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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 TEL AVIV 006911 
 
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 
Tuesday, December 13, 2005 
 
 
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SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
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¶1.  Iranian Nuclear Program 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
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Major media reported on the Mehlis report, which was 
delivered yesterday to the UN Security council, 
claiming that Syrian and Lebanese intelligence knew 
about the plot to assassinate Hariri, though at this 
stage, according to Ha'aretz, no sanctions are to be 
imposed on Syria.  According to a report published in 
Yediot Aharonot, Israel assisted UN special 
investigator Mehlis and gave him material that ties 
Syrian intelligence organizations with the Hariri 
murder. All media also reported on the killing 
yesterday, by a car bomb, of journalist Gibran Tueni, 
editor of an anti-Syrian publication, the latest in a 
string of assassinations of anti-Syrian figures in 
Lebanon. 
 
A related report in Yediot Aharonot says Israel will 
not encourage US and EU decisionmakers to take steps 
toward removing Syria's Assad from power.  This emerged 
in a discussion Prime Minister Ari'el Sharon held with 
the foreign minister, defense minister, the NSC head, 
and the heads of the the intelligence community. PM 
Sharon instructed the intelligence officials to avoid 
contact with mediators who offer to launch a secret 
track of contacts with Syria, which Sharon maintained, 
are only meant to lift international pressure off 
Syria.  A security source reportedly said yesterday 
that the Syrians will try to increase tension on the 
northern border in an attempt to divert the world's 
attention from them, and the Northern Command was 
instructed to deploy accordingly. 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the European Union on 
Monday, chose not to endorse or publish a draft report 
highly critical of Israel's activity in East Jerusalem, 
particularly of the security barrier and "illegal 
settlement" activity.  Israeli officials welcomed the 
decision of the EU's 25 foreign ministers, who 
considered whether to accept the report at a meeting of 
the General Affairs and External Relations Council of 
EU foreign ministers in Brussels.  Israeli diplomats 
objected to the report, calling its language "very 
unpleasant" and suggesting its formal adoption could 
threaten relations between Israel and the EU.  Foreign 
Ministry spokesman Mark Regev described the move not to 
adopt the report as "the right decision."  Yediot 
Aharonot added that the publication of the report was 
prevented due to an Italian veto, showing once again 
that "Italy is one of Israel's closest friends in 
Europe." 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel decided on 
Monday night to partially ease the closure around the 
West Bank.  The more lax restrictions would permit 
passage of 28,000 workers from Judea and Samaria into 
Israel.  An additional 9,500 Palestinians from the Gaza 
Strip were allowed to enter Israel.  Israel Radio 
reported that the more relaxed travel conditions were 
not extended to Jenin and Tulkarm, which remain under 
closure since the suicide bombing in Netanya last week. 
The Jerusalem Post also reported that in a recently 
held joint Shin Bet and IDF operation in the West Bank, 
a "Hizballah gun-for-hire" who led a seven-man cell was 
detained in the Nabulus area. 
The IDF Radio cited Palestinian sources as saying that 
a Gaza farmer was shot and killed last night by IDF 
soldiers, but an army spokesman said IDF soldiers did 
not fire at any targets in Gaza.  The radio added that 
three Palestinians and two IDF soldiers were wounded in 
a Nabulus clash last night. 
Reporting on a Dahaf poll of Likud Party members, held 
six days before the primaries and after Shaul Mofaz 
quit Likud and joined Kadima, Yediot Aharonot says that 
while Netanyahu keeps his 39% of the vote, leading as 
candidate for Likud chairman, Silvan Shalom went up 
from 14% to 29%, apparently gaining from Mofaz's move. 
The poll shows Feiglin gaining too, going from 8% two 
weeks ago to 11% yesterday, and Minister Yisra'el Katz 
advanced from 2% to 6%.  Maariv poll results show the 
same trend, with slightly different results: Binyamin 
Netanyahu receives 45.5% among those who intend to vote 
and 35.3% among all respondents;  Silvan Shalom: 22% 
among those who intend to vote and  22.5% among all 
respondents;  Moshe Feiglin: 15.5% among those who 
intend to vote and 11.8% among all respondents; and 
Yisrael Katz: 2.7% among those who intend to vote; 2.5% 
among all respondents. 
 
