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Carol X Weakley  10/13/2006 02:55:11 PM  From  DB/Inbox:  Carol X Weakley

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P 131022Z OCT 06
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TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6911
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RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 1027
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 8680
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 1755
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 8681
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 9128
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 TEL AVIV 004037 
 
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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 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: 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶1.  Mideast 
 
¶2.  US-Israel Relations 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Leading media reported that a total of 8 or 9 Palestinians, 
including two children, were killed Thursday in two IDF operations 
in the Gaza Strip.  Five Qassam rockets landed in Sderot Thursday, 
causing a blackout in the city.  Israel Radio quoted Israeli 
military sources as saying that weapons smuggling into the Gaza 
Strip has recently intensified.  The radio and other media reported 
that this morning, three Hamas activists who the IDF said were about 
to launch missiles at Israel were killed in an IAF strike in the 
Gaza Strip. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that sources close to PM Ehud Olmert 
accused Defense Minister Amir Peretz on Thursday of ordering the 
immediate evacuation of illegal outposts in an attempt to prevent 
the addition of Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu party to the 
government coalition.  Media reported on disagreements within the 
Labor Party and on Yisrael Beiteinu's disappointment with maneuvers 
by members of the Labor Party. 
 
Major media reported that despite concerns of GOI officials that the 
international community has been moving too slowly on Iran, a 
special ministerial meting on the issue endorsed the diplomatic 
approach to halting Iran's quest to become a nuclear power.  Olmert, 
who convened the discussion, stressed that the efforts against Iran 
were being led by the international community. 
 
Hatzofe quoted PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas as saying in an 
interview with Al Arabiya-TV that neither Hamas nor Fatah nor the 
PFLP have not been asked to recognize Israel.  Israel Radio quoted 
Khaled Mashal, the head of Hamas's political bureau, as saying that 
his movement does not want to rule the PA on its own, that it is 
interested in establishing a national union government with Fatah, 
but that such a government should receive orders from the 
Palestinians, not from the US or Israel.  The station quoted Mashal 
as saying that Hamas was prepared to hold a prisoner swap with 
Israel involving abducted IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit, in 
accordance with previous deals with Israel.  Ha'aretz and Hatzofe 
reported that Hamas's military wing, Izz al-Din al-Qassam, warned 
Thursday that if Israel attempted a full scale invasion of the Gaza 
Strip, it would face many "surprises."  A spokesman for the group 
said at a press conference that Hamas fighters were involved in an 
ongoing effort to upgrade their abilities to wage war.  Yediot 
reported that on Thursday, during a meeting with Palestinian 
Interior Minister Said Siam in Tehran, Iranian President Mahmoud 
Ahmadinejad promised Hamas financial aid. 
 
Leading media reported that on Thursday Syria rejected Vice PM 
Shimon Peres's invitation, in a television interview, for President 
Bashar Assad to visit Jerusalem, saying the Israeli gesture 
reflected the country's weak position after its war with Lebanon. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that talks over the final withdrawal of 
IDF troops from the northern part of the town of Ghajar, which 
straddles the Israel-Lebanon border, are to resume next week with 
UNIFIL and IDF officials optimistic that a solution will be found to 
complete the Israeli pullout from southern Lebanon and the 
implementation of UN Security Council.  On Thursday, Ha'aretz had 
cited anger in Lebanon over the current situation in Ghajar.  This 
morning, Israel Radio reported that Lebanese Defense Minister Elias 
Murr ordered that his country would respond to violations of its 
airspace with gunfire. 
 
Leading media reported that on Thursday Hamas militants assassinated 
a commander of the PA General Intelligence, who was loyal to Mahmoud 
Abbas, and that that Fatah members retaliated by killing Majed 
Darbiyeh, commander of the Hamas forces in Beit Lahiya, northern 
Gaza Strip. 
 
Israel's Ambassador to Australia Naftali Tamir was quoted as saying 
this week in an interview with Ha'aretz that Israel should utilize 
its strong links with Australia to expand relations in Asia, whose 
population he termed the "yellow race," in which Israel was the 
"white race."  Tamir was quoted as saying during a meeting with FM 
Tzipi Livni that "Australia is not lagging behind the US" in its 
support of Israel. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that, rejecting charges that he received 
bribes from a leading Israeli defense contractor, former Indian 
defense minister George Fernandes told the newspaper Thursday he had 
approved the USD 268-million deal in 2000 because he feared an 
imminent war with Pakistan. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the panel of eight experts brought together 
by the newspaper has published its second ranking of potential US 
presidential candidates based on their positions on Israel-related 
issues.  The panel said that not only does it like former New York 
mayor Rudolph Giuliani's positions in the matter, but that it also 
believes him.  US Senator Barack Obama (D-IL), who continues to get 
the lowest overall ranking, also scores lowest on the credibility 
index.  Ha'aretz said that the real reason for his low ranking is 
that the panel has no faith in the sincerity of his pro-Israel 
statements. 
 
