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

181028Z Apr 06

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TEL AVIV 001511 
 
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 
 
 
No Tel Aviv Media Reaction report Wednesday, April 19, 
2006, Seventh Day of Passover holiday. 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
Mideast 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media bannered, and extensively covered Monday 
afternoon's bombing next to the old central bus station 
in southern Tel Aviv.  Nine people were killed in the 
assault and around 65 others, including a 16-year-old 
American tourist, were wounded.  The stricken eatery 
had been bombed three months ago.  Islamic Jihad 
claimed responsibility for the bombing, which was 
carried out by one of its young activists from Jenin. 
 
Leading media reported that Interim PM Ehud Olmert told 
the Kadima faction in the Knesset that Israel "will 
know how to respond."   Israel Radio said that the 
defense establishment will recommend taking actions 
against Islamic Jihad and increasing the separation 
between the northern and the southern West Bank.  The 
Jerusalem Post quoted a senior official at the Prime 
Minister's Office (PMO) as saying that, contrary to 
previous attacks, "We now face a Hamas government that 
not only does not stop terrorism, but condones it, and 
encouraqges it, and gives comfort to its perpetators." 
The PMO official was quoted as saying that Israel had 
little choice but to take matters into its own hands 
and take sustained, harsh steps against the terrorist 
organizations.  The Jerusalem Post quoted a senior 
Israeli diplomatic official as saying that from the 
international community's point of view, there was 
nothing dramatically different between Monday's attack 
and the scores that preceded it.  The diplomatic 
official was quoted as saying that there were those who 
were stressing it was not Hamas that carried out the 
attack, and that Hamas had continued to respect a truce 
it declared more than a year ago.  Israel Radio quoted 
Israel's UN representative Ambassador Danny Gillerman 
as saying in an open debate at the UN Security Council 
that the Council should take energetic steps against 
terrorism to prevent further attacks.  The station also 
quoted Gillerman as saying that pronouncements by 
Muslim leaders at this week's anti-Israeli conference 
in Tehran constituted a declaration of war. 
 
The media reported that the White House and the State 
Department condemned the attack and placed 
responsibility for it with the PA.  Leading media 
reported that White House Press Secretary Scott 
McClellan called the attack a "despicable act of terror 
for which there is no excuse or justification."  Major 
media quoted McClellan as saying: "Defense or 
sponsorship of terrorist acts by officials of the 
Palestinian cabinet will have the gravest effects on 
relations between the Palestinian Authority and all 
states seeking peace in the Middle East."  Israel Radio 
reported that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice 
called FM Tzipi Livni to denounce the bombing.  Leading 
media reported that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan 
condemned the Tel Aviv bombing in and called on the 
Palestinian Authority to "take a clear public stand 
against such unjustifiable acts of terrorism."  The 
media also reported that Annan called on all parties to 
abide by their obligations under international law, and 
to refrain from actions that further escalate the 
situation and put civilians at grave risk. 
 
The media reported that PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud 
Abbas denounced the attack, but that Hamas defended it 
as a "natural reaction."  Israel Radio noted that 
Jordan was the only Arab country that condemned the 
attack. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Senator Joseph 
Lieberman, the former Democratic vice presidential 
candidate and a serving member of the Senate Armed 
Services Committee, told the newspaper that the US is 
probably incapable of completely destroying the Iranian 
nuclear program, but that as a last resort it could 
attempt to knock out "some of the components" in order 
to "delay and deter it."  Maariv quoted the Director of 
National Intelligence, Ambassador John Negroponte, as 
saying in an interview with TIME Magazine that Iran 
will not have nuclear weapons before 2010. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that on Monday, a 16-year-old 
Palestinian was killed and two others were wounded by 
an IDF shell near Beit Lahiya (northern Gaza Strip). 
All media reported on progress in Kadima-Labor Party 
coalition talks. 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev 
Schiff wrote on page one of independent, left-leaning 
Ha'aretz: "The responsibility for such attacks rests 
with the Hamas government.... The fight against terror 
has to be conducted more forcefully." 
 
Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "Hamas's 
strategy isn't to rein in bombings, but to encourage 
them in order to return the Israel Defense Forces to 
the territories." 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote in popular, 
pluralist Maariv: "In Jerusalem, the 17th Knesset was 
sworn in.... In Tel Aviv, Palestinian democracy broke 
out in a pool of blood." 
 
Arab affairs commentator Danny Rubinstein wrote on page 
one of Ha'aretz: "If [Mahmoud] Zahar ... is forced to 
make do with the Iranian contribution ... his 
government... will be defined as an isolated government 
linked to what U.S. President George W. Bush considers 
the axis of evil." 
 
Ha'aretz editorialized: "Occupation, for as long as it 
continues, is also meant to protect Palestinians from 
the settlers.... However, as long as ... there is not 
even minimal law enforcement, there is no evidence that 
it is Israel that is in control, and not the settlers." 
 
The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global 
Research in International Affairs Center, columnist 
Barry Rubin, wrote in the conservative, independent 
Jerusalem Post: "Last week I wrote a column on how 
incredibly bad the Middle East looked from the 
standpoint of 15 years ago.... Let me try to look at 
the positive side.... The United States is the world's 
sole superpower and despite whatever mistakes it makes 
it is generally a force for good in the region." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Sharp Blow Calls For Sharp Response" 
 
Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev 
Schiff wrote on page one of independent, left-leaning 
Ha'aretz (April 18): "Monday's suicide bombing at Tel 
Aviv's old central bus station has strategic 
significance for the future.  It is the first suicide 
attack after Hamas's rise to power in the Palestinian 
Authority and the first attack after the election of a 
new government in Israel.  The large amounts of Iranian 
money flowing to Islamic Jihad clearly are allowing it 
to draft many volunteers, mostly young, for suicide 
attacks in Israel.  Islamic Jihad perpetrated six 
suicide attacks in 2005.  But the responsibility for 
such attacks rests with the Hamas government.... Recent 
declarations about Israel's victory over terror now 
sound like a bad joke.  Israel continues to fail in 
deterring those who transport the bombers into Israel, 
with ridiculous punishments meted out for this crime. 
The fight against terror has to be conducted more 
forcefully, with more being done to complete the 
separation fence, which is strangely taking a long 
time." 
 
 
II.  "Hamas Draws Israel Back Into the Territories" 
 
Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (April 18): 
"Monday's bombing in Tel Aviv was a step in the process 
of Israel's being drawn ... back into the territories, 
the vacuum, the black hole that has been created there 
since Hamas came to power.  We are being dragged into 
that chaos with eyes wide open.... The new [Israeli] 
government will talk about convergence, the Knesset 
that was sworn in on Monday can endlessly discuss new 
permanent borders [for Israel], but we're going in the 
opposite direction.  We are not in a convergence 
process, but in one of expansion -- not expansion in 
terms of diplomatic gains, but an expansion of military 
activity into populated Palestinian areas -- in Gaza 
and the West Bank.  The question isn't whether we'll 
enter Jenin, Nablus, or Gaza, but when.... With the 
passing of time, the fact that [Hamas] is increasingly 
unable to abide by its pledges to the Palestinian 
public, which might erode its might in the Palestinian 
street.  Hamas is 'dying' to see Israel present a 
costly 'price-tag,' because it'll stick to its winning 
formula: The worse off the Palestinians, the better off 
Hamas is.  This implies that Hamas's strategy isn't to 
rein in bombings, but to encourage them in order to 
return the Israel Defense Forces to the territories." 
 
