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

281131Z Feb 06

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 09 TEL AVIV 000851 
 
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.  Global War on Terror 
 
¶2.  Mideast 
 
¶3.  Iran: Nuclear Program 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Major media -- lead story in Ha'aretz (Hebrew Ed.) -- 
cited a report put out by the International Atomic 
Energy Agency, which found that Iran is attempting to 
expand its uranium enrichment program.   The Jerusalem 
Post and other media quoted Defense Minster Shaul Mofaz 
as saying that he backs calls for the UN Security 
Council to block Iran's nuclear program. 
 
Maariv quoted Acting PM Ehud Olmert as saying on Monday 
at a public meeting in Tel Aviv: "Hamas does not 
frighten us and does not threaten Israel's existence." 
Leading media cited Olmert's hope that PA Chairman 
[President] Mahmoud Abbas will stay in office.  Maariv, 
Ha'aretz, and Israel Radio quoted Olmert as saying that 
there is no disagreement between Israel and the US on 
diplomatic issues.  Olmert was quoted as saying: "The 
US does not believe that aid should be given to those 
who are not prepared to acknowledge the existence of 
the State of Israel.  We see eye-to-eye with the US 
regarding all aspects of the conduct [to be held] vis-a- 
vis Hamas, the PA and the Roadmap.  There is not even a 
smidgen of misunderstanding, or dust of disagreement. 
The US insists on the fact that negotiations should not 
be conducted with those who do not want to make peace." 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted Foreign Ministry officials as 
saying that despite the EU's decision Monday to funnel 
some USD 143 million to the PA, Israel and Europe 
continue to have a common Hamas strategy. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Olmert will convene a special 
meeting today on Israel's bilateral relations with 
Russia.  The newspaper quoted political sources in 
Jerusalem as saying that the discussion had been 
scheduled a long time ago and that it was a regular 
event.  Nevertheless, they were quoted as saying that 
it now has added significance in light of Russia's 
increased involvement in the region. 
The Jerusalem Post reported that outgoing PA minister 
Muhammad Dahlan has denied involvement in an alleged 
plot -- reported in the Egyptian publication Radio & TV 
Magazine -- to assassinate Khaled Mashal, the head of 
Hamas's political bureau.  The Jerusalem Post says that 
the Egyptian magazine is normally described as being 
reliable. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the Ports, Customs, 
and Free Zone Corporation, the parent company of Dubai 
Ports World, a Dubai-based firm at the center of a 
political storm in the US over the purchase of American 
ports, participates in the Arab boycott against Israel. 
 
Israel Radio reported that today the Central Elections 
Committee will discuss a request from right-wing 
parties that the United Arab-List/Arab Movement for 
Renewal be barred from participating in the upcoming 
Knesset elections.  The plaintiffs claim that the head 
of the list, Sheikh Ibrahim Sarsur, wants to turn 
Israel into a Muslim state.  The radio quoted MK Ahmed 
Tibi, who is in charge of PR for the Arab list, as 
saying that, due to its hostility to Arabs and Muslims, 
the far right is trying to prevent true representation 
of the Israeli Arab public. 
 
Yediot quoted former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan 
Kurtzer as saying in an interview with the Council on 
Foreign Relations that Olmert's declarations regarding 
an additional withdrawal from the West Bank and about 
Israel's holding on to three settlement blocs were 
Sharon's views and that a majority of Israelis support 
this policy.  [NB: The Council on Foreign Affairs' 
Internet item is dated February 10.] 
 
The Jerusalem Post printed an extensive interview with 
Ambassador Henry A. Crumpton, the State Department's 
Coordinator for Counterterrorism, which focused on 
Hamas and Iran. 
 
Citing AP, Ha'aretz reported that on Monday, Hamas 
leader Khaled Mashal discussed efforts to form a 
Palestinian government with Syrian FM Walid Moualem, 
telling reporters after the meeting that he met with 
Moualem for "consultations on political issues," and 
Syria's support for the Palestinians.  Ha'aretz 
reported that a Mashal-led Hamas delegation will visit 
Moscow on Friday. 
 
Yediot reported that on Monday, the High Court of 
Justice definitely ruled that the IDF's use of human 
shields -- dubbed "neighbor practice" -- is illegal. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that a new inner circle of advisors 
headed by Tal Zilberstein, is surrounding Olmert, 
replacing Sharon's "ranch forum." 
 
All media reported that former PM Ehud Barak has agreed 
to join the Labor Party campaign in some measure, 
despite the ongoing rift between him and party chairman 
Amir Peretz. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted Dr. Riad Malki, the head of the 
Panorama Research Institute in Ramallah, as saying at a 
meeting organized by the Israel-Palestine Center for 
Information and Research (IPCRI) that, without anyone 
realizing it, the West Bank and Gaza Strip are being 
transformed into two separate entities. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that tests conducted by 
Israel's veterinary services on samples of blood and 
saliva from livestock and dead wild fowl found in Gaza 
last week have proven negative, quelling fears of a 
possible outbreak of hoof and mouth disease and bird 
flu in Gaza. 
 
