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Viewing cable 10MUNICH34, ARAB MEDIA, ONLINE CHAT ROOMS AND THE MUNICH SECURITY

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
10MUNICH34 2010-02-23 08:29 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Consulate Munich
VZCZCXRO0668
PP RUEHIK
DE RUEHMZ #0034/01 0540829
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 230829Z FEB 10
FM AMCONSUL MUNICH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5048
INFO RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEU/EU INTEREST COLLECTIVE
RUCNFRG/FRG COLLECTIVE
RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 0449
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MUNICH 000034 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER EINT KISL XF XD GM
SUBJECT:  ARAB MEDIA, ONLINE CHAT ROOMS AND THE MUNICH SECURITY 
CONFERENCE 
 
MUNICH 00000034  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
1.  (U) The handshake between Prince Turki al Faisal, the former 
head of Saudi Arabia's Intelligence Service, and Israeli Deputy 
Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon off stage but in public view at the 
Munich Security Conference (Munich, February 5-7, reported septels) 
drew the attention of Arab websites, including jihadist chat rooms. 
Despite this "controversial" event, ConGen Munich's informal survey 
of Arab online media revealed that the MSC came up only 13 times in 
jihadist chat rooms and included mentions of the comments by Iran's 
Foreign Minister Motakki and discussions on the political 
reintegration of moderate Taliban.  This lack of interest suggested 
that the conference has not yet captivated the jihadist chat rooms 
despite the relevant subject matter and participation of important 
leaders from the region.  End Summary. 
 
2.  (SBU) From February 5 to 7 the 46th Munich Security Conference 
(MSC) welcomed international security experts and politicians from 
Europe, America, the Middle East and China, who discussed major 
security policy issues such as resource security, nuclear 
proliferation, stability in the Middle East and NATO's new 
Afghanistan strategy. 
After the three-day meeting, Munich's Political section visited the 
following jihadist chat rooms:  al-Faloja (al-faloja.info); al-Medad 
(almedad.com); Ana al-Muslm (muslm.net): al-Ma'ark (m3ark.com); 
al-Hanein (hanein.info); as-Ansar (as-ansar.com).  We also browsed 
through Arab news websites (e.g. Al Jazeera), online editions of 
newspapers, as well as Islamist news sites/chat rooms (e.g. Muslim 
Brotherhood) to see if and how they reported or discussed the 
conference. 
 
3. (SBU) Given Iran's growing regional influence, news on the 
country's nuclear program and Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr 
Mottaki's Friday evening informal remarks at the MSC were followed 
but not emphasized by Arab media.  However, another incident during 
the Munich Security Conference (MSC) received significantly more 
attention: the handshake between Prince Turki al Faisal, the former 
head of Saudi Arabia's Intelligence Service, and Israeli Deputy 
Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon.  Ayalon had begun his talk alleging 
that "a representative of a country with a lot of oil" had objected 
to share the stage with an Israeli and that therefore two separate 
Middle East panels had been set up. In the question and answer 
session Prince Turki stood up and claimed that it was not he who had 
objected to sharing the stage with an Israeli.  Ayalon responded 
saying "if indeed it was not he who objected to my being here with 
him, I would welcome him to shake my outstretched hand." Ayalon then 
went off stage, walked toward the prince and shook his hand.  (NOTE: 
In fact, the objections had come from the Turkish delegation, based 
on a diplomatic dispute between Israel and Turkey.) 
 
4.  (SBU) According to one article it was the first time that 
pictures of a handshake between a representative from Saudi Arabia 
and Israel were shown in the media.  In the "al-Hanein" jihadist 
forum a posting about the handshake generated a few angry comments. 
In the "Ana al-Muslim" jihadist forum three articles from various 
sources were posted regarding the handshake, but they did not 
provoke any comments so far.  A few other Islamist media outlets and 
chat rooms mentioned or discussed the handshake, voicing strong 
condemnation. 
 
5.  (SBU) Obviously aware of the gesture's "controversial" nature, 
Prince Turki had issued a press statement already one day after the 
handshake, in which he stressed that the handshake should not be 
mistaken as recognition of Israel. 
 
6.  (SBU) Another brief discussion in the "Ana al-Muslim" forum was 
sparked by the planned re-integration of "ordinary" Taliban into 
Afghan society as proposed by Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmay Rassoul 
at the MSC.   One participant, sympathetic to the Saudi government, 
criticized Al Qaeda and expressed his hopes for a reconciliation 
between the Taliban led by Mullah Omar and the Karzai government. 
The other participants ridiculed him for this statement. 
 
7.  (SBU) Overall the MSC was mentioned in 13 postings on jihadist 
chat rooms.  Most of the time participants posted articles from 
other news outlets/agencies, such as Al Jazeera, DPA, AFP, or 
Reuters.  Besides the issues mentioned above, responses to the 
articles in these chat rooms - if there were any - were unrelated to 
the MSC and consisted of generic praises for the Taliban, the 
"mujahedeen" and the like. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
 
MUNICH 00000034  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
8.  (SBU) The handshake between Ayalon and Faisal is an example of 
the unexpected encounters and discussions which the informal setting 
and the mixture of former and current government leaders at the MSC 
can stimulate.  The presence of TV cameras, the online live 
streaming of the event and platforms like YouTube make news and 
pictures spread fast, which apparently prompted Faisal's quick 
caveats and explanations.  While this incident along with other 
factors caused an uptick in attention the MSC receives from Arab 
media and chat rooms, this needs to be put in context.   In general, 
based on the fact that the overall number of chat room responses to 
the articles mentioning the MSC was small, it seems the jihadist 
chat rooms still do not have the Munich Security Conference on their 
screens. 
 
TRIBBLE