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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 10 TEL AVIV 002714 
 
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 
CDR USCENTCOM 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.  North Korea 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Israeli diplomatic 
officials expressed concern Thursday that the world's 
reaction to the IDF incursion into northern Gaza, 
considered relatively mild, would get much more 
critical as the operation wears on.  The newspaper 
wrote that one official noted that Washington was 
dispatching top envoys Elliott Abrams, the Deputy 
National Security Advisor, and David Welch. Assistant 
Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, next 
 
SIPDIS 
Thursday, and that the intervening six days could well 
be the window of opportunity the US was giving Israel 
to achieve its aims before pressing for a withdrawal. 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Secretary of State 
Condoleezza Rice called on Israel on Wednesday to 
"exercise restraint," but that she also advocated 
"pressure on Hamas" to stop its attacks. 
 
All media reported that IDF Staff Sergeant Yehuda 
Bassel and dozens of Palestinians, some of them 
civilians, were killed in Thursday's and today's 
fighting between the IDF and Palestinians in the Gaza 
Strip.  Major media reported that the IDF is 
investigating the possibility that Basel was actually 
killed by friendly fire.  Ha'aretz reported that PM 
Ehud Olmert sides with the view of Shin Bet head 
Avraham Diskin that the IDF operation should proceed 
slowly, rather than with IDF Chief of Staff Dan 
Halutz's opinion that it should be accelerated.  The 
Jerusalem Post reported that PA interior Minister Said 
Siam issued his government's first call to arms since 
IDF ground forces invaded Gaza last week, appealing to 
all Palestinian to fulfill their "religious and moral 
duty to stand up to the aggression and cowardly Zionist 
invasion."  Yediot and Israel Radio reported that 
Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz has ordered an 
intensification of public transportation security. 
 
Israel Radio reported that the US is opposed to a draft 
resolution introduced at the UN Security Council by 
Qatar, which demands that Israel withdraw from 
territories it has entered in the Gaza Strip.  The 
radio cited the US as saying that the draft resolution 
is not balanced because it fails to mention Qassam 
rocket fire and the abduction of Cpl. Gilad Shalit. 
Israel's Representative to the UN Danny Gillerman was 
quoted as saying this morning in an interview with 
Israel Radio that the draft resolution was excessive 
and did not mention events that preceded the IDF 
operation. 
 
Israel Radio reported that Damascus-based Hamas leader 
Muhammad Nazal told the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi 
that negotiations over Cpl. Shalit were interrupted. 
Speaking on the Israeli-Palestinian radio station Kol 
Hashalom on Thursday, Noam Shalit, Cpl. Shalit's 
father, called for the release of Palestinians detained 
in Israel in exchange for his son's freedom.  Ha'aretz 
quoted Hamas sources as saying that the organization 
would agree to release Gilad Shalit and to stop firing 
Qassam rockets at Israel in exchange for the release of 
all female Palestinian prisoners and about 30 prisoners 
who have been in Israeli jails for more than 20 years. 
The sources were quoted as saying that Hamas will also 
demand that Israel withdraw its forces from the areas 
of Gaza that it occupied during the past week, release 
the Palestinian lawmakers that it arrested, and end its 
policy of targeted assassinations.  Ha'aretz wrote that 
the sources confirmed Thursday's report about this 
offer in the London-based newspaper Al-Hayat, as well 
as Hamas's withdrawal of its previous demand for the 
release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners in return 
for Shalit.  Yediot reported that a member of the 
Egyptian security team dealing with Shalit's possible 
release told the newspaper that his group knows with 
certainty that Shalit is alive.  Yediot quoted Muhammad 
Abu Radwan of the Popular Resistance Committees as 
saying in an interview with the French weekly Paris 
Match that Shalit's abductors have received an 
instruction to kill him if Israeli forces get close to 
his place of detention. 
 
