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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 TEL AVIV 004387 
 
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.  Global War on Terrorism 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media reported that on Thursday afternoon, a 22- 
year-old Israeli woman was killed and her boyfriend was 
slightly injured in a shelling attack on Moshav Netiv 
Ha'asara, one km north of the Gaza Strip.  Hamas and 
Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility 
for the shelling.  This morning, Israel Radio reported 
on incessant shelling on settlements and Israeli 
communities within the Green Line.  Hatzofe cited an 
announcement by Sharon's bureau that the PA is 
responsible for the woman's death because it does not 
act to stop terror.  Leading media reported that last 
night, IAF helicopters struck four Hamas targets in the 
Strip.  The IDF split the Strip into three parts. 
Israel Radio quoted a State Department spokesman as 
saying Thursday that, in a telephone conversation she 
conducted with PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas on 
Wednesday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told him 
that the Palestinian leadership needs to take immediate 
actions to find those who were responsible for the 
Netanya bombing and bring them to justice.  The 
spokesman was quoted as saying that Assistant Secretary 
of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch conveyed 
a similar message during a meeting he held with Abbas 
on Wednesday. 
 
Leading media reported that the PA declared a state of 
emergency in the Gaza Strip following the killing of 
the Israeli woman.  The media reported that the state 
of emergency was declared on the backdrop of fierce 
clashes between PA police and armed Hamas men in the 
northern part of the Strip.  This morning, Israel Radio 
reported that two Palestinian youths were killed and 25 
other people were wounded in the clashes. 
 
All media reported that an IDF soldier died Thursday 
from wounds sustained in the Netanya bombing.  He was 
the fifth victim of the attack.  Ha'aretz reported that 
the Palestinian killed by the IDF in Nablus Thursday 
was a wanted, but unarmed, militant. 
 
All media reported that, in a renewed comparison of the 
Gaza pullout to the Holocaust, Gush Katif residents are 
writing their identity card numbers on their arms to 
protest the closure of the Gaza Strip to non-resident 
Israelis.  Ha'aretz reported that the Yesha Council of 
Jewish Settlements in the Territories condemned the 
tactic, but that the far-right Jewish Leadership 
faction of the Likud reserved its condemnation for the 
closure imposed Wednesday, saying: "The Prime Minister 
of Israel and the Defense Minister signed an order the 
likes of which were last signed in German." 
Israel Radio quoted Israeli sources in Washington as 
saying that the CNN/USA Today poll aired this week, 
according to which 94 percent of respondents are 
opposed to U.S. taxpayers footing the bill for Israel's 
pullout from Gaza, was not scientific and came in the 
wake of a biased news report.  Ha'aretz reported that 
the USG is demanding that Israel use the financial aid 
package it is set to receive from the U.S. to help the 
Bedouin in the south of the country and the Druze in 
the north.  The newspaper quoted senior Israeli 
officials involved in the talks as saying that Israel 
has agreed to the demand. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted Israel's Ambassador to the U.S., Danny 
Ayalon, as saying before a convention of the right-wing 
Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) in Washington 
last week that if the terror from Gaza continues after 
the disengagement, Israel will return to the Strip. 
The newspaper, as well as Israel Radio, cited a ZOA 
statement that Ayalon "also made clear that all of the 
Israelis who live on the wrong side of the security 
fence in towns like Beit El, Kadima, and Kiryat Arba 
will never be removed." 
 
Ha'aretz reported that on Thursday, the Beersheva 
District Court charged a young settler with attempted 
murder and another with aggravated assault for throwing 
rocks at an unconscious Palestinian on June 29 in what 
the army called an "attempted lynching." 
 
All media reported that the body of Anat Rosenberg, the 
Israeli woman who was missing in the bombing of the No. 
30 bus in London, was identified. 
 
Maariv reported that Andrei Muchalov, who was until 
last Saturday first secretary at the Russian Embassy to 
Israel, was an intelligence agent whom the Shin Bet 
monitored ever since he arrived in Israel. 
 
