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

081054Z Jul 05

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 TEL AVIV 004255 
 
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.  July 7 London Bombings 
 
¶2.  Israel-China Relations 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media led with, and extensively reported on, 
Thursday's terror bombings in London, in which at least 
37 people were killed and 700 others were wounded. 
Banners in Yediot: "London's Nightmare," Maariv: "Jihad 
in London," Jerusalem Post: "Al-Qaida Blamed as London 
Blast Kills Dozens," and Hatzofe: "Terror Blitz in 
London."  Yediot quoted sources at the Israeli Embassy 
in London as saying that they received "intense 
warnings" of an attack on Wednesday.  Jerusalem Post 
says that the Foreign Ministry rejected a report that 
Israel had received an advance warning.  Jerusalem Post 
quoted Israeli academic Moti Cristal as saying that, 
due to legal and cultural constraints, British security 
did not go deep enough in its search for sleeping 
cells.  Leading media reported that PM Sharon has 
instructed his cabinet not to make any comments on the 
attacks and to refrain from making statements that 
would equate the terror in Britain with that in Israel. 
Jerusalem Post notes that on Thursday, FM Silvan Shalom 
and Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu conveyed 
messages -- but only to the Hebrew media -- that global 
terror and terror against Israelis were a common cause. 
Leading media reported that Sharon told British 
Ambassador to Israel Simon McDonald that the world must 
"unite in the war against terrorism."  The media cited 
the responses of President Bush and Secretary of State 
Condoleezza Rice to the attacks. 
 
Israel Radio reported that in Damascus on Thursday, 
leaders of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the PFLP rejected 
PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas's offer to join a 
Palestinian unity government.  The station said that 
Hamas representatives proposed establishing a joint 
national committee to monitor the Israeli withdrawal 
from the Gaza Strip, but that the proposal was 
rejected.  The radio quoted Abbas's adviser, Jibril 
Rajoub, as saying that after the meeting that the 
Palestinian Authority would be the legitimate authority 
in the territories, and that there would be no 
committee or parallel authority that would rule the 
Gaza Strip. The radio reported that Abbas will hold 
meetings with political figures in Beirut today. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that, following a ruling by a High 
Court Justice, the IDF has given settlers in Amuna 48 
hours to evacuate nine homes recently occupied at the 
illegal West Bank outpost. 
Israel Radio reported that IDF troops clashed with 
armed Palestinians last night in Jenin.  The radio also 
reported that seven Palestinians were arrested at dawn 
in Hebron, including three Islamic Jihad activists. 
Some of the apprehended men were in possession of 
weapons. 
 
Yediot cited an announcement issued during a meeting 
between Vice Premier Shimon Peres and senior defense 
establishment officials, according to which the cost of 
upgrading the Erez Crossing passage between Israel and 
the PA is assessed at USD 500 million. 
 
Yediot (Nahum Barnea) reported that the Defense 
Ministry is building "under the Americans' nose," 6,000 
housing units in Geva, an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood, 
which will be connected by a "huge bridge" to the 
nearby the settlement of Adam, on the northern 
outskirts of Jerusalem. 
 
All media reported that on Thursday, Al-Qaida announced 
that it killed Egyptian Ambassador-designate to Iraq 
Eyhab el-Sharif, who the organization claims admitted 
to collaborating with Israel.  Yediot cited concerns 
among Israel's defense and intelligence community that 
el-Sharif passed on to his jailers information about 
Israel, which could help Al-Qaida carry out attacks in 
Israel. 
 
Yediot, Maariv, and Jerusalem Post reported that on 
Thursday, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz approved the 
nomination of O/C Southern Command Maj. Gen. Dan Harel 
to the post of defense attache in Washington.  Harel is 
currently in charge of the disengagement from the Gaza 
Strip. 
 
Ha'aretz cited new research by the United States' 
military intelligence, according to which the U.S. 
mistakenly assessed that Iraq would launch missiles at 
Israel early during the 2003 Iraq War, and that Israel 
would not exercise self-restraint. 
 
--------------------------- 
¶1.  July 7 London Bombings: 
--------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The radical 
organizations could fully realize the tactical 
capability of their flexible structure." 
 
Chief Economic Editor and senior columnist Sever 
Plotker wrote in mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot: "A year ago, we predicted here that the 
terror attacks in Europe would continue.  They will 
continue as long as the Europeans continue to ... 
ignore the fanatic Islamization of large parts of 
Europe." 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: 
"The attackers would, of course, like gullible 
Westerners to think that they struck because of 
Britain's presence in Iraq and Afghanistan." 
 
Washington correspondent Nathan Guttman wrote in 
Ha'aretz: "We must now wait and see how Thursday's 
events will influence the European stance." 
 
Editor-in-Chief Gonen Ginat ironically addressed the 
British in nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe: "You must 
recognize the limits of force, and renounce sovereignty 
over London's [Muslim] neighborhoods." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "The New Terror Front Is Europe" 
 
Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (July 8): "The 
bombings in London and the announcement from an 
organization calling itself Al-Qaida Jihad Europe 
indicate that the organization has adopted a new 
strategy -- to export the war from Iraq to states it 
sees as its rivals for the control of Iraq.... This new 
strategy in Europe could result in the operation of two 
terror systems -- one in Iraq, headed by the Iraqi 
network, and another on the international front, 
wherever a bombing could be carried out. Thus the 
radical organizations could fully realize the tactical 
capability of their flexible structure.  On the one 
hand, they could operate as local groups poised to 
establish radical fundamentalist regimes in Muslim 
states, and on the other hand, serve as branches of a 
universal ideology and its leadership.... It is 
difficult to detect the two terror systems because 
international terror organizations, unlike local ones, 
do not necessarily depend on local community 
infrastructure, Arab or Muslim. Instead they have 
developed independent logistic systems.... [Thus,] the 
European intelligence services have difficulty in 
detecting these cells, apparently because they are cut 
off from the local Muslim communities that are under 
surveillance." 
 
