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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 10 TEL AVIV 006924 
 
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.  Iran: Nuclear Program 
 
¶3.  Syria 
 
¶4.  U.S.-Israel Relations 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Leading media highlighted remarks made in an interview 
with Newsweek by Kalman Gayer, who advises PM Sharon on 
public opinion polls, that Sharon would be willing to 
give up 90 percent of the West Bank and part of 
Jerusalem for a Palestinian state.  The media quoted 
senior Likud MKs Binyamin Netanyahu and Uzi Landau, 
among others, as saying that Sharon will "divide 
Jerusalem."  Major media reported that Sharon published 
a special statement last night in which he totally 
dissociated himself from the quotes in Newsweek, saying 
they were "senseless and absurd." 
 
All media (banner in Ha'aretz) quoted IDF Chief of 
Staff Dan Halutz as saying before the Knesset's Foreign 
Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday that Iran will 
be capable of enriching uranium within the next three 
months, but that it will have to overcome many 
technological obstacles before reaching the nuclear 
"point of no return."  Leading media cited Halutz's 
belief that Iran could reach nuclear capability between 
2008 and 2015.  Yediot cited Halutz's concern that Iran 
could pass "dirty bombs" on to terrorists if it 
succeeds in reaching nuclear capability.  Ha'aretz 
reported that on Tuesday, Labor Party officials, 
including Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, accused Sharon, Defense 
Minister Shaul Mofaz, and other defense officials of 
using the Iranian issue in their election campaigns in 
an effort to divert public debate from social issues. 
Leading media reported that, at a meeting with Hamas 
leader Khaled Mashal in Tehran Tuesday, Iran's Supreme 
Leader Ali Khamenei encouraged the Palestinians to 
continue their struggle against Israel. 
 
On Tuesday, The Jerusalem Post reported that the U.S. 
and Israel are continuing talks about the plan to run 
IDF-escorted buses between Gaza and the West Bank, even 
as Israel is maintaining its firm resistance to allow 
such buses to run.  The newspaper reported that Israel, 
the PA, and the U.S. had been organizing a test pilot 
this Thursday of a convoy program that would allow safe 
passage of Palestinian people and goods between Gaza 
and the West Bank through a series of IDF-escorted 
convoys. 
 
Yediot reported that, just before he quit the contest 
for Likud Party leadership and joined Sharon's party 
Kadima, Mofaz authorized the construction of hundreds 
of housing units in settlements.  The newspaper wrote 
that the majority of heads of local council that won 
building permits are Likud members.  Yediot, which 
cited Mofaz's bureau as saying that the decision is not 
politically motivated, noted that the move contravenes 
Israel's understandings with the U.S. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the state is turning a blind eye 
to "building violations on a colossal scale" on the 
western side of the fence route in a new section of the 
settlement of Upper Modi'in.  The newspaper wrote that 
this description was quoted from a letter by attorney 
Gilad Rogel, the legal counselor of the Upper Modi'in 
Local Council, in reference to the new neighborhood 
called Matitiyahu East. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted Mofaz as saying Tuesday that Hizbullah 
can be expected to escalate the situation on the 
Lebanese border in order to divert attention from 
Syria's actions in Lebanon.  The Jerusalem Post quoted 
a senior IDF officer as saying Tuesday that an attempt 
by Syria to divert attention from the Mehlis report by 
stirring a clash with Israel is not likely, since the 
Syrian army is spread too thin to pose a threat. 
Leading media reported that on Monday, in a written 
statement, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called 
on the Bashar Assad regime to stop meddling in 
Lebanon's affairs. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the IDF is reviewing 
its open-fire regulations along the Egyptian border to 
better defend against increasing attempts by armed 
infiltrators crossing the frontier, which has been a so- 
called "peace border" for the past quarter century. 
The newspaper quoted a senior IDF officer as saying 
Tuesday that the new regulations were required to deal 
with the "dangerous criminal elements" on the border. 
 
