Schlaglicht Nr. 10/09 Aktuelles aus israelischen Tageszeitungen 11. – 29. Juni 2009

1. Netanjahus Bar-Ilan Rede If we add to that his endorsement of continuing the settlement enterprise, Netanyahu practically Am 14. Juni hielt Benjamin Netanjahu seine mit neutralized his main statement: Two states for two Spannung erwartete Grundsatzrede an der Bar-Ilan peoples. However, diplomatic life has dynamics of Universität.. In ihr bekannte sich der Premierminister its own, and as we are dealing with Netanyahu here, erstmals zu einem palästinensischen Staat, this is nonetheless an encouraging start." verknüpfte dieses Zugeständnis jedoch mit einer Dror Nissan, JED 15.06.09 Reihe von Bedingungen. Dazu zählen die Demilitarisierung dieses Staates, sowie die The same old babble Anerkennung Israels als jüdischem Staat.. Während "Thirty minutes of focused observation and attentive die Reaktionen in Israel überwiegend positiv listening to a prime minister presenting his nation, ausfielen, wies die palästinensische Führung diese through deep conviction, with a blend of tired clichés Forderungen umgehend zurück. the likes of which we’ve been hearing for decades Die Rede muss auch als Antwort auf Barak Obamas now. […] First of all, we are small and surrounded Ansprache in Kairo verstanden werden. Der US- by enemies, and therefore the Iranian threat is more Präsident hatte sich darin deutlich für eine Zwei- important […]. Secondly, we are awfully right, and Staaten-Lösung ausgesprochen und damit Druck as proof of this see the pogroms and the Holocaust auf die israelische Regierung ausgeübt. Diesen […]. Druck hoffte Netanjahu mit seiner Ansprache However, there is hope – for […] tourism […] and wenigstens kurzfristig gemindert zu haben - Obama cooperation […], as well as Arab entrepreneurs who wertete die Rede als ersten Schritt in die richtige will come here and invest; and all of this was uttered Richtung. [without] too much logical order or wise dramatic structure, just in order to finally reach the formula A light earthquake which marks Bibi at his best […]. "Time and mostly the deeds of That is, sometimes in the future we will engage in will tell, yet the impression is that something negotiations with the Palestinians without pre- happened here. It is hard to ignore the importance of conditions, as long as they agree to our pre- the prime minister’s speech, and the shift in his conditions. Later we’ll see what comes out of it. " positions reflected in the speech and mostly in his Ariana Melamed, JED 15.06.09 rhetoric. The man who wrote books about terror and who made most of his public service career out of Ein Palästinenserstaat, aber... warning of and scaring us with the prospect of a "Dreißig Minuten rechter Rhetorik umwickelten und Palestinian state has ultimately declared the verdeckten eine klitzekleine linke Botschaft. Ein necessity of establishing it. […] einziger, isolierter, bloßgelegter, aber bedeutender However, one has difficulty in seeing how purposeful Satz. Schlussendlich sagte er die eine Sache, die er diplomatic negotiations can be stimulated in the face bis heute nur mit Augenzwinkern und Hochziehen of the endless series of reservations presented by der Schultern angedeutet hatte. Er sagte Netanyahu, and with the model he proposed, 'palästinensischer Staat' und ist am Leben whereby the Palestinians establish a state without a geblieben." state. Ben Caspit, MAA 15.06.09

1 The Right's knuckleheaded response angedeuteten Vergleich zwischen dem historischen "Even for a leadership well-versed in rejecting Leid der Juden und den relativen Mühen der Israel's outstretched hand of peace, the Palestinians Palästinenser. [...] wasted little time Sunday night in denouncing Prime Der wichtigste Höhepunkt der Rede war die Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's bold diplomatic historische und ideologische Grundlage, die address. […] Netanjahu dem Recht des jüdischen Volkes und Given the haste and harshness of the reaction, one dem Staat Israel verlieh. [...] would assume that Israel's Right would have looked Die wahre Größe der Rede lag darin, dass sie die on this turn of events with glee. After all, if Ramallah Herzen in Israel zum Schmelzen brachte." reacted with such wrath, then certainly the people in Amnon Lord, HZO 15.06.09 Ofra and Otniel should be overjoyed, don't you think? Yet that is clearly not the case, as a number The PM at Bar Ilan: A damage assessment of right-wing figures have come out solidly against "In his speech at Bar-Ilan University, Prime Minister the speech, invoking terms such as 'betrayal.' […] Binyamin Netanyahu acquiesced to precisely what The fact is that Netanyahu's speech was masterfully he was elected to repudiate. […] crafted, not only in terms of style and structure, but Instead of seizing on these indisputable failures of especially in terms of content. It was the perfect the land-for-peace/two-states-for two-peoples rejoinder to the pressure from Washington, approach to repudiate it, Netanyahu embraced it - essentially turning the tables on the Palestinians and however reluctantly. Instead of enlisting the events immediately transforming them into the of last 15 years to delegitimize the Palestinian rejectionists." narrative, he endorsed it - however Michael Freud, JPO 16.06.09 unenthusiastically. […] In the final analysis Netanyahu chose surrender Speaking the truth over resistance, and in so doing he put in grave "The 'taboo' has finally been broken and now every danger not only his country and his people but the major Israeli political party officially endorses the very rationale of Zionism itself." 