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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 TEL AVIV 000058 
 
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E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: IS KMDR MEDIA REACTION REPORT
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
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Prime Minister Sharon's Health 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media led with, and extensively reported on PM 
Sharon's health condition.  The media cited a statement 
issued last night by Hadassah Hospital Director Prof. 
Shlomo Mor-Yosef, saying that he is under sedation, on 
a respirator and paralyzed; that he is likely to remain 
under sedation for up to 72 hours; and that it is 
impossible to know what his condition really is under 
sedation.  The electronic media reported that this 
morning, Sharon underwent another CAT scan and was 
again rushed into surgery.  All major Hebrew-language 
media quoted medical sources as saying unofficially as 
saying that there are few chances that Sharon would 
recover (Yediot), or that Sharon's brain suffered 
serious damage (Maariv and Ha'aretz).  In its lead 
story, Ha'aretz quoted Sharon's doctors as saying that 
Sharon has probably suffered irreversible brain damage 
that would preclude his ever resuming office. 
 
Israel Radio quoted President Bush as saying Wednesday 
at a public appearance in Washington that Sharon is "a 
good man, a strong man, a man who cared deeply about 
the security of the Israeli people, and a man who had a 
vision for peace."  The station quoted Secretary of 
State Condoleezza Rice as saying that Sharon "is a man 
of enormous courage."  Israel Radio also quoted 
Secretary Rice as saying: "We are concentrating our 
 
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prayers and our thoughts on hope for his recovery. I 
think that is the appropriate thing at this time 
because he is a huge and gigantic figure in Israeli 
politics and has turned out to be in the entire Middle 
East and in the world."  Ha'aretz and Maariv filed 
similar stories.  The Jerusalem Post reported that the 
Israeli Embassy in Washington kept U.S. officials 
updated on Sharon's condition all Wednesday night, and 
top Sharon aide Dov Weisglass phoned Secretary Rice 
during the early hours of the operation and updated her 
on Sharon's condition.  The Jerusalem Post notes that 
Acting PM Ehud Olmert "is a well-known figure in 
Washington" and that last summer, weeks before the 
implementation of the withdrawal from Gaza and the 
northern West Bank, Olmert held a lengthy meeting with 
Secretary Rice in which he provided a detailed 
 
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explanation of Israel's planned moves. 
 
Leading media reported that PA Chairman [President] 
Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian leadership stressed 
their concerns for the fate of the peace process and 
wished Sharon well.  The media quoted the leaders of 
the terrorist organizations as saying that the region 
would be better off without Sharon.  Maariv and other 
media reported that Iranian President Mahmoud 
Ahmadinejad expressed his hope that Sharon would die. 
The media reported that the defense establishment has 
increased its state of alertness, particularly along 
Israel's northern border, and that there are concerns 
about terrorist attacks inside Israel. 
 
Leading media reported that Olmert will meet Peres this 
morning.  Ha'aretz reported that Olmert will assure 
Peres that he is a valued member of Kadima, even in the 
post-Sharon era.  The newspaper notes that Olmert's 
move comes as an effort to block any attempt by Labor 
Party Chairman Amir Peretz to return Peres to Labor. 
The media reported that during his first day in office, 
Olmert has succeeded in uniting Kadima under his 
leadership. 
 
Maariv quoted Sharon as hinting in the last interview 
he granted (to the leading Japanese business newspaper 
Nikkei, on Tuesday afternoon) that Israel could start a 
dialogue with Hamas if the Palestinian group canceled 
its covenant advocating the destruction of Israel and 
if it disarmed. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that on Thursday, Maj. Gen. Amos 
Yadlin, who was the IDF attache in Washington for the 
past year, took over the post of military intelligence 
chief from Maj. Gen Aharon Zeevi-Farkash. 
 
The leading Israeli Internet news service Ynet reported 
on December 30 that Secretary Rice capped its "People 
of the Year" survey. 
 
Leading media reported that on Thursday, Norwegian 
Finance Minister Kristin Halvorsen, who is also the 
leader of Norway's Socialist Left Party, publicly 
backed a consumer boycott of Israel in solidarity with 
Palestinians. 
 
Ha'aretz (English Ed.) reported that more than 20 
percent of the estimated 3,100 North American 
immigrants who arrived in 2005 already had Israeli 
citizenship. 
 
Ha'aretz (English Ed.) quoted Dr. Bernard LaFayette, a 
former colleague and close friend of Dr. Martin Luther 
King, Jr., as saying in Jerusalem Thursday that the 
Dimona Hebrew Israelite community and its "village of 
peace" are an international model for nonviolence. 
LaFayette praised the Hebrew Israelites for not 
resorting to violence, despite the fact that they were 
denied recognition and permanent status in Israel for 
over 30 years. 
 
