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

141204Z Jun 05

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 TEL AVIV 003682 
 
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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¶1. U.S. Israel Security Exports Crisis 
 
¶2. Mideast 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
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Ha'aretz Sunday reported that the U.S.-Israeli security 
exports crisis is deepening.  The paper noted that 
Washington has ordered Israel to increase its control 
over its security exports.  This crisis, which began 
over the Israeli Harpe sale to China, resulted in harsh 
U.S. sanctions on Israel according to the paper.  The 
U.S. has made three demands of Israel in order to 
settle the crisis: 1. Israel shall provide information 
about more then 60 deals it made with China in recent 
years; 2. Israel should reevaluate its system for 
supervising security exports and report to the U.S.; 3. 
Formulation of a memo of understanding between the U.S. 
and Israel about future arms sales. Schiff writes on 
Monday that most of Israel's friends in the U.S. 
Congress back the Pentagon's stance that Israel needs 
to accept tighter monitoring of its security deals. 
Maariv added on Monday that the U.S. also demands 
details regarding weapon sales to India and Singapore 
and that Minister of Defense Shaul Mofaz has nominated 
Zvi Shtauber, former Israeli Ambassador to the U.K., to 
lead negotiations of Israel's security exports sales. 
 
Maariv reported that construction work on the fence 
around the Etzion Bloc will begin in another two weeks. 
According to the paper, the goal of the construction 
work is to establish facts on the ground and to annex 
the Etzion Bloc de facto by placing it on the Israeli 
side of the separation fence-prior to the 
implementation of the disengagement plan. 
 
Ha'aretz and Kol Israel reported that the U.S. Federal 
Court has made public the indictment of U.S. Defense 
Department analyst Larry Franklin.  Franklin is charged 
with leaking classified military information to 
employees of an unnamed lobby group, which according to 
reports, is AIPAC. 
 
Ha'aretz reported on Sunday that the final document 
prepared by the PA's donor countries, the World Bank 
and the International Monetary Fund concludes that 
Israel must transfer control over the Rafah crossing to 
the P.A. and allow regular passage of people and goods 
between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. 
 
All media reported that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon 
toured on Sunday the communities slated to absorb the 
evacuees and expressed his satisfaction with the pace 
of work on their housing. 
Leading media reported that U.S. envoys Elliot Abrams 
and David Welch are expected to arrive in Israel and 
the P.A. on Monday in order to prepare Secretary of 
State Condoleezza Rice's visit to the region.  The 
media also reported that Egypt envoys (Egyptian 
intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and Foreign Minister 
Abdul Gheit) are slated to visit Israel and the P.A. in 
the upcoming days to make an effort to ensure the 
success of next week's meeting between PM Sharon and 
Palestinian Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. 
 
All media reported on Israel's achievement in the UN as 
its UN Ambassador, Dan Gillerman, was elected to be the 
new vice president of the UN General Assembly. 
 
All media reported that Justice Minister Tzipi Livni 
and Attorney General Menachem Mazuz have announced that 
the state will take all legal responsibility for 
actions undertaken by security forces during the 
disengagement. 
 
All media reported that the P.A. has executed four 
convicts in the Gaza Strip in an effort to reestablish 
its deterrence capability. 
 
According to the peace index published in Ha'aretz, 52 
percent of Israelis believe the disengagement should be 
coordinated with the Palestinians; 38 percent are 
against.  The index also publishes that 57.5 percent of 
the Jewish public supports the disengagement plan; 35.5 
percent oppose it; 7 percent are undecided. 
 
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¶1. U.S. Israel Security Exports Crisis: 
-------------------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit opined in popular, 
pluralist Maariv: "What is infuriating about all this 
is that it is not really a matter of America's national 
security, and in cases where it is, the security 
considerations are marginal.... It's all an issue of 
money.  Israel's arms industries, military and 
aeronautical, infuriate the Americans.  Israel earns 
USD 4 billion per year in this area.  Every last one of 
these dollars comes here instead of going there." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"An Issue of Money" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit opined in popular, 
pluralist Maariv (June 14): "Perhaps the time has come 
for somebody -- the prime minister for example -- to 
put a stop to the groveling which has recently been 
forced upon the Israeli defense establishment.... On 
the other hand, we are talking about America.  They are 
not dependent on us.  We are dependent on them.  We do 
not finance them.  They finance us.... In the situation 
in which Israel finds itself, it has to be smart.... 
What is infuriating about all this is that it is not 
really a matter of America's national security, and in 
cases where it is, the security considerations are 
marginal.... It's all an issue of money.  Israel's arms 
industries, military and aeronautical, infuriate the 
Americans.  Israel earns USD 4 billion per year in this 
area.  Every last one of these dollars comes here 
instead of going there.... The Pentagon is under 
constant pressure from senators, members of congress 
and industrialists, and every one of them is demanding 
that Israel be circumscribed, cut down to size, that 
the Pentagon make it difficult for Israel to win 
contracts in Turkey, the Far East and eastern 
Europe.... Some say the prime minister is faced with 
something worse than the crisis itself, and that 
Israel's sovereignty is at stake.  It is an issue of 
independence and pride.  Sharon is now torn between his 
head and his heart.... It is Sharon who will have to 
decide whether to be right or smart." 
 
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¶2. Mideast: 
----------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: 
"The claim that Hamas would be worse cannot be allowed 
to absolve Abbas's PA of its minimal requirements and 
obligations.... Whether the goal is saving 
disengagement or preparing for the day after, the time 
to force the PA to confront terror is now." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"The Gathering Storm" 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized 
(June 14): "There is the obligation of both Israel and 
the international community to reexamine the decision 
to place all its eggs in the basket of Mahmoud Abbas 
and its notion of what it means to support Palestinian 
moderation and reform.  The hard fact is that Abbas is 
not only failing, but also that most trends are in the 
wrong direction.... Perhaps it is time to consider the 
possibility that Abbas's rule has suffered not from too 
little help but from too much.  How surprising is it 
that Abbas moves further and further away from the key 
task demanded of him by the international community ... 
when international assistance to him only increases as 
the situation deteriorates?  The claim that Hamas would 
be worse cannot be allowed to absolve Abbas's PA of its 
minimal requirements and obligations.... Whether the 
goal is saving disengagement or preparing for the day 
after, the time to force the PA to confront terror is 
now." 
CRETZ