This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 TEL AVIV 001794 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD 
 
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM 
NSC FOR NEA STAFF 
 
JERUSALEM ALSO FOR ICD 
LONDON ALSO FOR HKANONA AND POL 
PARIS ALSO FOR POL 
ROME FOR MFO 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: IS KMDR MEDIA REACTION REPORT
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
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SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
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Assassination of Hamas Leader Ahmed Yassin 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
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All media continued to lead with the aftermath of Hamas 
leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin's assassination.  The media 
reported that IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon hinted 
Tuesday that PA Chairman Yasser Arafat and Hizbullah 
Secretary-General Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah are next in 
 
SIPDIS 
line. 
 
Leading media quoted President Bush as saying Tuesday 
that Israel has the right to defend itself from terror, 
but that it should keep the consequences of its actions 
in mind.  Jerusalem Post quoted him as saying: "I worry 
about terrorist groups targeting America.  There are 
still serious threats because of what we stand for. 
There are still people who want to harm our country. 
And so whether it be a Hamas threat or an Al-Qaida 
threat, we take them very seriously."  Ha'aretz and 
Israel Radio note that Tuesday senior White House 
officials, including National Security Advisor 
Condoleezza Rice, altered their responses to the 
assassination.   Speaking on Israel Radio from 
Washington, FM Silvan Shalom minimized the significance 
of that change.  Leading media reported that U.S. State 
Department issued a travel warning for the region. 
 
All media reported that Tuesday Abdel Aziz Rantisi 
became the new "general commander" of Hamas, replacing 
Yassin.  Khaled Mashal, who approved Rantisi's 
leadership, remains the head of the movement's 
political bureau.  Several media reported on possible 
personality conflicts inside the Hamas leadership. 
 
IDF operations in the Gaza Strip: The media reported 
that the IDF is continuing its incursion in the 
northern strip area of Beit Hanoun to prevent further 
Qassam rocket launchings, and that it is operating on 
the outskirts of Khan Yunis.  The media also reported 
that the IDF fired at boats off the Gaza Strip coast. 
Israel Radio reported that last night the IDF killed 
two terrorists who tried to infiltrate the settlement 
of Morag. 
 
All media reported that late Tuesday night IAF warships 
struck at a terrorist squad in south Lebanon close to 
the central portion of the border, after it was spotted 
preparing launchers for firing Katyusha rockets into 
Israel the Lebanese border.  The members of the squad, 
who were killed, apparently were Palestinian members of 
Hizbullah. 
 
Israel Radio reported that, due to U.S. opposition, 
Algeria pulled a resolution draft condemning the 
killing of Yassin, which it had presented to the UN 
Security Council.  The radio quoted U.S. Ambassador to 
the UN John Negroponte as saying that the draft ignores 
terrorist attacks by Hamas. 
PM Sharon's disengagement plan: Israel Radio reported 
that the current round of discussions between NSA Rice 
and Sharon's envoys Dov Weisglass and Giora Eiland, 
which started Tuesday, will continue today.  Former 
Mossad Director Ephraim Halevy said on Israel TV last 
night that Israel is conducting indirect negotiations 
on Sharon's disengagement with the Palestinians through 
the U.S. 
 
All media reported on the 3,000-strong protest march 
held in Nazareth Tuesday to mourn Yassin.  Leading 
media printed pictures and aired footage from the 
event, saying: "This isn't Gaza, but Nazareth."  Yediot 
reported that the public address system at the 
demonstration blared a song of praise for Yassin: 
"Leader of freedom, our sunlight, you are the candle 
that lights our lost way."  All media reported on 
clashes in Jerusalem between the police and 
demonstrators who blocked the entrance to the Hebrew 
University's main campus when Sharon was addressing 
immigrant students there. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the Finance Ministry told a 
Knesset subcommittee Tuesday that the cost of 
constructing 300 km of the security fence in 2004 is 
estimated at 1.5 billion shekels (approx. USD 333 
million) -- 200 million shekels (approx. USD 44 
million) more than the initial forecast. 
 
Ha'aretz disclosed details of facts uncovered in an IDF 
military court ruling: Kayes Obeid, the Israeli Arab 
and Hezbollah agent who had collaborated temporarily 
with Elchanan Tenenbaum and helped Hizbullah abduct him 
plotted to abduct other Israelis. Israel Radio and IDF 
Radio reported that two Israeli Arabs from northern 
Israel have been arrested for having allegedly 
conspired to murder soldiers and steal their weapons 
during the month of February. 
 