Reporting from Baghdad, where he has been residing for 
the past two weeks, Ron Ben-Yishai of Yediot wrote that 
he discovered how terror has become a business and how 
freedom of speech and the media has penetrated Iraq, 
and that he had to find a new place of hiding upon 
being exposed as an Israeli. 
 
Channel 10-TV and Ha'aretz published the results of a 
survey conducted on Thursday by Prof. Camille Fuchs of 
the Amanet Group's Dialogue Institute: 
-Sharon's party, Kadima, would win 40 Knesset seats if 
elections were held today and the party were to be 
headed by Acting PM Ehud Olmert.  Should Justice 
Minister Tzipi Livni succeed Sharon, Kadima would get 
38 Knesset seats.  Were Vice Premier Shimon Peres to 
take leadership of the party, Kadima would win 42 seats 
-- exactly the number of seats it would have garnered 
four days ago, when Sharon was still healthy. 
 
A Yediot/Mina Zemach (Dahaf Institute) poll conducted 
on Thursday night: 
-"Assuming Sharon does not return to public life, whom 
would you like to see heading the Kadima party?" 
Shimon Peres: 23 percent; Ehud Olmert: 21 percent; 
Tzipi Livni: 14 percent; Shaul Mofaz: 8 percent; Avi 
Dichter: 5 percent; Meir Sheetrit: 3 percent; 26 
percent were undecided. 
-"If Ehud Olmert heads Kadima, for which party will you 
vote in the elections?"  Kadima: 39; Labor Party: 20; 
Likud: 16; Shas: 9; Arab parties: 7; Meretz-Yahad: 6; 
Yisrael Beiteinu: 6; National Union: 5; United Torah 
Judaism: 5; Shinui: 4; National Religious Party: 3 
-"And if Kadima is headed by Shimon Peres, for which 
party will you vote?"  Kadima: 42; Labor Party: 17; 
Likud: 16. 
-"And if Kadima is headed by Tzipi Livni, for which 
party will you vote?"  Kadima 36; Labor Party: 19; 
Likud: 19. 
 
------------------------------- 
Prime Minister Sharon's Health: 
------------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "[The 
Kadima Party] has no established political traditions 
to help it survive in the absence of its creator.  But 
on the other hand, Kadima has a clear diplomatic 
message and a vital role to play in the stormy days to 
come." 
 
Editor-in-Chief Amnon Dankner wrote on page one of 
popular, pluralist Maariv: "The first thing that 
[Acting Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert will have to do is 
to impose his authority on the prominent members of 
this party [Kadima], because authority, whether that of 
Sharon and whether that of Olmert, is the only glue 
that will hold it together and give it signs of life." 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post 
editorialized: "It will not be enough [for Kadima] to 
pledge to continue Sharon's path since ... the public 
could only guess what Sharon's next step would have 
been." 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "Sharon dealt 
the myth of settling the territories a mortal blow. 
The public support he earned after disengagement was no 
less significant than disengagement itself." 
 
Deputy Managing Editor and right-wing columnist 
Caroline B. Glick wrote in The Jerusalem Post: "Israel 
is today in dire need of leadership capable of handling 
some of the most sensitive and monumental diplomacy in 
its history [regarding Iran's nuclear program]." 
 
Eytan Haber, veteran op-ed writer and assistant to the 
late prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, opined in Yediot 
Aharonot: "What a tragedy: at least twice in this 
generation, when any chance ... of peace with enemies 
and bitter neighbors may have come up, a case of 'force 
majeure' intervened." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "The Way of Sobriety" 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized 
(January 6): "The joy with which Kadima was received by 
the public -- as evidenced by the results of the polls, 
which predicted that it would win more than 40 seats -- 
did not stem only from Sharon's charismatic and 
dependable leadership, but primarily from the political 
sobriety that he succeeded in instilling here.  Over 
the last two years, the personal revolution that Sharon 
underwent has been shared by a large segment of the 
public.... This healthy sentiment does not depend 
solely on Sharon's leadership.  Thus Kadima is not just 
Ariel Sharon, but the basis for establishing a moderate 
coalition.... The coming days will reveal whether 
Kadima was just a passing political episode or a 
catalyst for a major and necessary political change. 
Granted, it was approved as an official party only two 
days ago, and it has no established political 
traditions to help it survive in the absence of its 
creator.  But on the other hand, Kadima has a clear 
diplomatic message and a vital role to play in the 
stormy days to come.  If it finds a way to elect a 
leadership and solidify the party even without Sharon, 
that will constitute proof that there is life in the 
trail Sharon blazed even after he himself is gone." 
 
