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Viewing cable 05TELAVIV5801, ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
05TELAVIV5801 2005-09-26 07:05 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Tel Aviv
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 TEL AVIV 005801 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD 
 
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM 
NSC FOR NEA STAFF 
 
SECDEF WASHDC FOR USDP/ASD-PA/ASD-ISA 
HQ USAF FOR XOXX 
DA WASHDC FOR SASA 
JOINT STAFF WASHDC FOR PA 
USCINCCENT MACDILL AFB FL FOR POLAD/USIA ADVISOR 
COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE FOR PAO/POLAD 
COMSIXTHFLT FOR 019 
 
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.  Iraq 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media continued to lead with issues related to 
infighting within the Likud.  Ha'aretz, Maariv, 
Jerusalem Post, and this morning's Israel Radio 
bulletins led with statements by senior members of PM 
Sharon's camp.  For instance, Ha'aretz bannered a 
comment by Sharon that voting for Binyamin Netanyahu is 
suicide.  Leading media reported that Netanyahu and his 
associates are holding talks with Knesset members from 
the Likud and other parties in order to gather around 
him 61 Knesset members who would recommend that 
President Moshe Katsav ask Netanyahu to form a new 
government.  While Yediot assesses that Netanyahu's 
move would not garner a majority in the Knesset, 
Maariv's count predicts a 61-59 majority in favor of 
Sharon's opponents.  Israel Radio reported that the 
move was not initiated by Netanyahu, but by other 
Knesset members. 
 
Jerusalem Post and Israel Radio quoted President Bush 
as saying, during his meeting with King Abdullah II of 
Jordan in Washington on Thursday, that he had asked the 
King to "visit with Prime Minister Sharon and President 
Abbas, to help in the peace process there, and that 
he's graciously agreed to go." 
 
Maariv features incoming U.S. Ambassador to Israel 
Richard Jones, who it says will try to convince the 
Israelis that he is not an "Arabist," and the 
Palestinians that they must fight terror.  Yediot 
quoted former U.S. ambassador to Israel Dan Kurtzer as 
saying about the Palestinians, in an interview with The 
New York Times, "Victimization gets you on 'Oprah,' but 
you want to be taken seriously enough to get on 'Meet 
the Press.'" 
 
Jerusalem Post writes: "Despite intense Israeli 
lobbying efforts, neither the U.S. nor the rest of the 
Quartet ... are as adamant as Israel about Hamas not 
taking part in the upcoming Palestinian Legislative 
Council elections."  Jerusalem Post reported that A/S 
David Welch told a congressional subcommittee on 
Wednesday that a statement issued by the Quartet on 
Tuesday was "an important step forward."  The newspaper 
says that a careful reading of the statement indicates 
that the Quartet had "not precisely" backed Israel's 
position in its meeting on Tuesday. 
 
Israel Radio reported that Egypt and the Palestinians 
opened the Gaza-Egypt border this morning.  Ha'aretz 
had reported that on Thursday, PA officials hinted that 
Egypt had reneged on its agreement to keep the border 
with Gaza open to passage of people, apparently due to 
Israel's objections.  The newspaper had reported that 
thousands of Palestinians were stranded at the Rafah 
checkpoint.  Israel Radio quoted Palestinian FM Nasser 
al-Kidwa as saying, in a speech before the UN General 
Assembly, that Israel has left a totally destroyed Gaza 
Strip.  Al-Kidwa was further quoted as saying that 
Israel and some of its friends are trying to thwart the 
establishment of a Palestinian state and to dodge UN 
resolutions.  The radio quoted a senior Egyptian 
official as saying that Egypt is interested in 
rebuilding the Strip, but that it is concerned about 
the cost of such an operation. 
 
Citing Reuters, Ha'aretz reported that on Thursday, the 
UN launched an agency to bolster Palestinian shippers, 
traders, and consumers in a step toward institution- 
building ahead of possible Palestinian statehood. 
 
Israel Radio reported that this morning, three armed 
Islamic Jihad activists were killed in a clash with IDF 
forces in the village of Seda near Tulkarm.  Leading 
media reported that on Thursday, the Tel Aviv District 
Court convicted Abbas al-Sayed, a Hamas leader from 
Tulkarm, of masterminding two deadly terror attacks, 
including the Passover 2000 suicide bombing at the Park 
Hotel in Netanya, in which more than 30 people were 
killed. 
 
Israel Radio quoted Saudi FM Saud al-Faysal as saying 
that his country is not yet prepared to sign a peace 
treaty with Israel.  He was speaking with reporters in 
Washington. 
 
Jerusalem Post and Yediot quoted former Shin Bet head 
Avi Dichter as saying, in a speech he delivered to the 
Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Washington's 
Brookings Insitution, that the U.S. briefly embargoed 
the sale to Israel of helicopter spare parts during the 
first year of the latest Intifada. 
 
