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 004930 
 
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.  Iran: Nuclear Program 
 
¶2.  Mideast 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Most major media led with disengagement-related 
developments.  Ha'aretz highlighted the collecting of 
army-issued weapons in Sa-Nur and Homesh, two of the 
northern West Bank settlements slated for evacuation, 
and the closing of Ganim and Kadim, the settlements 
with a similar status, to non-resident Israelis.  The 
media reported that Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz signed 
an administrative order obliging Miriam and Yaron 
Adler, who moved to Sa-Nur last year to protest the 
disengagement, to return to their former residence in 
Kiryat Arba (next to Hebron).  The media reported that, 
in a rare move, Attorney General Menachem Mazuz decided 
to deport Sa'adia Hershkopf -- a dual American and 
Israeli citizen and one of the three activists of the 
outlawed group Kach put into administrative detention 
by Mofaz this week -- to the U.S. for 40 days.  The 
deportation will replace his administrative detention. 
 
Jerusalem Post quoted a senior diplomatic official as 
saying that Israel will retain security responsibility 
for the northern West Bank.  Jerusalem Post reported 
that Palestinian officials have confirmed to the 
newspaper that they have been told this by Israel as 
well.  The newspaper quoted a Western diplomatic 
official as saying that PA Interior Minister Nasser 
Yousef complained to U.S. envoy Lt.-Gen. William Ward 
during a meeting Tuesday about Israel's intentions 
regarding overall security control of the northernmost 
part of the West Bank after disengagement.  Israel 
Radio filed a similar report.  Israel Radio reported 
that today at the Erez Crossing, Ward and Palestinian 
Deputy Interior Minister Jamal Abu Zayd will discuss 
the deployment plan of Palestinian forces in the Gaza 
Strip. 
 
Yediot reported on the acceleration of departure 
preparations by Gush Katif residents.  Leading media 
reported that extremist settlers are hoarding food and 
gas. 
 
Most media (lead stories in Maariv and Hatzofe, as the 
latter banners: "Binyamin Netanyahu -- on His Way to 
Premiership") cited polls conducted among registered 
Likud voters, indicating that Netanyahu would beat 
Ariel Sharon in a contest for party leadership: 
-Channel 10-TV/New Wave poll:  Netanyahu: 42.1 percent; 
Sharon: 27.7 percent; other answers: 30.2 percent. 
-Ha'aretz/Dialogue Institute poll:  Netanyahu: 35 
percent; Sharon: 29.1 percent; Knesset Member Uzi 
Landau: 17.3 percent; other answers: 18.6 percent. 
According to this survey, Netanyahu would prevail over 
Sharon, 47 to 33 percent, if the two men ran alone. 
(Landau announced Tuesday he would run for Likud 
chairmanship.) 
 
Ha'aretz and Israel Radio reported that Mofaz and PA 
Civilian Affairs Minister Muhammad Dahlan agreed 
Tuesday that Israel would start demolishing the 
settlers' houses in the Gaza Strip, after which the 
World Bank would hire the services of Palestinian and 
Egyptian firms to complete the task.  Some of the 
rubble would serve Palestinian construction in the 
Strip.  The media reported that Quartet envoy James 
Wolfensohn attended the meeting.  Ha'aretz reported 
that Wolfensohn left for Washington last night to 
present the plan to senior U.S. administration 
officials. 
 
Ha'aretz cited a report by Tel Aviv University's Jaffee 
Center for Strategic Studies, according to which the 
center of operations for Palestinian terror will move 
to the West Bank after disengagement, and the PA's 
inability to efficiently control events in its areas 
will allow Hamas to gain strength.  The newspaper says 
that Shlomo Gazit, a Jaffee Center researcher and a 
former head of IDF Intelligence, argues in the report 
that disengagement "will be accomplished and achieve 
its benefits on condition that Israel withdraw 
completely to the June 4, 1967 borders." 
 
Leading media reported that President Moshe Katsav will 
speak to the nation tonight, urging settlers and the 
government to exercise moderation.  This is the first 
time ever that a president of Israel will thus address 
the Israeli people. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud 
Abbas told the Palestinian Legislative Council Tuesday 
that, "based on information that reached the PA" and on 
agreements reached with Israel regarding the 
disengagement, it appears that Israel will allow the PA 
to build a port in the Gaza Strip, and that the two 
sides had reached agreement on Gaza crossing points. 
Ha'aretz also reported that Abbas hinted that the 
Palestinian legislative elections would take place in 
January. 
 
Hamodi'a and other media cited a report published 
Tuesday in the Saudi newspaper Al-Watan, according to 
which the second stage of the Israel-Hizbullah prisoner 
swap deal failed, following Hizbullah's inability to 
provide details about the fate of Israeli MIA Ron Arad. 
 
Maariv quoted official Iranian sources as saying that 
the missile Shihab-3 is now able to reach targets in a 
2,000-km range with one-meter precision. 
 
Israel Radio quoted A-G Mazuz as saying before the 
Knesset's State Control Committee today that it has not 
been proven up till now that incitement was the cause 
of the late PM Yitzhak Rabin's assassination, but that 
deficient security measures were to blame for it.  The 
radio reported that left-wing politicians expressed 
outrage at Mazuz's pronouncement and quoted Meretz 
Knesset Member Ran Cohen as saying that this was a 
particularly inopportune time to make such a comment. 
 
Leading media reported that two Israeli motorists were 
moderately wounded in a drive-by shooting Tuesday in 
the southern Hebron hills.  While the army is treating 
the incident as a terrorist shooting, police have not 
ruled out the possibility of criminal motivation behind 
the attack, noting that the Israelis are known to the 
police. 
 
