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 006855 
 
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 
 
------------------------------- 
SUBJECT COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
------------------------------- 
 
¶1.  Israel and the Iranian Nuclear Program 
¶2.  Israeli Election Campaigns 
¶3.  Palestinian Leadership and the West 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
The Jerusalem Post reports that the IDF resumed 
"targeted assassinations" in the wake of the Netanya 
terror attack and killed a prominent Rafah terrorist 
commander Mahmud Arkan.  Some 10 bystanders were 
injured when an Air Force aircraft fired at Arkan's 
car. 
 
Haaretz reports that Israel halted discussions with the 
PA on the establishment of the safe passage, a shuttle 
service between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.  The 
passage was agreed on when Secretary of State Rice 
visited Israel, and was to be opened on 15 December. 
The Israeli cabinet noted that contact with the PA 
would resume once the latter take steps against terror 
organizations. 
 
In a related report, the Jerusalem Post said that the 
Palestinian Football Association decided that 
Palestinian soccer players who attended the highly 
publicized game in Barcelona last week would be 
punished. 
 
Yediot Aharonot reports that yesterday, the PA endorsed 
an act according to which families of Palestinians who 
were "martyred" will be given a $250 monthly allowance 
or more.  Israel is reportedly trying to obtain a copy 
of the act "to show the world that Abu-Mazen is not 
fighting terror as expected of him." 
 
The Jerusalem Post reports that the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation and the Diplomatic Security Service 
operating out of the US Embassy in Tel Aviv are in the 
midst of an ongoing fraud investigation against the 
Black Hebrews of Dimona.  Members of the community are 
suspected of social security and passport fraud to the 
tune of millions of dollars. 
 
The Jerusalem Post and other media carry front-page 
stories on Tzahi Hanegbi's transition to Sharon's 
Kadima party, announced Wednesday.  Hanegbi quit his 
post as interim Likud chairman and resigned from the 
Knesset.  Cosmetics queen Pnina Rosenblum is set to 
replace Hanegbi in the Knesset, and a group of Likud 
officials led by Health Minister Dan Naveh will take 
over the interim leadership of the party until the 
December 19 Likud primary.  Addressing the media 
Wednesday, Hanegbi announced his move, saying he could 
no longer support any of the Likud leading candidates, 
Haaretz reported. 
 
Reacting to the move, a Sharon associate remarked: "We 
dismantled the Likud," Haaretz says.  Netanyahu said 
Hanegbi is in trouble with the police, so he should not 
be judged harshly; while Mofaz, another Likud 
contender, warned that the party is in "deep crisis," 
and might become extreme right under Netanyahu. 
 
In a related story, the Jerusalem Post says Likud MK 
Binyamin Netanyahu, candidate for party leader, signed 
a document calling for strengthening West Bank 
settlements and holding referenda on future territorial 
concessions in return for MK Uzi Landau's endorsement 
of his candidacy and quitting the party leadership 
race.  The document, said to "shift the Likud 
rightwards," also rules out unilateral withdrawals and 
negotiations with the Palestinians before they 
eliminate terror, violence, and incitement. 
 
The media report that, starting today, the current 
cabinet is a transition government in which the prime 
minister may appoint ministers without the Knesset's 
approval.  Haaretz reports that Sharon is considering 
new nominations, as Likud ministers are expected to 
quit the cabinet after a new Likud chairman is elected 
on 19 December. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reports that the United States and 
Israel signed an agreement Wednesday to begin a joint 
effort to help detect the smuggling of radioactive 
materials. 
 
Citing a senior defense official, Yediot Aharonot 
reports that Iranian procurement of nuclear weapons 
would make the entire Middle East obtain nuclear arms. 
The source said that under an Iranian nuclear umbrella, 
the Middle East conflict would become completely 
different.  The official said the Iranians would be 
able to prove that persistence and determination is 
enough to repel the international community, make the 
NPT collapse, and start a nuclear arms race in the 
region.  The presence of nuclear arms in Iran, he said, 
would pose a direct and unique threat against Israel, 
and even if a bomb were not thrown at Israel once 
obtained, Israel would not be able to live with such a 
constant threat.  The source added that Iran's religion- 
based hatred for Israel would not be toned down through 
dialogue or compromises as Iran keeps trying to export 
the Islamic revolution to the Middle East, the sources 
remarked. 
 
Haaretz reports that the United States is trying to 
"torpedo" a $1.25 billion arms deal between Israel and 
South Korea, in which Israel's bid for the sale of four 
early-warning and intelligence aircrafts is some $400 
million lower than US Boeing's.  The Israeli systems 
include US-made components, and US sources have 
reportedly told the South Koreans that Israel will 
encounter difficulties trying to obtain the US 
permission to sell them.  Israeli defense sources 
expressed concern over the "increasing involvement of 
the US Administration in Israeli security exports 
policies", saying it has been "held hostage" by the 
Administration that does not hesitate to impose its 
will on the Israeli Government, guided in most cases by 
commercial competition. 
 