Yediot reported that branches of the defense 
establishment have decided to modify landing routes at 
Ben Gurion Airport, so that airplanes do not fly too 
close to the West Bank.  The newspaper also reported 
that aircraft will not be allowed to fly over the 
Israeli Arab city of Umm el Fahm. 
 
Leading media reported that Tuesday the High Court of 
Justice upheld an IDF ban on allowing Israeli 
journalists to enter the Gaza Strip following the 
assassination of Yassin. 
 
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Assassination of Hamas Leader Ahmed Yassin: 
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                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "The 
approach that chooses to deal with Palestinian terror 
by assassinating individual leaders, instead of a 
determined effort to reach an agreement with the PA on 
renewing dialogue, is wrongheaded." 
 
Veteran op-ed writer Yaron London opined in the 
editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot: "We [Israelis] were not given any solid or 
clear explanation, and we do not know how the 
assassination fits in with the vision of the political 
arrangement with the Palestinians." 
 
Liberal contributor Dr. Gadi Taub wrote in popular, 
pluralist Maariv: "The more we [Israel] identify Hamas 
with Al Qaida, the more points Al Qaida gains as an 
Arab liberation movement, a freedom fighting 
organization against the Zionist-American alliance." 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: 
"The condemnation by Arab leaders of Israel's pinpoint 
targeting of Hamas godfather Ahmed Yassin sounds like 
an awfully bad joke, which almost beggars [sic] the 
retort of 'look who's talking.'" 
 
Conservative columnist Avraham Tirosh wrote in Maariv: 
"In a situation in which you cannot eradicate the 
causes of terror, you should eradicate its leaders, 
whose goal is to eradicate you." 
 
Far-left, Arabic-language Al-Ittihad editorialized: 
"The international community has the duty to pressure 
Sharon's government to stop the bloodshed and to save 
the Palestinian people from this colonial occupation." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Deterrence and Horror" 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (March 
24): "Official [Israeli] spokesmen confirm that in the 
short run the assassination [of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin] 
will indeed make Israelis and Jews worldwide more 
vulnerable, but promise that in the short run everyone 
will see that the killing was worthwhile.  That 
assumption rests on very shaky ground.... Last week's 
cabinet decision to kill off the Hamas leadership broke 
the rules of the game, and could move the armed 
conflict to areas never seen before.... The approach 
that chooses to deal with Palestinian terror by 
assassinating individual leaders, instead of a 
determined effort to reach an agreement with the PA on 
renewing dialogue, is wrongheaded.... The cabinet 
decision could yet go down a serious negative change of 
direction in the history of the conflict." 
 
 
 
 
II.  "Still, Why Was Yassin Assassinated?" 
 
Veteran op-ed writer Yaron London opined in the 
editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot (March 24): "And perhaps there is a 'critical 
mass' of assassination victims, which will cause a 
turnabout?  Certainly.  When we kill all the 
Palestinians, big and small, there will be no one left 
to kill us.  Until then, we can presume that every 
assassination increases the pool of terrorists and 
fuels the murderous rhetoric.  It is true that among 
the educated, largely secular Palestinian elite, voices 
can be heard that show a more sober view, but this 
group, upon which the government has pinned its hopes, 
the group that is the basis for the vision of the 
Geneva plan's architects, and with whom Jewish peace 
activists talk, has zero influence on the prevalent 
trend.... The dead Yassin is stronger than the live 
Yassin, and his image as the most senior of Muslim 
saints is already inflaming the imagination of the 
masses and narrowing the freedom of action enjoyed by 
the moderate Palestinian leaders. If the government had 
explained to Israelis sincerely what its considerations 
were before it decided on the strike -- what it feared, 
what it hoped for and what tipped the scales -- we 
would be able to agree or disagree with it, but either 
way we would feel like citizens who are partners to 
deciding their fate.  But we were not given any solid 
or clear explanation, and we do not know how the 
assassination fits in with the vision of the political 
arrangement with the Palestinians, how it will benefit 
our security and what dangers it involves.  In its 
silence and enigmatic talk, the government humiliates 
its citizens and puts them into a fatalistic mood, 
which weakens their staying power." 
 
