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P 151002Z AUG 07
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002483 
 
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: 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶1.  Mideast 
 
¶2.  Pakistan 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All major media reported that Binyamin Netanyahu won the Likud 
primary with 73.2 percent of the vote.  Far-Right activist Moshe 
Feiglin garnered 23.4 percent, and World Likud Chairman Danny Danon 
3.5 percent.  The 40-percent turnout was considered high.  Maariv 
reported that Feiglin apparently lied to US tax authorities 
concerning the nature of his faction, "Jewish Leadership," which he 
defined as an NPO, not a political group.  Maariv found that Jewish 
Leadership's American branch transferred USD 407,000 to the 
faction's Israeli branch in 2005 -- and USD 433,000 in 2004. 
 
Leading media reported that Israel and Syria are seeking to 
forestall the possibility of a miscalculation leading to war. 
Syrian Vice President Farouk Shara was quoted as saying that 
Damascus does not intend to initiate war over the Golan Heights, a 
message that was echoed by PM Ehud Olmert.  "Israel is not 
interested in war with Syria, but we are preparing for any 
eventuality," Olmert told officers during a visit to Northern 
Command headquarters on Tuesday.  Israel Radio quoted Defense 
Minister Ehud Barak as saying that neither Israel nor Syria wants 
war.  Israel Radio quoted a senior GOI source as saying that what 
counts are Syria's actions, not its positive declarations. 
 
Leading media reported that on Tuesday six to 13 Palestinians, 
including three Hamas militants and the 70-year-old mother of one of 
them, were killed and at least 20 were hurt in an IDF operation in 
the Khan Yunis area of central Gaza.  An IDF soldier was lightly 
wounded during an exchange of fire.  Maariv cited an IDF assessment 
that Hamas troops performed like a regular army. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that "in an unusual diplomatic move," PM 
Olmert did not urge US congressmen to fight the proposed US arms 
sale to Saudi Arabia, and that FM Tzipi Livni went to bat for PA 
Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in meetings with a delegation of 
Democratic Congressmen over the past two days. 
 
Israel Radio reported that today in Jericho FM Livni is scheduled to 
meet with Japanese FM Taro Aso, Jordanian FM Abdelelah al-Khatib, 
and top Palestinian official Saeb Erekat.  The four are scheduled to 
sign an agreement to establish an agricultural-industrial park and 
an airport in Jericho.  The park, labeled "the Valley of Peace," was 
conceived by Aso and President Shimon Peres several months ago when 
Aso visited the region. 
 
Leading media quoted Hizbullah Secretary-General Sheikh Hassan 
Nasrallah as saying in a recorded speech on Tuesday that his group 
is not interested in war with Israel, but if that the latter 
initiated a war, it would be more surprised than last year. 
 
Israel Radio reported that in New York on Tuesday Knesset Speaker 
Dalia Itzik urged UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to expel Iran 
from the organization.  Itzik was quoted as saying that it is not 
possible for a UN member state to call for the destruction of 
another member state.  The radio reported that Ban concurred with 
Itzik on that point.  Itzik also raised the arming of Syria and 
demanded that UNIFIL forces in Lebanon be bolstered. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted Israel's Ambassador to the UK, Zvi Hefetz, 
as saying on Tuesday in an article in the British daily The Guardian 
that calling for dialogue with extremists risks damaging the peace 
process.  He was responding to the House of Commons' Foreign Affairs 
Committee report published on Monday that called on Israel to 
negotiate with Hamas. 
 
Maariv reported that although the IDF has changed the name of the 
"neighbor procedure" practice to "zroa netuya" (extended arm), it 
remains in place.   According to this procedure, soldiers or police 
officers surrounding a house in hostile areas, where a fugitive 
terrorist is hiding may ask a local Palestinian to enter the house, 
inform the fugitive he is surrounded and ask him to surrender. 
 
Yediot reported that Fatah's Central Committee has chosen Muhammad 
Ghnaim (Abu Maher) to succeed Mahmoud Abbas as PA chairman.   The 
Jerusalem Post reported that in Ramallah on Tuesday PA Information 
Minister Riyad al-Malki told a group of Israeli and Palestinian 
journalists that the PA government plans to use radio in its efforts 
to recover Gaza. 
 
Ha'aretz cited an AP wire report that on Tuesday lawyers for Muslim 
charity leaders accused of aiding Hamas terrorists scored a rare win 
in a Dallas court when a federal judge blocked some evidence seized 
 
by Israeli soldiers during raids of Palestinian organizations. 
 
Maariv reported that the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology 
was ranked 38th in a world list of technological-engineering schools 
compiled by Shanghai Jiao Tong University.  Most of the 
highest-ranking universities are American, while the Technion is 
ranked fourth among similar European universities. 
 
Leading media reported that at least 175 people were killed and 200 
wounded in a triple bombing in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that British detectives investigating the death of 
Ashraf Marwan, who was a Mossad agent during the Yom Kippur War, are 
increasingly becoming convinced that he was murdered. 
 
Makor RIshon-Hatzofe quoted Republican presidential candidate 
Rudolph Giuliani as saying on Tuesday that he is opposed to the 
establishment of a Palestinian state. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Hazrat Maulana Jameel Ahmed Ilyasi, 
President of the All-India Association of Imams and Mosques, will 
arrive in Israel on Saturday as part of a "peace delegation" of 
Indian Muslim leaders. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the Custody Tribunal has ordered the release 
of 20 jailed infiltrators from Eritrea and the Ivory Coast.  The 
ruling pulls the rug out from under the state's plan to keep the 
infiltrators in camps. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported on the farewell party hosted by the US 
Ambassador for former DCM Gene Cretz and his wife Annette.  The 
newspaper highlighted key moments in Cretz's career and said that 
Ambassador Jones introduced Cretz's successor Luis G. Moreno and his 
wife Gloria. 
 
Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post reported that American filmmaker 
David Lynch will make his first visit to Israel on October 14. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Conservative columnist Yosef Harif wrote in the popular, pluralist 
 
 
Maariv: "Now is the time for Israel to clarify once and for all with 
the US the promise that President Bush made to Ariel Sharon that 
Israel would retain the large settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria 
[i.e. the West Bank]." 
 
Veteran journalist Yosef (Tommy) Lapid, Chairman of the Yad Vashem 
Council, and former justice minister wrote in Maariv: "Olmert and 
Abu Mazen can speak until tomorrow.  People say that the dogs bark 
and the convoy moves on.  In this case, the convoy of peace will not 
move on." 
 
Former Knesset speaker Avraham Burg wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The army of the democratic state, as well as 
its systems of governance, must purify itself from all the enemies 
planted by theocracy." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Caution, Conference" 
 
Conservative columnist Yosef Harif wrote in the popular, pluralist 
Maariv (8/15): "Israel must ... weigh what it stands to gain from 
the [proposed] international [Middle East] meeting, in which, apart 
from the Palestinian Authority and the US, Arab states (Egypt, 
Jordan, and perhaps Saudi Arabia, the European countries included in 
the Quartet, Russia, and the UN, are supposed to participate.  All 
participating bodies share the view that a Palestinian state must be 
established alongside Israel.  All sides -- except the United States 
-- support full Israeli withdrawal to the '67 borders.  In those 
circumstances Israel may find itself isolated in its demand for 
defensible borders -- which in practice means leaving under Israel's 
control land that is vital for its security.  Now is the time for 
Israel to clarify once and for all with the US the promise that 
President Bush made to Ariel Sharon that Israel would retain the 
large settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank]. 
Also, Israel must demand that the US make an unambiguous promise 
that it will not let the conference impose solutions contradicting 
Israel's positions regarding the right of return and Israel's status 
in Jerusalem." 
 
II.  "On the Road to Nowhere" 
 
Veteran journalist Yosef (Tommy) Lapid, Chairman of the Yad Vashem 
Council, and former justice minister wrote in Maariv (8/15): "There 
is a point to the talks between Olmert and Abu Mazen as long as the 
two understand that there is no point to them.  There is a point to 
them, because aspiring to peace is a welcome matter, and because in 
the absence of talks a vacuum is created, into which the desperation 
that serves the extremists is drawn.  There is no point to the 
talks, because in the end they lead nowhere.  Nowhere means that 
there will be no agreement.  The relations between us and the 
Palestinians in Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank] will flow 
without a formal arrangement, as is happening now, for the time 
being.  The die was cast when Israel withdrew from Gush Katif.... 
Any concession acts as a boomerang.  The Palestinians prefer 
suffering and war to prosperity and peace.... The second constraint 
that does not enable a final status arrangement is that there is no 
government in Israel, nor will there be one in the foreseeable 
future, which is capable of evacuating 250,000 or 100,000 or even 
50,000 settlers.... The governmentQs yielding to the settlers is a 
shameful capitulation to force, an annulment of the rule of law ... 
a tragedy for generations to come.  But this is the reality in which 
we live.  A destructive reality, an insane reality, but reality. 
Olmert and Abu Mazen can speak until tomorrow.  People say that the 
dogs bark and the convoy moves on.  In this case, the convoy of 
peace will not move on." 
 
 
III.  "Time to Attack" 
 
Former Knesset speaker Avraham Burg wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz (8/15): "There is no theological difference 
between certain rabbis from Hebron, the former Hamas leader Sheikh 
Ahmed Yassin, and the evangelical preacher hoping for Armageddon at 
the site of our Megiddo.... And in war, like in war:  The legal 
standing of the inciting rabbi is the same as that of the inciting 
sheikh, because both are equally hostile.  One wants to see me dead 
physically, and the other wants to see me dead democratically and 
morally.  Since I oppose the death sentence in all cases, I cannot 
thus condemn my domestic enemies.  But the army of the democratic 
state, as well as its systems of governance, must purify itself from 
all the enemies planted by theocracy.  The 'army of God' must not be 
permitted to gain control of the institutions of state power.  The 
state must cut the lifeline of these subversive elements, and 
rescind the benefits it grants them.  Democracy must stop 
apologizing and defending itself -- the time has come for initiative 
and attack.  Weak words and nebulous formulae will not help anything 
here.  In the choice between them and us, I favor us - for 
democracy, and against all its enemies, both inside and out." 
 
------------- 
 
¶2.  Pakistan: 
------------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Musharraf may have exhausted his usefulness, 
but for now, he is still necessary." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"The Limits in a Friend" 
 
Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz (8/15): "Musharraf is a friend the US can 
neither do with or without.  Of course, America supports democracy 
everywhere -- so long as the democratic regime will not be more 
extreme than its predecessor.  The Americans are not interested in 
repeating the mistake they made with the Palestinian Authority. 
'Imagine a Hamas government in a country with nuclear weapons,' is 
how an administration official responded to those calling for 
greater pressure for democratization in Pakistan.  The problem with 
Pakistan, as far as the administration is concerned, is not the 
hypocrisy of supporting, financially and politically, a dictator who 
is refusing to allow a democratic process.  This is something the 
Americans can live with, as they have with their friends in Cairo or 
Jordan.  The problem is that the dictator is no longer useful the 
way he used to be, and there is no appropriate replacement. 
Musharraf may have exhausted his usefulness, but for now, he is 
still necessary." 
 
JONES