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

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 TEL AVIV 002511 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/22/2016 
TAGS: PREL PTER PGOV ETTC KPAL KWBG PINS IR EG IS GOI EXTERNAL ISRAELI PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS
SUBJECT: MOD'S GILAD ON GAZA, KARNI, AND IRANIAN THREATS IN 
JORDAN 
 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Richard H. Jones for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (S) Summary: In a June 21 meeting with the Ambassador, 
Ministry of Defense Pol-Mil Director Amos Gilad claimed that, 
during his recent meetings in Jordan, he was told of an 
Iranian message pressuring Jordan to accept Iranian hegemony 
in the region.  Gilad also reported that he expects strategic 
control of the Karni crossing to be returned to his office. 
Gilad emphasized that Israel can no longer tolerate Qassam 
attacks from Gaza, and that Kerem Shalom was closed in 
response to a specific security alert.  Gilad credited the 
leadership of Foreign Minister Livni at the MFA and said 
that, now that she is in charge, perhaps MOD will be able to 
work with the MFA on sensitive issues relating to defense 
exports.  The Ambassador reminded Gilad that the U.S. is 
still waiting for an Israeli response on the customs 
protocol.  Gilad agreed to look into the matter, but 
cautioned that it would be difficult to obtain a firm answer 
on the protocol before the Security Working Group meeting 
scheduled for June 30 in Jerusalem.  End summary. 
 
--------------- 
Iranian message 
--------------- 
 
¶2. (S) Gilad claimed that during his trip to Jordan two weeks 
ago "all the Jordanians" were talking about a message 
received from the Iranians announcing that they are the new 
superpower in the Middle East, and encouraging Jordan to join 
the Iranian camp along with Syria and Iraq, which it claimed 
to dominate.  Gilad did not elaborate on the source of the 
Iranian message.  He claimed that it portrayed the Iranians 
as speaking on behalf of Syrian President Bashar Asad and 
totally confident of their new position in the region.  Gilad 
also postulated that Iran sees Qatar as the "Achilles heel of 
the Gulf" and the most likely point of Iranian influence. 
(Note: Gilad's staff told us after the meeting that, while in 
Jordan, he met with the prime minister, the King's personal 
office director, the head of the GID, the foreign minister, 
the military chief of staff, and the DMI. End note.) 
 
¶3. (S) Gilad noted that in separate conversations with 
Egyptian Defense Minister Tantawi in Cairo, the Egyptians had 
questioned in detail, "for the first time," the impact of 
various Iranian steps towards becoming a nuclear power.  He 
said that Chief of Egyptian Intelligence Omar Suleiman told 
him explicitly that Egypt will not tolerate a nuclear Iran. 
Gilad claimed that he personally is worried that Egypt will 
act on these fears. 
 
---- 
Gaza 
---- 
 
¶4. (C) Gilad told the Ambassador that Israeli intelligence 
indicates the possibility of an imminent attack (in Israeli 
terminology a "hot alert") against an unknown target in 
southern Gaza.  Gilad claimed that Hamas is encouraging 
Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the local brigades to launch 
attacks against Israel.  Gilad said that he had received a 
call that day from Suleiman asking if Israel is deploying 
additional forces in the Gaza area.  While Gilad did not 
indicate that he gave Suleiman a definitive answer to the 
question, he told the Ambassador that the Egyptians are key 
to ensuring that the situation in Gaza stabilizes quickly. 
The Ambassador reminded Gilad of the need to keep the focus 
on political solutions, not only military aims, and noted 
that the growing number of Palestinian civilian casualties 
will lead to anger at Israel -- not the Hamas-led PA, and 
undercut efforts by PA President Abbas and the international 
community to corner Hamas.  Gilad agreed and asked for 
increased U.S. pressure on President Abbas to bring the 
situation under control. 
 