II.  "Out of Europe the Evil Shall Break Forth" 
 
Chief Economic Editor and senior columnist Sever 
Plotker wrote in mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot (July 8): "There is a clear connection between 
the terror offensive and the British involvement in the 
war in Iraq, and the unceasing -- yet imperfect -- 
pursuit of Muslim terrorists living throughout Britain. 
This pursuit, it is already clear, has failed. 
Terrorism overcame the indifference, the lack of 
concern, and particularly the ineffectuality employed 
by the London municipality against the fanatic Muslim 
underground that formed within the city.  Friendship 
was cultivated with the Muslim fanatics, in a useless 
attempt to appease them.  A year ago, we predicted here 
that the terror attacks in Europe would continue.  They 
will continue as long as the Europeans continue to 
close their eyes, shut their ears and ignore the 
fanatic Islamization of large parts of Europe.   If the 
elites of Europe, which are so busy condemning Israel, 
had only read the report of the special commission that 
investigated the September 11 terror attacks in the 
United States, they would have seen that the idea of 
mass terror attacks in the West was born in the circles 
of Arab fanatics in Germany, Spain and Britain.  That 
is where the nests of terror are located.  It was out 
of there that the evil broke forth." 
 
III.  "A Global Test" 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized 
(July 8): "The threat posed by Islamist fanaticism is 
to the very fabric that keeps the international system 
together.... The remedy must therefore constitute a 
long-term effort that only begins with the world's 
leading secret services and armies.  Even more 
fundamentally, the peoples who languish under the thumb 
of dictators who support terrorism must see that they 
are not alone.... The attackers would, of course, like 
gullible Westerners to think that they struck because 
of Britain's presence in Iraq and Afghanistan.  But in 
both countries the people have been given a chance to 
express their own views, in the kind of free elections 
that the Islamists are fighting against. In turning out 
massively for both elections, Afghanis and Iraqis have 
effectively told the world that in the war between 
terror and life, they, the Muslim masses, are on the 
side of life.  Sooner or later they will be joined in 
that reckoning with those in the West who have yet to 
understand where history has now arrived. Only then 
will the end of this world war's beginning have 
arrived." 
 
IV.  "Will Europe's Reluctance Towards the All-Out U.S. 
War on Terror Continue?" 
 
Washington correspondent Nathan Guttman wrote in 
Ha'aretz (July 8): "Even Britain, the United States' 
closest ally, has proven, in its attitude toward Iran 
and the Palestinians, that it isn't prepared to adopt 
an 'all or nothing' approach.  Europe insists on seeing 
hues of gray, while the U.S. views the struggle against 
terror in black and white.  We must now wait and see 
how Thursday's events will influence the European 
stance: will they cause the European states to beat 
their chests -- for not having been forceful enough 
against terror elements -- or will they strengthen 
those who believe that an all-out wart only invites 
responses and further loss of life?" 
 
¶V.  "Dear British: Allow Us to Remind You There Is No 
Military Solution to Terror" 
 
Editor-in-Chief Gonen Ginat ironically addressed the 
British in nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe (July 8): "You 
must look forward, not sink in the hatreds of the past. 
It won't be a surrender to terror if you do exactly as 
it tells you and pull out the British army from the 
land of the Iraqi people, which hasn't wronged you.... 
You must recognize the limits of force, and renounce 
sovereignty over London's [Muslim] neighborhoods.... 
How can it be that for years you have demanded of 
Israel what you have no intention of demanding of 
yourselves?" 
 
--------------------------- 
¶2.  Israel-China Relations: 
--------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Shalom Salomon Ward, a senior fellow at the Jewish 
People Policy Planning Institute, who authored a book 
on China and the Jewish people, wrote in conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post: "How can Israel preserve 
its vital relationship with America without destroying 
the goodwill it enjoys with the next great power? 
Israel has a lot at stake here." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"China Is the Next Great Power" 
 
Shalom Salomon Ward, a senior fellow at the Jewish 
People Policy Planning Institute, who authored a book 
on China and the Jewish people, wrote in conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post (July 8): "Although Israel 
cannot afford to upset its only major ally, Jews must 
not forget that in less than 20 years China will 
directly and substantially affect the external fate of 
the Jewish people.  First, China's thirst for oil will 
make it the second, if not the first, foreign economic 
power in the Middle East.... [Second,] Chinese 
intellectuals express respect for Jewish civilization, 
its great age, and its influence on world history. 
Many see a communality between the two peoples because 
both has suffered humiliation, occupation, and 
persecution, yet both emerged from their 
predicaments.... How can Israel preserve its vital 
relationship with America without destroying the 
goodwill it enjoys with the next great power?  Israel 
has a lot at stake here.  The Chinese have long 
memories.  A senior Chinese policy adviser said late in 
2003: 'We are grateful to Israel to this very day 
because you recognized us so early, before most 
others.'  How often do Jews hear that somebody is 
'grateful' to them?....  America is confused and not 
sure how to deal with China and, worse, its own fears 
of China.... America will have to come to grips with 
China's emergence by more imaginative and cooperative 
policies than military and technological commitment." 
 
KURTZER