III.  "Olmert's Test" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote in popular, 
pluralist Maariv (April 18): "The Israeli democracy 
festival that took place Monday in Jerusalem was 
mingled with the murderousness of Palestinian democracy 
that celebrated in Tel Aviv.  Those two democracies 
continue to embrace each other in a lethal squeeze.  In 
Jerusalem, the 17th Knesset was sworn in.... In Tel 
Aviv, Palestinian democracy broke out in a pool of 
blood.... Now is the time of Islamic Jihad.  Who's 
next?  Fatah's Tanzim, certainly -- because when 
there's a struggle between Fatah and Jihad, or between 
any two factions, Palestinian democracy always channels 
into the old, proven path through which the central 
Palestinian regime will be embarrassed -- the killing 
of Jews.  Ehud Olmert will today face a significant 
leadership test.... Will he declare the Palestinian 
Authority an enemy country?  For the fist time since 
Oslo, a government that doesn't condemn terrorism is 
sitting in Ramallah.  The opposite is true.  Its heads 
view terrorism as a legitimate resistance tool." 
 
IV.  "An Inconvenient Attack" 
 
Arab affairs commentator Danny Rubinstein wrote on page 
one of Ha'aretz (April 18): "Palestinian Prime Minister 
Ismail Haniyeh and Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud 
Zahar are investing a lot into extricating the 
Palestinian Authority from its financial troubles and 
international isolation.  Its image as a terror 
government damages these efforts.... The Hamas 
government is trying to recruit alternative sources of 
funding.  Zahar is on a fund-raising trip to Arab 
states and appears to have notched some success.... It 
is clear that Monday's terror attack is harmful to this 
mission, since no Arab state wants to be seen as a 
government that is identified with or assists terrorist 
activity.  If Zahar does not manage to win more aid 
from Arab states and is forced to make do with the 
Iranian contribution, he will be endangering the 
position of his government, which will be defined as an 
isolated government linked to what U.S. President 
George W. Bush considers the axis of evil." 
 
¶V.  "No Arrests Yet" 
 
Ha'aretz editorialized (April 18): "The clashes are 
continuing between the kibbutz volunteers who help 
Palestinian farmers work their land near the Elon Moreh 
settlement and the settlers who beat them and fire at 
them.  This week settlers went to Kibbutz Givat 
Hashlosha to give Yoel Marshak, one of the volunteers, 
a personal threatening letter.... The single arrest in 
the meantime was made at Marshak's initiative, not that 
of the police.  Marshak and his colleagues searched 
for, and found, the rifle bullets fired at them two 
weeks ago, and a ballistics test led to the arrest of 
two soldiers.... Occupation is not only checkpoints 
that protect against terror within the Green Line, 
thereby making Palestinian life miserable.  Occupation, 
for as long as it continues, is also meant to protect 
Palestinians from the settlers and make sure they can 
carry on reasonable daily lives, at least in their 
limited living space, now that checkpoints have made 
movement between the communities a nightmare for them. 
However, as long as a harassed civilian delivers the 
bullet to the police officer's desk, and there is not 
even minimal law enforcement, there is no evidence that 
it is Israel that is in control, and not the settlers." 
 
VI.  "Now, the Good News" 
 
The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global 
Research in International Affairs Center, columnist 
Barry Rubin, wrote in the conservative, independent 
Jerusalem Post (April 18): "Last week I wrote a column 
on how incredibly bad the Middle East looked from the 
standpoint of 15 years ago, just after the Kuwait 
war.... Let me try to look at the positive side.... 
Radical Islamists have not yet taken over any Arab 
country, with violent revolts in Algeria and Egypt 
being put down.  Hamas now rules the Palestinians and 
Islamists are making gains in several places but they 
are still stuck in opposition.  Syrian forces have 
withdrawn from Lebanon and that country's peculiar 
version of democracy has been restored.... There is a 
liberal, pro-democratic movement now in the Arab 
world.... Saddam Hussein has been overthrown as Iraq's 
dictator.... Iraq has a chance of becoming a stable 
democracy, not a trouble-free one but it is a real 
possibility.... Israel is more secure, despite 
continuing terrorist threats, than it has been at any 
time in the past.... The United States is the world's 
sole superpower and despite whatever mistakes it makes 
it is generally a force for good in the region.... The 
war on terrorism has enjoyed some real successes, 
though obviously it is far from won, to say the 
least.... There, don't you feel better?  I know I do." 
 
JONES