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Carol X Weakley  08/04/2006 04:05:14 PM  From  DB/Inbox:  Carol X Weakley

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STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD 
 
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM 
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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
 
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
Mideast 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media reported that twelve Israelis were killed Thursday.  Four 
IDF soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon and eight civilians in 
Katyusha rocket attacks (five in Acre, including a father and his 
daughter, and three Israeli Arabs in Maalot-Tarshiha). 
 
Israel Radio reported that the UN Security Council might only 
convene on Wednesday.  Leading media reported that the US and France 
are still at odds over the text of a draft resolution at the 
Security Council to reach a cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon. 
Media reported that France has circulated a revised UN resolution 
calling for an immediate cessation of Israel-Hizbullah hostilities. 
The media reported that Washington has so far resisted calls for a 
cease-fire without simultaneous steps to deploy peacekeepers and 
tackle Hizbullah's disarmament.  Ha'aretz wrote that France insists 
that the fighting be halted first to pave the way for a wider peace. 
 Israel Radio quoted Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as saying 
in an interview with CNN that a UN resolution "cannot lead to a 
return to the status quo ante."  Maariv reported that during the 
interview, Secretary Rice voiced reservations about comments made by 
State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack Thursday that "we 
certainly would hope that we could achieve something by Friday, but 
if not, we are prepared and Secretary Rice has instructed our 
people, both here in Washington and up in New York, that we're going 
to work all throughout the weekend if necessary to get something 
done."  Leading media reported that the US demands an arms embargo 
on Hizbullah. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that PM Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir 
Peretz were at odds last night over the extent of the Israeli ground 
offensive in Lebanon.  Peretz reportedly favors expanding the 
incursion as far as the Litani River, with the objective of 
controlling the area from which the short-range rockets are fired at 
Israel.  Ha'aretz reported that on Thursday that he had instructed 
the army to do so.  Maariv reported that Peretz's instruction 
surprised Olmert, who Ha'aretz wrote is not enthusiastic about the 
idea and feels that holding more ground in southern Lebanon will not 
solve the problem of Hizbullah's medium- and long-range rockets. 
Ha'aretz said that the plan to take the area as far as the Litani 
was presented to the political-security cabinet on Monday, along 
with the less expansive plan that was approved and is currently 
being put into practice.  Ha'aretz quoted a GOI source as saying 
that most of the cabinet ministers, including Peretz, had approved 
the more limited plan.  The source was quoted as saying that this 
should first be completed and then the cabinet could reconvene to 
discuss a deeper incursion.  The media reported that the IDF has 
created a several-kilometer-wide buffer zone.  Israel Radio reported 
that Olmert met with Peretz and FM Tzipi Livni last night, and 
quoted a senior government source as saying that no decisions were 
made at the meeting. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted a high-ranking IDF officer as saying that 
the IAF has-been unable to employ targeted killings in the fight 
against Hizbullah to any significant degree due to an acute lack of 
real-time intelligence.  The newspaper quoted the officer as saying 
that the difficulty in obtaining intelligence has caused Israel's 
three intelligence organizations -- the Mossad, the Shin Bet, and 
IDF Intelligence-- to forgo their "daily ego wars" and to work 
together in "unprecedented" harmony. 
 
All media reported that Hizbullah Secretary-General Sheikh Hassan 
Nasrallah warned last night in a televised broadcast that his 
organization would target Tel Aviv if Beirut was attacked by Israel. 
 "If our capital, Beirut, is attacked, we will attack your capital, 
Tel Aviv," Nasrallah threatened.  This morning Israel Radio reported 
that the IAF responded by striking many Hizbullah targets in Beirut. 
 Maariv bannered remarks mad by a senior IDF officer that if Tel 
Aviv is bombarded, Beirut will burn.  The Jerusalem Post quoted Uri 
Lubrani, an adviser to the Defense Minister and formerly Israel's 
longtime coordinator of activities in Lebanon. As saying that 
Hizbullah is hurting under the impact of Israel's military action, 
but that it is not yet showing signs of desperation. 
 
All media quoted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying 
Thursday in a speech during an emergency summit meeting of the 
Organization of the Islamic Conference in Kuala Lumpur that the 
solution to the Middle East crisis was to destroy Israel.  He also 
called for an immediate halt to fighting between Israel and 
Hizbullah.  Maariv and other media reported that in a video 
recording broadcast at the summit, Lebanese PM Fouad Siniora said 
that 900 Lebanese have been killed in the fighting.  Maariv reported 
that those figures contrasted the lower ones presented by the 
Lebanese Health Ministry.  Israel Radio cited reports in the 
Australian newspaper The Australian that hundreds of Southeast Asian 
suicide bombers have been dispatched around the world with a mission 
to attack Jewish interests in countries that support Israel such as 
Britain, the US and possibly Australia.  The radical Jakarta-based 
Asian Muslim Youth Movement (AMYM) reportedly gave details of the 
plot on Thursday, claiming it was being funded in part with cash 
donations from two unnamed Australian-Indonesian businessmen.  The 
leader of the AMYM, Islamist author Suaib Bidu, warned that 
thousands more jihadis were preparing to join the resistance against 
Israel and die as "martyrs." 
 
