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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 09 TEL AVIV 006444 
 
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.  U.S.-Israel Relations 
 
¶3.  Muslims in European Society 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
This morning, Israel Radio reported that Histadrut 
Labor Federation Secretary-General, Knesset Member Amir 
Peretz, defeated Vice Premier and interim Labor Party 
Chairman, Shimon Peres, in the primaries for Labor 
Party leadership.  Peretz received 42.35 percent of the 
votes; Peres 39.96 percent; and Infrastructure Minister 
Binyamin Ben-Eliezer 17 percent.  All major newspapers 
had reported that the race was too close to call.  The 
radio quoted Peretz as saying that he expected his 
party to leave the government coalition.  Israel Radio 
reported that Peretz and PM Sharon have agreed to meet 
on Sunday.  The radio reported that Labor cabinet 
ministers will remain in place for the time being. 
Some commentators do not rule out a split in the party. 
 
The major media reported that bombs rocked three hotels 
in Amman late last night, killing at least 57 people 
and wounding hundreds in apparent suicide attacks. 
Israel reported that Al Qaida's Iraqi branch, headed by 
Abu Musa al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for the 
bombings.  The media said that everything indicates 
that Al Qaida was behind the attacks.  The media note 
that one of the hotels is known to be popular with 
Israeli tourists.  Israel Radio reported that an 
Israeli Arab businessman was killed in Amman.  Ha'aretz 
reported that a number of Israelis staying Wednesday at 
the Radisson SAS were evacuated before the bombing by 
Jordanian security forces, apparently due to a specific 
security alert.  Israel Radio reported that Sharon 
expressed his condolences to King Abdullah II, and 
quoted Sharon as saying that the entire world must 
unite and fight terror.  The radio, which said that 
Jordan sealed its land borders after the attacks, 
reported that the Jordanian authorities have advised 
Israel that they will reopen the joint border crossings 
in 24 hours. 
The Jerusalem Post quoted EU Middle East envoy Marc 
Otte as saying Wednesday night that an EU advance team 
arrived Wednesday to look at the Rafah border terminal 
and determine how many EU monitors will be needed 
there, and what equipment and type of protection they 
will need to properly do their job.  Israel Radio cited 
the Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds as saying that no 
progress was made last night during talks between 
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and PA Civilian Affairs 
Minister Muhammad Dahlan, as the main point of 
contention was Israel's demand that the Palestinians 
provide Israel real-time video surveillance pictures 
from the Rafah border crossing.  The radio also 
reported that Mofaz refused to let the PA post monitors 
at the Kerem Shalom cargo border crossing. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that a large group of PA 
security officers sent a letter to PA Chairman 
[President] Mahmoud Abbas, in which they wrote that the 
PA security forces are on the verge of collapse because 
of rampant corruption and growing anarchy. 
 
Ha'aretz and Israel Radio reported that on Wednesday, 
an Argentine prosecutor identified as a Hizbullah 
militant the suicide bomber who detonated a van packed 
with explosives outside a Jewish community center in 
Buenos Aires in 1994, killing 85 people in Argentina's 
worst-ever terrorist attack. 
 
Maariv and Yediot quoted Yuval Rabin, the son of the 
late PM Yitzhak Rabin, as saying that he supports Ariel 
Sharon and that Sharon is the "right man at the right 
place."  The newspapers reported that Yuval Rabin made 
the comment in an interview that Israel TV will air 
this weekend.  Maariv quoted Yuval Rabin as saying in 
the interview that he had wondered why his father had 
insisted on staying in the Labor Party.  Ha'aretz 
reported that Hagai Amir, the brother of Yitzhak 
Rabin's killer, will appear in early January before a 
parole board for a hearing on whether he should be 
released from jail for good behavior.  Hagai Amir is 
serving a 12-year sentence following his conviction on 
charges of conspiring to murder the prime minister, 
conspiring to attack Arabs, and manufacturing, carrying 
and possessing arms.  Leading media reported that an 
academic conference on the aftermath of the Rabin 
assassination held Wednesday at the religious-oriented 
Bar-Ilan University triggered criticism from senior 
faculty, who termed it a "monologue rather than a 
dialogue." 
 
Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel 
will start bringing the remaining Falash Mura 
descendants of Jewish families who converted to 
Christianity, to Israel next month, following an 
agreement reached on Wednesday between an Israeli 
delegation and the Ethiopian government.  According to 
the agreement, some 600 Falash Mura, will be brought to 
Israel monthly. 
 
The major media reported that last night, residents of 
the village of Issawiya, near Mt. Scopus, north of 
Jerusalem, rioted after a policeman shot dead a 
suspected car thief who was a resident of the village. 
 