Leading media reported that Peace Now and the Geneva 
Initiative will hold a peace rally opposite Sharon's 
residence on Saturday night.  A similar demonstration, 
led by PA Chairman [President] Abu Mazen will take 
place in Ramallah.  [Those events were originally 
planned for last Saturday, and later canceled.] 
 
Leading media reported that the cabinet is expected to 
approve on Sunday a proposal to compensate Israeli-Arab 
terror victims. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Peace Now petitioned the High 
Court of Justice on Thursday, demanding the demolition 
of structures in the illegal settler outposts of Harsha 
and Hayovel. 
 
Leading media reported that Britain, Germany, and 
France have decided to adjourn a UN Security Council 
debate over the Iranian nuclear program, due to 
pressure from China and Russia. 
 
Ha'aretz reported on the "Follow the Women" peace ride, 
in which some 120 women from around the world intend to 
bike from Beirut to Ramallah, through Damascus and 
Amman, to draw attention to the peace process.   The 
newspaper printed a picture of the ride passing through 
Jericho. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Jewish American leaders have 
launched a new campaign aimed at pressuring Eastern 
European countries to live up to their promises to 
compensate Holocaust survivors and to return stolen 
property to the families of those who perished at the 
hands of the Nazis. 
 
Israel Radio and Ha'aretz's web site reported that Earl 
Krugel, a Jewish Defense League member, was sentenced 
Thursday in California to 20 years in prison for his 
role in a plot to bomb a mosque and a Lebanese-American 
congressman's office. 
Ha'aretz, Yediot, and Jerusalem Post reported that the 
long-running conflict between Israeli cardiac stent- 
maker Medinol and U.S. medical device giant Boston 
Scientific came to an end in an out-of-court settlement 
in the U.S.:  Boston Scientific will pay Medinol USD 
750 million in cash.  In addition, Boston Scientific 
will return its 21 percent stake in Medinol. 
 
Maariv reported that the "green-card rush" has started. 
The newspaper explains how to apply on the Internet. 
 
The media continued to cover the advance of Hurricane 
Rita toward the U.S. Gulf Coast.  Ha'aretz filed a 
story about Raphael Izraelov, a 28-year-old Israeli, 
who "is being hailed as a hero for his work with 
victims of Hurricane Katrina." 
 
This week's Yediot/Mina Zemach (Dahaf Institute) poll 
found a substantial discrepancy between Likud Central 
Committee members and the general public: 
-Question asked of committee members: "Will you vote in 
favor of, or against moving up the Likud primaries?" In 
favor: 49 percent (46 percent last week); opposed: 46 
percent (49 percent last week). 
-Question asked of general public: "Will a decision by 
the Likud Central Committee to move up the primaries be 
justified?"  No: 60 percent; yes: 29 percent. 
 
 
 
------------ 
1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: 
"Anyone who claims Sharon has hoodwinked Likud members 
in the past cannot now make a similar claim.  Sharon's 
path is clearer and more decisive than that of his 
opponent." 
 
Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in 
Ha'aretz: "If this is what the President believes, how 
is it possible that officials respond so differently?" 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: 
"Just as Yasser Arafat resorted to terror to escape 
diplomatic pressure after scuttling the 2000 Camp David 
summit, the PA will bet that a deteriorating security 
situation will ultimately be blamed on Israel." 
 
Veteran conservative journalist Meir Uziel "addressed" 
President Bush in nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe: 
"Perhaps, after your bonding with Sharon, who totally 
surrendered to terror, your voters will start to 
understand that you actually are a weak leader." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
I.  "Irrational Politics" 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized 
(September 23): "After reaching the belated 
understanding that the Palestinian demand for 
sovereignty is justified, after accepting that the 
State of Israel must bring its borders back toward the 
Green Line, and after proving by means of the 
disengagement that he is serious it is impossible to 
demand that Sharon give up on the opportunity to put 
all of the above into practice simply because some 
Likud members, or perhaps even most of them, don't 
agree with him.  Sharon is putting his beliefs on the 
line and if he fails to convince the other members of 
his party, he will have to quit and try to find another 
political outlet for his policies. Anyone who claims 
Sharon has hoodwinked Likud members in the past cannot 
now make a similar claim.  Sharon's path is clearer and 
more decisive than that of his opponent.  The choice of 
path and the candidate who will lead the country is in 
the hands of every Likud member.  This is what is at 
stake.  This is not about ousting Sharon, as the prime 
minister himself claimed, but about distracting the 
public's attention from the main point." 
 