Maariv reported that FM Livni and Science and Technology Minister 
Ophir Pines-Paz have decided that after the end of the current 
conflict, Israel would open international Israeli cultural and 
scientific fairs in order to restore and bring up to date Israel's 
image in the world.  The Jerusalem Post cited the role of 
"Anglo-Israelis" in presenting Israel's case to the foreign media. 
 
The Jerusalem Post and Israel Radio reported that at a monthly press 
conference at 10 Downing Street, British PM Tony Blair refused to 
condemn Israel's actions as "disproportionate."  Instead he called 
for restraint on both sides.   The radio reported a "revolt" over 
Blair's Lebanon policy among the British government and Blair's 
Labour Party. 
 
Israel Radio reported that Thursday Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez 
publicly announced he was recalling his country's ambassador from 
Tel Aviv in protest of Israel's offensive in Lebanon with the 
support of the US.  The radio noted that Venezuela only has a charge 
d'affaires in Israel at the moment. 
 
The cover story of Yediot's weekly magazine is a portrait of 
Secretary Rice, the "velvet woman and ice queen." 
 
SIPDIS 
 
Leading media reported that early Thursday morning IDF troops raided 
southern Gaza, killing eight to ten Palestinians, including four 
militants and an eight-year-old boy.  Israel Radio reported that 
last night the IAF bombarded a storage building in the Gaza refugee 
camp of Shati.  The radio also reported that IDF troops hit four 
armed Palestinians in the Rafah area. 
 
Yediot and Maariv reported that two weeks ago security forces 
arrested a young Palestinian from a refugee camp near Nablus.  She 
had reportedly "seduced" an Israeli man and planned to abduct him on 
behalf of Tanzim. 
 
Major media reported that Karnit Goldwasser, the wife of Ehud 
Goldwasser, one of the soldiers abducted by Hizbullah, is touring 
the US in an effort to influence US public opinion over her 
husband's fate.  Israel Radio reported that she met with US Senator 
Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that on Thursday the High Court of Justice ruled 
that compensation claims by Palestinians over damage sustained 
during the confrontation in the territories since September 2000 be 
frozen. 
 
Globes reported that Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) and its Elta 
Systems Group subsidiary have "suffered a heavy blow."  The South 
Korean Ministry of Defense has disqualified Elta's proposal to 
supply four AWACS plans, worth USD 1.5 billion.  The decision leaves 
Boeing as the sole proposal in the tender, and brings to an end the 
year-long prestigious head-to-head confrontation.  Globes wrote that 
US export licenses, the lack of which were the cause of Elta's 
disqualification, were essential for parts of the AWACS system 
developed in cooperation with the US government. 
 
A Globes-Smith Institute poll found that: 
-71 percent of Israelis rely on Olmert's management of the security 
situation. 
-62 percent are satisfied with Peretz's performance. 
-73 percent express their appreciation of the government's 
performance in managing the arena of international policy. 
-53 percent of Israelis believe that Israel will obtain only a 
relative or a small part of the war's objectives. 
 
Maariv printed the results of a TNS/Teleseker Polling Institute 
survey conducted among Israeli Jews: 
 
"Who do you think is winning the war in the north so far?" 
Hizbullah: 3.5 percent; Israel: 54.8 percent; no one: 37.7 percent; 
undecided: 4 percent. 
 
"Who do you think will ultimately win the war in the north?" 
Hizbullah: 2.6 percent; Israel: 73.5 percent; no one: 19.4 percent; 
undecided: 4.4 percent. 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Washington correspondent Nathan Guttman wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post: "Though the voices criticizing Bush's 
policy on the Lebanon war are growing, a recent poll [conducted in 
the US] suggests that the President's political instincts were 
right." 
Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev Schiff wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Israel must ... avoid again 
finding itself waist-deep in the Lebanese quagmire." 
 
Senior columnist Dan Margalit wrote in popular, pluralist Maariv 
(8/4): "Ehud Olmert has led the battle demonstrating judgment ... 
and courage." 
 
The Jerusalem Post editorialized: "[Blair's] insight that the war 
against Israel is part of the wider war against the West is 
critical, and something that even President George Bush has not 
expressed in such coherent terms.... 
 
