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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TEL AVIV 001114 
 
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.  Iraq 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Ha'aretz and Israel Radio quoted President Bush as 
saying on Monday: "I see a threat in Iran.  The threat 
is, of course, their stated objective to destroy our 
strong ally Israel.  I've made it clear and I'll make 
it clear again, that we will use military might to 
protect our ally Israel."  Israel Radio reported that 
on Monday in New York, the five permanent members of 
the UN Security Council and Germany were unable to 
reach concurrence on the issue of the Iranian nuclear 
program.  The radio quoted Under Secretary for 
Political Affairs Nicholas Burns as saying that some 
progress was made at the talks.  Israel Radio quoted a 
Western diplomat as saying that the meeting was harsh, 
mainly because of Russian and Chinese opposition to the 
tough stance of the US, the UK, and France vis-a-vis 
Tehran.  Gary Berntsen, the former CIA operative who 
led the search for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan in 
late 2001, was quoted as saying in an interview with 
The Jerusalem Post that the US has the ability to 
destroy Iran's nuclear facilities in two days. 
 
Major media reported that the Karni cargo crossing 
between Israel and the Gaza Strip briefly reopened on 
Monday, but that it was shut down 30-40 minutes later 
due to new warnings of planned attacks on the terminal. 
Israel Radio reported that the crossing will reopen 
today in a limited fashion.  Leading media quoted 
Palestinian sources as saying that food in the Gaza 
Strip is becoming more scarce. 
 
Maariv reported that the IDF is not allowing PA 
ministers-designate to move freely between the West 
Bank and the Gaza Strip and to meet one another. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted FM and Justice Minister Tzipi 
Livni as saying during a meeting with US and Canadian 
delegates of a homeland security conference in 
Jerusalem that Israel should follow the US model and 
widen its definition of homeland security to include 
civil emergencies as well as terror attacks. 
Ha'aretz and Yediot led with election-related issues. 
Israel Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman was quoting 
as saying in an interview with Ha'aretz that Acting PM 
Ehud Olmert's plan for a further unilateral withdrawal 
in the West Bank has already caused Israel damage vis-a- 
vis Hamas, the international community, and Israeli 
Arab extremists.  Lieberman told the newspaper: "The 
more Kadima talks, with excessive confidence, about 
Olmert's diplomatic program, the less likely it becomes 
that we will be in the next government headed by 
Olmert."  Yediot quoted senior Labor Party members as 
saying that Labor will renounce cabinet portfolios in a 
coalition with Kadima, but that Labor demands that 
social reforms -- a USD-1,000 minimum wage, a 
compulsory pension plan, and a raise in allowances for 
the elderly -- be included in the new government's 
guidelines.  Yediot quoted the Labor officials as 
saying that their party is not ruling out staying in 
the opposition.  Leading media reported that Meretz won 
in mock elections at Tel Aviv University.  The 
Jerusalem Post reported on similar results in mock 
elections at Queens College, New York.  The Jerusalem 
Post reported that on March 28, the group Israel Votes 
will announce the results of an online "vote" involving 
50,000 US college students. 
 
Yediot and other media reported that the interim report 
of the parliamentary commission of inquiry into the 
evacuation of the Amona outpost, which will be made 
public today, is expected to express sharp criticism of 
Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra, principally 
over his refusal to let police officers appear before 
the commission.  Yediot wrote that the commission will 
also blame Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, and the police 
for its violent behavior.  However, the newspaper 
reported that the commission will not find fault with 
the GOI's decision-makers. 
 
Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post reported on the Second 
World Congress of Imams and Rabbis for Peace, which is 
being held in Seville, Spain on March 19-22, and 
sponsored by the Paris-based peace foundation Hommes de 
Parole. 
 
Major media reported that on Monday, National Jewish 
Front leader Baruch Marzel, who is campaigning for the 
upcoming elections, called on the IDF to assassinate 
Uri Avnery, the far-left leader of the Gush Shalom 
movement. 
 
US Senator Russell Feingold (D-WI) was quoted as saying 
in an interview with The Jerusalem Post that were he to 
become a candidate for the Presidency, one issue would 
not stand in his way: his Jewish identity. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Gil Fogiel, a former 
IAF pilot is participating in the Breaking the Ice 
mission of peace.  Ten participants from around the 
world have embarked on a journey that has taken them 
through Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan, 
and Egypt. 
 
Ha'aretz printed a Reuters report that on Monday, the 
US Supreme Court rejected an appeal by convicted spy 
Jonathan Pollard.  The justices declined to review a US 
appeals court ruling that federal courts lack 
jurisdiction to review claims for access to such 
documents for clemency petitions.  Major media reported 
on the project. 
 
All media highlighted the continuing bird-flu crisis. 
 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "[An 
agreement on the Karni crossing] could ... serve as a 
first model of non-political understanding between 
Israel and the Hamas government." 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post 
editorialized: "The 'humanitarian crisis' has already 
occurred; withholding assistance is the key to helping 
the Palestinians work their way out of it." 
 