A Maariv/Teleseker poll conducted this week: 
-55 percent of Israelis support the disengagement (54 
percent two weeks ago); 31 percent are opposed (34 
percent two weeks ago). 
-"Do you believe that, after the disengagement is 
carried out, terror from Gaza aimed at Israelis will 
increase?"  "It will increase": 39 percent; "it will 
remain at the same level": 32 percent; "it will 
weaken": 20 percent. 
 
A Yediot/Mina Zemach (Dahaf Institute) poll conducted 
Wednesday among Gush Katif and northern West Bank 
settlers: 
-64 percent said they would not let themselves be 
evacuated (76 percent in a previous poll); 34 percent 
said they would (17 percent in a previous poll). 
-"How do you intend to act when soldiers and police 
come to evacuate you?"  "I won't resist": 47 percent; 
"I'll resist passively": 30 percent; "I'll resist 
forcibly": 6 percent. 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "This week it 
became clear that there is no essential difference 
between Islamic Jihad and Israel's nationalist rabbis. 
Both are out to destroy the State of Israel." 
 
Military correspondent Amir Rappaport wrote in popular, 
pluralist Maariv: "Israel will continue to exercise 
self-restraint .... [so] that the process of evacuating 
the settlements is carried out with maximum 
coordination with the Palestinians." 
 
Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev 
Schiff wrote in Ha'aretz: "It is impossible to tell the 
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip that they are free and 
to keep them bottled up in solitary confinement." 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "The Americans 
are wondering.... Is Israel building a real border with 
the Palestinians or is it trying to have it both ways - 
- -- to separate from the latter and to remain in their 
territories at the same time?" 
 
Liberal op-ed writer Ofer Shelach commented in Yediot 
Aharonot: "It is clear that nobody except Blair [will 
intervene].  If the president of the world doesn't do 
so, the [Middle East] will be on its own." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Good Morning, Disengagement" 
 
Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (July 15): "This 
week it became clear that there is no essential 
difference between Islamic Jihad and Israel's 
nationalist rabbis.  Both are out to destroy the State 
of Israel -- one by terror attacks and the other by 
gnawing away at the democratic foundations of the 
state.... No one can take away from Sharon and Mofaz 
their courageous decision to evacuate Gush Katif and 
leave Gaza for good.  But neither Sharon nor Mofaz has 
conveyed the message that beyond this planned move, a 
brutal and bitter battle is being waged against the 
elected government by the Greater Israel anarchists. 
Neither of them has conveyed the enormity of the danger 
that lies in store if these homegrown enemies gain the 
upper hand." 
 
 
 
II.  "Between Gaza and Lebanon" 
 
Military correspondent Amir Rappaport wrote in popular, 
pluralist Maariv (July 15): "With all due respect to 
the Palestinian attempt to imitate Hizbullah all the 
way, they should remember that they have already erred 
once in a big way.  This happened shortly after the 
completion of the withdrawal from the security zone [in 
southern Lebanon], when quite a few Palestinians were 
tempted to believe the words of Hizbullah leader Hassan 
Nasrallah that Israel is as weak as a cobweb.  It took 
them four and a half years of terrorism and suffering 
to realize that Israeli society was willing to battle 
in a much more determined fashion when the terror 
attacks were close to home, than to insist on outposts 
... in Lebanon, which no one can remember any longer. 
Israel will demonstrate the same determination in the 
war of terror if Netiv Ha'asara [just north of the Gaza 
Strip] is attacked after disengagement.  But until 
disengagement, the situation, meanwhile, is much more 
complicated.  Israel will continue to exercise self- 
restraint to the best of its ability in the face of 
attacks such as Thursday, if only to fully exhaust the 
chance that the process of evacuating the settlements 
is carried out with maximum coordination with the 
Palestinians.  Therefore, even after such a severe 
attack [on Netiv Ha'asara], in which a young woman was 
killed, the response will be low-key.  A low-key 
response is not promised, however, by the IDF against 
Islamic Jihad for the terror attack in Netanya, for 
which the account has not yet been settled." 
 