III.  "We've Gotten the U.S. in Trouble" 
 
Liberal contributor Dr. Gadi Taub wrote in popular, 
pluralist Maariv (March 24): "One needs to bear in mind 
that America not only has defined new parameters for 
evil, but also has parameters for good.  Evil changes - 
- once upon a time it was communism, now it is 
terrorism -- but good has remained stable: democracy, 
self-determination and equality.  Things become most 
uncomfortable for the Americans when the definitions of 
evil clash with the definitions of good.... In the long 
run, the last thing they want is for their war on 
terror to be cast as the oppression of national 
liberation movements.  They made every effort to paint 
their war on Saddam Hussein as a war of liberation that 
was being fought in the name of the Iraqis: they do not 
oppress nations in the context of their war on terror, 
they liberate them.  That is the message.  Just like in 
the Cold War.  Israel's war on Palestinian terror 
creates a problem here.  It creates a tactical problem 
since the moderate Arab regimes cannot support American 
intervention in the Middle East if it is perceived as 
part of the American support for the oppression of the 
Palestinians.  And it creates a more profound strategic 
problem since it stains Bush's war on terror with 
colors of oppression instead of colors of liberation. 
It helps bin Laden turn himself into a liberation 
fighter.  The more we identify Hamas with Al Qaida, the 
more points Al Qaida gains as an Arab liberation 
movement, a freedom fighting organization against the 
Zionist-American alliance.... It is a worldwide 
American interest not to give terrorists an entry card 
into the union of national liberation organizations. 
And we would do well, very well, to steer clear of 
colliding with that interest." 
 
IV.  "Look Who's Talking" 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized 
(March 24): "The condemnation by Arab leaders of 
Israel's pinpoint targeting of Hamas godfather Ahmed 
Yassin sounds like an awfully bad joke, which almost 
beggars [sic] the retort of 'look who's talking.' 
Israel's critics in the Arab world are the very last 
who should decry action against fundamentalist Islamic 
terrorism.  They know they fear it every bit as much as 
Israel, if not more.... The latest to persecute the 
[Muslim] Brotherhood is Egyptian President Hosni 
Mubarak, who reacted to Yassin's demise by canceling a 
visit of Egyptian legislators to Israel to mark the 
25th anniversary of the peace treaty between the 
countries.  He lashed out at Israel for having 
committed 'a savage act.'  Yet his repression of the 
still-banned Brotherhood is ongoing.... None of this is 
to suggest that Israel should measure itself by the 
standards of the Arab world.  This record should give 
pause, however, to Western governments that shape their 
own statements to accommodate official Arab anger at 
Israel's minimalist act of self-defense.  The Arab 
world has no standing to lecture Israel on human 
rights, the rule of law, or international legitimacy. 
Western governments that ignore this wide disparity, 
and which have long histories of taking similar 
prudent, measured, and reluctant actions against 
terrorism themselves, should spare us their criticism 
as well." 
 
¶V.  "A Welcome Assassination" 
 
Conservative columnist Avraham Tirosh wrote in Maariv 
(March 24): "Shimon Peres said on Monday that the most 
effective solution to terror is to eradicate the causes 
of terror, and not its leaders.  Theoretically, he is 
right.  In practice, in the case of Hamas -- he isn't. 
Because the only thing that sparks Hamas terrorism is 
the very existence of Israel in the region, and not the 
occupation of Judea, Samaria and Gaza.  'Eradicating 
the causes of terror' in this case means, therefore, 
eradicating the State of Israel.  That, in succinct 
form, was the ideology of the 'spiritual leader,' 
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.  That, needless to say, is 
something that even Shimon Peres would not agree to. 
Therefore, in a situation in which you cannot eradicate 
the causes of terror, you should eradicate its leaders, 
whose goal is to eradicate you.  Prevent them from 
seizing control of the Palestinian territories so that 
you are left with a chance of engaging in dialogue and 
achieving an agreement.  It is people, like me, who 
support disengagement from Gaza and most of the 
territories in Judea and Samaria, and dialogue with the 
Palestinian Authority, who ought to support the 
elimination of murderous terrorists of Yassin's kind, 
who commit criminal acts to prevent any chance of that 
happening." 
 
VI.  "Save the Palestinian People from Massacres and 
Occupation" 
 
Far-left, Arabic-language Al-Ittihad editorialized 
(March 23): "The Israeli occupation forces have 
committed an organized terror operation ... missiles 
were shot from an American Apache warship to 
assassinate Hamas's leader, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin.... 
This crazy Sharonic escalation will trigger the 
conflict with more fire and violence.... A historic 
responsibility demands serious initiative of the Arab- 
Jewish peace movements to forge unity to restrain the 
occupation government crimes.... The international 
community has the duty to pressure Sharon's government 
to stop the bloodshed and to save the Palestinian 
people from this colonial occupation." 
 
KURTZER