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 000869 
 
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: 
-------------------------------- 
 
Mideast 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted a senior Israeli diplomatic 
official as saying that Israel will find ways to block 
the flow of Iranian money into the West Bank if Tehran 
delivers on its promise to give a Hamas-led PA USD 250 
million.  He was responding to a report that appeared 
in the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper that Iran would 
allocate USD 250 million to the PA to replace the 
funding withheld by Israel and the US.  Ha'aretz 
printed an AP dispatch quoting Musa Abu Marzouk, deputy 
head of Hamas's political bureau, as dismissing the 
report about such a specific pledge by Iran.  Yediot 
quoted Ali Larijani, the head of Iran's Supreme 
National Security Council, as saying in an interview 
with TIME that should Israel attack Iran's nuclear 
installations, Tehran's retaliation would not be "a 
pleasant one."  Larijani was also quoted as saying that 
Iran will consider talks with the U.S. to address 
concerns that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons, but only 
if "Mr. Bush does not harangue us."  Yediot also quoted 
former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami as saying in 
an interview with the Iranian news agency that the 
Holocaust is a "historical fact." 
 
Yediot prominently cited a travel warning for Israel 
issued this week by the State Department: "Violent 
confrontation between organized criminal elements has 
led to the death and injury of innocent bystanders in 
incidents throughout Israel, including an October 26, 
2005 incident in which a bomb destroyed a Tel Aviv 
apartment building, killing three people and wounding 
five.  Such incidents in the past have involved the use 
of bombs, grenades, anti-tank missiles, and small arms 
fire, and have taken place in Tel Aviv, Caesarea, 
Ramle, Acre, Hadera, Arad, and the Galilee." 
 
Israel Radio cited the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi as 
saying that the US is interested in the new Palestinian 
government being formed only after the Israeli 
elections.  The radio cited the Arabic-language 
newspaper as saying that A/S David Welch asked Abbas to 
postpone the announcement he will make about the new 
government.  Israel Radio reported that Egyptian 
intelligence chief Omar Suleiman will soon come to 
Israel.  The radio said that Egypt recommends that 
Israel not rule out contacts with Hamas completely and 
that it wait to decide how to deal with Hamas, once it 
has a better impression of whether Hamas will abide by 
Israel's demands. 
 
Leading media reported that the PA has rejected an 
Israeli offer to use the Kerem Shalom crossing in the 
southern Gaza Strip for the passage of goods while the 
Karni crossing is closed, because of fear that a 
temporary agreement might continue indefinitely.  The 
Jerusalem Post quoted chief PA negotiator Saeb Erekat 
as saying in an interview with the newspaper: "We are 
worried that this will become permanent.  I really urge 
the Israelis to stick to the agreement." 
 
Electronic media reported this morning that an Israeli 
was shot to death near the West Bank settlement of 
Migdalim.  All media reported that on Tuesday 
afternoon, a man from the settlement town of Kiryat 
Arba was moderately injured and a teenage girl from the 
settlement of Tekoa was lightly wounded in a stabbing 
incident at the Gush Etzion junction.  Soldiers shot 
and mortally wounded the stabber before he could attack 
others.  Ha'aretz reported that the IDF is predicting 
the return of the "stone Intifada" to the West Bank, 
similar to the situation in 1987-1989. 
 
Leading electronic media reported this morning that a 
Qassam rocket landed south of Ashkelon, and that the 
IDF responded with artillery fire.  The Jerusalem Post 
quoted a senior Artillery Corps officer as saying that 
heavy IDF artillery barrages on unpopulated areas in 
the northern Gaza Strip may hamper terrorists' 
movements, but that efforts by the army to avoid 
harming innocent civilians often means that those 
firing Qassam rockets are able to escape unharmed. 
 
