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 001611 
 
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.  Iran 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media bannered the triple explosion that took place 
last night in the Sinai resort town of Dahab.  Up to 30 
people were reported killed and more than 100 wounded. 
Israel Radio quoted Egyptian officials as saying that 
at least two of the bombings were caused by suicide 
bombers.  The media said that none of the approximately 
5,000 Israelis staying in Sinai were wounded.  Although 
no group claimed responsibility, the media deduced that 
Al Qaida was apparently behind the attack.  Israel 
Radio reported that Interim PM Ehud Olmert called 
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to convey Israel's 
sympathy, and that the two leaders agreed on the need 
to cooperate against terrorism.  The radio reported 
that FM Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz 
offered assistance to Egypt, which thanked Israel but 
declined.  Israel Radio reported that President Bush 
and PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas condemned the 
bombings.  The station reported that French Foreign 
Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy praised Hamas for 
condemning the bombings. 
 
Major media quoted Iranian President Mahmoud 
Ahmadinejad as saying Monday in a televised press 
conference: "Some 60 years have passed since the end of 
World War II, and why should the people of Germany and 
Palestine pay now for a war in which the current 
generation was not involved?  We say that this fake 
regime [Israel] cannot logically continue to exist." 
Hatzofe quoted Israel's Ambassador to the US as saying 
Monday in Washington at the annual conference of the 
Anti-Defamation League -- which the newspaper said was 
also attended by Egyptian Ambassador to the US Nabil 
Fahmy and Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern 
Affairs David Welch -- that more should be done and 
less said on the Iranian nuclear program issue. 
Hatzofe cited Ayalon's hope the UN Security Council 
will make use of Chapter 7 of the UN Charter or that 
other ways will be found to solve the problem.  Leading 
media quoted Israeli President Moshe Katsav as saying 
last night at the central Holocaust Remembrance Day 
ceremony at Yad Vashem, Jerusalem: "I call on the 
Western world not to stand silently in the face of the 
nations that are trying to acquire nuclear weapons and 
preach the destruction of Israel."  The Jerusalem Post 
printed an AP dispatch quoting US Representative at the 
UN Ambassador John Bolton as saying at a Holocaust 
memorial service in New York: "the "prospect of the 
proliferation of nuclear and other weapons of mass 
destruction weighs so heavily on the President as he 
contemplates the risk to the US and all of its friends 
and allies but in particular the risk of a second, a 
nuclear, holocaust."   The Jerusalem Post quoted Mofaz 
as saying at the inauguration ceremony for the Center 
for Iranian Studies at Tel Aviv University that Iran 
has given close to USD 10 million to Palestinian 
terrorist groups since the beginning of the year. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted A/S Welch as saying Monday at 
the ADL conference that the US has not ruled out 
providing financial assistance directly to Abbas and 
the offices of which he is in charge, while making sure 
the money does not reach Hamas.  Ha'aretz reported that 
Stuart Levey, Under Secretary for Terrorism and 
Financial Intelligence in the US Treasury will arrive 
in Israel today to discuss economic measures against 
Iran and the Hamas-led Palestinian government. 
Ha'aretz quoted FM Livni as saying during a meeting 
with Spanish FM Miguel Moratinos on Monday that Hamas 
leaders would make seemingly moderate statements to 
obtain legitimacy and financing.  The Jerusalem Post 
cited a new report by the UN that the humanitarian 
situation in the Palestinian territories will likely 
worsen in the coming months if Israel and the 
international community continue the policy of 
withholding funding from the PA. 
 
Leading media reported that during his visit to Turkey, 
Abbas launched an unprecedented attack against Hamas in 
interviews with Jordanian, Lebanese, and Turkish media. 
Israeli media quoted Abbas as saying in an interview 
with CNN-Turk that Hamas political leader Khaled Mashal 
is a "civil war monger" and that the "constitution 
gives me clear and definitive authority to remove a 
government from power, but I don't want to use this 
authority.  Everyone should know that by law this power 
is in my hands."  Israel Radio quoted various Hamas 
officials as saying that Abbas would pay a hefty price 
if he tried to disband the new Palestinian government. 
Maariv reported that Hamas legislator Salah Mohammed el- 
Bardawil will visit European countries in mid-May. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that on Monday, in what the 
newspaper said could be the prelude of a High Court 
petition, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel 
demanded that AG Menachem Mazuz instruct the government 
not to strip three Hamas parliamentarians for East 
Jerusalem of their Israeli residency status. 
 