Yediot Aharonot reports that CIA agents toured the site 
of the Netanya bombing Wednesday to study damages 
caused by such explosions which, police sources said, 
serves the US Army in Iraq. 
 
Maariv reports that, speaking before the Knesset 
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Deputy Chief of 
Staff Moshe Kaplinsky said that only some 275km of the 
planned 759km-long separation fence are in place and 
active, and that of the planned 39 passages, 11 have 
been built.  He added that the fence will be completed 
by the end of 2006 at the cost of some 9.5 billion 
shekels.  Committee Chairman Steinintz blamed the High 
Court of Justice for the delay and the "heavy price" 
this collects from the Israeli citizens. 
 
¶1.  Israel and the Iranian Nuclear Program 
 
                        Summary 
                      ----------- 
 
Veteran columnist Uri Dan writes in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post:  "From Israel's 
perspective, the danger of the Iranian nuclear program 
is different from the Iraqi one - not only 
geographically, topographically and technologically - 
but also internationally.  Now, not only the United 
States recognizes the existence of the great danger, 
but so does Europe - including, this time, France.. 
The Iranian nuclear program is being carried out with 
more deceit and trickery than Saddam Hussein employed 
in 1981.  Teheran's bazaar has always been more 
dangerous than Baghdad's thieves' market.  We can 
assume that Sharon, who as agriculture minister was 
instrumental in bringing about the bombing of the 
Baghdad reactor, knows a quarter of a century later as 
prime minister what he is talking about when he 
declares that 'Israel and others cannot allow a 
situation to emerge where Iran becomes a nuclear 
power.'" 
 
                      Bloc quotes 
                     ------------- 
 
"Between Baghdad and Teheran" 
 
Veteran columnist Uri Dan writes in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post:  "From Israel's 
perspective, the danger of the Iranian nuclear program 
is different from the Iraqi one - not only 
geographically, topographically and technologically - 
but also internationally.  Now, not only the United 
States recognizes the existence of the great danger, 
but so does Europe - including, this time, France. 
Unlike the world's indifference to the threat made by 
Saddam Hussein in spring 1990 that he would 'burn half 
of Israel,' the international community recently 
hurried to condemn the threat made by President Mahmud 
Ahmadinejad to 'wipe Israel off the map.'  The 
international pressure on Iran may already have led to 
delays in the implementation of its nuclear program. 
Life has taught Sharon how difficult it is to keep 
secrets.  'I cannot shut people up,' he says.  'Israel 
 
SIPDIS 
does not need to be the one to lead the struggle,' he 
recently explained to me.  'We must enable the US and 
the European community to manage the diplomatic battle, 
including in the Security Council, against Iran's 
secret nuclear plan.  If Israel spearheads this 
 
SIPDIS 
campaign, the Europeans - who have important economic 
interests in Iran - will view themselves as exempt from 
having to deal with it.  And that is unacceptable given 
that the situation has only gotten even more grave 
since the election of the new Iranian president.'  That 
is why Sharon has given orders to maintain continual 
contact with the White House, the Elysee Palace in 
Paris and 10 Downing Street in order to update the 
leaders in real time.  The Iranian nuclear program is 
being carried out with more deceit and trickery than 
Saddam Hussein employed in 1981.  Teheran's bazaar has 
always been more dangerous than Baghdad's thieves' 
market.  We can assume that Sharon, who as agriculture 
minister was instrumental in bringing about the bombing 
of the Baghdad reactor, knows a quarter of a century 
later as prime minister what he is talking about when 
he declares that 'Israel and others cannot allow a 
situation to emerge where Iran becomes a nuclear 
power.'" 
 
 
¶2.  Israeli Election Campaigns 
 
                        Summary 
                     ------------ 
 
Senior diplomatic correspondent Shimon Schiffer writes 
in mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot:  "The 
step Tzahi Hanegbi took yesterday is liable to be 
viewed in another few months as the last nail that was 
hammered into the Likud's coffin..  The real and 
powerful political earthquake will strike Israel on the 
day after the elections are held, once all the ballot 
boxes have been opened: the absolute collapse of the 
Likud, and two parties that will compete against one 
another over who forms the next government-Kadima under 
Sharon's leadership or the Labor Party under Peretz. 
The Likud will trail far behind, somewhere between Shas 
and Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu." 
 
