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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000241 
 
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.  Final Winograd Report 
 
¶2.  Mideast 
 
¶3.  U.S.-Israel Relations 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media led with the final Winograd report, which will be made 
public this afternoon after 17 months of work.  Banners: in Yediot: 
"The Moment of Truth"; Maariv: "In the Eye of the Storm"; Ha'aretz: 
"Panel [Winograd Commission] Shocked by IDF Performance"; The 
Jerusalem Post: "Winograd to Issue Final Report Today; Harsh 
Judgment, No Sanctions Expected Regarding Second Lebanon War Errors; 
Makor Rishon-Hatzofe: "Storm Climaxing"; and Israel Hayom: "Day of 
the Report," which can also be read as: "Judgment Day."  Ha'aretz 
reported that the press conference announcing the release will be 
broadcast live on all the nation's radio and TV stations at 6 p.m. 
to ensure the largest possible audience.  Yediot quoted a senior 
source within the Winograd Commission as saying that the commission 
will expand on the deep social processes experienced by Israel over 
the past few years, including touching the "national Israeli ethos 
itself." 
 
Leading media reported that Finance Minister Roni Bar-On told Kadima 
supporters in Tiberias on Tuesday that PM Ehud Olmert is determined 
that Winograd report will not lead to new elections.  Bar-On was 
further quoted as saying that Kadima "is not at the employ" of 
Defense Minister and Labor Chairman Ehud Barak.  This morning Israel 
Radio quoted a senior Palestinian official involved in the 
Israeli-Palestinian talks as saying that the peace process needs a 
stable government in Israel and the continuation of PM Olmert's 
rule. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Egypt has issued an ultimatum to 
Hamas to pull back dozens of Gaza gunmen who are reported to have 
crossed into Egypt over the past week.  Citing security officials in 
Ramallah, the paper says that 300-500 gunmen from Hamas and Islamic 
Jihad have sought refuge with Bedouin tribes and are refusing to 
leave the Sinai.  In the past few days, Egypt has detained and 
returned over 100 armed Palestinians. 
 
Leading media reported that after more than a week of negotiations 
over a UN Security Council presidential statement on the current 
Gaza crisis, the effort was abandoned on Tuesday following the 
failure to reach a consensus.  The Jerusalem Post and Israel Radio 
reported that the U.S. prevailed over the Arab countries on the 
issue.  The Jerusalem Post added that other council members also 
urged a more balance statement. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted Israeli sources as saying on Tuesday that PM Olmert 
is examining the possibility of building a fence along the 
Israel-Egypt border.  However, the newspaper quoted some officials 
as sayng on Tuesday at a meeting with Defense Minister Barak, IDF 
Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, and other security officials that 
there is no money left in the budget. 
 
Ha'aretz and Israel Radio quoted Hizbullah Deputy Secretary-General 
Naim Qassem as saying on Tuesday that his organization is prepared 
to discuss a prisoner swap with Israel. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the organization UN Watch has urged 
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour to clarify a 
recent endorsement of the Arab Charter of Human Rights, which it 
said "contains several provisions that promote classically 
anti-Semitic themes." 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted officials from the Shas party as saying on 
Tuesday that PM Olmert pretended to receive a special blessing from 
Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef in an effort to boost 
himself politically on the eve of the publication of the Winograd 
report. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted sources in the IDF as saying on Tuesday 
night that the disturbing allegations of soldiers' abuse of 
Palestinian detainees that were first reported on Tuesday on Israel 
Radio were already under investigation by the Military Police, and 
that the IDF viewed the incident as "extremely serious" and 
"extremely unusual." 
 
Leading media reported that on Monday Attorney General Menachem 
Mazuz filed an indictment against Sheikh Raed Salah, the head of the 
Islamic Movement's northern branch, charging him with incitement to 
violence and racism in a speech he made last year protesting the 
archaeological dig carried out at the Old City's Mugrabi Gate. 
Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) was quoted as saying in an interview with 
Ha'aretz that only Republican presidential candidate Sen. John 
McCain will ensure that Iran remains without nuclear weapons. 
 
Media reported on the experiences of Israeli high school students 
during their participation with Arab youth in a model U.N. exercise 
in Qatar.  Yediot quoted one of the young Israelis as saying that 
youth should be given a chance and they will bring peace.  An 
Israeli TV station reported that members of the Lebanese delegation 
refused to shake hands with the Israelis. 
 