Leading media quoted Israeli police as saying that five 
senior Hamas officials operating in East Jerusalem were 
arrested on Tuesday, in a continuing crackdown on the 
organization's activity in the city. 
Ha'aretz reported that on Thursday, The UN's Human 
Rights Council adopted a resolution to send a special 
observer to the Gaza Strip to examine the results of 
Israel's military operations there. The "unprecedented 
decision" was the fruit of cooperation by delegates 
from the Arab and Muslim countries.  It passed by a 
vote of 29 to 11, with five abstentions.  However, the 
resolution that was adopted was more moderate than the 
one originally proposed by Arab and Muslim delegates, 
which would have sent UN High Commissioner for Human 
Rights Louise Arbour to Gaza.  Ha'aretz said that such 
a step would have escalated the council's involvement 
in Gaza to the international level.  The Jerusalem Post 
and Israel Radio also cited the resolution. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that on Thursday, Turkish 
PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent Ahmet Davutoglu, one of 
his key advisers, to Damascus to inform the Assad 
administration that Syria to increase cooperation with 
Israel and the US in the name of peace and stability in 
the region. 
 
IAF commander Maj. Gen. Eliezer Shkedy was quoted as 
saying in an interview with Maariv that Syrian 
President Bashar Assad has understood the message 
conveyed by the overflight of his palace by Israeli 
fighter planes.  The Jerusalem Post reported that the 
IAF plans to install a new, more accurate missile on 
aircraft over the weekend and to begin using it in the 
Gaza Strip next week. 
 
Leading media reported that Zacharia Zubeidi, the Al- 
Aqsa Martyrs Brigades commander in Jenin, as well as 
the Islamic Jihad commander in the city, escaped an IDF 
assassination attempt Thursday. 
 
Maariv reported that the Israeli defense establishment 
is gathering intelligence materials linking the Iranian 
nuclear program with the North Korean missile program. 
The newspaper reported that Defense Minister Amir 
Peretz intends to embark on a diplomatic campaign in 
coming days in order to show the Iran-North Korean 
connection. 
 
Yediot reported that a Federal court in Chicago ruled 
on June 22 that ownership of a collection of 2,500-year- 
old Persian clay tablets belonging to Iran and lent to 
the University in Chicago in the 1930s be handed to 
dual Israeli-US nationals who were injured in a 1997 
Jerusalem bombing carried out by Hamas, over which the 
victims sued the Iranian government for USD 300 million 
in compensation.  Iran had refused to pay the 
compensation. 
 
Yediot reported that educated Israelis have been 
emigrating from Israel more than other Israelis.  The 
newspaper cited statistics issued by the Institute for 
International Education (IIE) that there are 3,600 
Israeli students in the US, as compared with 10,000 
students from Germany, a country with 85 million 
residents.  The newspaper also cited data that 3,000 
Israeli academics are members of the US academe, while 
the entire staff of teachers and researchers in Israel 
counts 4,500 people.  Yediot reported that a survey 
among 320 Israelis living in the US found that 81 
percent of respondents said that employment was the 
major motive for their emigration; 75 percent cited the 
high cost of living in Israel; 66 percent cited the 
high taxation in Israel; 75 percent cited the quality 
of schools in Israel; the security-political situation 
in Israel worried 65 percent of the respondents. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the family of Benjamin 
Kurtzer, the younger brother of former US Ambassador to 
Israel Dan Kurtzer, who immigrated to Israel Thursday, 
plans to rent a home in Ma'aleh Adumim for a year and 
that it will "be taking it from there," according to 
Benjamin Kurtzer.  Ha'aretz and Hatzofe also noted that 
Benjamin Kurtzer will live in Ma'aleh Adumim.  Yediot 
quoted Benjamin Kurtzer as saying that he is trying to 
convince his brother to immigrate to Israel. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Likud MK Dan Naveh is 
expected to face stiff opposition to his proposal for 
the Likud to endorse the formation of a Palestinian 
state when he convenes the leadership of the Likud's 
ideological bureau on Sunday. 
 
Yediot reported that drawings by around 20 children 
from Sderot will be exhibited at Los Angeles City Hall. 
The exhibition is sponsored by Los Angeles Mayor 
Antonio Villaraigosa.  The newspaper reported that 
Israel's Consul-General in Los Angeles Ehud Danoch 
initiated the connection between Villaraigosa and 
Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal. 
Ha'aretz devoted the cover article of its weekly 
magazine to questions asked of key Israelis politicians 
and security figures regarding whether former PM Ariel 
Sharon's disengagement plan had failed.  While Sharon 
aide Dov Weisglass and Internal Security Minister Avi 
Dichter highlighted the plan's successes, former IDF 
Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon said that it had "fed the 
Palestinian struggle for years," and Meretz Party head 
Yossi Beilin criticized both the disengagement and 
realignment plans, again expressing his support for 
coordinated withdrawals. 
 
