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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TEL AVIV 006177 
 
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.  Syria Governance 
 
¶3.  U.S.-Israel Relations 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
In its lead story, Ha'aretz reported that in a letter 
sent to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the foreign 
ministries of Britain, Russia, and the U.S., James 
Wolfensohn, the Quartet's special envoy for the 
disengagement, criticized Israel for holding up 
agreements on opening Gaza Strip border crossings to 
the passage of people and goods and on improving 
Palestinian mobility in the West Bank.  Wolfensohn 
allegedly wrote that the GOI acted "as if there had 
been no withdrawal." 
 
On Sunday, Ha'aretz quoted a senior State Department 
official as saying on Friday that Israeli and 
Palestinian obligations undertaken under the Roadmap 
are not of equal importance.  The official, who 
reportedly asked to remain anonymous, was quoted as 
saying that the PA's commitment to fight terror is more 
crucial that Israel's commitment to freeze settlement 
construction and evacuate illegal settlement outposts. 
 
On Sunday, The Jerusalem Post reported that a senior 
GOI source told the newspaper on Saturday: "Israel is 
not going to stop Hamas from participating in the 
[Palestinian Legislative Council] elections."  The 
source was also quoted as saying that Israel would not 
deal politically with Hamas following the elections, 
should members of the group be elected to office.  In 
addition, the source was quoted as saying that Israel 
would not take any steps to help with the elections 
should Hamas participate in them.  He did not clarity 
what he meant.  Ha'aretz reported that contrary to the 
Israeli stance, the U.S. administration has accepted 
the position of PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas 
that the right time to confront Hamas and its 
disarmament is after the Palestinian elections in 
January.  Israel has been demanding that Abbas confront 
Hamas now because it has created a "second authority" 
that is posing a threat to the PA and Abbas's future. 
Ha'aretz quoted diplomats in New York as saying that 
despite the U.S. administration's strong condemnations 
of Syria since Friday, the U.S. prefers not to take far- 
reaching steps against Damascus at the UN Security 
Council at this stage.  Leading media quoted senior 
U.S. officials, including President Bush and Secretary 
of State Condoleezza Rice, as saying during the weekend 
that Syria must be brought to account for is actions in 
Lebanon.  Ha'aretz also quoted sources in New York as 
saying that a report due to be published today at UN 
headquarters, compiled by the UN special envoy to 
Lebanon Terje Roed-Larsen, with a view to implementing 
UNSC Resolution 1559, will focus on arms smuggled from 
Syria to Lebanon that reach the Palestinian refugee 
camps and constitute a central threat to the stability 
of Lebanon and a danger to its security.  On Sunday, 
Ha'aretz reported that opinions are divided in 
Jerusalem as to whether the fall of Syrian President 
Bashar Assad's regime would be good for Israel.  The 
newspaper quoted senior Israeli government officials as 
saying on Saturday that Assad's fall would benefit 
Israel because Syria's government was the worst 
possible regime.  On the other hand, the daily quoted a 
senior Israeli military official as saying that a rise 
to power in Syria of the Muslim Brotherhood and 
extremists who might even cooperate with Al Qaida could 
be more dangerous. 
 
Israel Radio reported that last night, two armed 
Palestinians were killed in Tulkarm by IDF fire.  The 
radio reported that one of them, Luai Saadi, was the 
head of the armed branch of Islamic Jihad in the West 
Bank and was wanted for planning major terrorist 
attacks.  On Sunday, the media reported that the IDF 
arrested five wanted men near Nablus on Saturday, one 
of whom had concealed a grenade in his infant son's 
blanket.  All media (lead stories in Yediot and Maariv) 
cited the Shin Bet as saying that two Israeli dentists 
-- Dr. Nazmi Hassin from Nazareth and Dr. Asalam Zeidan 
from the village of Kafr Manda -- who were recruited by 
Hamas during their dentistry studies in Romania in the 
1990s, have been arrested.  They reportedly trained in 
Turkey in order to carry out terrorist attacks in 
Israel.  On Sunday and today, Maariv highlighted a 
warning by the Israeli defense establishment that the 
launching of Qassam rockets from the West Bank into 
Kfar Sava and other Sharon region cities is only a 
question of time.  On Sunday, the newspaper cited 
assessments by the IDF that the manufacture of rockets 
in Samaria (the northern West Bank) cannot be 
prevented. 
 
Leading media reported that on Sunday, the PA announced 
a security plan aimed at disarming the armed wing of 
Fatah and recruiting hundreds of its members into the 
security forces. 
 
On Sunday, Yediot quoted associates of PM Sharon as 
saying that former Shin Bet head Avi Dichter will join 
Sharon's election campaign. 
 
On Sunday, Yediot cited the belief of senior officials 
in the Israeli defense industries that those 
manufacturers are bound to dismiss thousands of workers 
if the U.S. continue to cause Israeli weapons deals to 
fail. 
 
On Sunday, Maariv cited Knesset Member Binyamin 
Netanyahu's denial of last week's Maariv story that 
claimed he was considering retiring from political 
life. 
 
Major media reported that on Sunday, the Jewish Agency 
donated 100,000 shekels (approx. USD 21,600) to victims 
and their families of the attack by Jewish terrorist 
Eden Natan-Zada aboard a bus in the Israeli-Arab town 
of Shfaram at the beginning of August.  The Jerusalem 
Post notes that it was the first time that money from a 
special fund established shortly following the outbreak 
of the Intifada to help victims of terror has been 
given to Israeli Arabs who were victims of Jewish 
terror. 
 
