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DE RUEHTV #1390/01 1821056
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P 301056Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001390 
 
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.  Darfur 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media reported that the Israeli reservists held by Hizbullah, 
Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, are set to be released after the 
cabinet approved an exchange deal yesterday.  After five hours of 
tense debate, 22 ministers voted in favor of the deal and three -- 
Finance Minister Roni Bar-On, Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann, and 
Housing and Construction Minister Zeev Boim -- voted against it.  In 
exchange for the captive soldiers, Israel will release jailed 
Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar, who murdered a Nahariya family in 
1979, and four Hizbullah militants, the remains of Lebanese 
civilians and several dozen Palestinian prisoners.  The media quoted 
PM Ehud Olmert as saying that "as far as is known" the two kidnapped 
soldiers are no longer alive.   Ha'aretz quoted sources in Israel as 
saying that the swap would probably take place by July 12, which is 
when Hizbullah is planning a victory ceremony to mark the second 
anniversary of the Second Lebanon War, but Yediot reported that the 
deal will not be carried out on July 12.  The media reported that 
Hamas expects good terms from Israel in the Gilad Shalit deal. 
 
All media reported that. Barack Obama is planning a trip to the 
Middle East, including Israel, and Europe this summer.  On Sunday 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Obama's visit is expected to take 
place before late August's Democratic Party Convention in Denver. 
The Jerusalem Post quoted Olmert's spokesman Mark Regev as saying on 
Saturday that Obama is a "very welcome visitor" and that Olmert "is 
looking forward to meeting the Senator." 
 
The media reported that Israel opened the Gaza crossings yesterday, 
allowing truckloads of fuels and goods into the Strip. 
 
Israel Radio and the leading Internet news service Ynet quoted a 
Persian Gulf paper as saying that a third round of talks aimed at 
completing discussion on issues raised in the previous round will 
take place in early July. Diplomatic sources were quoted as saying 
that there may be several rounds of indirect talks before Damascus 
decides whether to launch official negotiations or halt the talks. 
 
Over the weekend leading media, citing a report in the conservative 
Iranian Jam e-Jam newspaper, reported that the commander of Iran's 
Revolutionary Guards warned that if his country is attacked, it will 
barrage Israel with missiles and seize control of the Strait of 
Hormuz, a key oil passage in the Persian Gulf.  This morning 
electronic media quoted Iranian news agencies as saying that a 
Tehran court sentenced an Iranian man to death on charges of spying 
for Israel.  The defendant, Ali Ashtari, 43, a Muslim who owns an 
electronics import business, was arrested about 18 months ago by 
Iranian Intelligence.  Once the prosecution presented the court with 
various wiretapping equipment allegedly used by Ashtari in his 
espionage activities, he reportedly confessed, pled guilty on all 
charges, and expressed remorse for his actions 
 
Leading media reported that yesterday the Petah Tikva District Court 
ruled against five IDF reservists suing actor and director Mohammed 
Bakri for slander in his film "Jenin, Jenin."  Bakri's cinematic 
description of Operation Defensive Shield in 2002 alleged that IDF 
soldiers had committed war crimes.  Judge Michal Nadav ruled that 
the film did in fact slander the soldiers; however, since the 
slander was directed against an entire group, individuals within 
this group did not have the right to file suit. 
 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "What we 
must now ensure is that we emerge from [the cabinet's approval of 
the Hizbullah deal] stronger and better prepared for the battles 
ahead.  And Hizbullah might want to remember that by taking on 
Israel -- even when we were admittedly not at our best -- it got far 
more than it bargained for." 
 
Op-Ed Page Editor Ben-Dror Yemini wrote on page one of the popular, 
pluralist Maariv: "Yesterday it was possible to stop the march of 
errors, which only encourages further kidnappings, which only harms 
human lives.  This opportunity was not seized.  Prepare for the next 
kidnapping." 
Veteran journalist and anchor Dan Margalit wrote on page one of the 
independent Israel Hayom: "Had it not been known that his intentions 
are good and his capacity poor, Olmert might have been described as 
a sponsor of Iran's interests in the Middle East." 
 
Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The U.S. does not want a flare-up in Gaza 
for many good reasons, but one of these is the fear that a military 
escapade could end in mishap." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "The Cabinet Decides" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (6/30): 
"This newspaper opposed the release of [Lebanese terrorist Samir] 
Kuntar for the remains of [Hizbullah abductees] Regev and Goldwasser 
because of the heinous nature of the crime he committed and because 
it will likely strengthen Nasrallah in his efforts to show 
Hizbullah's concerns transcend his own Shi'ite community (Kuntar is 
Druze and was a Palestine Liberation Front operative).  We also 
opposed a trade because Kuntar has become an important symbol 
throughout the Arab world; because of previous government 
commitments made to the family of IAF navigator Ron Arad (missing 
since his plane went down over Lebanon in 1986) not to release 
Kuntar without a quid pro quo; and because trading Kuntar for the 
remains of two dead soldiers will likely complicate the price we 
will have to pay for the return of Gilad Shalit from the Gaza Strip. 
 This latter warning was echoed by the Mossad and Shin Bet, which 
opposed the deal.  But the cabinet has spoken and its stance is 
supported by most Israelis, much of the media and IDF Chief of 
General Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, who told the ministers that 
he feels himself responsible for all IDF soldiers -- the fallen 
included.  All of us must now respect the decision.  Israel's body 
politic has gone through a traumatic chapter.  What we must now 
ensure is that we emerge from it stronger and better prepared for 
the battles ahead.  And Hizbullah might want to remember that by 
taking on Israel -- even when we were admittedly not at our best -- 
it got far more than it bargained for." 
 
