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DE RUEHTV #0549/01 0521015
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P 211015Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9514
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC PRIORITY
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RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
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RUENAAA/CNO WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI PRIORITY 1701
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 8455
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN PRIORITY 1606
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 2479
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 1688
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 9475
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 2422
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 9334
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 9809
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 6437
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 3830
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 8706
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 2929
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 4839
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM PRIORITY 6010
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHMFISS/COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/COMSIXTHFLT  PRIORITY

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000549 
 
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 ICD 
LONDON ALSO FOR HKANONA AND POL 
PARIS ALSO FOR POL 
ROME FOR MFO 
 
SIPDIS 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR IS
 
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
Mideast 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media reported that on Tuesday security forces thwarted a 
large-scale terrorist attack planned for Tuesday evening at Tel 
Aviv's Central Bus Station.  Forces arrested a Palestinian resident 
of the West Bank and three other people at a house in Bat Yam, a 
southern Tel Aviv suburb, after receiving intelligence information 
from the Shin Bet.  Media quoted a senior member of Islamic Jihad as 
saying that the group had planned the attack and had sent one of 
their militants execute it.  Two of the other Palestinians arrested 
at the Bat Yam house were identified as collaborators and all three 
were illegally residing in Israel.  Following his arrest in Bat Yam, 
the suspect led investigators to the nearby city of Rishon Lezion, 
where, for an unknown reason, he had hidden a bag filled with 
explosives.  Police were quoted as saying that the suspect confessed 
to planning to carry out an attack. He had apparently set out 
Tuesday morning from the Jenin area with the bag of explosives.  It 
is not clear whether the Palestinians arrested along with the 
suspect had been aware of his plan to carry out an attack. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Transportation Minister Shaul 
Mofaz, leader of Israel's team in the strategic dialogue with the 
US, told the newspaper on the eve of the expiration of the UN 
ultimatum to Iran requiring it cease uranium enrichment or face 
further sanctions, that the world must let the Iranian leadership 
see its determination to impose far-reaching sanctions that could 
eventually harm Iran and its enemies.  Mofaz, who served in the past 
both as the army's Chief of Staff and as defense minister, stopped 
well short, however, of advocating military action.  Ha'aretz 
reported that the Bush administration is planning to propose a new 
resolution against Iran at the UN Security Council that will call 
for stepping up sanctions against Tehran in an effort to thwart its 
nuclear ambitions.  Ha'aretz quoted political sources in Jerusalem 
as saying on Tuesday that the US will seek to include a partial 
embargo on arms sales in the resolution, with particular emphasis on 
the types of weapons that can be used by terrorists.  Ha'aretz 
quoted the Jerusalem-based sources as saying that there is no chance 
for a total arms embargo on Iran, because of Russian opposition to 
it.  Russia has sold air-defense missiles to Iran for the defense of 
its nuclear installations.  The Jerusalem Post reported that 
Monday's decision by PM Ehud Olmert to extend Meir Dagan's term as 
head of the Mossad until the end of 2008 is a significant indication 
that at least on two fronts -- the Iranian nuclear program and Syria 
-- Israeli policy is holding fast. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted diplomatic sources as saying in Jerusalem 
on Tuesday that Israel is not expecting any fundamental changes in 
the Quartet's position toward the PA at a meeting of the Quartet 
principals in Berlin today meant as a follow up to Monday's 
trilateral meeting. 
 
Based on news agency reports, Ha'aretz wrote that on Tuesday 
Jordan's King Abdullah II pressed the US to step up its mediation 
role to broker a Palestinian-Israeli peace accord.  The monarch, who 
made his statement after separate meetings with Secretary of State 
Condoleezza Rice and PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas, said 
Washington's role was crucial to jump-start negotiations.  "The 
people of the region are looking toward Washington continuing to 
play a major role in the peace process by creating the necessary 
environment for a resumption of negotiations on the basis of the 
two-state solution outlined in the Arab peace initiative and the 
Middle East road map," a statement released by Jordan's palace was 
quoted as saying. Citing news agency stories, Ha'aretz and The 
Jerusalem Post quoted Abbas as saying on Monday that his talks with 
Secretary Rice and PM Olmert were tense and difficult, but not a 
 
SIPDIS 
failure. 
 
Maariv cited an intelligence report compiled by the Foreign 
Ministry, which found that over the past few weeks the camp of 
extremist Mideast states headed by Iran has weakened, while the 
group of moderate states including Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia 
has been strengthening. 
 
Maariv reported that the Israeli defense establishment plans to 
significantly increase its array of Arrow missiles across the 
country. 
 