On Sunday, Ha'aretz and Jerusalem Post reported that on 
Saturday, President Bush announced his intention to 
nominate Paul J. McNulty of Virginia as deputy attorney 
general at the Justice Department.  McNulty is the 
federal prosecutor responsible for the cases of former 
defense analyst Larry Franklin and the two former AIPAC 
lobbyists, Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman. 
 
On Sunday, The Jerusalem Post reported that William 
Daroff, a Republican activist with bipartisan ties, was 
selected to lead Washington operations for the United 
Jewish Communities. 
 
Yediot front-paged the picture of a Native American who 
is a member of a group that came to Israel to 
"encourage the Gush Katif evacuees." 
 
Leading media reported that businessman Shmuel Levy, a 
dual Israeli-American citizen who disappeared in 
Greece, was killed there during an attempted robbery. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: 
"Hamas's participation in the election should not be 
viewed as a concession on the demand to stop the 
terror.  Rather, it should be seen as an attempt to 
reach the same goal using different means." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"Do Not Disturb" 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized 
(October 23): "In answer to a question about the 
timetable for the creation of a Palestinian state, 
President George W. Bush gave a partly religious 
response: 'I believe that two democratic states living 
side by side in peace is possible. I can't tell you 
when it's going to happen.'  Later on, he said it might 
not happen during his presidential term.  Even if the 
statement was intended to pressure the Palestinians to 
disarm the militant organizations quickly, in order to 
follow the route prescribed in the road map, it is 
doubtful that lowering expectations is the desired 
approach.... [Likewise], Israel's desire to take Hamas 
out of the political game is apparently not in keeping 
with reality.  Israel's indelicate interference in the 
Palestinian elections, as punishment for Hamas's 
participation in them, will only further weaken Abbas. 
In this matter, at least, the American position seems 
clear.  Hamas's participation in the election should 
not be viewed as a concession on the demand to stop the 
terror.  Rather, it should be seen as an attempt to 
reach the same goal using different means.  To Abbas, 
too, it is clear that no diplomatic process can be 
carried out under fire, and his intention to achieve 
calm through democratic means is deserving of trust and 
support at least for a limited period.  Israel's role 
at this stage is not to disturb." 
 
--------------------- 
¶2.  Syria Governance: 
--------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "A 
regime that employs terrorist means to implement its 
policy will have to brought to account and even 
punished." 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: 
"This time, we hope, Damascus may have taken its 
'misunderestimation' of the international community one 
step too far." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "An Unfit Regime" 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized 
(October 24): "Lebanon, which has done more than any 
other party in the region, including the United States 
and the Arab League, to free itself from Syria's hold, 
also wishes to sever itself from the 'joint track' 
doctrine that Syria dictated.  This is the doctrine 
that prevented Lebanon from conducting peace 
negotiations with Israel on its own.  Lebanon's 
political independence is therefore an important 
Israeli interest, which, even if Israel does not 
succeed at this time in persuading Lebanon to advance 
toward peace negotiations with it, at least holds out 
hope that Syria would not stand in the way of the 
process.  It is possible that the conclusions of the 
two investigative commissions attest merely to another 
attempt to adapt Syria's policies to the ambitions of 
the United States, especially regarding Syrian 
cooperation in the war in Iraq.  That, however, is not 
sufficient to negate their basic assumption: a regime 
that employs terrorist means to implement its policy 
will have to brought to account and even punished." 
 
II.  "Catching Rogues" 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized 
(October 23): "The significance of the Mehlis report is 
that it shows how, given an international climate of 
decreasing tolerance for terrorism, victimized nations 
can puncture the thin veil of deniability and doubt 
that has protected aggressor regimes until now.  It 
says that the West will not wait for the level of proof 
required by a criminal court before pointing an 
accusing finger and acting to protect itself.  Syrian 
protestations regarding flimsy evidence and the 
presumption of innocence are, of course, risible coming 
from a brutal police state whose idea of justice has 
infamously included carpet-bombing its own citizens. 
Yet the fact that the regime would even attempt such a 
defense shows that it still believes that there are no 
limits to Western gullibility and weakness.  This time, 
we hope, Damascus may have taken its 
'misunderestimation' of the international community one 
step too far." 
 
-------------------------- 
¶3.  U.S.-Israel Relations: 
-------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "Should Israel 
find out, within a few months, that the American 
companies are upgrading the F-16 planes for Venezuela, 
then we would become worthless." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"The United States Is Turning Israel Into a Worthless 
Element" 
 
Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (October 23): 
"During the discussions over the memorandum of 
understanding between Israel and the U.S., following 
[Israel's] arms sales to China, the Americans have 
pledged that limitations [of sales] will only be 
subject to purely diplomatic considerations.  In other 
words -- Israel will not be forced into a situation in 
which a veto on a deal will be imposed on Israel due to 
pressure by the American defense industries in the same 
markets.  The deal to upgrade Venezuelan aircraft would 
be the test: should Israel find out, within a few 
months, that the American companies are upgrading the F- 
16 planes for Venezuela, then we would become 
worthless.... In a semi-official communication, not a 
real demand, the U.S. State Department has thanked 
Israel for having acceded to its request that the deal 
with Venezuela be canceled.  It has also pledged that 
no economic pressure by American firms is hiding under 
the request.  Will this expression of gratitude put 
across 'measures to ease the siege' on Israeli security 
exports?  There's no chance of that happening." 
 
JONES