'two-state solution.' Moreover, the prime minister's Martin Sherman, JPO 16.06.09 stated conditions for the establishment of such a state – Arab recognition of Israel as Jewish state The forgotten audience and an eventual demilitarized Palestinian state – will "Netanyahu's vision ignores and obscures the more quickly be sidestepped or forgotten. Unless complex Israeli reality, namely, that one of every five something miraculous happens we will be staring at citizens of Israel is an Arab. […] a new Arab state in our midst within the coming In his failure to mention Israel's Arab citizens […] years.” Netanyahu missed a historic opportunity, one that Yoel Meltzer, JED 18.06.09 would have yielded immediate win-win rewards. […] [H]e failed to acknowledge a most basic truth: that Even if he did say 'Palestinian state' without the successful integration of these citizens "Netanyahu's speech of regression has aligned him into Israeli society, Israel can never become the with the positions of and Yisrael Beitenu. They safe, secure, successful and truly just national accept the idea of two states but try to torpedo it homeland for the Jewish people about which he with conditions that render it ridiculous. […] eloquently spoke. […] Even if Netanyahu did say 'a Palestinian state', he So while it is probably too early to assess the impact was not able to pass the rejectionist crown to the of Netanyahu's address on the prospects for Palestinian and Arab side." regional reconciliation, it is already clear that it Shaul Arieli, HAA 16.06.09 produced nothing of promise for those of us who are deeply concerned about Israel's internal cohesion Der Ball geht wieder an Obama and sustainability." "Es war Bibi Netanjahu in seiner Glanzrolle. [...] Mike Prashker, HAA 19.06.09 Sein Schlüsselsatz [...] betraf nicht die palästinensischen Angelegenheiten, sondern den Holocaust. 'Wäre der Staat Israel rechtzeitig entstanden, hätte der Holocaust nicht statt- gefunden', antwortete Netanjahu auf Obamas 2 2. Proteste gegen Wahlbetrug im The presentation of Ahmadinejad as Hitler and Iran Iran as a police state a la '1984' ignores the internal pressure in Iran for greater democracy and Auch in den israelischen Medien stießen die openness. Those who see Iran only through its Präsidentschaftswahlen im Iran und die centrifuges will also find it hard to understand and darauffolgenden Proteste auf großes Interesse. accept the Obama approach, which seeks dialogue Nachdem Präsident Ahmadinejad zum Sieger der with Tehran […]. Wahlen gekürt worden war, waren zehntausende The world may also come to terms with an Iranian Anhänger des reformorientierten Kandidaten bomb. Israel will have difficulty bombing Iran with Mussawi auf die Straße gegangen, um gegen Obama against it, and may even be too late. Under Wahlbetrug zu demonstrieren. such circumstances, it would be best for Israel if In Israel wurde vor allem darüber spekuliert, welche there were people in the Iranian leadership who Auswirkungen ein möglicher Regimewechsel auf die could calm things down in the region, not stir up iranische Rolle im Nahen Osten sowie sein strife." Nuklearprogramm haben würde. Der Chef des Aluf Benn, HAA 12.06.09 israelischen Geheimdienstes, Meir Dagan, trat indes mit seiner Einschätzung an die Öffentlichkeit, dass Israel's rare opportunity eine Revolution im Iran nicht absehbar sei und dass "As far as Israel is concerned, this is a win-win auch ein moderater Präsident keinen Unterschied situation. If the protesters successfully overthrow the für das Verhältnis zu Israel machen würde. regime, they will have neutralized the greatest security threat facing the Jewish state. And if they Mousavi bad for Israel fail, Israel will still probably be better off than it is "Many people will breathe a sigh of relief should Mir- today. For if the mullahs violently repress the pro- Hossein Mousavi be elected as Iran's president. The democracy dissidents, the Obama administration will question is whether a Mousavi victory and be hard-pressed to legitimize their blood bath by Ahmadinejad defeat will indeed serve Israel's embracing them as negotiating partners." strategic interests, and the answer is probably ‘no.’ Caroline Glick, JPO 19.06.09 […] Only after the radical Ahmadinejad’s victory in 2005, A taste of freedom and particularly in wake of his venomous statements 'If he did have the election rigged, [Supreme Leader against the State of Israel and his prominent Ayatollah] Khamenei may have decided that the Holocaust denial, the Western world starting seeing regime did not need a less malevolent persona. Iran in the light Israeli leaders hoped for. […] After all, he's done pretty well with Ahmadinejad as We can assume that a victory by the reformist his number one: Iran's program to build an atom Mousavi and his moderate statements would prompt bomb is on track. Trade with the EU, Russia and the Obama Administration and European leaders to China is brisk. […] The Obama administration be much more open and attentive and much less seems pleasantly quiescent. Bellicosity has critical towards Iran. […] produced dividends. Why change a winning In a state where the president in fact implements the strategy?" policy outlined by supreme leader Khamenei, a JPO 15.06.09 Mousavi win will enable Iran to break the isolation, grant an insurance policy to the Ayatollah regime, and bring it closer to the bomb." Turning point for Iran? Soli Shahvar, JED 12.06.09 "Whatever his original intentions, Mir Hossein Mousavi now represents something bigger than a Israelis for Ahmadinejad 'soft' alternative to Ahmadinejad. His ascendency "The prize for this week's most stupid remark has to would most likely be a good thing for Iran and the go to the officials, officers and experts who world, even if no one really understands the described Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad intentions of the powerful counter-elite behind him. as the candidate Israel prefers to win the election in […] No one knows if there is any turning back after Iran, and were even happy he did. It is hard to think Mousavi put out the word that his followers should of a more blatant manifestation of the narrow hold a general strike in case of his arrest. Plainly, horizons of Israeli strategic thinking. […] 3 the regime hopes that tear gas and bullets will Hamas will lose its main source of strength, and dampen down the protesters' fervor. We shall see." Syria's backdoor will slam shut. JPO 21.06.09 However, everything happening at Tehran’s Azadi Square – the amazing coming together of young The revolution fizzles people, Internet culture, social ferment, and woman "When comparing the events of the past week and a power – would not have happened had we listened half in Tehran to the Islamic revolution in 1978-79, it to the regular bunch of hysterical screamers around becomes apparent why this time around the regime here and attempted to bomb Iran’s nuclear sites. had the upper hand. […] What would have happened then? Exactly what The Iranian regime is showing great determination happens around here during times of war: The and has resorted to brutal violence that deters many Iranian public would have rallied around the Iranians from joining the protests. […] The engine leadership, a wave of patriotic fury would have that led the Islamic revolution was Khomeini’s swept through the whole of Iran, and Ahmadinejad charismatic leadership. One of the main would not have needed to resort to any fraud in weaknesses of the opposition today is lack of order to defeat the reformists." leadership. […] Yair Lapid, JED 27.06.09 However, there is still hope. Despite signs that the protests are fading, the uprising may resume in days or weeks […] 3. Korruption in der Politik The blatant election fraud and the brutal suppression that followed it eroded the regime’s Mit der zeitgleichen Verurteilung zweier Ex-Minister legitimacy and forced it to rely on military force rückte das Thema Korruption in den Mittelpunkt der instead of religious ideology. Iran’s history shows Medienaufmerksamkeit. Während der ehemalige that such victories sowed the seeds of the greater Finanzminister Abraham Hirschson wegen revolutions, even if they came later." Veruntreuung für fünf Jahre ins Gefängnis muss, Meir Litvak, JED 24.06.09 wurde der ehemalige Gesundheitsminister Shlomo Benizri wegen der Annahme von Bestechungs- Jealous of the Iranians geldern zu einer Gefängnisstrafe von vier Jahren It makes one green with envy: The scenes from Iran verurteilt.. Die Urteile, die zufälligerweise am selben prove that some nations are trying to take their fate Tag gefällt wurden, bilden den vorläufigen into their own hands. […] Höhepunkt einer Reihe von Untersuchungen und This is not only about rising up against a tyrannical Anklagen, die seit einigen Jahren die israelische regime; sometimes it's about a struggle for justice in Politik erschüttern. So hatten sowohl Präsident democracies, too. That struggle is not conducted Katsav, als auch Premier Olmert ihr Amt nieder- only in polls and elections; such struggles must spill legen müssen, nachdem Anklage gegen sie out