In a literary review in Ha'aretz, Tel Aviv University 
Professor Sasson Somekh wrote that the veteran Cairo 
monthly Al-Hilal has "given pride of place" to the 
translation and analysis of a work by Israeli Almog 
Behar -- originally entitled "Ana Min Al-Yahud" in the 
Arabic language ("I Am From the Jews") -- that won the 
Ha'aretz (Hebrew) short story contest last year. 
 
Major media cited the Indonesian Foreign Ministry as 
saying Thursday that Indonesia has pulled out of its 
Fed Cup tennis tie in Tel Aviv because of Israel's 
military offensive in the Gaza Strip. 
 
Leading media reported that Gideon Meir, who headed 
Israel's "public diplomacy" during the Intifada as 
Deputy DG of the Foreign Ministry, will serve as 
Israel's next ambassador in Rome.  Ro'i Rosenblit will 
head the Israeli diplomatic mission in Qatar.  The new 
consul-general in Boston, Nadav Tamir, a graduate of 
Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, has 
directed the reforms in the Foreign Ministry as 
assistant to the ministry's DG over the past two years. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that American actors Debra Winger and 
Jeff Goldblum are attending the 2006 Jerusalem Film 
Festival, which opened last night. 
 
Maariv printed the results of a TNS/Teleseker Polling 
Institute survey: 
"Which of the following measures should the GOI take 
regarding the current crisis with the Palestinians?" 
Release Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the 
solider Gilad Shalit: 20 percent; bombard PA 
institutions in the Gaza Strip while endeavoring not to 
harm human lives: 74 percent; bombard infrastructure in 
order to cause lack of electricity and water in the PA: 
61 percent; start assassinating Hamas leaders: 82 
percent; bombard targets in Gaza, even if this may harm 
human lives; 52 percent; enter the Gaza Strip and seize 
parts of it; reoccupy the entire Gaza Strip: 32 
percent. 
"How satisfied are you with PM Olmert's performance?" 
Not satisfied: 47 percent; satisfied: 43 percent. 
"How satisfied are you with Defense Minister Peretz's 
performance?"  Not satisfied: 64 percent; satisfied: 28 
percent. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "Israel does 
not know how to be brutal enough to generate 
deterrence.  But it is brutal enough to generate more 
terror against it." 
 
Senior columnist Dan Margalit wrote in popular, 
pluralist Maariv: "A government arose from democratic 
elections in Palestine.  It has a president, too.  It 
must behave as a responsible state." 
 
Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The efforts to 
release the kidnapped Israeli soldier and the renewed 
fighting between Israel and the Palestinians have given 
some unusual players a chance to appear on the world 
stage." 
 
Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev 
Schiff wrote from Ankara in Ha'aretz: "It would have 
been natural to expect that Turkey would be 
understanding of Israel's conduct in response to 
Palestinian terror.  But such is not the case." 
 
Columnist and former Meretz Party Chairman Yossi Sarid 
wrote in Ha'aretz: "As in the Lebanon War, so in the 
Gaza war, the aims change on a daily basis." 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Brigade Vs. Neighborhood" 
 
Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (7/7): "Israel 
does not know how to be brutal enough to generate 
deterrence.  But it is brutal enough to generate more 
terror against it.  The armored incursion that has been 
going on since Thursday in the Gaza Strip can cause 
pain to the other side, but is not able to generate any 
change or any deterrence in the adversary's 
consciousness.  This is an operation tailored to fit 
the current Israeli government.  The political echelon 
in Israel realizes that in order to have an effect on 
Hamas something needs to be done.  That it is 
necessary, for example, to apply pressure to the 
Palestinian population.  But at the same time it is 
afraid that pressure on the population will lead to 
international pressure that will delegitimize the 
military activity....  Everyone knows that neither the 
current level [of pressure], nor the following level 
nor the one after that will do the job.  Just as 
everyone understands that we will ultimately reach the 
third and the fourth levels... Another conclusion is 
that the Palestinians are ready and fighting.... What 
stood out on Thursday was the large quantity of anti- 
tank weapons used by the Palestinians.  Despite the 
call of the Palestinian Interior Minister, the security 
services did not take part in the fighting.  When they 
join, it will mean tens of thousands of additional 
fighters.  The severe combat is still outside the 
cities.  It only hints at the scale of forces that will 
have to be assembled in order to enter the densely 
populated area.  The Palestinians are waiting for the 
IDF to enter the cities.  This is the trap they are 
laying.  Therefore, at the present stage the IDF 
prefers raids on open areas." 
 
