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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001346 
 
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.  Iran 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media reported (lead stories in the three main Hebrew-language 
stories) that the chief military rabbi, Brig. Gen. Avihai Ronsky, 
began deliberations yesterday on whether the soldiers kidnapped at 
the onset of the Second Lebanon War, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad 
Regev, can be declared killed in action.  He will make a decision 
based on intelligence information and Jewish law.  Ha'aretz quoted 
sources close to the talks with Hizbullah over a deal to release the 
two soldiers as saying that this move means the deal is off.  The 
soldiers' families lashed out against the move and demanded that PM 
Ehud Olmert quickly bring the prisoner exchange deal to a cabinet 
vote. 
 
Israel Radio cited remarks made by Olmert to the London-based 
Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat: He said that he has not yet decided whether to 
submit his candidature if an early election is held.  Olmert noted 
that his predecessors as prime minister, Sharon, Barak and 
Netanyahu, were also investigated on suspicion of corruption, and he 
did not rule out the possibility that he was being targeted as a 
result of his activity on the diplomatic front.  On the tahdiya 
agreement, Olmert said that if the smuggling of arms into the Gaza 
Strip continues, this will be regarded as a violation and Israel 
will have to renew strikes against the terrorist organizations. 
Olmert said that concentrated negotiations are being conducted now 
for the release of Gilad Shalit, and that more time is needed for 
the negotiations on the issue of Regev and Goldwasser, which has not 
yet reached its conclusion.  On the IAF exercise in Greece, Olmert 
said there are preparations by the IDF to meet the challenges facing 
Israel.  He stressed that Israel cannot be inactive when a country 
that threatens to destroy it is arming itself with nuclear weapons. 
Olmert stressed, however, that Israel is doing everything in its 
power to persuade western countries to do everything possible to 
convince Iran to abandon its nuclear program. 
 
The media reported that the government coalition is expected to 
collapse tomorrow if the Labor Party votes to disband the Knesset, 
as it announced yesterday.  PM Olmert has vowed to fire Labor 
ministers immediately after the vote, ending the ruling partnership 
between Kadima and Labor.  Olmert's associates alleged that Labor 
leader and Defense Minister Ehud Barak is sabotaging moves of 
national importance (the truce deal with Hamas and Shalit's release) 
because of his own political interests.  The media reported that 
yesterday Shas rejected Olmert's offer of benefits totaling 1.5 
billion shekels (around $445 million) in exchange for not voting in 
favor of the bill to disperse the Knesset.  Ha'aretz reported that 
the balance of power indicates that the bill could pass by a 
majority of 70 MKs -- according to other dailies, 63 to 69 MKs -- 
making Shas the decisive vote. 
 
All media reported that yesterday the High Court of Justice rejected 
the petition of Noam and Aviva Shalit against Olmert, the 
diplomatic-security cabinet, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and FM 
Tzipi Livni.  At the same time, the justices noted they felt the 
cabinet needs to discuss again the issues surrounding the  captivity 
of the Shalits' son, Gilad.  Major media quoted former IDF chief of 
general staff Maj.-Gen. (res.) Moshe Ya'alon as saying yesterday in 
a comment that immediately elicited protests, in particular from 
Noam Shalit, that "in some situations we need to agree to make 
sacrifices in the face of what is demanded of us, because the price 
we would have to pay is far heavier than the price of losing a 
kidnapped soldier."  He was referring to tentative prisoner exchange 
plans with Hizbullah and Hamas.  The Jerusalem Post reported that 
Shalit's release is expected to be high on Olmert's agenda of talks 
with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Sharm el-Sheikh today. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that top defense officials told the 
paper on Monday that "in a visit likely to fuel speculation about 
possible Israeli military action against Iran," Chairman of the 
Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen will touch down briefly 
in Israel at the end of the week for talks with IDF Chief of Staff 
Gabi Ashkenazi.  A few weeks after Mullen's visit, Ashkenazi will 
fly to Washington for several days on his first visit to the U.S. as 
chief of staff.   The Jerusalem Post reported that U.S. Chief of 
Naval Operations Admiral Gary Roughead, who is currently in Israel 
on an official visit, told the daily yesterday that the U.S. 
military knew about the reported massive aerial exercise, and that 
questions about the reported exercise's intent should be directed to 
the IAF.  Roughead was quoted as saying that Iran's naval conduct in 
the Persian Gulf is irresponsible and provocative. 
 
The media quoted French President Nicolas Sarkozy as saying 
yesterday that there could be no Mideast peace unless Israel drops 
its refusal to cede sovereignty over parts of Jerusalem claimed by 
the Palestinians.  Speaking to a packed Knesset plenum at a special 
session in his honor, Sarkozy called on Israel to put an end to West 
Bank settlement.  But he tempered his address by assuring Israel 
that it could count on France's support in halting Iran's nuclear 
program.  Ha'aretz reported that Israel is following with interest 
the closer nuclear ties France is forging with the Arab world. The 
Foreign Ministry has declined to go on the record on the issue, but 
ministry officials say that though they are concerned about the 
matter, they do not oppose it.  They say it is better for Israel 
that France is supplying nuclear technology to Arab countries and 
not less friendly nations such as Russia or China. 
 