III.  "The Conditions For Israel's Withdrawal" 
 
Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev 
Schiff wrote in Ha'aretz (July 15): "It is impossible 
to disengage from the Gaza Strip and then afterwards to 
continue the siege on land, in the air and on the sea. 
If the siege by the IDF continues after the 
disengagement, this will be a continuation of the 
occupation because it is a belligerent act on Israel's 
part.  The siege, including the siege along the 
Philadelphi route, had military logic to it as it was 
intended to prevent arms smuggling, especially long- 
range weaponry that could hit Israeli cities far from 
the Gaza Strip, such as Ashkelon.  From the moment it 
becomes a matter of disengagement coordinated with the 
Palestinians and in cooperation with Egypt, the aim 
must be to end the military siege of the Gaza Strip. 
It is impossible to tell the Palestinians in the Gaza 
Strip that they are free and to keep them bottled up in 
solitary confinement." 
 
IV.  "The Red Lane" 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (July 15): "The 
Israelis are convinced that the passages they are 
currently building alongside the fence are a wonderful 
example of a humanitarian act of charity.  Instead of 
spending half a day in an exhausting line in front of a 
soldier, instead of waiting for a week until goods are 
released, the pedestrian will wait one or two hours at 
the crossing -- and the freight no longer than one day. 
For this purpose, Israel is investing two billion 
shekels [around USD 440 million] in new, spacious, 
sophisticated, and civilian crossings.  What Israelis 
see is a crossing; what Palestinians see is an 
obstacle.... The Americans are wondering what this 
really means.  Is Israel building a real border with 
the Palestinians or is it trying to have it both ways - 
- to separate from the latter and to remain in their 
territories at the same time?" 
 
¶V.  "The Boss's Pal" 
 
Liberal op-ed writer Ofer Shelach commented in Yediot 
Aharonot (July 15): "[Throughout the Western World] 
Bush is the symbol of everything that's bad in America. 
In most countries, his reelection worsened hatred for 
the superpower.  Blair ... is the opposite: where Bush 
is perceived as a man of power, self-righteous, and an 
ignoramus, Blair is seen as tolerant, attentive, and 
intelligent.... What Blair advocated [following the 
London bombings] was what Bush has refrained from doing 
for almost five years: active intervention, combined 
with an international plan and international authority, 
in order to rescue this region, which will not be 
rescued.... It is doubtful whether Bush, who promised 
peace in the Middle East for 2005, knows what he wants 
to do on the day after disengagement.  He is bogged in 
domestic problems: the war in Iraq refuses to end.... 
Blair is now the addresss.  At the G-8 conference, he 
led a move of huge economic aid for the Palestinian 
Authority -- USD 9 billion.... It is clear that nobody 
except Blair [will intervene].  If the president of the 
world doesn't do so, the region will be on its own." 
 
---------------------------- 
¶2.  Global War on Terrorism: 
---------------------------- 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Deputy Managing Editor and extreme right-wing columnist 
Caroline B. Glick wrote in conservative, independent 
Jerusalem Post: "The global economy is fueled by oil, 
which is controlled by the same forces that stand at 
the foundations of the current war against the Jews and 
Western civilization.... It is the duty of the State of 
Israel ... to point out this inconvenient reality to 
the rest of the world." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"The Beginning of the Reckoning" 
 
Deputy Managing Editor and extreme right-wing columnist 
Caroline B. Glick wrote in conservative, independent 
Jerusalem Post (July 15): "One of the most difficult 
challenges for a democratic society is facing up to the 
presence of an enemy fifth column in its midst.  Aside 
from this, the fact of the matter is that the global 
economy is fueled by oil, which is controlled by the 
same forces that stand at the foundations of the 
current war against the Jews and Western civilization. 
Much easier than contending with these realities is to 
engage in the politics of denial.... It is the duty of 
the State of Israel (much ignored by its own leadership 
today) to point out this inconvenient reality to the 
rest of the world.  And it is the duty and 
responsibility of all who treasure freedom and the 
right to live without fear to accept this reality in 
spite of its convenience.  Refusing to do so is not 
simply a matter of cowardice.  It is a recipe for 
suicide." 
 
KURTZER