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 003011 
 
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 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶1.  Mideast 
 
¶2.  Democracy in Mideast 
 
¶3.  Israeli Ambassador to U.S. Danny Ayalon 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media highlighted the blocking of 40 main junctions 
across the country by disengagement opponents Monday 
afternoon.  Up to 350 protesters were arrested. 
(Reports vary.)  All media quoted police as saying 
Monday that three Jewish extremists have been 
questioned for allegedly planning to fire a missile at 
Jerusalem's Temple Mount in an effort to halt the Gaza 
Strip disengagement.  The three men were part of a 
group of nine suspects arrested over the last month in 
two separate cases over alleged plans to attack the 
Temple Mount.  (Reports vary: Ha'aretz reported that 
five Israeli Jews, who are members of a group 
identified with the Bratslav Hasidic movement, had been 
arrested.)  All of the suspects have been released from 
custody, with the State Attorney's Office deciding not 
to press charges against any of the suspects due to 
lack of evidence and the fact that they had second 
thoughts about their plot even before they were 
detained. 
 
Ha'aretz (banner) and Jerusalem Post cited Gaza settler 
circles (which are opposed to the official settler 
leadership in the Katif Bloc, according to Ha'aretz) as 
saying that several hundred families (450, according to 
Jerusalem Post) from the Katif Bloc (Gush Katif) have 
signed up for the plan to move to Nitzanim. 
 
Ha'aretz and Jerusalem Post reported that Israel's 
Ambassador to the U.S. Danny Ayalon is expected to lose 
his battle with FM Shalom, despite PM Sharon's support 
for him.  Yediot quoted Ayalon as saying in private 
conversations that he feels threatened. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the IDF and defense 
establishment have decided to offer a financial reward 
for information about any Israeli soldier missing in 
action. 
 
Leading media reported that for the first time, 
outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon was 
interviewed on the Arabic satellite channel Al Arabiya- 
TV. 
 
Yediot reported that on Monday, the Tel Aviv District 
Court recognized Haggai Shefi, an Israeli who was 
killed in the attack on New York's World Trade Center, 
as a victim of an act of terrorism legally included in 
"hostile actions against Israel." 
 
Instead of a regular banner, Maariv placed on its front 
page an article by its Editor-in-Chief Amnon Dankner 
and senior columnist Dan Margalit denouncing what they 
view as phenomena of corruption in Israel.  Public 
figures cited in the article include FM Silvan Shalom's 
wife Judy Nir-Moses-Shalom and MK Omri Sharon, PM 
Sharon's son.  Leading media reported that Attorney 
General Menachem Mazuz has ordered an investigation 
into political appointments at the Agriculture 
Ministry.  The media quoted Agriculture Minister 
Yisrael Katz (Likud) that he was not involved in the 
appointments. 
 
Jerusalem Post quoted officials as saying that the 
visit to Israel of Polish Minister for National Defense 
Jerzy Smajdzinski is spawning deals worth millions of 
dollars. 
 
Under the headline, "Poll: 35 Million Anti-Semites in 
U.S. Now," Maariv published the results of a recent 
survey in the U.S. that found an increase in anti- 
Semitic incidents in the U.S. in 2004.  The poll found 
that close to 35 million Americans -- 14 percent of the 
population -- hold clearly anti-Semitic views. 
 
 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Liberal columnist Yair Lapid wrote on page one of mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "The road 
blocking will put the number [of right-wing protesters] 
back in the area Ariel Sharon likes to see them.... [On 
the other hand], the Israeli public finally understood 
what it feels like to live with roadblocks." 
 
The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global 
Research in International Affairs Center, columnist 
Barry Rubin, wrote in conservative, independent 
Jerusalem Post: "The Palestinian leadership is 
paralyzed.... The last peace process took seven years 
to arrive at its bloody, depressing result.  This round 
seems likely to last less than one year." 
 
Tel Aviv University political scientist Martin Sherman 
wrote in Maariv: "How can [people such as Silvan 
Shalom] accept a policy which not only deprives Israel 
of the means to prevent the possibility of [a Hamas] 
takeover, but also increase its probability?" 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Somebody's Going to Die" 
 
Liberal columnist Yair Lapid wrote on page one of mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (May 17): "More 
than anything else, what stood out most on Monday was 
the flippancy.  The settler youngsters produced, at our 
expense, a festival of self-adoration that to them 
seemed to be truly revolutionary. On Monday, they stood 
in Jerusalem and screamed 'police state.'  For a 
moment, it was impossible not to regret that they were 
mistaken.  In countries where the police are more 
resolute and less exhausted -- like France or the 
United States -- they would have been tossed out of the 
street within three minutes.  Settlers Council 
officials had good reason for the exasperation they 
felt Monday.  Last week, support for disengagement 
dropped.  The road blocking will put the numbers back 
in the area Ariel Sharon likes to see them.  Nobody 
likes to have thugs running their lives, certainly not 
Israelis stuck in traffic.  On the other hand, maybe 
there is a valuable lesson to be learned here.  The 
Israeli public finally understood what it feels like to 
live with roadblocks.  Now we also have a sick old 
lady, our kids won't get to school either, we also left 
for work but will never get there.  For a single moment 
on Geha road [on the eastern outskirts of Tel Aviv], we 
too were Palestinians." 
 
