interview with Israel Hayom: QThere is no difference
between Yasser Arafat and Abu Mazen. One is like Jack the Ripper
and the other is like the Boston Strangler, each with his own style.
One commits his murders in such a way that the blood spatters the
walls while the other kills quietly, but the result is the same.

Leading media reported that the disturbances in the East Jerusalem
neighborhood of Shuafat continued yesterday and today.

HaQaretz quoted Lebanese PM Saad Hariri as saying yesterday that he
was worried by Israel's "escalating" threats to neighboring Lebanon
and Syria, and that they were a huge mistake. Israel Radio also
quoted Hariri as saying that Israel represents a threat to the
entire region. In an interview with BBC News, Hariri said Israeli
planes enter Lebanese and Syrian air space on a regular basis.
Israel Radio quoted a senior Hizbullah official as saying in the
Saudi daily Al-Madina that its top operative Imad Mughniyah was
killed outside Lebanon and that the group is thus entitled to hit
Israeli targets anywhere.

HaQaretz reported that yesterday two hundred fifty Israeli faculty
members sent an open letter to the Council of Higher Education
Tuesday, calling on it not to recognize Ariel College as either a
"university center" or a university.

The media reported that a compromise is expected on the proposed
expatriate voting bill.

Yesterday leading media reported that two on Sunday the High Court
of Justice ordered the release of two female foreign activists who
were arrested in Ramallah the same day. The media reported that Oz,
the Qimmigrant police,Q had no right to intervene in the West Bank.

Leading media reported that on Monday senior Palestinian official
Nasser al-Kidwa urged the U.S. to make clear that the indirect
Mideast peace talks it has proposed will deal with key outstanding
issues including borders, settlements, and the status of Jerusalem.

The Jerusalem Post and other media reported that yesterday PM
Netanyahu, who talked to ambassadors, urged the EU countries to
disabuse the Palestinians of the notion that the international
community will Qdeliver Israel,Q saying this vain Palestinian hope
had led to 10 QwastedQ months.

HaQaretz quoted defense officials as saying that the IDF is not
slated to reopen the Karni border crossing between Israel and Gaza
in the future. Karni was closed after Hamas took over Gaza in June

2007.

Maariv reported that last Sunday a group of Russian immigrant
satirists in Jerusalem sang a song in Hebrew deriding the
assassination of the late PM Yitzhak Rabin. The owners of the
locale interrupted the show.

Yediot reported that the Qlow chairQ incident involving the
humiliation of Turkish ambassador to Israel by Deputy FM Ayalon
caused opposition leader Tzipi LivniQs husband, adman Naftali
Schnitzer, to lose contracts in Turkey.

Maariv reported that the Jewish Agency for Israel is looking for
young Israelis to help in rescue operations in Haiti. They will
receive an open one-year ticket to continue their trip to South
America.

HaQaretz reported that yesterday Environmental Protection Minister
Gilad Erdan (Likud) claimed that the state is IsraelQs biggest
polluter.

The Jerusalem Post reported that American director James Cameron and
actress Jane Fonda denied any connection to a letter calling for a
boycott of the Tel Aviv University film festival.

Yediot reported that the American retail garment chains Banana
Republic and Old Navy will open stores in Israel.








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1. Mideast:
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Block Quotes:
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I. QThe Answer to Iran

Prominent liberal author A.B. Yehoshua Qaddresses IranQ in the
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (2/10): QBy encouraging Hamas'
extremism, you [Iran] merely provoke a harsh response from Israel
and thereby distance the solution for which we all yearn. Not one
single Iranian soldier has ever shed his blood for our people the
way the soldiers of Egypt and Jordan did, yet these countries later
signed peace agreements with Israel. Peace between Israel and
Palestine would neutralize the poisonous sting of Iran's hatred for
Israel and shatter the political-imaginative mechanism that makes it
see Israel as the Qlittle SatanQ that must be destroyed at all
costs. A joint peace front by Israelis and Palestinians could cause
the Iranian people to recoil from the madness that has taken over
the religious leadership of this great and honored nation.
Therefore, the end of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would have a
much greater impact than any Israeli or American military operation.
That would only perpetuate this region's pain and suffering.