II.  "We Must Go On" 
 
Editor-in-Chief Amnon Dankner wrote on page one of 
popular, pluralist Maariv (January 6): "The first thing 
that [Acting Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert will have to 
do is to impose his authority on the prominent members 
of this party [Kadima], because authority, whether that 
of Sharon and whether that of Olmert, is the only glue 
that will hold it together and give it signs of life. 
The circumstances are difficult because Sharon, despite 
his very serious condition, is alive.  There are some 
things that an acting prime minister finds it difficult 
to do when the man whose place he is filling is among 
the living.... He will have to battle the centrifugal 
forces that will try and draw various people in Kadima 
back to their mother parties, and then will have to 
charm the public, to instill it with confidence and 
establish a leadership figure within a short time. 
Despite concerns that Sharon's leaving the political 
stage threatens to erase Kadima, obviously there is a 
public need for a centrist political body that is 
situated between the naive and politically 
inexperienced Amir Peretz, and Bibi Netanyahu, who 
displays insufficient understanding of Israel's urgent 
need quickly to leave the situation of the occupation 
of the West Bank.... If Olmert rises up to the task, he 
can do it.  A great deal is in the balance, both for 
him personally as well as nationally.  All those who 
think that a balancing and active political center is 
vital to Israel, must hope that Olmert succeeds." 
 
III.  "Praying For Sharon" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post 
editorialized (January 6): "As we pray for the recovery 
of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, we must already 
recognize that Israel has lost one of its greatest 
leaders. Even those who would bitterly deny Sharon's 
greatness in the sense of leading the nation in the 
right direction cannot dispute the dimensions of the 
decisions he led the nation through, which are perhaps 
unmatched since his mentor David Ben-Gurion's day.... 
Now, however, we have no choice but to contemplate our 
nation's future without Sharon.... Accordingly, it is 
all the more important that each of the major parties 
coherently and distinctly tell the public what they 
stand for -- not just what, or who, they stand against. 
This is especially true for Kadima, which can no longer 
rest so significantly on the power of one political 
personality.  It will not be enough to pledge to 
continue Sharon's path since, again, the public could 
only guess what Sharon's next step would have been." 
 
IV.  "The Man and the Legend" 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (January 6): 
"Sharon evacuated settlements twice.  The first time, 
in Yamit, he was Begin's evacuation contractor.  He 
regretted it later.  Then he regretted his regret.  The 
disengagement from Gaza fell entirely on his shoulders. 
It somewhat improved, as expected, our political and 
security situation, but increased the Qassam rocket 
pressure on Sderot and brought the rockets to the 
outskirts of Ashkelon.  Instead of strengthening the 
Palestinian Authority, it provided a hothouse for 
anarchy.  The enormous importance of disengagement is 
its effect on Israeli society.  Sharon dealt the myth 
of settling the territories a mortal blow.  The public 
support he earned after disengagement was no less 
significant than disengagement itself: a huge bloc in 
the center of the political map came out of the closet. 
It now openly declares: we are fed up with the 
territories.  That is the big bang.  Nobody else, 
except for Sharon, could have generated this change. 
Without him, it is not certain that Kadima will be able 
to maintain its achievements in the polls.  There will 
be voters who will go home, to the Likud, to the Labor 
Party. But the change he generated will not die." 
 
¶V.  "Israel's New Era" 
 
Deputy Managing Editor and right-wing columnist 
Caroline B. Glick wrote in The Jerusalem Post (January 
6): "For Israel to be capable of carrying out an attack 
against Iran's nuclear installations it will need to 
receive U.S. and NATO backing for the move.  The 
majority of international security analysts agree that 
Israeli fighter bombers en route to Iran will need to 
fly over Iraqi airspace and may even need to refuel in 
Iraq.  Turkish bases may also be necessary.  Given 
this, Israel is today in dire need of leadership 
capable of handling some of the most sensitive and 
monumental diplomacy in its history -- even if such 
leadership were only able to convince others to carry 
out the attacks on our behalf." 
 
VI.  "As a Broken Shard" 
 
Eytan Haber, veteran op-ed writer and assistant to the 
late prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, opined in Yediot 
Aharonot (January 6): "It is already impossible to 
avoid reflecting upon the fate of Israel and the peace 
knocking at its door.  What a tragedy: at least twice 
in this generation, when any chance, any hope, any sign 
of peace with enemies and bitter neighbors may have 
come up, a case of 'force majeure' intervened -- be it 
in the form of an abominable assassin or the hand of 
God -- and condemned us to continue the bloody 
conflict.  Ariel Sharon, who has served [Israel] for 
fifty controversial years -- a soldier in the battle 
for peace who has instilled fear in his enemies and 
adversaries, may have been the strongest prime minister 
in recent years.  He is lying on his white bed, 'as a 
broken shard,' and fighting for his life, for another 
glance, another breath.  How awful!" 
 
JONES