                      Bloc quotes 
                    -------------- 
"The Last Nail" 
 
Senior diplomatic correspondent Shimon Schiffer writes 
in mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot:  "The 
step Tzahi Hanegbi took yesterday is liable to be 
viewed in another few months as the last nail that was 
hammered into the Likud's coffin.  It dashed the dream 
of the greater Land of Israel once and for all. 
Hanegbi's departure for Kadima lends greater weight to 
the assessment that the upcoming elections have already 
been decided, for all intents and purposes.  The real 
and powerful political earthquake will strike Israel on 
the day after the elections are held, once all the 
ballot boxes have been opened: the absolute collapse of 
the Likud, and two parties that will compete against 
one another over who forms the next government -- 
Kadima under Sharon's leadership or Labor under Peretz. 
The Likud will trail far behind, somewhere between Shas 
and Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu.  Binyamin 
Netanyahu chose to respond to Hanegbi's decision to 
quit the party in the nastiest way conceivable: he said 
that Hanegbi is in a state of distress because of the 
police decision to recommend that he be indicted. 
Please, come on.  Netanyahu, apparently, suffers from 
amnesia.  He has had his own personal share of 
experience being questioned by the police, and he 
managed to emerge intact only by the skin of his teeth. 
Tzahi Hanegbi decided to join Sharon irrespective of 
the police investigation.  He intended to convene a 
press conference and to announce his decision on Monday 
-- two days before the police announced their 
recommendation -- but the terror attack in Netanya 
prompted him to delay his announcement by a day.  The 
prime minister never explicitly asked Hanegbi to join 
him in Kadima, but that option remained a possibility 
as soon as Sharon quit the Likud.  Sharon gives Tzahi 
Hanegbi the highest marks among his former Likud 
colleagues.  Sharon highly values Hanegbi's level- 
headedness and the fact that he can hold a conversation 
with him without the details immediately leaking to the 
press.  Hanegbi, conversely, admires Sharon's ability 
to make decisions in crisis situations and his 
leadership qualities, which he feels to be absent in 
Netanyahu, Mofaz, and any of the other candidates for 
the Likud leadership.  Sharon's external advisers, 
mainly the people responsible for doing the internal 
polling, were opposed to having Hanegbi join Kadima. 
They were afraid that Hanegbi would paint the list in 
colors that were too blatantly right wing.  Sharon 
overruled his advisers.[...]The prime minister's aides 
have been gleefully following the turn of events in the 
ruins of what was once the Likud.  People in Sharon's 
bureau told a joke that is making the rounds in 
Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda Market at the Likud's 
expense, and mainly at the expense of the person who is 
most likely to be its leader.  People in the market 
say: 'Bibi's a ten [the equivalent of an A+ grade in 
the Israeli school system].  Ten!  He'll win the Likud 
ten seats, but he's a ten.'" 
 
 
¶3.  Palestinian Leadership and the West 
 
                        Summary 
                      ----------- 
 
Independent, left-leaning Haaretz carries an article by 
contributor Moshe Elad: "The political culture in the 
West Bank and the Gaza Strip over the past four decades 
shows a phenomenon unique to the Palestinian society: 
the leadership confronting Israel is always more 
democratic than its preceding leadership, but its 
demands of Israel are more extreme..  Assuming that 
history is repeating, come January we might find out 
that the new partner Israel will have is very 
democratic, but also presents Israel with extreme 
demands.  This will again place the key in Western 
hands.  All the pressure levers it has -- from severing 
diplomatic ties to stopping the transfer of funds -- 
must be used against the future democratic PA 
leadership to make it flexible, compromise, and seek 
peace." 
 
"The Key to Negotiations Is in Western Hands" 
 
Independent, left-leaning Haaretz carries an article by 
contributor Moshe Elad, the former IDF general who 
served in the territories and currently studies the 
Palestinian society.  "The US failure to introduce a 
democracy in Iraq should have taught the West at least 
one important lesson -- when speaking of 
democratization in the Middle East, it is not a choice 
between an Arab dictatorship and a Western democracy, 
but between a secular dictatorship with democratic 
elements (such as in Egypt, Jordan, or Morocco) and a 
fundamentalist-Islamic dictatorship (as in Iran and 
Saudi Arabia).  It is thus possible that a new 
Palestinian leadership would be democratically elected 
on 25 January, but the hope that such a leadership 
would attain a peace accord with Israel is far from 
realistic..  The political culture in the West Bank and 
the Gaza Strip over the past four decades shows a 
phenomenon unique to the Palestinian society: the 
leadership confronting Israel is always more democratic 
than its preceding leadership, but its demands of 
Israel are more extreme..  The first intifadah ended 
with the PLO's arrival in the territories, but because 
its leadership was eventually viewed as too centrist, 
complacent, and moderate, the Palestinian public 
quickly found an alternative.  The Al-Aksa intifadah 
brought forth a combination of fundamentalist Hamas and 
Islamic Jihad leaders with leaders of anarchistic gangs 
that operate under the Palestinian government.  They 
will be the ones elected to the Legislative Council. 
It is therefore rather nave for the US and Europe to 
believe that 100 years of bloody conflicts between 
Zionism and the Arab nationalist movement and more than 
three decades of violent struggle between Israel and 
the Palestinian would end if only Marwan Barguti and 
his men are elected.  Assuming that history is 
repeating, come January we might find out that the new 
partner Israel will have is very democratic, but also 
presents Israel with extreme demands.  This will again 
place the key in Western hands.  All the pressure 
levers it has -- from severing diplomatic ties to 
stopping the transfer of funds -- must be used against 
the future democratic PA leadership to make it 
flexible, compromise, and seek peace." 
Jones