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P 311034Z JAN 08
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000249 
 
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: 
-------------------------------- 
 
Final Winograd Report 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media led with extensive reports and commentaries about the 
findings of the final Winograd Commission report on the Second 
Lebanon War.  The media reported that the report has categorically 
blamed the IDF for the failings in the war -- criticizing nearly 
every arm and unit.  The commission found that the "IDF failed in 
its efforts to bring about the required and attainable military 
achievements."  The report also said that final ground operation 
"did not achieve military goals," but that its approval was an 
essential step.  The commission concluded: "Overall, we regard the 
Second Lebanon War as a serious missed opportunity.  Israel 
initiated a long war, which ended without its clear military 
victory."  Israel Radio quoted the IDF as saying that it will learn 
from the conclusions of the report.  In what Yediot called a 
"message to the Arab countries," the report stated: "Israel will not 
be able to survive in this region without those here and around it 
believing that the IDF has the ability and the resilience to deter 
and defeat those who wish its elimination." 
 
The commission stated its belief that PM Ehud Olmert had genuinely 
acted out of concern for the national interest during the 
controversial final 60 hours of the war.  Ha'aretz reported that 
Olmert characterized the report as "lifting the moral stigma off 
me."  In its lead story, Maariv reported that Olmert told former 
defense minister Amir Peretz: "We've come out of this."  The media 
reported that Kadima feels that the commission has exonerated 
Olmert.  Israel Radio reported that Defense Minister Ehud Barak is 
studying the report, and quoted senior Labor Party members as saying 
that the report is balanced and less serious than expected.  Likud 
said that PM Olmert should resign.  All media noted the 
dissatisfaction of the bereaved families over the report's 
conclusions. 
 
Maariv and other media quoted Hizbullah's Al Manar-TV as saying 
after the publication of the Winograd report that the commission 
found that a small number of mujaheedin beat the strongest army in 
the Middle East.  Maariv quoted Lebanese Hizbullah MP Ali Haider as 
 
saying immediately later on the same station that Israel is an 
"honorable enemy." 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted defense officials as saying on Wednesday 
that Israel and Egypt are in advanced talks over possible deployment 
of additional Egyptian troops in the Sinai in an effort to seal the 
border with Gaza.  Leading media reported that during a meeting with 
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo on Wednesday, PA President 
Mahmoud Abbas rejected Hamas's demands for control of the Gaza-Egypt 
border.  The Jerusalem Post quoted Palestinian sources in Ramallah 
as saying that Egypt has threatened to close the border indefinitely 
unless the PA and Hamas reach an agreement on controlling the Rafah 
crossing.  Ha'aretz quoted Fawzi Barhoum, Hamas spokesman in Gaza, 
as saying: "Abbas's remarks ... show he plans to foil any agreements 
or progress made when the Egyptians, Fatah, and Hamas met in Cairo." 
 Media reported that Khaled Mashal, the Damascus-based political 
leader, was expected to arrive for talks with Egyptian officials 
last night, too.  Ha'aretz reported that on Wednesday Hamas began 
trying to create a semblance of control at the Rafah crossing. 
 
Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post reported that on Wednesday the High 
Court of Justice ruled that Israel's reduction of power and fuel to 
the Gaza Strip is legal as the remaining supplies still meet the 
humanitarian needs of the population.  The newspaper reported that a 
three-justice panel, headed by Supreme Court President Dorit 
Beinisch, rejected the petitions submitted by the human rights 
organizations Gisha and Adalah.  "The Gaza Strip is controlled by a 
murderous terror organization, which works tirelessly to harm Israel 
and its citizens, and breaks every possible rule of international 
justice in its violent actions against men, women and children," 
Justice Beinisch wrote. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the (Jewish) Yemin Yehuda non-profit 
association has begun building 200 housing units in the Shimon 
Hatzadik compound, in the heart of East Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah 
neighborhood.  In the process, the organization plans to demolish 
the homes of dozens of Palestinian families who live there.  This 
neighborhood is in a strategic location: If the group completes its 
plan, it will cut the Old City off from the Palestinian 
neighborhoods in northern Jerusalem. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that an American court extended the sentence of 
Professor Sami Al Arian, who is considered the leader of Islamic 
Jihad in America, finding him in contempt of court. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that on Wednesday Rony Zarom's Aspen Construction 
announced a memorandum of understanding to buy a shopping center in 
Michigan for $10.3 million.  The center occupies 9,000 square meters 
and generates revenue of $1.2 million a year.  It is Aspen's first 
deal in the States. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Israel Discount Bank of New York, a 
subsidiary of Discount Bank, is suing the life insurance provider to 
its workers, MetLife, for investing part of their pension funds in 
sub-prime-related instruments, in contravention of the bank's 
directives.  The bank claims that its 570 workers were caused a $2 
million loss because the insurer ignored its order to get out of 
sub-prime-related assets into something more solid. The workers have 
a $170 million pension portfolio with MetLife, one of the largest 
insurance companies in the world. 
 