This morning, Israel Radio and Ha'aretz's web site 
reported that a senior Islamic Jihad commander was 
killed in a car explosion in Gaza on Wednesday that 
witnesses said was caused by an Israeli air strike. 
The media reported that Palestinian security sources 
and medics identified him as Abu al-Waleed al-Dahdouh, 
and that the IDF had no immediate comment. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted Palestinian sources as saying that 
Hamas and Palestinian PM-designate Ismail Haniyeh are 
refusing to respond to the written appointment by PA 
Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas to form the PA new 
government. 
 
Major media quoted Acting PM Ehud Olmert as saying on 
Tuesday, following the high-level meeting he convened 
on the issue of Israel's relations with Russia, that 
Russia was an "important country" with which it was 
necessary to improve relations. 
 
Citing news agency reports, Ha'aretz and Yediot 
reported that on Tuesday at the Conference on 
Disarmament in Geneva, Syria accused Israel of using 
the Golan as a dumping ground for nuclear waste.  The 
media cited a response from Ambassador Itzhak Levanon, 
Israel's Permanent Representative to the UN Office in 
Geneva, that Syrian Representative Ambassador Bashar 
Ja'afari's speech was full of "repetitive, inaccurate 
information." 
 
Israel Radio quoted Ambassador John Negroponte, the 
Director of National Intelligence, as saying that a 
civil war in Iraq would influence other Middle East 
countries as well as other places in the world. 
 
All major media, except The Jerusalem Post, led with 
today's vote at the Likud Central Committee on party 
chairman Binyamin Netanyahu's proposal that the 
selection of the Likud's Knesset slate be moved from 
the central committee to the rank-and-file.  Leading 
media reported that on Tuesday, Netanyahu accused 
senior Kadima members of attempting to influence Likud 
Central Committee members to torpedo his proposal.  He 
was quoted as saying in closed talks with central 
committee members that Kadima was "running an organized 
campaign" against the move, "including getting senior 
ministers involved in it."  Leading media wrote that by 
changing his party's voting process, Netanyahu hopes to 
regain many voters who shifted their preference to 
Kadima. 
 
Major media (banner in Hatzofe) cited a report that 
appeared in the Israeli web site News First Class that 
Olmert was given a USD 320,000 discount on an apartment 
he bought in a Jerusalem housing project in 2004, in 
the hope that this would accelerate the granting of 
construction permits for the entire project.  Ha'aretz 
and other media cited Olmert's office as saying that 
the contract notes that the seller has the necessary 
permits and that Olmert was not involved in issuing 
them. 
 
All media reported that on Tuesday, the Central 
Elections Committee rejected by a vote of 18-16 
requests to disqualify the United Arab List/Arab 
Movement for Renewal from participating in the upcoming 
Knesset elections.  Kadima MKs voted against the 
disqualification. 
 
Yediot reported that an IDF major serving in the Arrow 
anti-missile unit opened a "private bank," investing 
millions of shekels in the stock exchange on behalf of 
his commanding officers, and disappeared.  Yediot 
quoted the IDF Spokeswoman's office as saying that the 
major was suspended. 
 
All media reported that Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz 
and Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra announced 
that they would bar the IDF and police from appearing 
before a special parliamentary investigation committee 
on the evacuation of the West Bank outpost of Amona 
last month.  Mofaz and Ezra said they would appear on 
behalf of the army and police before the committee. 
The media said that both ministers seek to protest the 
committee's decision to add to its team right-wing 
politicians who took part in resisting the evacuation. 
The ministers were quoted as saying that the committee 
was politically motivated, and formed for the purpose 
of bashing the government. 
 
Leading media reported that on Tuesday, a resident of 
the Crown Heights area of Brooklyn was found shot in 
his car a few blocks from his house.  He was a member 
of the Lubavitch community.  The Jerusalem Post and 
other media reported suspicions that the murder may 
have been motivated by anti-Semitism.  The media 
reported that anti-Semitism was a possible motive in 
the murder of a Tashkent rabbi on Saturday. 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Senior op-ed writer Uzi Benziman commented in left- 
leaning, independent Ha'aretz: "All Israel has to do is 
declare that it is willing to negotiate for peace with 
whomever is leading the Palestinians." 
 