Maariv reported that the Foreign Ministry has recently 
asked the Shin Bet to allow wealthy residents of 
Persian Gulf countries to visit Israel.  The newspaper 
reported that the Shin Bet has not yet responded to the 
ministry's request. 
 
Major media reported that on Monday, a joint Israeli- 
Jordanian team, sponsored by the Bridging the Rift 
foundation, set out in the Dead Sea to find new 
insights into the special life forms that thrive there. 
It is the first time such a joint team has come 
together to explore the Dead Sea, which borders both 
Israel and Jordan.  Seawater will be sent for 
laboratory examinations in Israel, Jordan, and the 
American universities Stanford and Cornell. 
Yediot reported that in a few months, a delegation of 
Hollywood producers will visit Israel to check into the 
possibility of producing movies here.  The Israeli 
Consulate in Los Angeles initiated the move. 
 
------------------------- 
¶1.  Global War on Terror: 
------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld wrote in the 
 
SIPDIS 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "While the 
enemy is skillful at manipulating the media and using 
the tools of communications to their advantage, we have 
an advantage as well: truth is on our side, and, 
ultimately, truth wins out." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"The Media War on Terror" 
 
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld wrote in the 
 
SIPDIS 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (February 26): 
"Terrorists have skillfully adapted to fighting wars in 
today's media age, but, for the most part, America and 
the governments of the other democracies have not.... 
Free governments must make communications planning a 
central component of every aspect of this struggle. 
Indeed, the longer it takes to put a strategic 
communications framework into place, the more the 
vacuum will be filled by the enemy.... Government 
public affairs and public diplomacy efforts are slowly 
beginning to reorient staffing, schedules and 
bureaucratic culture to engage the full range of 
today's media.  Still, government must develop the 
institutional capability to anticipate and act within 
the same news cycle.... We are fighting a war in which 
the survival of our way of life is at stake.  And the 
center of gravity of that struggle is not just the 
battlefield.  It is a test of wills and it will be won 
or lost in the court of global public opinion.  While 
the enemy is skillful at manipulating the media and 
using the tools of communications to their advantage, 
we have an advantage as well: truth is on our side, 
and, ultimately, truth wins out." 
------------ 
¶2.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Liberal op-ed writer Ofer Shelach commented in the lead 
editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot: "Olmert and his people aren't telling us who 
is relevant." 
 
Uzi Arad, the Director of the Institute of Policy and 
Strategy at the Interdisciplinary Center, who was a 
senior advisor to former prime minister Binyamin 
Netanyahu, wrote in mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot: "the leaders of Hamas and Iran say in ways 
that cannot be misunderstood that their goal is to 
destroy Israel as a state.... But nothing will convince 
the people on the Left." 
 
Gershon Baskin, the Co-Director of the Israel-Palestine 
Center for Information and Research (IPCRI), wrote in 
the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "Here is 
what I believe can be a reasonable solution: Israel 
unilaterally withdraws behind the security barrier 
including all settlements east of the barrier." 
 
Nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe editorialized: "The 
sudden change in Washington's stance [regarding the 
allocation of funds to the PA] speaks for itself." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Like With Arik" 
 
Liberal op-ed writer Ofer Shelach commented in the lead 
editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot (February 28): "Until recently, Israel 
pretended that Abu Mazen was the great hope ... not 
that we spoke with him, God forbid; there was nothing 
to talk about.  He did bow under the double burden of 
chaos in Palestinian society and Israel's unrealistic 
demands.... There's only one thing that Olmert and his 
people -- exactly like Sharon and his governments -- 
aren't telling us: who is relevant then?  They don't 
exactly intend to cope with the reality about which 
James Wolfensohn, the Quartet's Mideast envoy, warned: 
stopping the funding of the Palestinian Authority might 
cause its collapse within two weeks -- a collapse that 
would lead the entire region to a violent crisis." 
 
II.  "The Threats Are Indeed Real" 
 
Uzi Arad, the Director of the Institute of Policy and 
Strategy at the Interdisciplinary Center, who was a 
senior advisor to former prime minister Binyamin 
Netanyahu, wrote in mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot (February 28): "In his eulogy for Ro'i 
Rothberg [the murdered security officer of Kibbutz 
Nahal Oz at the Gaza border], exactly 50 years ago, 
Moshe Dayan said that the people beyond the border were 
praying 'for our weakness so that they might tear us to 
shreds'.... Nowadays, the leaders of Hamas and Iran say 
in ways that cannot be misunderstood that their goal is 
to destroy Israel as a state.  At the top of the 
website for Izz al-Din al-Qassam, Hamas's military 
wing, is a Star of David that fades away after a 
nuclear mushroom cloud rises up from inside it.  But 
nothing will convince the people on the Left, who would 
prefer to shut their eyes to the threats and go so far 
as to chastise those whose sworn duty is to warn us. 
It is not with the profound hatred of Israel and Jews 
that they are trying to deal, but with the voice 
warning about dire consequences.... The decree of our 
generation is no different from the decree of the 
1930s, 1950s or 1970s, and that is the tragic dimension 
of the 'choice of our life,' to quote Dayan.  The 
challenge currently facing the government of Israel is 
to crystallize and to lead a multi-faceted strategy for 
dealing with the current threats.  To do so with a 
level head and not flippantly; to do so while grounded 
in reality; and by utilizing all of Israel's might. 
That is the challenge, which is simultaneously both 
strategic and existential, to which we need to focus 
all of our capabilities." 
 