II.  "A City For a City" 
 
Senior columnist Dan Margalit wrote in popular, 
pluralist Maariv (7/7): "[During the cold war], 
Russians and Americans turned into one another's 
hostages with the assent of their governments.  Here, 
civilians are being killed intentionally -- mostly in a 
war of terror.  Now, perhaps with some tardiness, 
Israel must erect a verbal security fence and embark 
upon a diplomatic PR campaign for several weeks in 
order to inculcate the following to world public 
opinion: a government arose from democratic elections 
in Palestine.  It has a president, too.  It must behave 
as a responsible state." 
 
III.  "New Players Appear on Mideast Stage" 
 
Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (7/7): "The efforts 
to release the kidnapped Israeli soldier and the 
renewed fighting between Israel and the Palestinians 
have given some unusual players a chance to appear on 
the world stage.... Turkey, which was asked by 
Washington and Jerusalem to try to use its good offices 
with [Syrian President Bashar] Assad, is not the only 
one.... As an Egyptian official put it: 'There are two 
circles of mediators -- those who can and those who 
think they can.'  Those who can include Egypt, Saudi 
Arabia and certain circles in the Palestinian Authority 
-- not official circles, but some of those involved in 
armed groups, youngsters who apparently know the 
abductors.... The Egyptian source said that those who 
"'think they can' would like to put in a short 
appearance on the Israeli-Palestinian scene.  They 
include Russia, Turkey and France (all of whom 
Washington and Jerusalem chided for legitimizing Hamas) 
as well as Qatar.  Now their good ties with Hamas seem 
to lend hope of a breakthrough." 
 
IV.  "Cold Turkey" 
 
Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev 
Schiff wrote from Ankara in Ha'aretz (7/7): "It would 
have been natural to expect that Turkey would be 
understanding of Israel's conduct in response to 
Palestinian terror.  But such is not the case.... The 
first official statement from Turkey was balanced, but 
the second was very critical of Israel, and only of 
Israel.... In Turkey's view, Israel is the one holding 
up the abducted soldier's release.  If a similar 
statement were ever made about Turkey (which in its war 
against Kurdish terror is taking similar measures to 
those currently used by Israel in its battle), the 
Turkish reaction would be that it was a one-sided 
distortion of the facts that ignores the effects of 
terror on the Turkish population." 
 
¶V.  "Orwellian Language Expresses an Upside-Down World" 
 
Columnist and former Meretz Party Chairman Yossi Sarid 
wrote in Ha'aretz (7/7): "As in the Lebanon War, so in 
the Gaza war, the aims change on a daily basis.  That 
is what happens when the war has no clear political aim 
in the first place, and at the moment it is designed to 
save Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Amir 
Peretz and Chief of Staff Dan Halutz.  The 'new order' 
in the territories will look like the new order in 
Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia, and 'rehabilitated 
deterrent power' will look like it does in North Korea 
and Iran." 
 
---------------- 
¶2.  North Korea: 
---------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post 
editorialized: "The US would be entirely within its 
rights ... to state that any further launches, at least 
of long-range missiles, will be prevented" 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"N. Korean and Iran" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post 
editorialized (7/7): "Attempts to engage and bribe Iran 
and North Korea into better behavior appear not only to 
be failing, but to be spurring those nations to 
greatest levels of belligerency.  The US would be 
entirely within its rights ... to state that any 
further launches, at least of long-range missiles, will 
be prevented.  Regarding Iran, there should be no 
further extensions of deadlines; the US and Europe 
should, either through the UN Security Council or on 
their own, impose stiff and escalating sanctions on 
Iran to force that nation to end its campaign of 
nuclear and terrorist blackmail." 
 
JONES