----- 
Karni 
----- 
 
¶5. (C) While not able to provide full details on the alert 
that caused Kerem Shalom to close, Gilad did mention that the 
security services had been successful in stopping an attack 
against Karni last week by "tricking" the attackers.  He 
declined to describe the nature of the attack or the "trick" 
involved.  The Ambassador told Gilad that the USG is 
concerned that the U.S.-leased scanners are not being fully 
utilized at Karni.  He noted that lately an average of only 
23 containers per day have been leaving Karni when it is 
open, while more than 40 leave Shar Efriam (a crossing in the 
northern West Bank).  Gilad explained that the Israeli 
National Police (INP) are currently responsible for actual 
security at Karni and their determinations decide the 
flow-through rate.  He said that if, based on Shin Bet 
intelligence, the INP directs the Civil Aviation Authority 
(CAA) to conduct deep inspections into all cargo containers 
passing through a crossing, productivity (as measured in 
number of containers processed) falls.  Gilad went on to 
describe the competing authorities and overlapping 
responsibilities of different government agencies at the 
crossings, but concluded confidently, "at the end of the day, 
I will be in charge of Karni, at least strategically." 
 
¶6. (C) The Ambassador told Gilad that U.S. companies are 
complaining about the management system for Karni, and 
alleging corruption on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides 
of the border.  Gilad expressed concern about such 
corruption.  The Ambassador described the U.S. idea of 
creating an on-line database registration system for Karni so 
that all commercial shippers can see, in a transparent 
manner, their position in the queue.  Gilad agreed that this 
is a good idea, and that only humanitarian shipments should 
have priority to jump the queue.  The Ambassador suggested as 
a first step increasing the number of empty containers 
allowed to come out of Gaza so that international aid 
organizations do not have to pay high storage and demurrage 
fees.  (In a June 23 meeting MOD consultant BG (ret) Baruch 
Spiegel told the Ambassador that it was decided on June 22 to 
resume exports of empty containers on Sunday, June 25.) 
--------------- 
Defense Exports 
--------------- 
 
¶7. (C) Commenting on the Ambassador's speech at the Jaffee 
Institute earlier in the day, Gilad "got the message" on 
expanding the role of the MFA in improving the defense export 
system.  Gilad claimed that the MOD's previous reluctance to 
work with the MFA was based on the perception that the MFA is 
the source of most leaks of highly classified information. 
He acknowledged that, "maybe it will be different with Tzipi 
(Foreign Minister Livni) -- she is different."  Gilad 
mentioned former FM Shalom's meeting with the Pakistani FM in 
Turkey as the kind of "damaging behavior" he expects from the 
MFA saying, "I only learned about the meeting from the 
newspaper."  Gilad claimed that the meeting caused Indian 
interlocutors to question Israel's commitment to good 
relations with India.  He added that Pakistan is only 
interested in meeting Israelis so that they can use Israel to 
gain favor with the U.S. 
 
---------------------- 
Security Working Group 
---------------------- 
 
¶8. (S) Gilad reported that Israel has drawn up a list of 
items for discussion at the June 30th Security Working Group 
meeting to be chaired by Lt. General Dayton.  The list 
includes: 
--PA acceptance/non-acceptance of the security protocol. 
 
--Continued violations of the protocol. 
 
--Procedures for dealing with explosive or dual-use items 
entering via Rafah. 
 
--Terror elements utilizing the crossings. (Note: Gilad later 
said that he did not plan to raise this issue at the meeting, 
but he maintained that he is interested in discussing this 
point with the USG. End note) 
 
--The importation of cash via Rafah. 
 
--Kerem Shalom as a crossing for non-Palestinian ID holders. 
 
--Extra scanners needed for luggage at Rafah. 
 
--Increased supervision of luggage, including possibly 
sending real-time images of luggage to the liaison center, 
 
--Decreasing the amount of time for liaison feed to one 
minute. 
 
--Increasing the presence and influence of Egypt at Rafah. 
 
Gilad said that he will be the Israeli representative at the 
meeting.  He asked that the meeting be held in a "neutral 
location" such as one of the major hotels. 
 
¶9. (S) The Ambassador noted that the U.S. is still waiting 
for an Israeli response to the side letter on the customs 
protocol, which was negotiated before the Hamas victory in 
the January Palestinian Legislative Council elections.  The 
Ambassador emphasized that the PA Presidency signed onto the 
terms of the agreement (via letter to CG Walles), and that an 
Israeli letter to the Ambassador to the same effect would 
enable the EU-BAM mission to exercise more authority in 
dealing with money laundering at Rafah.  Gilad promised to 
work on a response, but said that it would be unlikely that 
Israel could commit to signing such a letter in advance of 
the June 30th Security Working Group meeting. 
 
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