II. QBarak Can Do It Too

Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in the independent,
left-leaning HaQaretz (2/10): QNetanyahu [recently] slipped back
into his old image, the pressured and sweaty one, while [Ehud] Barak
displayed self-control and restraint -- precisely the qualities the
public wants for the hand on the red button.... Barak's aspirations
are based on two models. One is Yitzhak Rabin, who used his term as
defense minister to correct his image as a weak prime minister and
return to the helm as the national savior. The other is none other
than Netanyahu, who received a divided and fractured Likud in 2006
and came back with it to government in 2009. Barak believes that if
they succeeded, so can he. His chances depend on how the security
situation plays out. If there is a national crisis, Barak could be
called on to take over because of his experience and composure. An
unsuccessful war could gravely damage his career, as happened to
Moshe Dayan and Amir Peretz, and to Barak himself in the second
intifada. During the Olmert period, Barak tried to moderate the
prime minister's aggression, to delay or shorten military
operations. His critics say he feared that Olmert would take all
the credit. Will Barak behave the same way when Netanyahu brings
the Iranian bomb issue up for a decision? Will he manage to
leverage the crisis to his own advantage and come back to the
leadership in a big way?

III. QA Price without Anything in Exchange

Conservative columnist Amos Carmel wrote in the mass-circulation,
pluralist Yediot Aharonot (2/10): QThe angry Syrian response to
[Foreign Minister Avigdor LiebermanQs] threat illustrated an old
truth: it has become completely clear that Syria has an obvious
price-tag for any peace treaty with Israel. But the geopolitical
significance of any such agreement is rather dubious.... There is no
hint that Syria will disengage from Iran, Hamas, or Hizbullah.
There is no indication of an expected strategic change in the region
Q- only a clear and dangerous required price.

IV. QUnsolved Riddle

Columnist Avraham Tirosh wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv
(2/10): QTo all political camps, Bibi is an unsolved riddle. It not
clear until today Q one year after his election Q what is his real
view about peace and the territories. What is clear is that he is
afraid of the shadow of his coalition partners. His image as prime
minister that he has a stable, safe coalition is no more than a
folk-tale nurtured by his entourage. Netanyahu is crippled and
unable to act against Foreign Minister Lieberman when necessary and
in the right amount. He is also powerless against Ehud BarakQs
moves, although the possibility of the latterQs leaving the
government with the small remainder of his party is distant, even
impossible.


V. QAway with Campus Timidity

The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (2/10):
QCampuses have never been bastions of pro-Israelism. In the 21st
century a difficult campus situation got even worse, partly due to
an influx of Muslim students and the affinity of the
anti-globalization movement for the Palestinian cause. None of this
absolves the current cadre of Jewish student activists from stepping
up to the plate. The Twitter generation even has the advantage of
circumventing the silencing of Israel by utilizing new media. Never
has it been more important to cast timidity aside. To reassert that
no one has a stronger claim to this land than the Jewish people; to
denounce the notion that IsraelQs Qoriginal sinQ was being re-born
after 2000 years; and to explain that the QoccupationQ and
settlements are fundamentally red-herring issues that would fade
away, were the Palestinians to negotiate in earnest for a two-state
solution.

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2. Iran:
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Block Quotes:
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QThis Is the Time to Press

Intelligence affairs writer and television anchor Ronen Bergman
opined in the mass-circulation pluralist Yediot Aharonot (2/10):
QThe self-evident reason [to pressure Iran now]: the Iranians are
accelerating. IranQs nuclear project is advancing in measured
steps, not huge steps, but confidently, and it is moving ahead at a
reasonable pace. Another reason for adopting a tougher line can be
found in the relationship between the German Chancellor and the
French President, both of whom hold a strong position against Iran,
which leads to willingness for significant sanctions. A third
reason: ObamaQs failure and success. Upon his election, the U.S.
President wanted to prove to the Arab world and to liberal Europe
that he had tried to talk to the Iranians and exhausted all
diplomatic options before the sanctions. The Iranians, however,
thumbed their nose at him and used all possible stalling and
deception tactics. Their conduct is greatly helping the
administration today in recruiting additional countries for the
boycott. A fourth reason: The rapprochement between the US and
Russia. Israel will wait to see if there are more sanctions, what
they consist of, and how they will affect Iran. In order to prevent
the bombing of the nuclear facilities, there is no need to apply
pressure to Israel. Only imposing effective sanctions on Iran will
make it clear to the regime of the ayatollahs that continuing the
nuclear project will endanger its very existence.

CUNNINGHAM