Maariv reported that on Tuesday the English-language Iranian 
newspaper Tehran Times reprinted an article by far-left Israeli 
academic Ilan Pappe, originally published in the British paper The 
Independent, in which Pappe called IDF soldiers "killing machines." 
 
Yediot reported that the Foreign Ministry is considering granting 
the title of "cultural ambassador" to well known Israeli artists who 
are also famous abroad to improve Israel's image.  Among the names 
cited: the author Amos Oz and the popular composer Zvika Pik, who 
wrote the song Diva performed by Dana International, which won the 
Eurovision Song Contest in 1998.  He also wrote songs for several 
other Eurovision contestants 
 
Ha'aretz quoted John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems, who is visiting 
Israel, as saying that the American giant is looking for local 
technology startups to acquire. 
 
Major media reported that Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai sent a letter to 
PM Olmert on Tuesday, asking him for urgent state aid for the 
"growing distress, on the verge of becoming a humanitarian crisis," 
of the city's growing African refugee population.  There are now 
about 2,000 such refugees, 700 of who arrived recently.  In Yediot 
and Israel Radio, Deputy Tel Aviv Mayor Yael Dayan recounted the 
efforts she and others have made for the refugees. 
 
The Jerusalem Post and other media reported that on Monday in Jaffa 
the popular American pop star Pink, celebrated the 20th anniversary 
of Peace Child Israel, an organization that teaches Jewish-Arab 
coexistence. 
 
Leading media reported that on Tuesday the official exchange rate 
for the U.S. dollar was set at 3.639 shekels, the dollar's lowest 
point against the shekel in 11 years. 
 
-------------------------- 
¶1.  Final Winograd Report: 
-------------------------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in the mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "With or without Winograd, no miracle has 
happened to us.  We have no way of winning the war, neither against 
Hizbullah nor against Hamas in Gaza -- not at the prices we are 
supposed to pay." 
 
Veteran journalist and anchor Dan Margalit wrote on page one of the 
independent Israel Hayom: "[Ehud Olmert] is the archetype of 
disrupters of public processes.... Olmert must go." 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one of the 
popular, pluralist Maariv: "Both of them, Olmert and Barak, are 
responsible for the fiasco in Gaza, only a hint of which has reached 
the media over the past few days.  How intelligence again fell 
asleep at the wheel, how once more no one issued a warning, and how 
someone decided to lay his heavy hand on the light switch." 
 
Deputy diplomatic correspondent Uri Yablonka wrote in Maariv: "The 
international community wishes for one single option, in which the 
main protagonist -- Olmert -- survives the Winograd test." 
 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "No Miracle Happened to Us" 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in the mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot (1/30): "A year and a half have passed 
since the war.  The IDF carried out its inquiries, drew conclusions, 
put the regular and reserve brigades through an intensive series of 
training exercises, improved the combatants' equipment and replaced 
commanders.  Despite this, if Hizbullah should decide one day that 
it is tired of being quiet, the situation will not be much 
different: A deluge of rockets will land on the Galilee, the Air 
Force will do its job by bombing targets deep inside Lebanon.... 
With or without Winograd, no miracle has happened.  We have no way 
of winning a war, against Hizbullah or against Hamas in Gaza -- not 
at the prices we are supposed to pay.... The immense passions 
invested in the media campaign wreaked havoc with the discussion on 
the failures of the war.  Whoever felt animosity towards Olmert on 
other issues saw the entire war through this prism, the prism of 
their hatred for Olmert.  That is a shame.  The committee members 
went to such trouble to draw up their report, and in the end it will 
be examined not by its content, but as a reality TV program.  The 
tribal council will convene for a dismissal meeting: Who will 
survive; who will be granted immunity; and who will be banished -- 
temporarily -- to the isle of the dead." 
 
II.  QOlmert Blinked During the War and Disrupted the 
Investigation" 
 
Veteran journalist and anchor Dan Margalit wrote on page one of the 
independent Israel Hayom (1/30): "[Ehud Olmert] is the archetype of 
disrupters of public processes.  [One example of this is] his 
refusal to resign after the embarrassing failure, like in any 
democracy.... I will be proud of one word in all my articles since 
the war: 'blinking.'  Olmert blinked; the commanders saw this; the 
war squeaked; and the peace efforts crumbled.  UN [Security Council] 
Resolution 1701 is a total bluff because Hizbullah is trickling into 
southern [Lebanon] and the Syrian-Lebanese border is a conduit for 
missiles from Iran to Hassan Nasrallah.... Olmert must go." 
 
