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DE RUEHTV #1456/01 1901019
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P 081019Z JUL 08
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001456 
 
STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD 
 
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM 
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COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE FOR PAO/POLAD 
COMSIXTHFLT FOR 019 
 
JERUSALEM ALSO ICD 
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PARIS ALSO FOR POL 
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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: 
------------------------- 
 
Ha'aretz and other media reported that Israel has signed a prisoner 
exchange agreement with Hizbullah, according to a statement released 
yesterday by the Prime Minster's Bureau.  The media reported that 
IDF soldiers have begun digging up the bodies of Lebanese combatants 
to be exchanged in the deal.  Israel Radio quoted senior GOI sources 
as saying that the deal with Hizbullah is ready, conditional on 
exchanging files on MIA Ron Arad and four Iranian diplomats who 
disappeared in Lebanon in 1982.  Aspects of those issues are 
commented in all media. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted an Israeli government source as saying that Turkey 
is pressing Syria to move swiftly into direct talks with Israel. 
However, Ha'aretz and Israel Radio quoted Syrian President Bashar 
Assad as saying in an interview with the French paper Le Figaro that 
his country will apparently not engage in direct negotiations with 
Israel during the Bush administration. 
 
Ha'aretz and Maariv quoted visiting Professor Anthony Cordesman of 
the Center for Strategic and International Studies as saying that 
the Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael 
Mullen, sent Israel an unequivocal message stating that Israel does 
not have a "green light" from the U.S. to attack Iranian nuclear 
facilities. 
 
The online service nana10.co.il reported that Defense Minister Ehud 
Barak decided last night to close the Gaza border crossing in the 
wake of mortar shell fire on the Karni crossing yesterday.  This 
comes just two days after crossings were reopened following a break 
in the fire on Israel.  Israel Radio reported that Barak eventually 
acceded to Egyptian intelligence head Omar Suleiman's request to 
reopen the crossing. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that a high-level Hamas delegation is 
scheduled to arrive in Cairo on Tuesday for talks with Egyptian 
government officials on the possibility of reaching a prisoner 
exchange agreement with Israel and to preserve the cease-fire in 
Gaza.  A top Hamas official said that the movement's representatives 
in Cairo would ask Egypt to reopen the border a few days a week, and 
linked Gilad Shalit's release with the opening of the crossings. 
Yediot quoted the London-based Al-Hayat as saying that the Hamas 
team negotiating a prisoner swap with Israel has suspended its 
participation in the talks because of a new Israeli precondition set 
by Ofer Dekel, PM Ehud Olmert's point man on prisoner exchange: 
Israel is demanding that Hamas transfer Gilad Shalit, and only later 
will Egypt open the Rafah crossing to goods traffic and allow the 
return to Gaza of hundreds of Palestinians stranded in El Arish. 
The report also states that Dekel demands that only after Shalit is 
returned will the Gaza-Egypt passage be open to Gaza residents. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Defense Minister Ehud Barak recently signed 
an order declaring 36 international charities illegal in Israel, on 
the grounds that they funnel money to Hamas. 
 
The media reported that yesterday the police rejected criticism over 
its handling of the bulldozer attack last Wednesday.  The media 
quoted a victim's relative as saying that officers were paralyzed by 
the fear of legal repercussions. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted diplomatic officials as saying yesterday 
that Israel and Italy are expected to announce the establishment of 
a "strategic dialogue" during the visit of Italian FM Franco 
Frattini.  The officials pointed out that the only countries Israel 
has this dialogue with are the U.S., France, and Britain.  The 
Jerusalem Post noted that Frattini's visit come a day after the Fiat 
Group announced that it will begin manufacturing a sedan car in 
Iran. 
 
Israel Radio reported that the police will again question PM Olmert 
on Friday -- ahead of Morris Talansky's cross-examination.  Yediot 
reported that FM Tzipi Livni will ask PM Olmert to resign after 
Kadima's primaries. 
 
Among recent media reports that his finances are ebbing, billionaire 
politician Arkady Gaidamak pointed out in an interview with Channel 
2-TV on Sunday that he hasn't lost any money because he hasn't sold 
any assets that have shrunken in theoretical value.  He also said 
that his fortune still amounts to about $2 billion.  On Sunday the 
Second Television and Radio Authority -- which operates Channel 2-TV 
-- also announced that Gaidamak will have to sell his shares in the 
FM99 radio station, due to his political activity. 
 
Leading media reported that 60 families that were harmed by Katyusha 
rockets during the Second Lebanon War are suing in a federal court 
in New York five Lebanese banks that were active in the U.S. on 
behalf of Hizbullah. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the ultra-Orthodox rabbinical consensus on 
banning the entry of Jews to the Temple Mount is showing cracks. 
This comes in the wake of a decision by religious Zionist rabbis to 
lift the ban and the increase of religious Zionist visitors to the 
site. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that in Jerusalem on Sunday Canadian MP 
and former justice minister Irwin Cotler called for criminal charges 
to be filed against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. 
 
All media reported that today the Water Authority plans to reveal an 
emergency plan.  The level of the Lake of Galilee is at its lowest 
in five years -- 213 meters below sea level. 
 