All media quoted Labor Party Secretary-General Eitan 
Cabel as saying Tuesday that an internal committtee 
investigating alleged forgeries in the party's 
membership drive found that nearly half the forms that 
were checked were illegal. 
 
Yediot and Israel Radio reported that on Tuesday, the 
cabinet approved the 2006 state budget, 12-8. 
Environment Minister Shalom Simhon (Labor) voted in 
favor of the budget, contrary to his party's line. 
 
-------------------------- 
¶1.  Iran: Nuclear Program: 
-------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "The 
international community must flash a 'stop' sign at 
Khamenei and Ahmadinejad.  The leaders of the West must 
remember that the perpetrators of the London terror 
attacks derived their extremist ideology from similar 
sources, and they must not allow the leaders of radical 
Islam to have nuclear weapons." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"Sanctions on Iran" 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized 
(August 10): "Israel cannot remain apathetic to the 
worrisome developments to its east.  The Iranian 
nuclear program, conducted by a hostile and fanatic 
regime, is rightly seen here as a grave security 
threat.  The U.S. intelligence assessment leaked last 
week to The Washington Post which said Iran is about a 
decade away from having nuclear weapons should not lull 
decision makers in Jerusalem.... Israeli experts 
believe that Iran needs another two to four years -- if 
it abandons all agreements and restrictions -- in order 
to obtain the amount of fissionable material needed for 
a nuclear weapon.  At that point, the balance of power 
in the region will change sharply, to Israel's 
detriment.  The European diplomatic effort to stop 
Iran's nuclearization, which Israel welcomed, has thus 
far succeeded in slowing the project.... However, that 
is no reason to relax.  The severity of the threat, the 
time pressure and Iran's blatant challenge to the 
international community obligate Europe's leaders to 
rethink the soft line they have taken thus far toward 
Tehran.... Sanctions are not a miracle cure, especially 
given the state of the world's oil markets, which would 
have trouble giving up a major producer such as Iran. 
But the international community must flash a 'stop' 
sign at Khamenei and Ahmadinejad.  The leaders of the 
West must remember that the perpetrators of the London 
terror attacks derived their extremist ideology from 
similar sources, and they must not allow the leaders of 
radical Islam to have nuclear weapons." 
 
------------ 
¶2.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one 
of popular, pluralist Maariv: "Just like the Hamas 
terror attacks in February 1996 sent [Netanyahu] to the 
Prime Minister's Office, more Hamas rampaging could 
send him back there, in 2006, ten years later, to the 
same place." 
 
Professor Moshe Kaveh, President of the religiously 
oriented Bar-Ilan University, wrote on page one of mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "So far, the 
demonstrations against disengagement have been 
dignified, but when it comes to implementing the 
decisions of the sovereign state, obedience is 
necessary." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Bibi's Friends" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one 
of popular, pluralist Maariv (August 10): "Israel's 
disengagement from the Gaza Strip will begin next week. 
Ariel Sharon's disengagement from the Likud began this 
week.  The two polls published on Tuesday ... are no 
less than a political earthquake.  In both of them, 
Binyamin Netanyahu crushes Sharon among Likud 
registered voters with a lead of over 14 percent.  His 
resignation from the cabinet on Monday suddenly looks 
like a calculated, winning move.  Up until yesterday 
morning, Sharon's people were still trying to sell the 
thesis that Netanyahu, as usual, 'had shot himself in 
the foot'....  And yet, one must not forget: everything 
depends on disengagement.... A sweeping victory could 
renew [Sharon's] chances somehow.  Netanyahu still 
could, as usual, make some unexpected mistake.  A 
relative success, or a reasonable one, will also be to 
Sharon's advantage.  A resounding failure, obviously, 
will put an end to his career.... He does not have to 
go for the biggest party in order to form the next 
government.  It is enough for it to be in the center, 
exactly in the center, for him to have an advantage 
over his adversaries.  And Bibi, what about him? 
Netanyahu again faces a well-known situation: his 
political career depends on Hamas.  Just like the Hamas 
terror attacks in February 1996 sent him to the Prime 
Minister's Office, more Hamas rampaging could send him 
back there, in 2006, ten years later, to the same 
place.  The next disengagement will already be his." 
 
II.  "Stop False Messianism" 
 
Professor Moshe Kaveh, President of the religiously 
oriented Bar-Ilan University, wrote on page one of mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (August 10): "As 
the date of disengagement approaches, leading rabbis in 
the religious Zionist movement increasingly  'promise' 
the settlers in the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria 
[the northernmost part of the West Bank] that 
'disengagement will not take place.'  I respect and 
acknowledge the qualities ... of some of these leading 
rabbis, but I cannot break free of the worrying feeling 
that in these statements, the rabbis have crossed a red 
line, and are thereby endangering democracy and the 
rule of law in the State of Israel, as well as the 
status of religious Zionism, to which I belong.... By 
statements that delude their followers, these rabbis 
risk soon being declared false prophets.  Jewish 
history teaches us about the places and the fateful 
outcomes into which false messiahs and false prophets 
have led us.  No less worrying are the repeated 
instructions to the uniformed troops to disobey orders. 
Such calls place the religious Jews in the army in an 
impossible situation -- a traumatic bind of dual 
loyalty....   The religious Zionist doctrine utterly 
rejects disobedience towards the state institutions, 
the army and the other elements of Israeli 
sovereignty.... So far, the demonstrations against 
disengagement have been dignified, but when it comes to 
implementing the decisions of the sovereign state, 
obedience is necessary." 
KURTZER