III.  "How to Guard the Two-State Option" 
 
Gershon Baskin, the Co-Director of the Israel-Palestine 
Center for Information and Research (IPCRI), wrote in 
the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (February 
28): "It is time to admit that Israel and the 
Palestinians do not have the tools or ability to 
resolve, or even manage, the conflict by themselves. We 
need help, and the international community is the 
address to provide that help.  Here is what I believe 
can be a reasonable solution: Israel unilaterally 
withdraws behind the security barrier including all 
settlements east of the barrier.... Israel turns to the 
Security Council and requests that the UN take 
responsibility for the areas from which Israel 
withdraws.... The Security Council creates a UN Interim 
Administration Mission with a four-year timetable.  Its 
main task: to prepare the Palestinian territories for 
independence.... The remaining permanent-status issues 
(final borders, Jerusalem, refugees) would not be dealt 
with until the last year of the UN Interim 
Administration mission, as the mission would not be in 
the position to replace Palestinian negotiators; 
however, if conditions arose in which such negotiations 
were possible earlier, the mission would request that 
the Security Council convene in order to determine the 
best way to conduct them.  With the establishment of 
the UN Interim Administration Mission, future control 
of the political process would be in the hands of the 
UN Security Council (to be expected as a reasonable 
international demand in exchange for its coming to the 
rescue).  While this initiative ought to be launched 
and presented to the Security Council by Israel, it is 
essential that the Palestinian people back it.... On 
the positive side for the Palestinians, Israel would 
continue to withdraw, and to move settlements behind 
the security barrier. Palestine would reach 
independence in four years.... The Israeli occupation 
would essentially end and the Palestinian problem 
finally would be internationalized." 
 
IV.  "'Misunderstandings With the US" 
 
Nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe editorialized (February 
28): "The sudden change in Washington's stance 
[regarding the allocation of funds to the PA] speaks 
for itself.... It surprised the [Israeli] government, 
which had hoped that Jerusalem and Washington would be 
united on the Hamas front.  All of a sudden it turns 
out that there are disagreements that are worrying when 
one considers the future." 
 
-------------------------- 
¶3.  Iran: Nuclear Program: 
-------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "The 
announcement the Russian and Iranian governments made 
Sunday regarding their agreement in principle on the 
joint enrichment of uranium deserves a reserved 
welcome." 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post 
editorialized: "The problem is not, as US National 
Security Adviser Stephen Hadley responded [to the 
Russian-Iranian announcement], that 'the devil is in 
the details.'" 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Suspicion Yet to Be Lifted" 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized 
(February 28): "The announcement the Russian and 
Iranian governments made Sunday regarding their 
agreement in principle on the joint enrichment of 
uranium deserves a reserved welcome.... It is ... 
important that the international community continue its 
meticulous surveillance of Iran's actions, thoroughly 
examine the details of the agreement, demand the 
renewal of piercing supervision of Iranian nuclear 
sites, and not drop the threat of sanctions -- just in 
case Tehran once again attempts to deceive its dialogue 
partners and continue down the dangerous path toward 
the bomb." 
 
II.  "Devilish Deal" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post 
editorialized (February 28): "The announcement by the 
nuclear chiefs of Russia and Iran that they have 
reached a tentative agreement is grounds for concern 
rather than relief.  The problem is not, as US National 
Security Adviser Stephen Hadley responded, that 'the 
devil is in the details.'  In this case, the devil is 
in any agreement that gives the illusion of resolving a 
crisis, thereby sparing a no less dangerous Iranian 
regime from international sanctions.  The deal in 
question is based on a Russian offer to enrich uranium 
in Russia and deliver it to Tehran, as a way of 
ensuring that Iran will not be able to itself produce 
bomb-grade material and build a nuclear weapon.  Europe 
and, surprisingly, the US have supported such a plan in 
principle.... Iran represents the greatest test of the 
international community's willingness and ability to 
protect itself since 9/11.  There is no option of being 
satisfied with pretend solutions that the regime will 
rightly portray as diplomatic victories, and that do 
not fundamentally change Iran's behavior, let alone 
free the Iranian people from the grip of extremist 
clerical rule.  The international community's objective 
must be to, as the first operative sentence of the UN 
Charter states: 'take effective collective measures for 
the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and 
for the suppression of acts of aggression ...'  Only by 
imposing draconian multilateral non-military sanctions 
now is there a possibility of avoiding the need for 
military actions in the near future." 
 
JONES