Yediot reported that the gap between the views of IDF Intelligence 
and Defense Minister Amir Peretz regarding Hizbullah's military 
capability is purely semantic: Israel believes that Hizbullah 
currently possesses over 10,000 short-range rockets in southern 
Lebanon and north of the Litani River.  Most of them have been there 
since before the war.  Israel believes that small quantities of 
rockets are being smuggled into southern Lebanon, but that Hizbullah 
 
large arsenals are in Syrian territory, and that during a critical 
diplomatic time, Syria might "turn the flow of arms into a flood." 
Ha'aretz cited Reuters as saying that on Tuesday the US Treasury 
Department designated a Lebanon-based construction company operated 
by Hizbullah as a terrorist organization, accusing it of bolstering 
the militant group's public standing by rebuilding war-torn areas. 
The action by the Treasury bans Americans from doing business with 
Jihad al-Bina and freezes any assets the construction firm may have 
under US jurisdiction. The Treasury said Jihad al-Bina receives 
direct funding from Iran, is run by Hizbullah members, and is 
overseen by Hizbullah's governing Shura Council. 
 
Yediot reported that Egypt has proposed to Israel and the US that a 
deep moat be dug along the "Philadelphi route" along the Gaza-Egypt 
border and filled with water in order to stop massive smuggling into 
the Gaza Strip. 
 
Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post reported that three young American 
women who were kidnapped in Nablus on Tuesday by Hadi Masud, an 
armed Palestinian -- a former PFLP militant -- were released a few 
hours later.  Ha'aretz reported that the release was effected in 
negotiations with Palestinian security forces. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that three Iraqi children and their parents were 
issued visas this week in order to receive medical treatment here. 
The children, aged 1, 7 and 14, are expected to arrive soon via 
Jordan.  An Interior Ministry statement released on Tuesday said 
that since the start of the fighting in Iraq, many Iraqi families 
have sought medical care in Israel.  "We fear the security problems 
these cases could create but the health of the children is the 
overriding priority," the ministry was quoted as saying.  The 
children are being brought to Israel by Save a Child's Heart, an 
Israeli non-profit organization. 
 
Maariv and The Jerusalem Post reported that the "new version" of the 
legendary radio station The Voice of Peace, called RAM FM 93.6, will 
start broadcasting from Ramallah and Tel Aviv today.  Issie Kirsh, a 
Jewish South African millionaire, is funding the program. 
 
Retired judge Vardi Zeiler was quoted as saying on Sunday, in an 
interview with Ha'aretz, following a "damming" report on police and 
prosecution malfeasance by the inquiry committee he headed, that 
Israel could be on its way to resembling Sicily. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted associates of Likud Chairman Binyamin Netanyahu as 
saying on Tuesday that oligarch Arkady Gaidamak's decision -- 
expected to be officially issued today -- to set up his own party 
was not coordinated with Netanyahu, and that Netanyahu was not even 
informed of it in advance.  Leading media had quoted senior Likud 
members as saying that Gaidamak is a senior partner of their party. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Google has formally launched the AdSense ad 
program for content sites in Hebrew.  The program, already 
translated into many languages, enables site owners to add Google 
text advertisements to the Internet sites. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that reputed organized crime figure Zeev 
Rosenstein will return to Israel early next month, where he will be 
sent to one of the country's high-security prisons.  The State 
Prosecutor's Office informed the Israel Prison Service to expect 
Rosenstein within a few weeks. Ha'aretz said that Israel and the US 
are tying up loose ends before Rosenstein can be returned to Israel. 
 He is expected to spend the next 12 years behind bars, in 
accordance with a plea bargain signed in Florida in January.  Under 
the agreement, Rosenstein pleaded guilty to conspiring to smuggle 
700,000 Ecstasy (MDMA) pills from Europe to the US instead of 
standing trial on charges of smuggling millions of pills. 
 
 
 
 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "Maintenance 
and preserving the diplomatic momentum are also important, even when 
the circumstances make real progress difficult to attain." 
 
Yehiel Leiter, who was bureau chief of former finance minister 
Binyamin Netanyahu, wrote in NRG, the Internet site of the popular, 
pluralist Maariv: "The common denominator between [Jimmy] Carter's 
accusations and the classic blood libel is deep and fundamental.... 
But the real source of the Middle East's trouble is the ideology of 
jihad, the holy war that sanctifies bloodshed, which glorifies 
murderers and educates children to die as shahids." 
 