Yediot reported that the share of the major Israeli pharmaceutical 
company Teva on NASDAQ dropped yesterday by 10%, because of a failed 
test on its star drug Copaxone.. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "Israel, which 
has decided to suspend the military option to give the cease-fire a 
shot, will decide when the trial period is over.  It does seem, 
though, that this stage has not yet arrived." 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "While 
Fatah-Hamas reconciliation appears inevitable, the chances of it 
contributing to Jewish and Palestinian states living side by side in 
peace and security seem ever more remote." 
 
Dov Weisglass, who was former prime minister Ariel Sharon's top 
diplomatic advisor, wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot: "The IDF, which is busy learning the lessons from [the 
Second Lebanon] War, must find a way to frighten again.  Fear will 
return -- even partly -- to Israel some of its honor and security." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Maintaining the Cease-Fire" 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (7/8): "The 
Qassam rockets that have continued to land in Israel since the 
cease-fire agreement have given rise to the feeling that the 
cease-fire is about to collapse.... There is no doubt that Hamas, 
like the other organizations, and like Israel, has a great interest 
in maintaining the current cease-fire.  At the same time, there is 
no doubt that organizations, gangs and even Fatah elements are 
interested in torpedoing the agreement or are claiming the right to 
veto decisions by Hamas.  Ostensibly Israel could turn its back on 
the internal Palestinian disputes and say it is none of its business 
to examine who is breaking or observing the cease-fire.  As far as 
Israel is concerned, Hamas and the other organizations are 
responsible for the agreement and any violation of it constitutes 
its revocation.  However, the reality in Gaza was not invisible to 
Israel when it adopted the agreement.  Israel knew it would take 
some time before Israeli airspace would be hermetically sealed to 
the Qassam rockets.... Israel, which has decided to suspend the 
military option to give the cease-fire a shot, will decide when the 
trial period is over.  It does seem, though, that this stage has not 
yet arrived." 
 
II.  "Palestinian Reconciliation" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (7/8): 
"It may yet take months, but there is every likelihood that 
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will ultimately 
reconcile his Fatah movement with Hamas, an interim government of 
'technocrats' will be formed, and new Palestinian elections will be 
held.... Could Abbas enhance his popularity by reaching a 'shelf 
agreement' with Israel by the December 2008 deadline?  It's hard to 
see how, given that his 'moderate' negotiating stance demands 
Israeli withdrawal to the 1949 Armistice Lines as well as the 
Palestinian 'right of return' -- signaling the demographic 
destruction of Israel and unacceptable even to the most pliant of 
Israeli governments.  If Palestinian negotiators are quietly making 
far-reaching concessions on borders and refugees to pave the way 
toward a shelf agreement -- without preparing their people for the 
idea of compromise -- Abbas's popularity will plummet further. 
Conversely, if no deal is achieved, Abbas's leadership will be 
undermined and Hamas emerge ascendant.  So while Fatah-Hamas 
reconciliation appears inevitable, the chances of it contributing to 
Jewish and Palestinian states living side by side in peace and 
security seem ever more remote.  Does Livni have a Plan B?" 
 
III.  ""'They Are Not Afraid' (After Benjamin Netanyahu)" 
 
Dov Weisglass, who was former prime minister Ariel Sharon's top 
diplomatic advisor, wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot (7/8): "Nasrallah may have good reason to be satisfied.... 
Hamas, too, understands that it is dealing with current Israel [as 
opposed to that of the country's founding fathers].... Despite their 
wretchedness and humility, Hamas's people talk to Israel as 
equals.... The Second Lebanon War is the best evidence about the 
importance of appearance in the Middle East.  Hizbullah's 
fortifications and ... its neighborhoods in Beirut were reduced to 
ashes, but it celebrates its victory.  The IDF, which is busy 
learning the lessons from that war, must find a way to frighten 
again.  Fear will return -- even partly -- to Israel some of its 
honor and security." 
 
 
 
 
 
--------- 
¶2.  Iran: 
--------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Op-Ed Page Editor Ben-Dror Yemini responded in the popular, 
pluralist Maariv to Kobi Niv, who yesterday praised the benefit to 
Israel of an Iranian atomic bomb: "As opposed to what we believed, 
the fans of conciliation do not favor a world clean of atom bombs. 
They favor a world in which only 'rational' factors such as Iran 
have such weapons." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
"A Bomb of Anti-Semitic Propaganda" 
 
Op-Ed Page Editor Ben-Dror Yemini responded in the popular, 
pluralist Maariv to Kobi Niv, who yesterday praised the benefit to 
Israel of an Iranian atomic bomb (7/8): "In the age of anti-Zionism, 
we hear the old refrain: Israel is a danger to world peace.  How 
lucky, part of the progressive world says to itself, that someone 
puts Israel in its place.  It will stop jeopardizing world 
peace..... Many inanities have been appearing for many years in 
books and articles, in praise of Iran and in condemnation of 
dangerous Israel.  Not all criticism of Israel is void.  Not all 
opposition to attacking Iran is demonic... [But] as opposed to what 
we believed, the fans of conciliation do not favor a world clean of 
atom bombs.  They favor a world in which only 'rational' factors 
such as Iran have such weapons.  The problem is that the propaganda 
of horror creates admirers in Israel, too." 
 
JONES