Electronic media reported that Islamic Jihad has proclaimed its 
intention to retaliate for the killing of an activist by the IDF in 
Nablus last night.  A Hamas militant was also killed.  Ha'aretz's 
web site reported that in the first such strike since a cease-fire 
went into effect in the Gaza Strip last week, Palestinian militants 
fired a mortar shell at the western Negev late last night.  No 
injuries or damage were caused. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that three years after Maj. Gen. (res.) 
Doron Almog was almost arrested in England for war crimes, the IDF 
has returned to sending senior officers to the UK for military 
studies. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that French diplomats recently told their Israeli 
counterparts that the U.S. and France have agreed to try to lessen 
Syria's political isolation in the hope that this will undermine its 
ties with Iran.  However, the daily quoted French sources as saying 
that the West's relations with Damascus are expected to remain 
strained as long as George Bush is U.S. president. 
 
The Jerusalem Post printed a lengthy interview with Rep. Howard 
Berman, Chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, a 
"Zionist at heart," quoting him as saying: "Israel's security and 
the U.S.-Israeli relationship is for me an issue that shapes my 
whole agenda [in] Congress, and guides it." 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "The time has 
come to decide.  Let the Prime Minister not turn Gilad Shalit into a 
sacrifice in vain." 
 
Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote on page one of the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "How can [the 
government] not be ashamed to continue even at present to release 
spin after spin, packaged in a sanctimonious aura of phony 
patriotism?" 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "A Moral Obligation" 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (6/24): "Prime 
Minister Ehud Olmert should have one issue at the front of his mind 
when he meets today with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak: to bring 
kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit home.  True, this is a difficult and 
frustrating negotiation.  It is the country's prestige, not just 
that of the government and army, that hangs in the balance.  The 
decision is being guided by considerations concerning Israel's 
security and the war against terror, the punishment of terrorists 
who murdered Israelis, and our attitude toward a terror group that 
stops at nothing to achieve its goals.  The concern over letting 
prisoners go free who might return to terror is not a marginal one. 
However, from the moment the Israeli government decided to conduct 
indirect talks with Hamas and determined that it was willing to 
adopt criteria for swapping prisoners for Shalit, it understood 
there would be a price, and a high one, for his release.... It is 
best to realize now that any agreement Olmert reaches will not allay 
the feeling of anger that has welled up against the kidnappers and 
the groups in whose name they acted.  No clause can represent Israel 
as the victor in this arm-wrestling match.  But we can recall 
painfully that even the major war Israel embarked on to liberate its 
two soldiers abducted to Lebanon led to no better an outcome.  So 
the Prime Minister heads for Egypt to discharge the government's 
moral obligation to its civilians and soldiers -- to bring back a 
living captive before it is too late.  The reasons for and against 
have already been fully discussed and the logic of the war against 
terror needs no more proof.  The time has come to decide.  Let the 
Prime Minister not turn Gilad Shalit into a sacrifice in vain." 
 
II.  "Merciless, Shameless" 
Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote on page one of the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (6/24): "How can they 
not be ashamed of themselves to let the families of the kidnapped 
soldiers wait like impoverished souls at the entrance to the 
corridors of power, begging them, the lords of the land, the 
deciders of fates, to please do something to put an end to our 
suffering?  How can they not be ashamed to continue even at present 
to release spin after spin, packaged in a sanctimonious aura of 
phony patriotism?  The day before yesterday they released  the story 
about the hundreds of Palestinian prisoners that Israel is supposed 
to release as part of the Goldwasser and Regev deal.  They tried to 
create the impression that Nasrallah had backed away from the 
agreements.  That is completely false -- merely tricks in order to 
derail the deal.  When that didn't work they moved on to Plan B 
yesterday and launched the 'rabbi campaign.'  Now they are using the 
chief military chaplain to bury this story beneath the seal of 
'presumed dead,' so that it is stricken from the public agenda.... 
The elections have driven these people mad.... No information that 
comes from the political echelon about the captives and MIAs is 
credible.  It is all skewed by interests.... After two years the 
[abducted soldiers'] parents realized that the problem did not lie 
solely on Nasrallah and Mashal's side of the divide, but that it lay 
first and foremost on our side.  They realized that their acceptance 
of the promises made by members of the 'establishment' was total and 
naive.... In order for us to understand just how much faith we can 
put in these people, yesterday the Prime Minister charged that his 
Defense Minister pressed to agree to the 'tahdiya' for political 
reasons (!!!).  Now go figure: Is that information or spin?  If it's 
information, the Defense Minister needs to be prosecuted for breach 
of duty.  If it's all spin from the Prime MinisterQs Bureau then 
we're dealing with someone who has completely lost his bearings.  So 
enough, stop.  We deserve a more serious administration." 
 
--------- 
¶2.  Iran: 
--------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
The ultra-Orthodox Yated Ne'eman editorialized: "All the debates 
[about a possible Israeli attack on Iran] and the headlines they are 
making constitute a 'self-fulfilling prophesy' and discuss 'war,' 
which their arrogance might provoke." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"Playing with Fire" 
 
The ultra-Orthodox Yated Ne'eman editorialized (6/24): "It can be 
assumed that those behind the deliberate leak to the U.S. newspaper 
The New York Times regarding large-scale military maneuvers 
conducted by Israel as part of preparations for an attack on Iran, 
meant to convey a deterrent message and show the seriousness of 
Israel's intentions concerning the prevention of the development of 
nuclear weapons in Iran.... 'Wars of words' and 'offensives of 
messages' elicit question-marks.  Indeed, all the ways to thwart the 
danger must be taken, but publications, provocative shows of force, 
and statements to that effect, are useless.  From the diplomatic and 
security points of view, those publications conceal potential and 
covert risks.... All the debates and the headlines they are making 
constitute a 'self-fulfilling prophesy' and discuss 'war,' which 
their arrogance might provoke." 
 
JONES