Yediot presented the results of a Mina Zemach (Dahaf Institute) 
poll: 
"What is do you think about conducting negotiations with Syria over 
peace in exchange for the entire Golan?"  Opposed: 64 percent; in 
favor: 33 percent. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner and diplomatic correspondent 
Aluf Benn wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Suddenly 
the Palestinian issue is becoming a key aim, almost an exalted 
one.... Such a simple diplomatic achievement, so very simple.  Is it 
possible that Rice too has fallen into the trap?" 
 
Deputy Managing Editor and right-wing columnist Caroline B. Glick 
wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "The 
Secretary of State ... claims that the establishment of a state for 
 
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a people who have distinguished themselves ad the most overtly 
pro-jihad, terrorist society of the world would be the greatest 
thing American could ever do." 
 
Prof. Amnon Rubinstein, President of the Interdisciplinary Center 
Herzliya, who served as (Meretz) education minister, wrote in the 
popular, pluralist Maariv: "It is not only Israel that is 
threatened.... The plausible victory of Iran-style extremist Islam 
also threatens the Christian communities, the cradle of whose faith 
is the Middle East." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "For Rice, It's Time For Palestine" 
 
Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner and diplomatic correspondent 
Aluf Benn wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (10/13): 
"The American Task Force on Palestine made history this week.... 
Rice ... talked about Palestine.  Here is a sure sign that time is 
passing:  Like President Bill Clinton in his day, for Rice, too, the 
volume increases as the term approaches its end.  Suddenly the 
Palestinian issue is becoming a key aim, almost an exalted one. 
This, apparently, is its chimerical nature -- after all, it always 
looks as though a solution is close enough to touch.  Such a simple 
diplomatic achievement, so very simple.  Is it possible that Rice 
too has fallen into the trap?  Although she is thoroughly familiar 
with the end of Clinton's profound commitment to a solution to the 
conflict, she is not perturbed.  'I promise you my personal 
commitment to that goal,' she says. 'There could be no greater 
legacy for America.'  But is this indeed the case?  Last July, 
opinion pollsters asked the American public whether the US 'has a 
responsibility to try to resolve the conflict between Israel and 
other countries in the Middle East, or is that not the United 
States' business?'  The answer was different from Rice's.  Only 33 
percent of the respondents thought that this is America's 
responsibility; 58 percent said it is none of America's business." 
 
 
 
 
 
II.  "Soros Moves On To Israel" 
 
Deputy Managing Editor and right-wing columnist Caroline B. Glick 
wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (10/13): "The 
Secretary of State of a President who was once friendlier to Israel 
 
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than any of his predecessors now claims that the establishment of a 
state for a people who have distinguished themselves as the most 
overtly pro-jihad, terrorist society of the world would be the 
greatest thing American could ever do.  Unfortunately, unless 
concerted steps are taken by the Israeli government, Israeli 
citizens and the American Jewish community, the downward trend in 
elations with the US will only get worse.  Perhaps most upsetting is 
the central role that a tiny minority of American Jews has played in 
souring ties between Jerusalem and Washington.  That minority has 
undermined support for Israel in the Democratic Party, and now seeks 
to undermine Israel's position in the US in general.... Not all of 
our friends are Jews and not all Jews are our friends." 
 
III.  "The Jews Are Not Alone" 
 
Prof. Amnon Rubinstein, President of the Interdisciplinary Center 
Herzliya, who served as (Meretz) education minister, wrote in the 
popular, pluralist Maariv (10/13): "Is something fundamental taking 
place in Europe?  Is this an intellectual rebellion against the 
Islamic threat?  It is too early to tell.... Arab Christians view 
themselves as part of the Arab national movement -- in fact, they 
were among its founders -- and they are united with their ethnic 
brothers in condemning Israel and opposing it.  Some of the more 
hostile Arab Knesset members, who identify with Hizbullah more than 
other [Arabs], are Christian.  Nonetheless, Israel radicalization is 
detrimental to the Christians and speeds up their emigration from 
the Middle East.... The Christian distress changes nothing in the 
Israeli-Arab-Muslim conflict and does not subtract anything from the 
might of Arab Christians' feelings vis-a-vis Israel.  It is not only 
Israel that is threatened.  The Jews are not alone.  The plausible 
victory of Iran-style extremist Islam also threatens the Christian 
communities, the cradle of whose faith is the Middle East.' 
 
 
 
 
 
 
------------------------ 
¶2.  US-Israel Relations: 
------------------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Washington correspondent Nathan Guttman wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post: "The 2006 mid-term elections are, 
ultimately, not all that important for the [American] Jewish 
community," 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"Israel and the Mid-Term Elections" 
 
Washington correspondent Nathan Guttman wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post (10/13): "The 2006 mid-term elections 
are, ultimately, not all that important for the [American] Jewish 
community.... If there are any differences on the issue of Israel, 
they are nuanced and minor.  Jewish activists are looking at the 
larger picture: What will happen if -- as many analysts expect -- 
the Democrats takeover one or both houses of Congress?  This could 
mean a complete change in the leadership of all Congressional 
committees.  But the activists agree that even here, thought the 
changes might make a difference on several issues important for the 
Jewish community, they will not affect Congress's strong support for 
Israel." 
CRETZ