Maariv presented the results of a TNS/Teleseker poll conducted on 
Wednesday: 
 
In view of all you heard about the Winograd Commission and its 
findings, do you believe that PM Olmert should resign? 
Yes: 57% (73% after the interim report);  No: 33% (17% after the 
interim report). 
Who among Binyamin Netanyahu, Tzipi Livni, and Ehud Barak is the 
worthiest and most suitable to be prime minister? 
Netanyahu: 37.4%; Livni: 20.9%; Barak: 19%. 
In light of the publication of the final report, which of the 
following options do you favor? 
The continuation of the term of the current government until the 
scheduled date: 42%; new elections now: 27%; the continuation of the 
term of the current government under another Kadima candidate, until 
an agreed-upon date for new elections: 14%; establishing a new 
government under Netanyahu without elections, until an agreed-upon 
date for new elections: 14%. 
 
---------------------- 
Final Winograd Report: 
---------------------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "The abstract 
of the final Winograd report points to a prime minister who lacks 
the ability to conduct a country at war." 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one of the 
 
popular, pluralist Maariv: "Olmert is returning from the battlefield 
and he will survive.... Israel, in contrast, will continue to 
'flounder' as the [Winograd] report says, between wars and 
reports." 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "Olmert 
has not learned: He has allowed the Hamas regime in Gaza to arm 
itself in almost identical fashion to the Hizbullah buildup that led 
to the last war, and will lead to the next one." 
 
Eytan Haber, veteran op-ed writer and assistant to the late prime 
minister Yitzhak Rabin, wrote on page one of the mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "Ehud Olmert would make the mistake of 
his life, were he to believe for a single moment that he will come 
out unscathed from the test of the commission's report." 
 
Columnist and former Meretz Party Chairman Yossi Sarid wrote in 
Ha'aretz: "Olmert has to go, with the [final Winograd] report or 
without it.... In wars, it's not seats but human beings -- lives -- 
that are lost." 
 
Popular columnist and anchor Yair Lapid wrote on page one of Yediot 
Aharonot: "[The Winograd Commission] tried to explain to us how to 
create a normal working environment in which it is permitted to 
level criticism without beheading people and to propose changes 
without wrecking the existing situation." 
 
 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Worse than the Partial Report" 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (1/31): "The 
blood libel against Olmert was removed from the agenda, but on the 
other hand, the [Winograd] Commission declared him unfit to conduct 
a war.  The Prime Minister has no reason to rejoice, certainly not 
to drink a toast, and it is doubtful whether he has a right even to 
breathe a small sigh of relief.... The war was a 'serious missed 
opportunity,' which ended without an Israeli victory even though 
Israel had everything it needed to win.... The IDF failed, says the 
commission, but the blame cannot necessarily be placed on the army, 
and the political echelon cannot be absolved of responsibility.... 
The commission asserts that Israel lost the war with Hizbullah.  It 
lost due to flawed management rather than objective circumstances, 
since it embarked on the war out of choice, at a time that it 
determined.  The abstract of the final Winograd report points to a 
prime minister who lacks the ability to conduct a country at war." 
 
II.  "Back from the Battlefield" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one of the 
popular, pluralist Maariv (1/31): "On Wednesday Ehud Olmert and Amir 
Peretz embraced as if they had just captured the Temple Mount. 
Another moment and they would jump together into the fountain at 
Rabin Square.   It has been a long time since we've seen such a 
stupid victory dance here.  On the other hand, it is possible to 
understand them.  At least Peretz, who became, unfortunately for 
him, a symbol of the war.  He is no symbol.  He is just a product of 
his background who was dragged by his hair to the Defense Ministry, 
in a place not right for him, and who paid the price.... Wednesday's 
news from Winograd was good for Ehud Olmert, and bad for Israel. 
Olmert is returning from the battlefield and he will survive, 
apparently, this report in the short term.  At least on this matter, 
he will go down in history as someone who did not win the war, but 
who did win in the commission.  Israel, in contrast, will continue 
to 'flounder' as the report says, between wars and reports.... How 
will all this end?  In the middle.  Olmert will not fall. Not now 
anyway.  Ever since the end of the war, he is the eternal death row 
inmate in Israeli politics.  And now, as we gather in the city 
square, facing the guillotine, we learn that the defendant has fled. 
 Olmert conducted this crisis with political genius, as he always 
does.  On the other hand, his coalition is shaky.  Shas has never 
stayed in a government that tried to make peace -- not alone. 
Olmert will have to continue to juggle, with the same phenomenal 
rate of success, if he wants to survive down the line." 
 
