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 000678 
 
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 
 
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SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
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Mideast 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
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Israel Radio and other electronic media quoted Acting 
PM Ehud Olmert as saying last night before the 
Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations: 
"The day [PA Chairman Mahmoud] Abbas will appoint a 
Hamas representative to head a government, we will 
review all contacts" with the authority.  Olmert was 
also quoted as saying: "We will not negotiate and we 
will not deal with a PA that will be dominated wholly 
or partly by a terrorist organization." Media also 
reported that Olmert praised the international 
community, and specifically U.S. President George W. 
Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for 
leading an uncompromising stance on Hamas and insisting 
the group must honor past agreements with Israel. 
Olmert also lauded Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and 
Jordan's King Abdullah for insisting Hamas must 
renounce terrorism and recognize Israel.   Olmert also 
denounced what he called Iranian President Mahmoud 
Ahmadinejad's obsessive expressions of anti-Semitism. 
Leading media reported that during his visit to Egypt, 
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz warned that if a Hamas 
member were elected chairman of the Palestinian 
parliament on Saturday, Israel would cut contacts with 
the PA within days.  The Jerusalem Post wrote that 
Olmert's setting Saturday as the critical date means 
that Israel would most likely not transfer next month's 
customs and tax revenue -- expected to be some USD 60 
million -- to the PA.  The Jerusalem Post reported that 
the Quartet will continue raising money for the PA as 
long as Abbas remains the head of an interim 
government.  The Jerusalem Post quoted one Western 
diplomatic official as saying that it was likely that 
Olmert moved up the date because of electoral 
considerations and the sharp criticism he came under 
last week after deciding to transfer the tax and 
customs revenues to the PA. 
 
Major media quoted Mofaz as saying in Cairo: "Through 
Hamas, the axis of evil will continue to other 
countries where there are radical organizations. If the 
terms set by Israel are not realized, we may find 
ourselves facing a Hamas authority, and we shall not 
agree to such a situation."   In an interview with 
Israel TV's Oded Granot, Mubarak attempted to reassure 
Israel over Hamas's victory in the Palestinian 
elections, saying that the movement should be given a 
chance and might contribute to peace.  Mubarak told 
Granot: "Many years ago, in 1950, didn't we say that we 
would throw Israel into the sea?  Did Israel end up in 
the sea?  There were wars, but Israeli-Egyptian 
relations are good today." 
 
Ha'aretz and Yediot reported that on Tuesday, the U.S. 
administration denied a New York Times report about an 
alleged American-Israeli plan to destabilize the new 
Hamas-led government.  Ha'aretz quoted U.S. officials 
as saying off-the-record that they suspect that The New 
York Times' information came from Europeans who want to 
make it harder for the U.S. and Israel to isolate Hamas 
until it meets the conditions imposed by the Quartet. 
 
Israel Radio quoted Khaled Mashal, the head of Hamas's 
political bureau, as saying in Sudan on Tuesday that 
peace in the Middle East can be achieved only when 
Israel puts an end to the occupation.  Mashal 
reportedly called on the U.S. and the international 
community to pressure Israel to end the occupation, and 
that otherwise, Hamas would continue its struggle. 
The radio cited Hamas as denying that it is collecting 
weapons in the Gaza Strip.  Yediot reported that senior 
Hamas elements in Gaza recently tried to open a secret 
"back channel" with Israel and the U.S., but that 
Israel refused to engage in talks with Hamas.  Yediot 
said that the background of those efforts is an attempt 
by Hamas in the territories to start a dialogue -- even 
a tactical one -- with Israel, as it confronts the more 
radical branch of Hamas abroad. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that four days after 
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he would 
invite Hamas to Turkey for talks, Turkish FM Abdullah 
Gul told FM Tzipi Livni on Monday that Turkey supported 
the international community's three preconditions for 
accepting Hamas.  The newspaper wrote that the 
conversation was kept under wraps both in Israel and 
Turkey. 
 
Israel Radio and leading web sites reported that this 
morning IDF soldiers shot dead a young Palestinian man 
while they were carrying out an arrest raid in 
Qabatiyah, near the West Bank city of Jenin.  The media 
quoted Palestinian security officials as saying that 
the victim was mentally handicapped and was carrying a 
toy rifle.  The media quoted the IDF as saying that the 
Palestinian was armed. 
 
Ha'aretz cited Palestinian Media Watch, an organization 
that monitors Palestinian media and textbooks, as 
saying that a Hamas web site recently published the 
videotape wills of two suicide bombers, with two main 
messages: one is directed to the Jews whose blood Hamas 
pledges to drink until they flee from the land of the 
Muslims, and the other is devoted to a mother who helps 
her son plan a suicide attack. 
 
All media reported that on Tuesday, Justice Mishael 
Cheshin called the PA an "enemy government" during a 
High Court of Justice hearing on family reunification. 
Cheshin said family unification endangers Israel 
unnecessarily in what he described as wartime, and said 
the Palestinians' interest in unification takes a back 
seat to Israel's self-defense.  The media reported that 
a report compiled by a governmental committee 
recommends stricter rules for granting Israeli 
citizenship to Palestinians. 
 
