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DE RUEHTV #0715/01 0661014
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P 071014Z MAR 07
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000715 
 
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: 
-------------------------------- 
 
Iran 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice 
is expected back in Israel during the weekend of March 24, days 
after another planned meeting between Olmert and Abbas, and just 
before a key Arab League summit in Riyadh. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that a senior Hamas official told the newspaper on 
Tuesday that if Israel agrees to persuade the international 
community not to boycott the new Palestinian unity government, the 
Palestinians "will offer a promise from Hamas and Fatah of a total 
cease-fire with Israel, including a complete halt to Qassam [rocket] 
fire and suicide bombings."  Ha'aretz quoted Palestinian sources as 
saying that PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas plans to deliver 
this offer at his upcoming meeting with PM Ehud Olmert.  Ha'aretz 
said that the meeting is tentatively scheduled for Sunday, though 
according to the Palestinians, the date has not yet been finalized. 
However, Ha'aretz wrote that the Hamas official warned that, if 
Israel presses for a continuation of the international boycott and 
refuses to work with the unity government, the existing partial 
cease-fire will be in danger.  Leading media, however, said that 
Olmert plans to use the meeting to urge Abbas to ensure that the new 
government, which is currently being formed, accepts the Quartet's 
conditions: recognizing Israel, renouncing violence and honoring 
previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements.  Ha'aretz quoted a 
government source as saying: "This will not be a scolding 
conversation, but a heart-to-heart talk in which Olmert will try to 
exploit the grace period that remains before the new PA government 
is established."  Ha'aretz reported that Israel is also working to 
persuade the EU to continue the boycott should the unity government 
not meet the Quartet's conditions. 
 
Over the past few days leading media reported that several US 
congressmen have called on the Bush administration to reconsider its 
plan to give USD 86 million to Abbas now that he has entered into a 
unity government with Hamas.  The Jerusalem Post quoted State 
Department Spokesman Sean McCormack as saying that the 
administration has already been reconsidering the aid in light of 
 
the recent deal.  Ha'aretz and Israel Radio reported that the World 
Bank recommends that donor countries stop transferring aid funds via 
 
Abbas's office, saying such means of bypassing the Hamas government 
have hurt PA economic reforms.  The radio also said that the Bank 
criticized Israel for not transferring tax money it owes the PA. 
 
Leading electronic media quoted Palestinian security officials as 
saying that IDF troops raided the Palestinian military headquarters 
in Ramallah early this morning and arrested 18 fugitives who had 
sought shelter there.  Among those taken was Khalil Shilo, a member 
of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades.  Shilo had been on the run for 
seven years, since the outbreak of the second Palestinian uprising 
in 2000.  The IDF confirmed the raid and said that about 17 
fugitives were arrested 
 
All media cited press reports that Iranian general Ali Reza Askari, 
whom Arab and Iranian sources said the Mossad and the CIA had 
kidnapped on Turkish soil, actually defected to the US with his 
family.  Ha'aretz named the international Arab newspaper Ash-Sharq 
Al-Awsat as the source for this information.  The Jerusalem Post and 
Hatzofe cited an announcement by Iran that it is building a nuclear 
reactor without any foreign assistance. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the State Department singled out 
Iran in the 2006 human rights report it released on Tuesday. 
Ha'aretz published an AP report saying that the report assailed 
Egypt over its poor human rights record -- including torture of 
prisoners and detainees. 
 
A senior State Department official was quoted as saying in a recent 
interview with The Jerusalem Post that the United States' recent 
moves toward Syria do not represent a new US diplomatic opening with 
the country. 
 
Yediot reported that Russia is reviewing a Syrian request for 
state-of-the-art Sukhoi-30 war planes.  The newspaper said that the 
aircraft can be compared to the most advanced American planes. 
Ha'aretz and Maariv cited the Russian newspaper Kommersant as saying 
that its military affairs correspondent, Ivan Safronov, who plunged 
to his death from his apartment building window on Friday, faced 
threats while reporting on a highly sensitive story that Russia 
planned to sell sophisticated missiles to Syria and Iran. 
 
Ha'aretz printed a Reuters story that citing Iranian state 
television as saying on Tuesday that Iranian President Mahmoud 
Ahmadinejad urged visiting Hamas leader Khaled Mashal to keep 
fighting Israel.  Maariv quoted Mashal as saying that Hamas will 
never recognize Israel. 
 
Major media reported that on Tuesday Egyptian FM Ahmed Ali Abu 
al-Gheit urged Israel to probe allegations that Israeli troops 
killed unarmed Egyptian prisoners captured during the Six-Day War in 
¶1967.  Media reported that Egypt might turn to the International 
Court of Justice in The Hague.  "The Egyptian people and society are 
extremely angry, and we hope the issue will be tackled in a manner 
that understands and feels that Egyptian anger," he was quoted as 
saying after a meeting with FM Tzipi Livni in Brussels.  Ha'aretz 
and Maariv wrote that Livni told Abu al-Gheit that the GOI regretted 
the fact that elements in Egypt were "making mistaken and misleading 
use of this film, without any proper checks and without any 
connection to reality, in order to sabotage relations between the 
countries."  She pointed out that the documentary about the alleged 
episode did not claim that prisoners of war were indeed murdered, 
and asked her counterpart to act to calm the atmosphere in Egypt on 
this issue.  Livni and Abu al-Gheit agreed that a copy of the film 
and its text would be transferred to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry. 
However, the Egyptian media continues to give the issue extensive 
coverage.  Ha'aretz reported that on Tuesday Israel Broadcasting 
Authority (IBA) Director-General Mordechai Shklar and journalist Ran 
Adelist denied yesterday that the Israel TV documentary about the 
Shaked commando unit alleges that Egyptian prisoners of war were 
murdered.  Shklar said in a statement that reports about the 
documentary in the Israeli press -- including in Ha'aretz, Yediot, 
and Maariv -- had relied on the Egyptian media.  Shklar was quoted 
as saying that such publications had not bothered to watch the 
documentary before reporting about it.  Yediot reported that members 
of the Egyptian opposition threatened to kill Israel's Ambassador in 
Cairo should he visit the Egyptian Parliament. 
 