Defense and foreign affairs columnist Amir Oren wrote 
in Ha'aretz: "Hamas is like a drunk driver ... speeding 
along [a] highway in the wrong lane." 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one 
of popular, pluralist Maariv: "If the polls are right, 
Israel of early 2006 will be different ... with a new, 
powerful, and biting [political] Center that will shake 
up the entire country and move it forward -- [but] not 
sure in which direction." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "An Agreement Is Essential" 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (March 
21): "Israel, which is facing elections and has 
clarified that it does not intend to assist a Hamas-led 
Palestinian Authority financially, is also holding on 
to the Karni crossing as a way of proving that the 
withdrawal from the Gaza Strip has put an end to the 
occupation there.  On the other hand, we cannot accept 
the Palestinian position that even if Palestinian 
civilians die of hunger, goods will not be allowed to 
pass through the Kerem Shalom crossing.  The 
Palestinians have no right to expect support for their 
inhumane position, which depends on political 
suspicions -- even if those suspicions have a basis. 
Israel and the Palestinian Authority, even if the PA is 
run by Hamas, are therefore obligated to reach an 
agreement immediately and an understanding on the issue 
of operating the Karni crossing, rather than 
transforming it into a political hatchet or battlefield 
in which the only casualties are innocent civilians. 
An agreement on the Karni crossing that will not damage 
the terminal's functioning and will assure the security 
of those who pass through it is essential for both 
sides.  It could also serve as a first model of non- 
political understanding between Israel and the Hamas 
government." 
 
II.  "Helping Palestinians" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post 
editorialized (March 21): "Abbas is now claiming that 
he will refuse to approve the cabinet if the 
international community causes a 'crisis' by cutting 
off assistance to the PA.  The fact that Fatah refused 
to join the cabinet is a clear indication that Abbas 
hopes that a Hamas-led government will not be viable. 
Abbas's 'threat,' then, should be seen as an invitation 
to the international community to continue unwaveringly 
in its commitment not to fund a Hamas government that 
refuses to meet any of the conditions set by the 
Quartet.  Hamas is hoping that it can avoid any 
compromise while retaining international assistance by 
threatening the West with the suffering of the 
Palestinian people.  James Wolfensohn, though an envoy 
for the Quartet, expressed this Palestinian argument 
succinctly in testimony Wednesday before Congress, 'I 
do not believe you can have a million starving 
Palestinians and have peace.'.... As much as the 
international community wishes to help the 
Palestinians, the aid that was showered upon them over 
the last decade not only failed to do so, but nurtured 
a completely dysfunctional regime deeply tainted by 
terrorism.  The only way to change this, it seems, is 
to refuse to continue to finance a PA that refuses to 
adhere to the Quartet's conditions.  The 'humanitarian 
crisis' has already occurred; withholding assistance is 
the key to helping the Palestinians work their way out 
of it." 
 
 
 
 
III.  "Hamas's Victory of Deterrence" 
 
Defense and foreign affairs columnist Amir Oren wrote 
in Ha'aretz (March 21): "The debate now in Israel is 
when to confront Hamas: soon, at the cost of a military 
campaign, in the hopes of restoring Fatah to power -- 
but this time, the younger and less corrupt generation; 
or in another year or more, after a period of 
comparative quiet, but at the cost of a dangerous build- 
up in Palestinian strength.... For the next week, until 
the elections, Israel and the PA still appear to be 
traveling along the same road.  That is true, but 
misleading, because Hamas is like a drunk driver ... 
speeding along [a] highway in the wrong lane: The 
journey is guaranteed to end in a fatal crash, unless 
Hamas either sobers up, overturns or discovers that it 
has run out of gas." 
 
IV.  "Countdown" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one 
of popular, pluralist Maariv (March 21): 
"Superficially, these elections are over.  The results 
are known -- more or less.  But under the surface, 
things are still stirring.  As this campaign has broken 
almost all myths, as so many things have turned around, 
as no one could have foreseen Kadima's success and 
later its achievement without its leader and founding 
father ... it is impossible to completely predict today 
what will really happen here next Tuesday....  With 
this nation, in this crazy reality, everything is still 
possible.  Still, it would be hard to see a significant 
change from what the polls are saying.  And if the 
polls are right, Israel of early 2006 will be different 
-- no longer fifty-fifty Left-Right, with a frustrating 
tie and a freeze, but with a new, powerful, and biting 
[political] Center that will shake up the entire 
country and move it forward -- [but] not sure in which 
direction." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
--------- 
¶2.  Iraq: 
--------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Shlomo Avineri, Hebrew University Professor of 
Political Science and former director-general of the 
Foreign Ministry, wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post: "By calling the strife in 
Iraq 'sectarian,' observers and policymakers are trying 
to minimize the deep chasms that divide Iraqi society." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"Iraq's Only Way Out?" 
Shlomo Avineri, Hebrew University Professor of 
Political Science and former director-general of the 
Foreign Ministry, wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post (March 21): "There seems to 
be no power able to hold Iraq together.... Iraq is 
going the way of the former Yugoslavia.  When ethnic 
and religious groups are unable and unwilling to live 
together in a country held together by force and 
lacking any democratic traditions, disintegration may 
be the only way out.  Maybe three states in what used 
to be Iraq have a better chance -- as occurred in 
Yugoslavia -- of leading to some stabilization and even 
democratic development.  By calling the strife in Iraq 
'sectarian,' observers and policymakers are trying to 
minimize the deep chasms that divide Iraqi society -- 
like calling the bloody wars between Catholics and 
Protestants in 17th-century Europe 'sectarian.'" 
 
JONES