VZCZCXYZ0018
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTV #0776/01 0931129
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 021129Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6134
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RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 0276
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN PRIORITY 3892
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 4438
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 3648
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 1904
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 4396
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 1269
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 1715
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 8263
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 5744
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 0649
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 4773
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 6722
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM PRIORITY 9453
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000776 
 
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: 
------------------------- 
 
The Jerusalem Post and other media quoted senior IDF Intelligence 
officers as saying at the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense 
Committee on Sunday that Hizbullah is preparing for fresh violence 
along the border.  Leading media quoted Defense Minister Ehud Barak 
as saying on Tuesday during a tour of the Lebanese border: 
"Hizbullah is becoming stronger, and so are we.  We are prepared for 
all eventualities.  We watch the pastoral calm, and we know that 
other things are seething beneath the surface."  Major media cited 
the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi as saying that Syria has been 
preparing for a large-scale Israeli attack on Syria and Hizbullah, 
and that Syria has called up reserves.  Former Syrian communication 
minister Dr. Mahdi Dahlallah was quoted as saying in interview with 
the Arabic-language Kull al-Arab that holding the Arab summit in 
Syria despite America's opposition is considered a success. Maariv 
quoted foreign sources as saying that Iran has built 
state-of-the-art eavesdropping bases in Syria. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Defense Minister Barak appears "to 
be on a collision course with the IDF, which has voiced strong 
opposition to allowing the PA to regain control of the Gaza 
crossings. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that on Tuesday the U.S. House of 
Representatives has passed a resolution urging that the issue of 
Jewish refugees be part of any agreement. 
 
Leading media cited a religious edict issued by a group of hawkish 
rabbis this week, according to which Shas and other government 
coalition members who permitted the transfer of armored cars and 
firearms to the PA are aiding and abetting terrorism. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that a World Health Organization (WHO) 
report that sharply criticized the IDF's screening of Palestinians 
in Israeli hospitals was flatly rejected by defense officials on 
Tuesday, who called it "completely wrong." 
On Monday Israel TV reported that police are set to question M Ehud 
Olmert in the coming days over the purchase of a luxury home in 
Jerusalem's Carmia development project (on Cremieux Street). 
However, police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld was quoted as saying that 
no new significant developments had taken place in the 
investigation. 
 
All media reported that on Tuesday Shas MK Shlomo Benizri was 
convicted in the Jerusalem District Court of accepting bribes, 
breach of faith, obstructing justice, and conspiracy to commit a 
crime.  The state announced that it would ask the court to determine 
that the crimes for which he was found guilty involved moral 
turpitude. 
 
The Jerusalem Post and other media cited the results of a BBC poll 
of attitudes across the globe toward various countries that was 
published on Wednesday. Negative views of Israel fell over the past 
year from 57% to 52%, while negative views of Iran's influence held 
steady at 54%, giving it the worst rating of the countries tested. 
 
Yediot cited the results of a Dialog poll that found that 40% of 
Israelis would have voted for Senator Hillary Clinton, 22.6% for 
Senator John McCain, and 9.2% for Senator Barack Obama. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "If 
anything sabotages the prospects for Israeli-Palestinian 
accommodation, it's attacks on Israeli civilians, wherever they may 
be." 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one of the 
popular, pluralist Maariv: "[Captive] soldiers must be brought home, 
says [IDF Chief of Staff Gabi] Ashkenazi, speaking with gritted 
 
teeth.  Like all of us." 
 
Moshe Keinan and Haim Deri, fathers of soldiers who fell in battle 
in 2003 and 2004, wrote on page one of Maariv: "Our sons served in 
an army that protects an entire country, not in an army that 
surrenders in order to protect its soldiers." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Don't Politicize Checkpoints" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (4/2): "A 
short while after the Rimonim roadblock [between Jericho and 
Ramallah] was cleared a stabbing attempt took place near Shiloh, 
which is about 30 minutes from Jerusalem and a few minutes' drive 
from Rimonim.... If anything sabotages the prospects for 
Israeli-Palestinian accommodation, it's attacks on Israeli 
civilians, wherever they may be.  Thus moves -- no matter how 
well-intentioned and theoretically desirable -- whose unintended 
consequences facilitate terrorism are likely to torpedo whatever 
peace prospects still conceivably remain.  No Israeli discerns any 
benefit in deliberately imposing hardship on ordinary Palestinians. 
We know that most simply want to get to work or school, seek medical 
treatment, or visit with family.  If Palestinians have anyone to 
blame for the undeniable inconvenience caused by roadblocks, it's 
the terrorist organizations, whose popularity seems to skyrocket -- 
among ordinary Palestinians -- the more Jewish lives they take. 
It's also significant that factions affiliated with Abbas's own 
Fatah movement have claimed responsibility for the Shiloh attack.... 
Israel has every interest in bolstering a Palestinian leadership 
committed to peaceful coexistence and capable of imposing effective 
security control on those of its own people who oppose this. 
Withdrawing Israeli security precautions in the absence of such 
effective control may be well-intentioned, but unfortunately is a 
recipe for bloodshed." 
 
II.  "The Dilemma in All Its Cruelty" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one of the 
popular, pluralist Maariv (4/2): "Why is Gilad Shalit's life more 
important than the life of the soldiers who were killed in capturing 
these terrorists?  Why is Gilad more important than the lives of the 
soldiers who will yet be killed in order to apprehend them next 
time?  Than the lives of the civilians who will be killed in future 
terror attacks that they are planning or will carry out?  Moreover, 
this inconceivable notion, which exists only in Israel, that the 
life of a lone Israeli soldier is worth the lives of hundreds of 
murderers, is multiplying at the rate of a geometric progression. 
An industry of kidnapping, murder and death is developing on our 
doorstep.  We created it.... None of the world leaders who visit us 
are capable of understanding how an entire country is paralyzed, 
petrified and disoriented due to one kidnapped soldier, or three -- 
ready to go bankrupt, to pay any price, to lose any asset, to give 
up any principle, in order to bring him home.  On one hand, this is 
a national quality in which we can take pride.  On the other hand, 
it is difficult to accept.  The enemies, on the other side, exploit 
it to the fullest.  A great deal of blood has been spilled because 
of it.... Soldiers must be brought home, says [IDF Chief of Staff 
Gabi] Ashkenazi, speaking with gritted teeth.  Like all of us." 
 
III.  "Not at Any Price" 
 
Moshe Keinan and Haim Deri, fathers of soldiers who fell in battle 
in 2003 and 2004, wrote on page one of Maariv (4/2): "To the Prime 
Minister, cabinet ministers, Noam Shalit, and his friends!  When we 
heard Noam Shalit saying his son is the only 'sucker' who paid the 
price, we said to ourselves that his son is not the only sucker in 
the country and is not the only one who is paying the price for its 
security.... Our sons served in an army that protects an entire 
country, not in an army that surrenders in order to protect its 
 
soldiers....  Constant pressure should be applied to the political 
environment surrounding Hamas in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the 
European countries -- which advise us to negotiate with Hamas. 
Instead of an Egyptian general coming and telling us the price for 
the release of the kidnapped soldier, it would be better if he were 
forced to come to us after we had put pressure on them.  Then we 
would tell him the price for easing our pressure -- the return of 
the kidnapped soldier!  Without preconditions, otherwise we would 
serve them with a higher price tag.  That is how negotiations should 
be conducted in the Middle East!" 
 
JONES