In its lead story, The Jerusalem Post reported that, 
facing a violent uprising by representatives of the 
young guard in his ruling Fatah party, PA Chairman 
[President] Mahmoud Abbas was under enormous pressure 
on Tuesday to postpone parliamentary elections 
scheduled for next month. 
 
Leading media reported that this week, Iranian 
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made remarks reiterating 
his doubt about the Holocaust. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that two IDF paratroopers 
were wounded by an improvised explosive thrown at them 
during an operation in Nablus on Tuesday. 
 
Yediot and The Jerusalem Post cited statistics released 
by the IDF on Tuesday, according to which the number of 
Israelis killed in terrorist actions in 2005 (52) was 
half that of 2004 (112).  The Jerusalem Post wrote that 
the army still hesitates to declare the Intifada over. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that a map of the Middle 
East presented at the UN did not include Israel and had 
no mention of the Jewish state in the region.  The map 
was used at a formal event on November 29 -- "A Day of 
Solidarity With the Palestinian People" -- that was 
attended by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the 
presidency of the UN Security Council and General 
Assembly.  The newspaper quoted Farhan Haq, a spokesman 
at UN Headquarters in New York, as saying that the map 
does not represent the UN's views on the region and 
that it would not be presented at next year's event. 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the Israeli delegation 
to the UN is considering its actions following the use 
of the map, and quoted sources in the delegation as 
saying that Israel does not accept such behavior on 
behalf of the international body and that it views the 
event in a very serious light. 
 
Maariv's web site, NRG, reported that Maariv's 
correspondent Jackie Hoogie, whose father was born in 
Iraq, voted for the second time in Jordan as an exile 
in the elections for the Iraqi parliament. 
Maariv cited a report in the latest issue of the 
magazine Karka, published by the Jewish National Fund's 
land policy branch, which found that the IDF directly 
controls over 50 percent of the state-owned land inside 
the Green Line.  Noting that the IDF also controls most 
of the state land in the West Bank, Maariv says that 
the absolute majority of the land between the Jordan 
River and the Mediterranean Sea is "military." 
 
The Jerusalem Post and other media reported that recent 
polls suggested that FM Silvan Shalom has gained on 
Netanyahu since Mofaz quit the race for Likud 
leadership and joined Kadima.  So far, every poll had 
predicted that Netanyahu would win the contest. 
 
Ha'aretz cited the results of a Tel Aviv University 
poll due to be released today, according to which 
Israeli Arab voters will supply the Labor Party with 
between three and four seats in the next Knesset and 
Kadima with at least one. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one 
of popular, pluralist Maariv: "Sharon's group over the 
past two weeks has been suffering megalomania." 
 
Conservative columnist Yosef Harif wrote in Maariv: "In 
the new framework movement [Sharon] has created, he is 
assured of general support for his ideas.... But 
there's no certainty that he can reach peace." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
¶I.  "Nonsense" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one 
of popular, pluralist Maariv (December 14): "There has 
already been more than one report that Sharon 
could/would carry out additional disengagements.  In 
order for this to happen, the road map must fail (which 
would take a year or two), there must be the right 
conditions (there is no partner, etc.).  This 
disengagement, should it take place, would include 
taking down isolated settlements in Judea and Samaria 
[i.e. the West Bank], with some agreement with the 
Americans about the practical ramifications of the new 
line.  Sharon, as of now, is not thinking about this. 
He is hoping for a sweeping victory by Abu Mazen in the 
elections, and perhaps even a resumption of 
negotiations on the basis of the road map.  To 
attribute to him the division of Jerusalem, is like 
attributing to Avraham Poraz [a former Shinui Party 
cabinet minister who opposes religious coercion] the 
intention to become religious.  If Sharon has a casus 
belli, it is in Jerusalem.  True, he knows that it 
could be that sometime, in some permanent status 
agreement, the periphery neighborhoods of East 
Jerusalem could be handed over to the Palestinians. 
Olmert has known this for a long time, but Sharon will 
not be the person to sign such an agreement.  Even 
Netanyahu knows this.  We are entering the wild 
territory of this endless election campaign -- the 
territory in which mistakes are made.  Sharon's group 
over the past two weeks has been suffering megalomania. 
Arrogance is the great enemy of the victorious.  This 
story in Newsweek, which shook up the Prime Minister on 
Tuesday, will remind them that they have not yet won. 
Nor will they win, if they continue this way." 
 