Israeli-Arab contributor Hamis Abulafia wrote in 
popular, pluralist Maariv: "Iran has decided to hand a 
quarter of a million dollars to the Palestinians.  Do 
we need further proof that boycotting the Palestinians 
only pushes them into Iran's arms?" 
 
Gidi Grinstein, the president of the Re'ut Institute 
(www.reut-institute.org), who served on the Israeli 
delegation to the negotiations with the PLO from 1999 
to 2001, wrote in the conservative, independent 
Jerusalem Post: "Hamas's mistimed ascendance has made 
it more vulnerable than ever to an erosion of its 
power." 
 
 
 
 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Ignore Hamas?  No Way" 
 
Senior op-ed writer Uzi Benziman commented in left- 
leaning, independent Ha'aretz (March 1): "The outrage 
among the decision makers in Jerusalem at the results 
of the election in the Palestinian Authority have them 
embroiled in internal contradictions, becoming involved 
in confrontations with the international community, and 
sending a message of confusion and disorientation to 
Israeli society.  Ehud Olmert should come to his 
senses.... All Israel has to do is declare that it is 
willing to negotiate for peace with whomever is leading 
the Palestinians.  If the Hamas wants to come to the 
negotiating table -- welcome; if it refuses, it will 
bear the consequences.... It is of course impossible to 
ignore Hamas's doctrines or the security danger its 
fundamental approach poses to Israel.... One position 
is unacceptable: a declaration that Hamas is 
irrelevant.  Those that do not want to dialogue with 
Hamas should get out of the territories and make the 
new government in Ramallah and Gaza the exclusive 
internal problem of the Palestinians." 
 
II.  "Pushing Hamas Into Iran's Hands" 
 
Israeli-Arab contributor Hamis Abulafia wrote in 
popular, pluralist Maariv (March 1): "All sensible 
people acknowledge that the Palestinian national 
interest requires getting farther from Iran on one 
hand, and nearer to those who are quite able to fulfill 
the Palestinians' dreams by establishing a national 
home alongside Israel on the other hand  -- I am 
talking about the state to which the Palestinians are 
connected in all walks of life: water, electricity, 
funds, etc.  At the same time, Israel shouldn't 
'reward' Hamas in the form of fund freezing, wall 
building, and imposing continued closure on the 
Palestinians: taking such measures might play in the 
hands of Hamas.... Iran has decided to hand a quarter 
of a million dollars to the Palestinians.  Do we need 
further proof that boycotting the Palestinians only 
pushes them into Iran's arms?" 
 
 
III.  "Don't Let Hamas Escape the Driver's Seat" 
 
Gidi Grinstein, the president of the Re'ut Institute 
(www.reut-institute.org), who served on the Israeli 
delegation to the negotiations with the PLO from 1999 
to 2001, wrote in the conservative, independent 
Jerusalem Post (March 1): "For now, security forces and 
key diplomatic and economic positions remain in the 
hands of Fatah while Abbas has veto power over any 
legislation. Hamas needs time to digest the PA and 
close the gap between its political over-representation 
and actual weak power.... The key to taking advantage 
of Hamas's temporary weakness is keeping what New York 
Times columnist Thomas Friedman calls a 'burning 
platform' under its political feet.  Israel and the 
world can force Hamas into a set of choices between its 
ideology and terror infrastructure, on the one hand, 
and the security and wellbeing of the Palestinian 
population, on the other.  Either Hamas would be forced 
to moderate, or its power could decline due to tensions 
between moderates and radicals.... Hamas's mistimed 
ascendance has made it more vulnerable than ever to an 
erosion of its power.  The advent of the new 
Palestinian government is a historic opportunity to 
generate a crisis that may lead to an ideological 
change in Hamas, the dismantling of its terror 
infrastructure or at least to a deep division within 
its ranks.  If the West works to keep the 'platform 
burning,' Hamas's great moment can be turned into a 
Pyrrhic victory." 
 
JONES