Contributor Prof. Gerald Steinberg, who heads the Program on 
Conflict Management at Bar-Ilan University and is the Executive 
Director of NGO Monitor, wrote in the conservative, independent 
Jerusalem Post: "Israel, as a vibrant democracy, does not need, and 
should not be the target of 'civil society initiatives' engineered 
by foreign governments, whether well-meaning or hostile." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Maintenance Is Also Important" 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (2/21): "Those 
who support direct dialogue between Israeli and Palestinian leaders 
and who value American involvement in efforts to resolve the 
Israeli-Arab conflict should welcome US Secretary of State 
Condoleezza Rice's insistence on holding Monday's trilateral summit 
in Jerusalem.... First, Rice demonstrated that she is true to her 
word and ready to invest time and effort in advancing the two-state 
solution, even when the chances for progress are small and she is 
vulnerable to criticism in Washington over the very fact that she 
came here.  Second, the Secretary of State's frequent visits to 
Jerusalem enable Olmert to maintain the cease-fire in the Gaza Strip 
and help him repulse pressure for the army and government to embark 
on a large-scale military operation in Gaza.  Third, Rice's presence 
in the room obliges Olmert and Abbas to reaffirm their commitment to 
the Roadmap process and presses Israel to ease the economic distress 
of Palestinians in the territories, albeit slowly.... From Rice's 
perspective, the visit to Jerusalem was a good opportunity to get a 
close-up of the political crises in Israel and the PA and to obtain 
first-hand information, rather than mere reports from her staff. 
Maintenance and preserving the diplomatic momentum are also 
important, even when the circumstances make real progress difficult 
to attain." 
 
II.  "Modern Blood Libels" 
 
Yehiel Leiter, who was bureau chief of former finance minister 
Binyamin Netanyahu, wrote in NRG, the Internet site of the popular, 
pluralist Maariv (2/21): "The blood libel revived by Professor Ariel 
Toaff, in his scandalous book 'Bloody Passovers,' immediately found 
a place of dishonor in anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi sites around the 
world.  This is a particularly infuriating case, since Toaff is 
Jewish and a professor at an Israeli university.... But versus 
[such] libels, there are also more sophisticated ones.  A prominent 
contemporary example is the book of former US President Jimmy 
Carter, 'Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid'.... No one knows better 
than Carter that Israel is far from being an apartheid state. 
Beyond his regional involvement as president decades ago, Carter 
recently headed a team of international monitors who supervised the 
elections in the Palestinian Authority.  Is it reasonable to call a 
state that permits an enemy calling for its destruction to come to 
power in free elections, an 'apartheid state'?  However, accusations 
such as those appearing in Carter's book fall upon attentive ears, 
and universities around the world hold 'Israeli Apartheid Week'.... 
The common denominator between Carter's accusations and the classic 
blood libel is deep and fundamental.  In both, Israel or the Jew are 
the sole source of everyone's troubles, and the solution lies in 
eradicating them.  But the real source of the Middle East's trouble 
is the ideology of jihad, the holy war that sanctifies bloodshed, 
which glorifies murderers and educates children to die as shahids. 
This is not a libel; it is a fact that has been demonstrated not 
only in the Middle East, but also in Bali, Chechnya, India, London, 
Madrid, and New York.   Israel must expose the modern blood libel 
and beware of becoming convinced, like Toaff, by the words of its 
persecutors.  But the removal of the guilt is not enough.  There is 
need for a real victory over an enemy who knows not the meaning of 
compromise." 
 
III.  "Manipulating 'Civil Society'" 
 
Contributor Prof. Gerald Steinberg, who heads the Program on 
Conflict Management at Bar-Ilan University and is the Executive 
Director of NGO Monitor, wrote in the conservative, independent 
Jerusalem Post (2/21): "When foreign governments team up with and 
provide financial support to private Israeli groups in order to 
oppose policies that are set by democratically elected leaders, this 
is a problem. It is also a violation of sovereignty, and a clear 
example of neocolonialism.  Nevertheless, the recent discovery that 
the British Embassy in Tel Aviv is funding an Israeli 
non-governmental organization (NGO) known as 'Bimkom - Planners for 
Planning Rights' --- is not surprising.  The ostensible focus of the 
'research' is on the impact of the security barrier on Palestinian 
villages caught in the middle, and since Bimkom is a political 
organization, the outcome is a forgone conclusion.  In this way, the 
British government will receive an analysis from an Israeli group 
that supports London's position against the route of the barrier.... 
In democratic societies, government officials who provide funds to 
these entities generally use this as a means to promote their own 
interests and objectives, without checks and balances or 
transparency.  In closed non-democratic societies, such as Syria, 
Egypt, and the Palestinian Authority, foreign government assistance 
for NGOs that promote democracy, tolerance, and human rights may 
have a positive impact, but only if this support is carefully 
monitored to prevent abuse. Europe's failure to provide such 
monitoring exacerbates the damage.  Israel, as a vibrant democracy, 
does not need, and should not be the target of 'civil society 
initiatives' engineered by foreign governments, whether well-meaning 
or hostile.  From this perspective, the example of Bimkom, the 
security barrier, and the British Embassy is small but highly 
illustrative.  The time has come to end this misguided and 
patronizing policy." 
 
JONES