II.  "Short-Term Utopia" 
 
Conservative columnist Yosef Harif wrote in Maariv 
(December 14): "Sharon aspires to achieve peace during 
his [upcoming] term; if he wins a majority he will not 
hesitate to make what he calls 'painful concessions.' 
In the new framework movement he has created, he is 
assured of general support for his ideas, including the 
establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. 
But there's no certainty that he can reach peace.... It 
is very doubtful whether those 'painful concessions' 
will satisfy the Palestinians.  In that situation, 
Sharon might strive to achieve an agreement in stages. 
The Palestinians have so far rejected an interim 
agreement and insisted on Israel withdrawing from all 
the territories, including East Jerusalem, in exchange 
for a peace treaty.  The Labor Party members who are 
joining Sharon haven't concealed their views that it is 
worthwhile for Israel to withdraw to the 1967 borders 
in order to achieve peace.  This is totally 
unacceptable to Sharon.  Such divergences could herald 
the first kernels of disagreement in the party and 
dispel the euphoric atmosphere in the first steps of 
the Kadima party." 
 
-------------------------- 
¶2.  Iran: Nuclear Program: 
-------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev 
Schiff wrote on page one of independent, left-leaning 
Ha'aretz: "The real crossroads regarding Iranian 
nuclear weapons will be reached in another 2.5 to 3 
years." 
 
Senior op-ed writer Uzi Benziman commented in Ha'aretz: 
"Israel should take into account the pessimistic 
scenario and see the position expressed by Ahmadinejad 
as a real threat." 
 
Mordechai Kedar, a research associate at Bar-Ilan 
University's Begin-Sadat Center, wrote in the 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "No 
negotiations, no pressure can change Allah's decision 
as executed by the Ayatollahs." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Nuclear Confusion" 
 
Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev 
Schiff wrote on page one of independent, left-leaning 
Ha'aretz (December 14): "There are several crossroads 
in Iranian nuclear development.  To help out anyone who 
has trouble making head or tail of things with all the 
declarations [by senior Israeli political and military 
leaders], I think the real crossroads regarding Iranian 
nuclear weapons will be reached in another 2.5 to 3 
years.  That will occur once Iran manages to operate 
between 2,000 and 4,000 centrifuges to create 
fissionable materials, or enriched uranium, for nuclear 
weapons.  That would enable the Iranians to produce 
between two and four nuclear bombs. Iran today has 164 
centrifuge cascades.  No wonder there is no agreement 
among intelligence services as to when Iran will have a 
full military nuclear system.  Whereas Israel says that 
critical time will arrive in 2010-2011, the Americans 
are talking about a later date -- 2015.  Despite this 
determination, we do not know what sort of nuclear 
bombs, if any, the Iranians will produce.... There is 
also no predicting the reactions of Iran's neighbors 
and the international community, first and foremost the 
U.S., to Iranian progress in developing nuclear 
weapons, or what the response would be, should Iran 
decide to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation 
Treaty." 
 
II.  "What to Do With Ahmadinejad" 
 
Senior op-ed writer Uzi Benziman commented in Ha'aretz 
(December 14): "There are two schools of thought as to 
how Israel should respond to the Islamic outlook.  One 
recommends not getting worked up, and the other calls 
for taking the most serious view of the matter.... 
Israel should take into account the pessimistic 
scenario and see the position expressed by Ahmadinejad 
as a real threat.  Practical conclusions should also be 
drawn -- to focus on this threat and as soon as 
possible to solve the Palestinian and Syrian conflicts, 
because the very capability of the Iranians to create a 
balance of nuclear terror with Israel changes for the 
worse its image and status in the eyes of its 
neighbors.  In the world of images, Israel, free from 
the burden of occupation, challenging Iran's intent to 
wipe it out, is once again David standing up to 
Goliath." 
 