II.  "Hamas Victorious" 
 
The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global 
Research in International Affairs Center, columnist 
Barry Rubin, wrote in conservative, independent 
Jerusalem Post (May 17): "Let's not mince words: the 
Hamas landslide victory in the recent Palestinian local 
elections is a disaster for the Palestinians' hopes for 
peace, and for Israel.  It is a historical turning 
point.  The West will have to choose between 
recognizing what is happening or veering onto some very 
dangerous territory.... The essential issue is that if 
Abu Mazen was too afraid to crack down on terrorists, 
moderate Palestinian ideology or negotiate a compromise 
peace with Israel when he had all the power, he will 
now be even more timid.... No matter how many 
concessions Israel makes by withdrawing and releasing 
prisoners, or how much money and support the West gives 
Abu Mazen, there will be no serious peace process.  The 
Palestinian leadership is paralyzed.  Whether Hamas, 
for its own purposes, lets the cease-fire continue or 
not, any hope of a real breakthrough is finished.... 
Aside from its ideology, which has consistently 
demanded Israel's destruction, why should Hamas abandon 
a program so demonstrably appealing to Palestinians and 
a strategy that is clearly working?.... So the problem 
remains the same as before: a Palestinian movement 
shaped by Arafat, extremism, terror and demonization of 
Israel has not produced a moderate leadership or 
ideology.  Western forces, appeasing and even cheering 
the extremists, ensure their intransigence.  The last 
peace process took seven years to arrive at its bloody, 
depressing result.  This round seems likely to last 
less than one year." 
 
III.  "Prepare For the Establishment of 'Hamastine'" 
 
Tel Aviv University political scientist Martin Sherman 
wrote in Maariv (May 17): "The Israeli leadership ought 
to know this: the moment the IDF leaves territories, it 
will have neither legal, moral nor practical means to 
determine what will happen in the abandoned areas and 
who will rule there.  Thus, if some people, like the 
Foreign Minister, believe that the whole logical basis 
of disengagement leans on the fact that elements such 
as Hamas won't take over, how can they accept a policy 
which not only deprives Israel of the means to prevent 
the possibility of such a takeover, but also increase 
its probability?" 
 
------------------------- 
¶2.  Democracy in Mideast: 
------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Chief Economic Editor and senior columnist Sever 
Plotker wrote in mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot: "No extremist Muslim regime was established 
through democratic elections." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"Ripe For Democracy" 
 
Chief Economic Editor and senior columnist Sever 
Plotker wrote in mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot (May 17): "A ghost is haunting the Arab and 
Muslim states -- that of democratic elections.  The 
fright can be summed up in one sentence, which non- 
democratic, anti-democratic and plainly dictatorial 
leaders keep repeating: if we ask our nations whom they 
want in power, they will elect sinister extremist 
Islamists.  But this assertion is basically a lie.  No 
extremist Muslim regime was established through 
democratic elections -- neither that of Khomeini in 
Iran, nor that of the Taliban in Afghanistan, nor the 
bloody Sudanese regime.... [On the other hand], there 
was a number of successful elections, which generated 
moderate governments.  This is the case of Afghanistan, 
Iraq, Turkey, Indonesia, and Malaysia.... People should 
not have to take preliminary lessons in democracy or to 
suffer under authoritarian regimes in order to 'grow 
up' and become 'ripe enough' to fulfill their basic 
right to vote." 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
¶3.  Israeli Ambassador to U.S. Danny Ayalon: 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "The 
foreign minister has to recognize that the prime 
minister is in charge of relations with the U.S." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"The Lesson of Danny Ayalon" 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (May 
17): "The well-publicized quarrel between Danny Ayalon, 
the Israeli ambassador to the U.S., and Foreign 
Minister Silvan Shalom is far from over, but its 
negative effect on Israel's image in the world can 
already be felt.... International embarrassment is only 
part of the problem created by the fray.  It is hard to 
see how Israeli Ambassador Danny Ayalon can hold 
serious talks with officials from the U.S. State 
Department, the administration or Congress when 
everyone knows the foreign minister has 'lost the 
faith' of the ambassador, as the Israeli media reported 
Shalom's associates saying.  Beyond the elements of 
gossip, which makes this conflict particularly 
mesmerizing to the Israeli and the global media, is an 
old quarrel between the Foreign Ministry and the Prime 
Minister's Office over the question of who owns 
diplomatic relations with the U.S.... Now Ayalon finds 
himself at the center of the conflict between the Prime 
Minister's Bureau and the Foreign Ministry over control 
in Washington.  As things look now, it seems he will 
pay with his job.  This is a good opportunity to put an 
end to the ongoing rancor that has Israeli diplomacy 
wallowing in the mud.  The foreign minister has to 
recognize that the prime minister is in charge of 
relations with the U.S." 
 
KURTZER