Maariv reported that a Hamas cell that had been trying 
to infiltrate a drone-manufacturing plant in the United 
Arab Emirates has recently been captured. 
 
Leading media reported that Defense Minister Shaul 
Mofaz's adviser on settlements, Ron Schechner, resigned 
on Wednesday.  Attorney Talia Sasson's March 2005 
report on illegal settler outposts had accused 
Schechner of misleading branches of the GOI. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the GOI has warned the Greek 
Orthodox Patriarch-elect, Theophilos III, not to hold 
an official inauguration ceremony scheduled for 
November 22.  Ha'aretz cited a letter sent to 
Theophilos on Wednesday, in which Tzachi Hanegbi, the 
minister in charge of Jerusalem affairs at the Prime 
Minister's Office, wrote that Theophilos's election 
"has not been recognized by the State of Israel, as is 
required by law." 
 
Maariv reported that the Muslim Canadian Congress has 
recently called on the Canadian authorities to put 
Sharon, a "war criminal," on trial if he enters Canada. 
The newspaper quoted Foreign Ministry officials as 
saying that this is a sensitive issue that will have to 
be addressed.  Maariv quoted a Foreign Ministry source 
as saying: "Attention must be given to the political 
activity of the Arab lobbying groups." 
Yediot reported that Pakistan has informed Israel 
through a third party that it is interested in money, 
not equipment, to help earthquake relief.  The 
newspaper cited Israel's answer to Pakistan that it 
finds it hard to raise a financial contribution. 
 
Maariv reported that on Wednesday, U.S. Ambassador to 
Israel Richard Jones asked the GOI to establish an 
information center that would concentrate all 
governmental and public tenders so that the bids are 
transparent and accessible to all.  The Ambassador was 
speaking before the Israel Gateway Exhibition Seminar. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "It's getting 
closer. Hotels blow up in Sinai, and now hotels are 
blowing up in Amman." 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "It 
was Washington that understood, before Israel did, how 
useless it would be to prevent the participation of 
Hamas in the elections." 
 
Yahad-Meretz Party Chairman and Geneva Accord co- 
initiator Yossi Beilin wrote in Ha'aretz: "Those who 
want to advance the peace process and know -- unlike 
Sharon -- that time is working against the sane in this 
region, must understand that there is no chance for a 
Pax Americana.  The only formula for a solution is 'do 
it yourself.'" 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "The Neighborhood is Burning, and the Borders are 
Breached" 
 
Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (November 10): 
"It's getting closer. Hotels blow up in Sinai, and now 
hotels are blowing up in Amman.  And we're close by. 
The hourglass is emptying.  We cannot count on luck. 
The Jordanians simply ran out of luck on Wednesday.... 
Israel's border with Egypt, through which weapons cross 
into the territories, has turned into a highway.... If 
the Israel-Egypt border is a promenade, then the Israel- 
Jordan border is more along the lines of a 
'recommendation only' to those roaming the area.  Why 
does anybody here think that these terror cells will 
stop when they see the sign 'border ahead?'  Why do we 
wait for a disaster before starting to make a 
reasonable border line?  And perhaps now is the time to 
stop the dozens or hundreds of Israeli Bedouins who 
operate the 'Negev-Sinai' and 'Negev-Jordan' transport 
routes?  Today they bring tons of heroin, hashish and 
weapons across.  Tomorrow they will also transport 
terrorists. Somebody has to put a stop to this 
neglect." 
 
II.  "A Clear Stand Vis-a-Vis Hamas" 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized 
(November 10): "On the one hand, [Prime Minister Ariel 
Sharon] warns that Israel will take steps to make it 
more difficult for Hamas to participate in the 
elections, and then he suffices with the remark that 
the participation of Hamas will determine the extent of 
cooperation between Israel and the PA.... It was 
Washington that understood, before Israel did, how 
useless it would be to prevent the participation of 
Hamas in the elections.  Washington made clear its 
position to Israel and in this way created the current 
confusion.  This confusion would not have existed in 
the first place had Prime Minister Sharon believed the 
peace process, and only the peace process, could 
provide the security he aspires to, or alternately, had 
he truly continued with the momentum of the unilateral 
disengagement from the Gaza Strip in the West Bank as 
well.  For in both of these cases, Israel has an 
interest in the radical organizations cooperating with 
the PA and granting it public legitimization -- if not 
for making peace with Israel, at least for enforcing 
its authority on the public. But one who evades 
negotiations and any other diplomatic initiative must 
cling to the fabrication according to which the 
presence of Hamas in the PA will be the factor delaying 
the process -- a process that does not exist at all." 
 