All media reported harsh criticism in various parties 
slated to become partners in Olmert's government over 
the decision by Kadima and the Labor Party to give up 
the nomination of deputy ministers, following the 
public's disapproval of the expected size of the new 
cabinet.  Ha'aretz reported that Minister-Without- 
Portfolio Tzachi Hanegbi (Kadima) is expected to be the 
next chairman of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and 
Defense Committee, instead of MK Yuval Steinitz 
(Likud).  Maariv reported that Yisrael Beiteinu leader 
Avigdor Lieberman would get an expanded transportation 
portfolio that would include the Israel Lands 
Administration. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that on Monday, Internal 
Security Minister Gideon Ezra and Israel Police 
Inspector General Moshe Karadi discussed recent police 
data, according to which recent efforts to combat the 
phenomenon of illegal Palestinian workers in Israel are 
paying off. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted the chief pastor of the 
Anglican community in Israel as saying Monday that 
nuclear whistleblower Mordecai Vanunu is going to leave 
the Anglican church in Jerusalem where he has spent the 
last two years and that he will be moving into an 
apartment in East Jerusalem. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted Jorge Bustamante, a UN expert on the 
human rights of migrant workers, as saying that Israel 
is ignoring UN queries on issues regarding migrant 
workers.  Maariv reported that a UN report placed 
Israel at the highest level of countries that are 
targets of trafficking in persons. 
The Jerusalem Post reported that President Bush 
nominated Joel Kaplan, a Jew, to serve as the deputy of 
Joshua Bolten, who was appointed to be the White House 
chief of staff.  The newspaper wrote that the fact that 
White House policy is now in the hands of two Jews is 
not seen as significant by activists in the American 
Jewish community. 
 
Maariv reported that Israelis who have acquired the 
citizenship of an Eastern European country can open a 
business and live in the US by using an indefinite E-2 
investor visa. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Military correspondent Amir Rappaport wrote in popular, 
pluralist Maariv: "Israel must prepare as soon as 
possible to prevent Al Qaida from carrying out the next 
bombing in Israeli territory." 
 
Senior Arab affairs writer Zvi Bar'el opined in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Al-Qaida's 
'branch' in Sinai, which relies on the Bedouins, enjoys 
geographical conditions and the socio-economic 
motivation to use terrorism." 
 
Guy Ma'ayan, a history lecturer at the Hebrew 
University, wrote in Maariv: "Even bin Laden himself 
doesn't pretend to bring Islamic redemption to the 
world." 
 
Arab affairs correspondent Danny Rubinstein wrote in 
Ha'aretz: "Is a clash between them inevitable?  At 
first sight -- absolutely.... [But] signs of the 
possibility of a compromise in the spirit of a work 
division between the two sides were already seen in the 
past." 
 
Ha'aretz editorialized: "Interim Prime Minister Ehud 
Olmert must place the completion of the [separation] 
fence at the top of his agenda." 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Al Qaida Closer Than Ever" 
 
Military correspondent Amir Rappaport wrote in popular, 
pluralist Maariv (4/25): "A bombing such as the one 
that occurred Monday in Dahab should not light up a 
warning light in Israel, but a flare: Al Qaida's 
terrorism is getting closer to us.  Sooner or later, it 
will cross the Egypt-Israel border.  The main lesson 
[to drawn from the attack] is that Israel must prepare 
as soon as possible to prevent Al Qaida from carrying 
out the next bombing in Israeli territory.... Al Qaida 
is increasingly directing its statements to Israel and 
marked it as a key target, rather than a secondary 
target after the United States and the West in general. 
That change should be attributed to the line espoused 
by bin Laden's deputy, the ... Egyptian Ayman Al- 
Zawahiri and the Jordanian Abu-Mussab Al-Zarqawi.  Both 
view Israel as a primary enemy." 
 
II.  "Terror Feels at Home" 
 
Senior Arab affairs writer Zvi Bar'el opined in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (4/25): "Al-Qaida's 
'branch' in Sinai, which relies on the Bedouins, enjoys 
geographical conditions and the socio-economic 
motivation to use terrorism against the second most 
important economic domain in Egypt -- tourism.... Many 
of Sinai's Bedouin residents seriously suffered from 
the Egyptian government's decision to transfer Egyptian 
citizens from Cairo and the Nile Delta villages to earn 
a livelihood in Sinai.... The Egyptians suspect that 
some of the Bedouins enjoy economic assistance from Al 
Qaida, thus ensuring their loyalty and cooperation with 
the organization.  As a result, the penetration of the 
Bedouin community is becoming increasingly difficult 
for Egyptian intelligence, which finds it hard to 
obtain real-time warnings. 
 
III.  "Islamism Isn't Nazism" 
 
Guy Ma'ayan, a history lecturer at the Hebrew 
University, wrote in Maariv (4/25): "It is no secret 
that classical Islam wanted to conquer the entire 
universe.  But this isn't the view of Al-Qaida's 
leaders.... Even bin Laden himself doesn't pretend to 
bring Islamic redemption to the world.... Contrary to 
the Nazis, bin Laden didn't create a racist ideology to 
scientifically justify the cleaning of foreign 
influence ... and of course lacks the well-oiled 
propaganda machine that washed the Germans' brains.... 
Contrary to the Weimar Republic, the regimes of the 
Muslim states are quite stable and the national elites 
enjoy a great amount of legitimacy.... This doesn't 
diminish the threat of Islamic terror.... But in order 
to put Jewish-Christian civilization at risk, one needs 
more than a few thousands of fighters armed with 
primitive weapons and a fistful of cassettes." 
 