III.  "The Public's Turn" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (1/31): 
"In what passes for good news, the [final Winograd] report endorses 
as 'almost inevitable' the fateful cabinet decision of August 9, 27 
days into the war, to authorize Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and 
defense minister Amir Peretz to launch a major ground offensive at 
the moment of their choosing.  We also have the commission's 
judgment that the debate between Peretz and Olmert over the timing 
of the operation was 'legitimate' and backed by 'evidence ... and 
serious support among members of the General Staff and others.' 
This is good news because the thought that the 33 soldiers who lost 
their lives in this offensive 'died for spin,' as some placards 
attest, is intolerable and, evidently, not true.  At the same time, 
the final report, like its predecessor, is a devastating indictment 
of both the political and military echelons.... Olmert has not 
learned: He has allowed the Hamas regime in Gaza to arm itself in 
almost identical fashion to the Hizbullah buildup that led to the 
last war, and will lead to the next one." 
 
IV.  "Why We Fought" 
 
Eytan Haber, veteran op-ed writer and assistant to the late prime 
minister Yitzhak Rabin, wrote on page one of the mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot (1/31): "The main impression one got from 
the Winograd report was the sad, pathetic state of the IDF.... In 
the next few years, Israel will face much tougher challenges than 
Hizbullah in Lebanon: the Palestinians, Gaza, and first and foremost 
Iran and its nuclear program.  What will be?  Who will take us to 
safe shores?  On Wednesday the 'Winograds' made life easier for the 
Prime Minister and exonerated him -- mostly from the story of the 
'60 hours' [of the ground offensive].  But Ehud Olmert would make 
the mistake of his life, were he to believe for a single moment that 
he will come out unscathed from the test of the commission's 
report.... The commission would have done a commendable job, had the 
'memoirs' it presented on Wednesday included an answer to the most 
important question: Why did Israel go to war?  When does a nation, a 
state enter an all-out war?  How is it decided upon?  This was the 
missing chapter in the Winograd report.  It is the topic that has to 
be reflected upon and discussed in upcoming days, both in the most 
private fora and publicly." 
 
¶V.  "High-Stakes Roller" 
 
Columnist and former Meretz Party Chairman Yossi Sarid wrote in 
Ha'aretz (1/31): "Olmert has to go, with the [final Winograd] report 
or without it.... If Olmert remains in office, the value of 
responsibility that is a foundation of education will no longer have 
any value.... He launched a war without knowing it was a war, and 
left the rear to its own devices without understanding that the rear 
was the front this time.  He set unattainable targets for the war, 
rolled on with it without knowing where, and stubbornly tried to 
extract an imaginary last-minute victory photo from beneath the 
ruins.  He appointed a commission of inquiry of his making and 
lopped off the branch on which it sat for a year and a half.  No 
report on earth will change what happened, and what should not have 
been done will not be undone by an angler's tricks.  Guilty or not 
guilty, he is responsible, and he shall bear the consequences. 
Prime ministers and party leaders in this country and elsewhere have 
resigned because they lost seats in elections.  In wars, it's not 
seats but human beings -- lives -- that are lost." 
 
VI.  "Seriousness" 
 
Popular columnist and anchor Yair Lapid wrote on page one of Yediot 
Aharonot (1/31): "Binyamin Netanyahu's spokesman issued a 
proclamation around 50 minutes after the publication of the 
[Winograd] report, screaming that the government must resign.... The 
responses from Olmert's bureau and the orchestrated leaks from the 
IDF were no less speedy.... Serious people do not deal with the 
question whether they will supply headlines for the prime-time 
news.... The commission may have offered Israelis the last 
opportunity for reexamining their country's most vital institutions. 
 It tried to explain to us how to create a normal working 
environment in which it is permitted to level criticism without 
beheading people and to propose changes without wrecking the 
existing situation." 
 
MORENO