All media reported on the maiden appearance of Maj. 
Gen. Amos Yadlin, the head of IDF Intelligence, before 
the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on 
Tuesday.  Yediot quoted Yadlin as saying that Iran is 
forming an alliance with Syria. 
 
All media (banners in most newspapers) reported that on 
Tuesday, the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court sentenced 
former MK Omri Sharon to nine months in prison plus a 
300,000-shekel (around USD 63,000) fine for raising 
illegal campaign contributions for his father, PM 
Sharon.  Judge Edna Bekenstein, who presided over the 
court session, was quoted as saying: "[Omri] viewed all 
means as justified, whether legal or criminal ... as 
long as his father was elected to the desired 
position."  Bekenstein also said: "Recently, we have 
heard over and over about the 'political swamp.'  This 
swamp must be dried out.  The courts' role in drying it 
up is through suitable sentences."  Leading media cited 
similar statements by A-G Menachem Mazuz and State 
Attorney Eran Shendar.  The media said that the 
severity of the sentence was surprising.  The media 
reported that Kadima could be harmed by the sentence. 
In particular, The Jerusalem Post reported that the 
Likud hopes to gain from Omri's fall. 
 
Israel Radio reported that last night, the car of a 
senior police officer who was in charge of the 
evacuation of the Amona setter outpost was torched near 
his home in central Israel.  The radio cited threats on 
members of the security forces who carried out the 
evacuation. 
 
Israel Radio reported that China is furious over the 
Dalai Lama's visit to Israel, which starts today.  The 
radio quoted China's Consul in Tel Aviv Lu Ching as 
saying that the fact that a promise made to China that 
the Dalai Lama would not meet with Israeli officials 
during his visit is not enough, and that Israel should 
have prevented him from visiting the country.  Lu Ching 
compared the Dalai Lama with Hamas. 
 
In a report from Baku, Ha'aretz wrote that Azerbaijani 
Jews are worried over the strengthening of radical 
Islamists in their country, and that they said they 
feel the anti-Jewish hostility there is growing. 
 
Maariv reported that the Foreign Ministry, in 
cooperation with Jewish communities in the U.S., has 
announced it would contribute USD 120,000 to needy 
African countries. 
 
Maariv reported that on Monday, two officials from the 
Israeli Consulate-General in Los Angeles briefed the 
American actress Sharon Stone in her home ahead of her 
upcoming visit to Israel. 
 
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Mideast: 
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                       Summary: 
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Liberal columnist Dr. Gadi Taub wrote in popular, 
pluralist Maariv: "If we manage to push Hamas back into 
the opposition, we will save the Palestine branch of 
Islamic fundamentalism from crashing into the ground of 
reality." 
 
Veteran op-ed writer and assistant to the late prime 
minister Yitzhak Rabin Eytan Haber opined in an 
editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot: "Please note the name of the latest 
Palestinian idiot.... This is Mahmoud Zahar, the Hamas 
leader who announced festively that his organization 
would never recognize the State of Israel and would 
strike to wipe it out." 
 
Zalman Shoval, President of the Israel-America Chamber 
of Commerce, senior Likud member, and former ambassador 
to the U.S., wrote in the conservative, independent 
Jerusalem Post: "A Palestinian state ... was claimed to 
be in Israel's supreme interest.  It isn't, and never 
was!" 
 
Liberal columnist Gideon Samet wrote in independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz: "All the talk about 'we will 
never speak,' in Bush's fundamentalist language, is a 
return to the old logorrhea of Israeli policy." 
 
The 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso, who begins a five- 
day visit to Israel today, wrote in Yediot Aharonot: 
"Residents of Israel and the Palestinian Authority.... 
There is no other alternative than to start a dialogue 
based on mutual trust and friendship." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Let Hamas Fail" 
 
Liberal columnist Dr. Gadi Taub wrote in popular, 
pluralist Maariv (February 15): "So far, Israel's 
response to Hamas's rise has been more from the gut and 
less from the head.... In a gut reaction, we are trying 
to snatch away the spoiled soup [the Palestinians] 
cooked, instead of letting them eat it for a while.  If 
instead of shouting that we will not talk by any means, 
that there is no way, that until this and until that, 
we will not permit and not rest -- if instead of all 
this, we were to be quiet for a bit, we would be in a 
much better position.  We would let them go out on a 
limb, and not rashly go out on our own limb.... What is 
Israel doing in the meantime?  It is trying to push 
Hamas back into the opposition, where it enjoys a great 
relative advantage, and where its terror attacks have 
no real cost.  There, in the opposition, it can 
continue to portray itself as a kind of Robin Hood, 
which hits and runs, in the service of its people.  If 
the shortsighted Israeli policy succeeds, if we manage 
to push Hamas back into the opposition, we will save 
the Palestine branch of Islamic fundamentalism from 
crashing into the ground of reality.... [As the 
government,] it will be forced to negotiate -- openly 
or covertly -- with U.S. administration officials, 
instead of making war cries from the gallery.  And it 
will find that the moderate Arab countries, which fear 
the danger of fundamentalism even more than we do, will 
not welcome its extremist positions.... So why not let 
Hamas discover this, instead of pushing it into a 
position where it does not need our oxygen?  Why should 
we cram them into a corner and let them wriggle free? 
Why should the elephant be afraid of the mouse, instead 
of the mouse being afraid of the elephant?" 
 