Yediot cited a travel advisory issued by the GOI's anti-terror 
headquarters ahead of the Passover holiday, which cites a serious 
global threat to Israelis. 
 
The Jerusalem Post ran a feature about the key role of Iran's 
Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force in the Iranian quest for regional 
hegemony.  Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post printed an AP wire report 
according to which Interpol will discuss next week whether to issue 
"red notices," or international wanted requests, calling for the 
arrest of nine former prominent Iranian officials sought in 
connection with Argentina's worst terrorist attack -- the 1994 
bombing of a Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires.  Yediot 
reported that on Tuesday in Rome, Iranian Nobel Peace Prizewinner 
Shirin Ebadi said that Ahmadinejad's declarations about his will to 
wipe Israel off the map are not acceptable.  Ebadi was quoted as 
saying that Israel has the right to exist alongside a Palestinian 
state. 
 
All media reported on Tuesday's meeting between State Comptroller 
Micha Lindenstrauss and the Knesset's State Control Committee. 
Leading media reported quoted Lindenstrauss as saying that the 
criticism in his report on the management of the home front during 
last summer's Lebanon war will be "very sharp and liable to anger 
many."  Lindenstrauss accused Olmert's office of either delaying the 
transfer of material necessary for compiling the report or not 
handing it over at all.  The media reported that Olmert's associates 
accused the State Comptroller of spreading lies.  The media reported 
that on Tuesday Lindenstrauss and MK Zvulun Orlev, the Chairman of 
the Knesset's State Control Committee, reached a compromise with the 
IDF and Attorney General Menachem Mazuz at the High Court of 
Justice. 
 
Leading media reported that the Knesset's House Committee cannot 
garner a majority for impeaching Moshe Katsav, the President of 
Israel. 
 
Leading media reported on courses at a dance school in New York 
offered to outstanding participants of "Born to Dance," a reality 
show produced by Keshet, a franchisee of Channel 2-TV. 
 
Ha'aretz presented the results of The Aviv University's Peace Index 
poll conducted among Israelis on February 26-27: 
-A decisive majority of Israelis believe that Iran's nuclear 
armament constitutes an existential danger to Israel.  However, only 
48 percent of the public think that Israel should destroy Iran's 
nuclear facilities on its own. 
-About 55 percent of the Jewish public believes that the 
establishment of the Palestinian national unity government reduces 
the chances of reaching a peace agreement and only 25 percent 
believe that its establishment will increase those chances. 
 
----- 
Iran: 
----- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Former Mossad director Ephraim Halevy wrote in the mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "In case tangible cooperation between the 
US, Saudi Arabia, and Iran comes into being, the very intense 
question is coming up whether Israel is bracing itself for such an 
era." 
 
Columnist Shaul Schiff wrote in the nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe: 
"[Bill] Clinton deserves a harsh Israeli response, because this is 
about our very existence." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Parallel-Line Policy" 
 
Former Mossad director Ephraim Halevy wrote in the mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot (3/7): "Iran and the US are currently 
conducting two parallel and apparently contradictory relationships 
.... [Also,] both the US and Saudi Arabia are conducting their Iran 
policy in parallel.  Alongside the strengthening of its economic 
measures, the United States is solidifying its military presence in 
the Persian Gulf.... The series of meetings between Prince Bandar 
bin Sultan, King [Abdullah's] National Security Adviser, and Ari 
Larijani, Iran's nuclear negotiator, have brought forth the 
Iranian-Saudi summit meeting and perhaps also contributed to the -- 
still temporary -- calm between the rival forces -- Nasrallah vs. 
Siniora -- on Lebanese soil.  The higher tension around the threat 
embodied in Iran is rising, the more efforts are being made to 
harness it to a dialogue while endeavoring to produce a joint 
operational agenda.  In case tangible cooperation between the US, 
Saudi Arabia, and Iran comes into being, the very intense question 
is coming up whether Israel is bracing itself for such an era." 
 
II.  "Ahmadinejad Salutes Clinton" 
 
Columnist Shaul Schiff wrote in the nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe 
(3/7): "Former US President Bill Clinton has recently called in a 
speech at Kansas [State] University not to attack Iran's nuclear 
installations before the diplomatic moves are exhausted.  'You need 
to talk to everybody before you bomb them,' [he said].  Saudi 
Arabia, the United States' ally and protege, welcomed the Iranian 
President with honor fit for kings -- not before it got the United 
States' approval and coordinated its steps with it.... Ahmadinejad, 
who has repeatedly stated his intention to destroy Israel, does not 
feel lonely.... The US and European liberals -- headed by Clinton 
and his friends in the Democratic Party -- are acting according to 
the moral standards of the Western world.  This is a twisted moral 
that brought Khomeini to power, with the generous help of former US 
President Jimmy Carter.... Clinton deserves a harsh Israeli 
response, because this is about our very existence." 
 
CRETZ