II.  "Prepare for the Next Kidnapping" 
 
Op-Ed Page Editor Ben-Dror Yemini wrote on page one of the popular, 
pluralist Maariv (6/30): "The previous deals led to more kidnappings 
and more errors.  This deal will encourage the next kidnappings, and 
that is known, clear and predictable.  It is not clear what most of 
the public wanted, but it is clear that there was pressure, there 
were headlines and there were tears.  This was expressed in a 
concentrated, exaggerated manner in the past week.  Is that what 
should dictate the governmentQs conduct?  Is that what is called 
leadership?  And even if we make the doubtful assumption that polls 
would have shown that most of the public supports the dealQso what? 
If the polls determined anything, then the government would have to 
be changed every other day.  Olmert would have to go (and he has to 
go), and his successor would not last more than two months.  For 
public opinion here, with or without headlines, with or without 
public hysteria, is no more than a seesaw.  Yesterday on one side 
and tomorrow on the other.  Is that a substitute for policy, 
principles, national interests, stability?  It is customary for us 
to say that we are proud of our moral standards.  They, the Arabs, 
donQt care about human beings, and we do care.  We 'do not forsake 
soldiers,' and therefore, 'we are prepared to pay any price'.... The 
facts indicate the opposite.  They are the ones who do not forsake 
their murderers.  They get out of prison en masse.  They receive a 
hero's welcome.  In general, we have become a bit confused.  The 
rule of 'don't forsake soldiers' is certainly worthy.  But there are 
other methods, besides the wholesale release of murderers.  The 
methods are known.  They entail risk.  In the case of Entebbe, it 
worked.  In the case of Nachshon Wachsman [a soldier abducted by 
Hamas and whose rescue failed] it ended differently.  The creative 
and cunning mind of the past has disappeared, in favor of a whining 
attitude expressed in petitions and demonstrations.  Yesterday it 
was possible to stop the march of errors, which only encourages 
further kidnappings, which only harms human lives.  This opportunity 
was not seized.  Prepare for the next kidnapping." 
 
III.  "A Mixture of Moral Turpitude and Folly" 
 
Veteran journalist and anchor Dan Margalit wrote on page one of the 
independent Israel Hayom (6/30): "Olmert has bee retreating from 
Hassan Nasrallah.  There is no reason for him to prevail and act 
properly just as the failed [Second] Lebanon War is coming to an 
end.  He and his ministers deserve yesterday's decision -- moral 
turpitude mixed with folly.  Had it not been known that his 
intentions are good and his capacity poor, Olmert might have been 
described as a sponsor of Iran's interests in the Middle East.... 
Before he started [talking with Hizbullah], he should have demanded 
signs of life; set as an iron rule that living terrorists not be 
exchanged for dead abductees ... and that Palestinians never be 
released in a deal with Hizbullah except in negotiations with Abu 
Mazen -- if at all." 
 
IV.  "Image Still under Renovation" 
 
Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz (6/30): "There are those who claim that 
Israel's strategic importance has increased since the war, and that 
the Americans, too, despite their disappointment, realize this.  The 
challenges, topped by the ongoing wrestling with the growing power 
of Iran, have not gone away.  The theory of an 'axis of moderates' 
versus an 'axis of extremists' took on a clearer shape in the course 
of the Second Lebanon War, and has been further clarified since 
then.  Except that this axis has no head.... Whom will the Americans 
be able to count on if not Israel?  Thus, a few months ago, the U.S. 
and Israel agreed on a long-term defense package of unprecedented 
generosity.  Still, it would have been easier for [the Americans] to 
count on Israel without the dispiriting shadow of that war and its 
outcome.  The U.S. does not want a flare-up in Gaza for many good 
reasons, but one of these is the fear that a military escapade could 
end in mishap.  The 34 days of that war two years ago tested the 
world's nerves.  The U.S. gave Israel more time to enable a 
definitive victory.  Despite everything Israel has managed to regain 
since then, one thing remains unchanged: Next time it will have a 
hard time getting an extension." 
 
----------- 
¶2.  Darfur: 
----------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "Darfur and 
its refugees are like an alarm bell for the collective conscience, 
and that bell is supposed to ring also when non-Jews are 
suffering." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"Darfur Is Our Problem, Too" 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (6/30): "On 
Saturday, the Egyptians shot a 7-year-old girl from Sudan who tried 
to cross the border from Egypt to Israel just south of Rafah. Had 
she and her family made it through, they would have surely landed in 
[the Negev's] Ketziot Prison.  The 'new policy' that Prime Minister 
Ehud Olmert's cabinet declared vis-a-vis asylum seekers is, in fact, 
cruelty by any other name.... Too soon we have forgotten the 
suffering that is the lot of the persecuted.  Perhaps we have grown 
accustomed to concern ourselves only with our own plight after 
absorbing Jewish refugees since the founding of the state.  Today, 
when we are more prosperous, when the reservoir of Jewish refugees 
has dried up, there is fortunately no reason to scan the globe for 
people who could be considered Jewish and coax them to come here. 
And there is no reason to remain indifferent to the suffering of 
non-Jews who could contribute to the State of Israel as much as any 
Jew.  Darfur and its refugees are like an alarm bell for the 
collective conscience, and that bell is supposed to ring also when 
non-Jews are suffering." 
 
JONES