III.  "Don't Count on America" 
 
Yahad-Meretz Party Chairman and Geneva Accord co- 
initiator Yossi Beilin wrote in Ha'aretz (November 10): 
"It never was President Bush's dream to find a solution 
to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  On the contrary, 
since it had been President Clinton's 'baby' and 
everything connected to Clinton is not kosher as far as 
Bush is concerned, it was clear from the beginning that 
he would stay away from the region.... The sole 
superpower in the world has for some time been running 
a policy of ducking responsibility.  The American 
vision is based on the nonsensical notion of turning 
Gaza into a model of regional success like Singapore or 
Hong Kong, and the Secretary of State shows up to deal 
with the evacuation of the rubble of the settlements of 
Gush Katif or the dramatic issue of the technical 
arrangements for the Rafah crossing.  Those who want to 
advance the peace process and know -- unlike Sharon -- 
that time is working against the sane in this region, 
must understand that there is no chance for a Pax 
Americana.  The only formula for a solution is 'do it 
yourself.'" 
 
 
 
-------------------------- 
¶2.  U.S.-Israel Relations: 
-------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Conservative contributor Yoram Ettinger, former 
minister for Congressional Affairs to Israel's Embassy 
in Washington and former consul general of Israel to 
the Southwestern U.S., wrote in mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "The claim that Israel can't 
be defiant in its relations with the United States is 
totally mistaken." 
 
Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "There is a need to 
examine whether a consensus is at all possible among 
the various streams of Judaism [in the United States] 
on the question of where to draw [a] red line.... If 
this line is crossed, Israel will also have to pay for 
it in terms of understanding and acceptance." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Playing Poker With Washington" 
 
Conservative contributor Yoram Ettinger, former 
minister for Congressional Affairs to Israel's Embassy 
in Washington and former consul general of Israel to 
the Southwestern U.S., wrote in mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot (November 10): "The claim 
that Israel can't be defiant in its relations with the 
United States is totally mistaken and represents a 
misunderstanding of past precedents, of the special 
status enjoyed by the Jewish state in the U.S., of 
global circumstances, of the state of mind in America, 
and of the limitations intrinsic to a president during 
his second term.... Israel's unique relations with the 
U.S. are anchored in shared values.... The state of 
mind of the [American] public and Congress is different 
from the worldview of the State Department, which 
doesn't act under Congressional supervision.  Congress 
is a fortress of systematic support for Israel and 
'holds the strings of the purse.'  Its power equals 
that of the President.  The lower the President's 
prestige drops, the stronger the independence of 
Congress becomes." 
 
II.  "Where Does the Wonderful Friendship End?" 
 
Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (November 10): "The 
statements made a few days ago by Abe Foxman, the head 
of the Anti-Defamation League, deserve an outcry.  He 
warned of increasing efforts by Christian rightists to 
'Christianize America' -- a well-known and much-spoken- 
of phenomenon.  Many are warning of it in the name of 
liberal values, in the name of the American 
constitutional heritage, in the name of political 
objectives.... Supporters of Israel face a complex 
problem: do they continue to uphold their wonderful 
friendship with their most devoted fans, or should they 
first assess the long-term significance of this support 
-- whether it does indeed pose a threat to the 
stability and security of America's Jewish community -- 
and work this assessment into the overall picture that 
determines the depth of these ties?  Foxman is right 
about one thing: there is a need to examine whether a 
consensus is at all possible among the various streams 
of Judaism on the question of where to draw the red 
line -- the line that defines the moment when the 
community will unite against the forces that threaten 
its cultural and religious freedom.  If this line is 
crossed, Israel will also have to pay for it in terms 
of understanding and acceptance." 
 
-------------------------------- 
¶3.  Muslims in European Society: 
-------------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Dr. Gabi Avital, a member of the conservative group 
Professors For a Strong Israel, wrote in popular, 
pluralist Maariv: "Muslims behave as masters, not as 
temporary guests." 
 
 
 
 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"Enlightened Islamic Conquest" 
 
Dr. Gabi Avital, a member of the conservative group 
Professors For a Strong Israel, wrote in popular, 
pluralist Maariv (November 10): "Islam makes use of a 
wide array of means to take over [various Western 
countries].  Not every action makes conspicuous terror 
necessary.  Wisely using European law and justice, and 
'taking advantage of democracy,' are sufficient to 
build more mosques.  Muslims behave as masters, not as 
temporary guests.... It's likely that those remarks are 
unpleasant to sterile ears and in a post-Jewish [i.e. 
left-wing] atmosphere, but it's impossible to dodge the 
basic problem of the Islamic takeover.... [George] 
Bernard Shaw wrote over 70 years ago: 'If any religion 
had the chance of ruling over England, nay Europe 
within the next hundred years, it could be Islam.'" 
 
JONES