¶1.  Iranian Nuclear Program 
 
Summary 
----------- 
Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el writes in 
independent, left-leaning Haaretz:  "International 
organizations such as the International Atomic Energy 
Agency and the UN Security Council are bound by two 
fundamental understandings that accompany its treatment 
of Iranian nuclear power.  The first is that there is 
no military option, certainly not while the war in Iraq 
teaches a daily lesson to those who support this 
option; and the second is that in light of Iran's 
strong economic standing and its special ties with 
China and Russia, it would be unrealistic to threaten 
it with economic sanctions.  To these basic 
understandings we should add the American attempt to 
get Iran involved in pacifying Iraq so that it could 
finally start considering a pullout date..  Meanwhile, 
it seems that the more Israel raises the Iranian issue, 
the more distant a solution becomes.  The double trap - 
that of the United States against its partners, Russia 
and China, and that of Israel, which seeks to convince 
others that Iran poses a world threat - plays right 
into Iranian hands." 
 
Bloc quotes 
------------- 
"Ahmadinejad Can Keep Smiling" 
 
Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el writes in 
independent, left-leaning Haaretz:  "The following 
statistics will help explain the difficulty of imposing 
economic sanctions on Iran: In the beginning of 2006, 
total trade between Iran and China will reach some $8 
billion, and by the end of 2006 it will rise to $10 
billion; the gas pipeline between Iran and India will 
cost some $10 billion, and is meant to provide for a 
significant portion of India's gas needs; and Russia is 
set to sign an agreement to sell Iran $1 billion-worth 
of weapons.  Iran, which is becoming transformed by 
world oil prices into an ever wealthier state and one 
that can pay for its deals primarily in cash, is 
economically prosperous.  It appears that it's 
leadership thinks its in such a good position that it 
can reject a Russian compromise proposal on the nuclear 
issue, and that it can depend on China to veto any 
sanction the United Nations may decide to impose.. 
This standing of Iran, and particularly the dependence 
of Russia and China on Iran (along with other countries 
like Japan, India, and Pakistan, which have no veto 
power in the UN Security Council), creates the 
impression that the West does not have a real option of 
dealing with the threat of Iran's nuclear weapons - 
whether it is true or false.  This impression is very 
close to reality, as long as international 
organizations such as the International Atomic Energy 
Agency and the UN Security Council are bound by two 
fundamental understandings that accompany its treatment 
of Iranian nuclear power.  The first is that there is 
no military option, certainly not while the war in Iraq 
teaches a daily lesson to those who support this 
option; and the second is that in light of Iran's 
strong economic standing and its special ties with 
China and Russia, it would be unrealistic to threaten 
it with economic sanctions.  To these basic 
understandings we should add the American attempt to 
get Iran involved in pacifying Iraq so that it could 
finally start considering a pullout date.  In the last 
two weeks, US Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad has 
been trying to find an Iranian interlocutor on the 
issue, so far unsuccessfully.  These attempts further 
strengthen the feeling of Iranian power.  Moreover, an 
Iranian nuclear weapon is viewed by Europe, Russia, and 
China only as breaching the world balance of power, not 
as a direct threat to them.  This is in complete 
opposition to the position of Israel, which is not 
particularly impressed by breaches of the world balance 
of power, as it doesn't protest the development of 
Indian or Pakistani nuclear power (and itself never 
endorsed the NPT).  Israel sees Iranian nuclear power 
as a direct threat to it, and only to it.  That's where 
another reason for the international shoulder shrugging 
comes in: Iranian nuclear power is considered almost 
exclusively an Israeli problem, and this fact makes it 
even more difficult to get the world to act jointly 
against Iran.  Meanwhile, it seems that the more Israel 
raises the Iranian issue, the more distant a solution 
becomes.  The double trap - that of the United States 
against its partners, Russia and China, and that of 
Israel, which seeks to convince others that Iran poses 
a world threat - plays right into Iranian hands.  Even 
if Iran does not end up producing a nuclear weapon, it 
will be able to continue holding the whip of the threat 
of producing it and rely on global disagreements to 
rescue it." 
JONES