Daniel Levy, the lead Israeli drafter of the Geneva Initiative, 
wrote in Ha'aretz: "The last two years of the Bush presidency can be 
an opportunity for progress or an exercise in desperate damage 
limitation.  It sounds counter-intuitive, but Israel should reflect 
on and even help reorient American expectations." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "The Devil's in the Details" 
 
Washington correspondent Nathan Guttman wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post (8/4): "Though the voices criticizing 
Bush's policy on the Lebanon war are growing, a recent poll suggests 
that the President's political instincts were right.  A majority of 
Americans believe that the current involvement of the US in the 
conflict is sufficient, and more important, more than 40 percent of 
Americans don't want to see their government getting any deeper into 
the conflict.  If Bush's plan plays out as he had intended, these 
Americans will have nothing to fear: The US will stay out of active 
involvement and will -- at most -- put a hint of pressure on Israel 
to make sure it wraps up the operation in a few days." 
 
II.  "Stay Out of the Lebanese Quagmire" 
 
Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev Schiff wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (8/4): "A problem will arise if 
no international peacekeeping force can be found to which the IDF 
can hand over the territory that it now occupies in southern 
Lebanon.  In such a scenario, Israel will be faced with a dilemma: 
Stay in southern Lebanon, or withdraw, even if Hizbullah returns to 
set up bases there?  If confronted with this question, Israel must 
choose withdrawal -- in order to avoid again finding itself 
waist-deep in the Lebanese quagmire." 
 
III.  "A Worthy Conduct of the Campaign" 
 
Senior columnist Dan Margalit wrote in popular, pluralist Maariv 
(8/4): "Despite his mistaken decision to stop the aerial fighting in 
southern Lebanon for 48 hours, which allowed Hizbullah to take a 
deep breath and to partially rearm, Ehud Olmert has led the battle 
demonstrating judgment ... and courage (by giving a red light to the 
Baalbek operation).  It is true that there is a discussion about 
whether he restricted himself when he started the war, which delayed 
the first signs of success, but this is a question for 
historians.... But a worthy leadership has been born." 
 
IV.  "Blair's Blast" 
 
The Jerusalem Post editorialized (8/4): "[British Prime Minister 
Tony] Blair's description of the war [in a speech he delivered in 
Los Angeles on August 1], in short, was brilliant and courageous. 
His insight that the war against Israel is part of the wider war 
against the West is critical, and something that even President 
George Bush has not expressed in such coherent terms.  No less 
importantly, he strongly dismissed the language of grievances: It is 
rubbish to suggest that [terrorism] is the product of poverty.... It 
is based on religious extremism.... And not any extremism, but a 
specifically Muslim version'.   Yet strangely, when it came to 
suggesting solutions, he seemed to employ the grievance-based model 
he had so forcefully rejected.  'This war ... can only be won by 
showing that our values are stronger, better and more just, more 
fair than the alternative. ... Unless we revitalize the broader 
global agenda on poverty, climate change, trade, and in respect of 
the Middle East, bend every sinew of our will to making peace 
between Israel and Palestine, we will not win.'  Blair is right that 
the global jihad cannot be beaten without defeating its dream of 
destroying Israel.  But this, unfortunately, is not how he will be 
understood.  Reactionary Islam dreams of destroying the Jewish 
state.  It is the Western exposure and rejection of this dream, and 
forcing the Arab world to disavow it, that will pave the way for a 
Palestinian state.  Israel is not rejecting Palestine; it is the 
Arab world that continues to reject Israel." 
 
¶V.  "Ending the Neoconservative Nightmare" 
 
Daniel Levy, the lead Israeli drafter of the Geneva Initiative, 
wrote in Ha'aretz (8/4): "Witnessing the near-perfect symmetry of 
Israeli and American policy has been one of the more noteworthy 
aspects of the latest Lebanon war.  A true friend in the White 
House.  No deescalate and stabilize, honest-broker, diplomatic 
jaw-jaw from this president.  Great.  Except that Israel was 
actually in need of an early exit strategy, had its diplomatic 
options narrowed by American weakness and marginalization in the 
region, and found itself ratcheting up aerial and ground operations 
in ways that largely worked to Hizbullah's advantage, the Qana 
tragedy included.  The American ladder had gone AWOL.... It is 
admittedly difficult for Israel to have a regional strategy that is 
out-of-step with the U.S. administration-of-the-day.  However, the 
neocon approach is not unchallenged, and Israel should not be 
providing its ticket back to the ascendancy.... Internationalist 
Republicans, Democrats and mainstream Israelis must construct an 
alternative narrative to the neocon nightmare, identifying shared 
interests in a policy that reestablishes American leadership, 
respect and credibility in the region by facilitating security and 
stability, pursuing conflict resolution and promoting the conditions 
for more open societies (as opposed to narrow election-worship). 
The last two years of the Bush presidency can be an opportunity for 
progress or an exercise in desperate damage limitation.  It sounds 
counter-intuitive, but Israel should reflect on and even help 
reorient American expectations." 
 
JONES