IV.  "On a Collision Course" 
 
Arab affairs correspondent Danny Rubinstein wrote in 
Ha'aretz (4/25): "Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), the 
Chairman of the Palestinian Authority and of Fatah, and 
Khaled Mashal and the Hamas movement now appear to be 
on a clear collision path.... Is a clash between them 
inevitable?  At first sight -- absolutely.... [But] 
signs of the possibility of a compromise in the spirit 
of a work division between the two sides were seen in 
the past.  Hamas spokesmen have often said that they 
are prepared to let Abu Mazen continue to conduct 
political negotiations.  Even [Khaled] Mashal, in his 
latest speech, did not rule out the option of peace 
with Israel following a withdrawal to the 1967 borders. 
Senior Fatah officials have also said the same thing -- 
that assistance should be given to the new government 
that was elected to manage the PA's ministries. 
Theoretically, this is a reasonable compromise -- an 
acceptable work division.  In reality this is very hard 
to implement." 
 
¶V.  "Top Priority For the Fence" 
 
Ha'aretz editorialized (4/25): "Interim Prime Minister 
Ehud Olmert must place the completion of the 
[separation] fence at the top of his agenda -- first, 
in order to maintain security and save civilian 
lives.... Second, completion of the fence is a 
prerequisite for implementing the convergence plan vis- 
a-vis the West Bank.  It is difficult to conceive a 
withdrawal to a new security line and the evacuation of 
tens of thousands of settlers from their homes without 
a physical barrier between Israel and the territories - 
- just as the fence around the Gaza Strip facilitated 
the withdrawal from there.  If Olmert wants to 
implement the redeployment in the near future, he must 
accelerate the fence's construction.  Unlike his 
predecessor Ariel Sharon, who viewed the fence as 
'another measure against terror,' Olmert speaks about 
it, explicitly, as the basis for a political border.... 
Olmert and [designated defense minister Amir] Peretz 
must join forces and take advantage of the momentum of 
their new government in order to hastily complete the 
huge enterprise started by their predecessors.  Their 
success will pave the way toward vital implementation 
of the convergence plan." 
 
--------- 
¶2.  Iran: 
--------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post 
editorialized: "If the West fails to defeat Tehran's 
death-loving Islamo-fascists before it is too late, 
they will have nuclear weapons.  'Never again' is now 
an imperative, perhaps more than anytime in 60 years." 
 
Chief Economic Editor Sever Plotker wrote in the 
editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot: "The Iranian President ... binds Holocaust 
denial with the elimination of Israel." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Never Again" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post 
editorialized (4/25): "The world today is threatened by 
a new form of fascism no less potent than the one that 
swept through Europe and culminated in the Holocaust. 
As an article by German political scientist Matthias 
Kuntzel in The New Republic reminds us this week, 
during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, Iran employed 
thousands of its own children as human minesweepers.... 
Kuntzel reports that since that war ended in 1988 these 
brainwashed youth, the Basiji, 'have grown both in 
numbers and influence' and become the shock troops of 
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who himself reportedly 
trained Basiji.... A new report from a committee 
chaired by [former Israeli minister] Dan Meridor warns 
that if Iran is allowed to obtain nuclear weapons, a 
number of Arab states are likely to seek such weapons 
as well.  In the 1930s, when Hitler was on the rise but 
still could have been easily stopped, Winston Churchill 
warned that restrictions on German rearmament -- in 
place since the previous World War -- had to be 
enforced or else war would break out again.  Today, 
Iran is testing the will of the world just as Germany 
did then. In the current instance, however, if the West 
fails to defeat Tehran's death-loving Islamo-fascists 
before it is too late, they will have nuclear weapons. 
'Never again' is now an imperative, perhaps more than 
anytime in 60 years." 
 
II.  "Deniers and Those Who Cause to Forget" 
 
Chief Economic Editor Sever Plotker wrote in the 
editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot (4/25): "Most Muslims are convinced that the 
Holocaust of the Jewish people didn't happen at all, or 
that its importance was inflated by a Jewish-Western 
conspiracy (for instance, in Hamas's Charter), to serve 
as the Zionists' PR tool.  When the remarks made by the 
Iranian President, who binds Holocaust denial with the 
elimination of Israel, fall on this fertile soil, they 
are well absorbed in popular consciousness and swiftly 
take root in the daily discourse.  It no longer is an 
embarrassment in the Muslim world to deny the 
Holocaust.  It is even a privilege.  It is allowed to 
bellow publicly that the Jews faked history and 
invented the atrocities of the Holocaust in order to 
steal an Arab land." 
 
JONES