onto the streets. Here, too. […] erhoben worden war. Zurzeit wird zudem gegen den It's true, there is liberty in Israel, but only for us, the amtierenden Außenminister Lieberman ermittelt. Jews. We have a regime that is no less tyrannical Auf dem Korruptionsindex der Organisation than the ayatollahs' regime: the regime of the Transparency International fiel Israel 2008 in einer officers and the settlers in the territories […] Liste von180 Ländern von Platz 30 auf 33. Missing the opportunity here will be just as decisive as four more years of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in A day of honor for the rule of law power. But look what is happening in totalitarian Iran "The government of Israel has known serious and and what is happening here, the sole democracy in embarrassing affairs before, some of which ended in the Middle East, blah, blah, blah." indictments, convictions and even prison sentences. Gideon Levy, HAA 18.06.09 […] Corruption may not have gotten worse since those Good we didn't bomb Iran days, but rather only exposed more frequently and "The collapse of the Ayatollah regime is, of course, treated with greater determination by police everything Israel could ever hope for. We are not investigators, their commanders and the attorney only talking about the nuclear issue, but also about general. […] much more immediate gains: Hizbullah will dry up, Recent years are turning out to be the most significant in the struggle against corruption in high 4 places. President stepped down are not a particularly corrupt country. We are, following a plea bargain […] on charges of sexual moreover, blessed with an indefatigable offenses. Olmert resigned as prime minister […]. investigative press, and with police, prosecutors and The message of the judges is that high position judges more determined than ever to uphold the rule does not grant ministers immunity from of law. " imprisonment. […] But for justice to truly be done JPO 27.06.09 another clear message is needed: No harm will come to complainants and witnesses who testify Throw the book at them against those in high office." "'Not everyone is corrupt' – true, but not sufficient. HAA 25.06.09 Must all the apples be rotten to spoil the whole barrel? And do not believe for a minute that there The tip of the iceberg are isolated, immune islands. […] When a state "Israel’s citizens are fed up with the plethora of stinks from the head, everything will reek sooner or corruption throughout the establishment […]. It must later. Powerful empires have been vanquished only be made clear not only to elected officials expected after they rotted from within. […] to maintain their integrity, but mostly to all those Compassion and consideration will be replaced by around them at their offices or in the corridors of severe judgment. That is what is urgently called for power who seek to secure personal gains via their now. Throw the book at every possible offending association with decision-makers. […] minister and punish him as severely as possible." This is in fact the true malady around here, […] the Yossi Sarid, HAA 25.06.09 deep corruption, which is defined by criminal law as an act of fraud or breach of trust that hurts the public. Shlomo Benizri and Abraham Hirchson stole, and that’s bad. Yet there are many other lower ranked

public officials, at local authorities and government offices, who commit offences that are much more disturbing: They breach the trust granted to them by the public, thereby hurting the public to a much greater extent." Haim Misgav, JED 25.06.09 HAA = Haaretz Corruption in perspective HZO= Ha Tzofe "The fact that two separate Israeli courts sent two IHY = Israeli HaYom ex-ministers to do long stretches behind bars last JED = Jedioth Ahronoth JPO = Post Wednesday confers no great honor on our society. . MAA = Maariv […] [Q]uestion marks are raised by the pronounced sluggishness of the prosecution to move ahead Die Artikel aus HZO und MAA wurde dem Medienspiegel expeditiously with the trials of former premier Ehud der Deutschen Botschaft Israel entnommen. Olmert […] and former president Moshe Katsav. […] The confluence of so many episodes (and even Veröffentlicht am: Juli 2009 more charges which didn't mature into indictments) inevitably creates the impression of a society riddled Verantwortlich: with corruption. […] Dr. Ralf Hexel, But we mustn't be too hard on ourselves. Leiter der Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Israel If anything, the unforgiving sentences meted to two top political players show a judicial system more Redaktion: prone than elsewhere to prosecute headliner Maike Harel offenders. […] The national embarrassment of having two ex- Anita Haviv ministers sent to prison needs to be put in Homepage: www.fes.org.il perspective. Israel does not have more corruption Email: [email protected] than in past years, and, comparatively speaking, we 5

6