II.  "War Monger" 
 
Veteran op-ed writer and assistant to the late prime 
minister Yitzhak Rabin Eytan Haber opined in an 
editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot (February 15): "Please note the name of the 
latest Palestinian idiot.  We will yet hear and read a 
lot about him, before he too passes on, accompanied by 
the roar of a helicopter's engine.  This is Mahmoud 
Zahar, the Hamas leader who announced festively that 
his organization would never recognize the State of 
Israel and would strike to wipe it out.  How 
unfortunate is the Palestinian people:  First it had 
the Mufti [of Jerusalem Haj Amin el-Husseini], who led 
it to the edge of the precipice, then Ahmed Shukeiri, 
who led it to the peaks of ridicule, and afterwards 
Yasser Arafat, who led it through the paths of blood, 
and now Mahmoud Zahar, the man who was given a finger 
and wants the whole hand -- and for what?   Perhaps to 
help in identifying [him] by means of the remaining 
fingerprints?" 
 
III.  "Put Palestinian Statehood on Hold" 
Zalman Shoval, President of the Israel-America Chamber 
of Commerce, senior Likud member, and former ambassador 
to the U.S., wrote in the conservative, independent 
Jerusalem Post (February 15): "Ever since President 
George Bush's unveiling of his vision for Arab-Israeli 
peace we have been told that Palestinian statehood 
would bring the separation desired by most Israelis, 
peaceful coexistence with our Palestinian neighbors, 
and the conclusive elimination of the demographic 
threat.  A Palestinian state, in short, was claimed to 
be in Israel's supreme interest.  It isn't, and never 
was!.... The question now is how seriously the Quartet, 
and even the U.S., will take their own conditions for 
Palestinian statehood.... It is clear that Hamas's 
continuing refusal to take upon itself the most 
fundamental obligations under the road map, let alone 
previous agreements such as Oslo, Paris, Wye and Sharm 
e-Sheikh, and do away with the 'right of return' 
dictates a reevaluation of Palestinian statehood as an 
American and Israeli goal.  Not even the continuing 
role of the Quartet, in light of Russian President 
Vladimir Putin's decision to break ranks and invite 
Hamas to Moscow, should be taken for granted.... All 
this will require a major diplomatic effort on Israel's 
behalf, including making it clear that we hold the keys 
to the very idea of Palestinian statehood." 
 
 
 
 
IV.  "The Orphan of the Campaign" 
 
Liberal columnist Gideon Samet wrote in independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz  (February 15): "The heads of all 
[Israeli] parties, to one extent or another, are 
surrendering to what still, mistakenly, looks like the 
public's desire: eternal enmity toward the Palestinian 
administration, whatever it might be.  Hamas has 
replaced the ghouls whom we had always seen swarming on 
the other side.  Even Meretz-Yahad is blurring its old 
argument that it is necessary to talk with any 
Palestinian leadership.... All the talk about 'we will 
never speak,' in Bush's fundamentalist language, is a 
return to the old logorrhea of Israeli policy.  The 
idea of continuing to strangle those unpleasant 
Palestinians and send them to new elections is an 
upgrading of Golda Meir to a 2006 model. An open-eyed 
position on this anachronism must be one of the main 
criteria for sensible voters a month and a half from 
now." 
 
¶V.  "Fighting Isn't a Natural Phenomenon" 
 
The 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso, who begins a five- 
day visit to Israel today, wrote in Yediot Aharonot 
(February 15): "The holy region in which you -- 
residents of Israel and the Palestinian Authority -- 
live has suffered from a long-drawn-out struggle for 
decades....  Until recently, a very solid view pervaded 
the world -- 'we' against 'they,' 'ours' against 
'theirs.'  Naturally such a position made it hard to 
reach durable solutions.  Recent years have proved to 
the entire world that this isn't the way to solve 
disputes.  Disagreements and fighting aren't inevitable 
-- they are man-made.... The only realistic way to 
reduce suffering and the dispute is by focusing on 
common ground in problems and needs, and then to try to 
reach a mutual resolution that will fulfill common 
interests and bring joint benefits to both sides. 
There is no other alternative than to start a dialogue 
based on mutual trust and friendship.  Only thus is 
there an opportunity to resolve problems.  I'll be 
happy to present my view to you.  I hope to visit with 
you again." 
 
JONES