III.  "Nucleotheism" 
Mordechai Kedar, a research associate at Bar-Ilan 
University's Begin-Sadat Center, wrote in the 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (December 14): 
"Inasmuch as the diplomatic pressure exerted against 
the mullahs is not legitimate in their eyes, they 
believe they have every right to deceive Europe and the 
U.S. by whatever steps are necessary to conceal their 
nuclear program.  This deception is not regarded as 
sinful, because the foreign pressure is directed 
against Allah and His decisions; thus Iran possesses a 
divine power of attorney to oppose their pressure in 
every way.  It is this utter disregard for the West, in 
particular for Western demands directed against Iran, 
that prompted Ahmadinejad to make pronouncements which, 
as he well realizes, are in complete defiance of 
Western ethos.  His latest declarations are directed 
against Israel, which he regards as a European colony, 
an infidel implant in the heart if the Islamic 
world.... No negotiations, no pressure can change 
Allah's decision as executed by the Ayatollahs.  Unless 
the Western world succeeds in driving them to the brink 
of the abyss and threatens to push them beyond, Allah 
will not authorize them to change their thinking." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
---------- 
¶3.  Syria: 
---------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Ultra-Orthodox Yated Ne'eman editorialized: "It looks 
as though Syria is unimpressed by the American threat." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"Assad Spurns the U.S." 
 
Ultra-Orthodox Yated Ne'eman editorialized (December 
14): "It looks as though Syria is unimpressed by the 
American threat.... No one has any doubt that Syrian 
President Bashar Assad is behind the assassinations [of 
Rafiq Hariri and Gibran Tueni].... Syria is relating to 
threats of U.S. sanctions in a limited fashion, 
assuming that the President of the U.S. who is caught 
up in the Iraqi quagmire will not want to/be able to 
open a new front.... The only concern [of Israel's 
leadership] is of Israel turning into a 'hostage' in 
Syria's struggle against the Western states.  Syria 
could encourage Hizbullah to attack along Israel's 
northern border, in order to divert international 
attention from the assassinations in Lebanon." 
 
-------------------------- 
¶4.  U.S.-Israel Relations: 
-------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Columnist Dr. Avi Beker, a former director-general of 
the World Jewish Congress and a former member of 
Israel's UN delegation, wrote in independent, left- 
leaning Ha'aretz: "Anti-Semitism in American streets 
and cities or in the press is virtually nonexistent, 
while the campuses there have turned into throbbing 
centers of anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic activity." 
 
 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"An Anti-Semitic Atmosphere" 
 
Columnist Dr. Avi Beker, a former director-general of 
the World Jewish Congress and a former member of 
Israel's UN delegation, wrote in independent, left- 
leaning Ha'aretz (December 14): "Whereas in Europe anti- 
Semitism, which has risen drastically in the past five 
years, has been expressed in violent incidents, attacks 
on synagogues and Jewish institutions as well attacks 
in the media, but far less so in the universities, in 
the United States and Canada, an anomalous situation 
has come into being: Anti-Semitism in American streets 
and cities or in the press is virtually nonexistent, 
while the campuses there have turned into throbbing 
centers of anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic activity. 
Many feel that the calm during demonstrations and in 
recently emerging public expressions of anti-Semitism 
on the American campuses is a cover for its malignant 
spread on the intellectual level.... Thus, Jewish 
organizations are suddenly finding themselves facing 
difficult dilemmas involving academic freedom, on the 
one hand, and the need to fight anti-Semitism and the 
continuing trend of delegitimization of the State of 
Israel in an academic context, on the other." 
 
CRETZ