 
 
 
III.  "Moment of Truth" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one of the 
popular, pluralist Maariv (1/30): "What will Olmert do [after 
hearing the conclusions of the Winograd Commission]?  In truth, he 
has already done it all.  This evening he will convene the Kadima 
faction for a demonstration of unity and support which was 
orchestrated beforehand.  He has already relayed all the messages: 
Tzipi [Livni], if she makes a peep, will be out like a missile.  No 
resignation, no ultimatum, no election date, no nothing.  Let's see 
what you do to me.  This is the facade.  Inside, the tension is 
great and the hustle and bustle around the Prime Minister on Tuesday 
reached new heights.  There is no stone that Olmert has left 
unturned in an attempt to prevent it from being thrown at him over 
the weekend.... If it weren't so sad, it could have been funny. 
Because both of them, Olmert and Barak, are responsible for the 
fiasco in Gaza, only a hint of which has reached the media over the 
past few days.  How intelligence again fell asleep at the wheel, how 
once more no one issued a warning, and how someone decided to lay 
his heavy hand on the light switch.... But in the meantime, we have 
Winograd." 
 
IV.  "Concerned About Annapolis" 
 
Deputy diplomatic correspondent Uri Yablonka wrote in Maariv (1/30): 
"The chances that moderates in the Palestinian Authority will 
prevail over the extremists in the PA are minimal, even according to 
the most optimistic scenario,  Therefore, the international 
community wishes for one single option, in which the main 
protagonist -- Olmert -- survives the Winograd test.... As far as 
the international community is concerned, the rational alternative 
to the Olmert government would be its agreed-upon replacement by the 
current Knesset.  This is also the swiftest solution -- and that 
could guarantee to the world that Kadima or Labor would lead the 
next government.... The most popular alternative to the present 
regime is the Likud Party under Netanyahu.  What would then happen 
to the Annapolis declarations?" 
 
------------ 
¶2.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Far-left Palestinian affairs correspondent Amira Hass wrote in the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The breach of the wall is a 
clear manifestation of the conception and temperament of a popular 
resistance among the Palestinian people, which for various reasons, 
were dormant in recent years." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"Finally, a Popular Uprising" 
 
Far-left Palestinian affairs correspondent Amira Hass wrote in the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (1/30): "The fall of the Rafah 
wall was a fitting combination of planning and the precise reading 
of the social and political map by the Hamas government, mixed with 
a mass response to the dictates of the overlord, Israel.... The 
leadership and public of Gaza, as two elements of the occupied 
people, were partners in the courageous and necessary step of 
breaking the Israeli rules of the game.  The breach of the wall is a 
clear manifestation of the conception and temperament of a popular 
resistance among the Palestinian people, which for various reasons, 
were dormant in recent years.... [Furthermore,] the longer the delay 
in direct talks between the two leaderships [in Ramallah and Gaza] 
over practical ways of lifting the siege of Gaza, the greater the 
concern that indeed, as Hamas officials argue, the Ramallah 
government listens to the United States and to Israel -- but not to 
the will of its own people." 
 
-------------------------- 
¶3.  U.S.-Israel Relations: 
-------------------------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "Racist 
attacks against a black American candidate could cause Israel and 
American Jews a great deal of damage." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"Obama and the Jewish Question" 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (1/30): "The 
U.S. elections are important to Israel because of the two countries' 
special relationship and America's support for Israel, whose value 
cannot be overstated.  There is a major contradiction between this 
fact and a smear campaign against a candidate with a Muslim name, 
which risks causing many Americans, and especially blacks, to feel 
alienated from Israel and Jews.  Obama is sensitive to Israel's 
security needs.... Racist attacks against a black American candidate 
could cause Israel and American Jews a great deal of damage -- not 
to mention shame and disgrace.  Obama has been forced to defend 
himself over things such as nonexistent ties with elements hostile 
to Israel, an appearance at an event at which [the late 
Palestinian-American intellectual] Edward Said spoke, and praying at 
one church rather than another.  Great damage has already been 
caused because Obama announced that an ugly campaign was being waged 
against him in the Jewish community. That alone ought to be enough 
at least to make Israel's leaders say something about Jews who 
preach against anti-Semitism while employing similar tactics against 
other minorities." 
 
MORENO