II.  "Ideology, Not Nuances" 
 
Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in 
Ha'aretz (September 23): "[The State Department and 
Condoleezza Rice] were angry with Israel for leaving 
the [synagogues in Gaza] to the Palestinians instead of 
demolishing them, and then for complaining when the 
Palestinians destroyed them.  But Bush, as one Israeli 
diplomat put it this week, 'is not an official who sees 
nuances.  He is an ideologue.'  And the ideologue went 
far with his statements this week.  In a eulogy to 
Simon Wiesenthal, Bush said the Nazi-hunter had 
'insisted we remember that hatred prepares the way for 
violence and the failure to expose and confront 
intolerance can lead to atrocities beyond imagining. 
As we saw in the recent desecration of the synagogues 
in Gaza, the ancient hatred of anti-Semitism still 
burns in people's hearts.'  This comparison is amazing, 
and especially difficult to place in the context of the 
administration Bush heads.  If this is what the 
President believes, how is it possible that officials 
respond so differently?  And is it possible that there 
are other places down the road in which essential 
differences of opinion will be revealed between the 
President and those who carry out his policies? 
'Perhaps,' an Israeli official said hopefully, 'this is 
also what will happen with Hamas." 
 
III.  "Unmotivated Abbas" 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized 
(September 23): "Motivation ... seems to be what Abbas 
lacks.... The international community has praised Ariel 
Sharon for his political courage in pulling out of 
Gaza.  Pats on the back aside, if the Quartet really 
wants to seize the opportunities Israel has created, it 
must demand a similar level of courage from Abbas. 
Sharon, it seems, was self-motivated; Abbas is not. 
Throwing more money in Abbas's direction will not 
motivate him; quite the opposite.  Europe's open aid 
pipeline signals to Abbas that whatever the Quartet 
says, or whatever is written in the road map, does not 
matter, because he can continue to both ignore his part 
of the bargain and make demands of Israel without 
consequences.... In the end, the failure to hold the PA 
accountable will likely, ironically, hasten its 
collapse.  It also invites a resumption of terrorism, 
because it signals that disengagement has not shifted 
the burden of accountability onto Palestinian 
shoulders.  Just as Yasser Arafat resorted to terror to 
escape diplomatic pressure after scuttling the 2000 
Camp David summit, the PA will bet that a deteriorating 
security situation will ultimately be blamed on 
Israel." 
 
IV.  "Bush, Excuse Me For Putting You Right" 
 
Veteran conservative journalist Meir Uziel "addressed" 
President Bush in nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe 
(September 23): "Yes, if the U.S. takes care that quiet 
reigns in Gaza, this will help Sharon.  But there won't 
be quiet in Gaza -- neither now nor later, and 
certainly not after the huge show of support for terror 
that Sharon has performed.... [Following 9/11], you, 
the free world's raging leader, uttered clear words: 
'There is no good terror and bad terror.  There is no 
middle.'  I heard your words then and told myself: 
'That's it. It's final.  Terror is about to end.  The 
genius in Bush's plan is that it leaves no option to 
the Palestinians.'  The Palestinian groups, which 
really had no option, decided: 'So what?  We're going 
on with terror.'  So they did.  The expulsion of all 
Jewish souls from every inch of Gaza Strip land has 
proven that terror has won -- not what the President of 
the U.S. unwaveringly said after the twin towers were 
destroyed.  Just a moment, Bush.  Maybe you're just 
saying you're a strong leader, which is why people love 
you?  Perhaps, after your bonding with Sharon, who 
totally surrendered to terror, your voters will start 
to understand that you actually are a weak leader.  And 
then -- maybe they'll stop loving you? 
 
 
 
--------- 
2.  Iraq: 
--------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev 
Schiff wrote in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: 
"Among the many scholars preoccupied with the war in 
Iraq, not a single one has discussed the possible 
outcome of an American withdrawal, in the wake of 
faulty handling of the war.... A failed American 
withdrawal in Iraq would increase the threats to the 
Jewish state." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
"Concern Over a Chain Reaction" 
 
Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev 
Schiff wrote in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz 
(September 23): "It is no wonder that voices are being 
heard in Washington about the need to plan an 'exit 
strategy' from Iraq, but President George W. Bush says 
he has no intention of doing so before he achieves a 
victory over terror in the country.... To those who say 
a hasty withdrawal from Iraq will not harm the United 
States, the reply is that chain reactions to such a 
withdrawal are liable to be dramatic for many 
countries, and in the end will affect U.S. security, as 
well.  What is interesting is that among the many 
scholars preoccupied with the war in Iraq, not a single 
one has discussed the possible outcome of an American 
withdrawal, in the wake of faulty handling of the war. 
Such a withdrawal would certainly have an immediate 
effect on Iran's plans in the Middle East, and on 
Syria, Hizbullah, and Hamas.  Iran would definitely be 
the leading nuclear power.  The shake-up would affect 
Saudi Arabia and the small oil-producing nations in the 
Gulf.  In Israel, the relatively optimistic 
intelligence assessment regarding strategic threats to 
the country would be eroded.  A failed American 
withdrawal in Iraq would increase the threats to the 
Jewish state." 
 
JONES