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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001523 
 
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: 
------------------------- 
 
Major media reported on the "handshake that wasn't" between PM Ehud 
Olmert and Syrian President Bashar Assad at the Bastille Day 
ceremony in Paris.  Makor Rishon-Hatzofe quoted Likud MK Yuval 
Steinitz, former chair of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense 
Committee, as saying hat Olmert and FM Tzipi Livni humiliated the 
Jewish people by stooping before the Syrian dictator. 
 
All media reported that by rejecting the appointments of Kadima MKs 
Ruhama Avraham-Balila and Eli Aflalo as tourism and absorption 
ministers, Labor MKs and ministers supported what was declared a 
no-confidence vote at the insistence of the Likud faction whip, MK 
Gideon Sa'ar.  The government, however, survived the no-confidence 
vote, and despite Labor's opposition, Aflalo's and Avraham-Balila's 
appointments were approved by a Knesset majority of 47 votes to 42. 
The crisis erupted when Kadima reneged on Olmert's commitment to 
appoint Labor MK Avishay Braverman as chairman of the Knesset's 
Finance Committee(Leading media reported that Olmert is likely to 
allow Braverman's nomination today).  In response to OlmertQs 
reneging on his commitment, Labor decided to oppose Aflalo and 
Avraham-Balila's appointments in the Knesset.  The media reported 
that Olmert will not fire Labor ministers and that Labor said that 
its ministers would not quit the coalition.  Dismissing the Labor 
ministers would leave Olmert without a legislative majority and open 
the door to early elections. 
 
All media reported that the cabinet will discuss Hizbullah's report 
on efforts to determine the fate of missing Israeli airman Ron Arad 
Tuesday and will be briefed on assessments by the heads of the 
country's intelligence organizations (who are opposed to a prisoner 
swap).  Ha'aretz quoted a source in PM Ehud Olmert's entourage to 
Paris as saying that the result of the cabinet's final vote on the 
prisoner exchange will be based on what it hears in this briefing. 
Media reported that Olmert told UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in 
Paris that Hizbullah's report on Arad was "absolutely 
unsatisfactory." 
 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted foreign news reports as saying yesterday 
that the Iranian and Syrian militaries have assisted Hizbullah in 
setting up advanced radar installations atop Mt. Sannine in 
Lebanon's Bekaa Valley which can be used to track Israeli planes 
from the Mediterranean Sea in the West to Damascus in the East.  The 
newspaper quoted Israeli defense analysts that while Syria does not 
need radar installations inside Lebanon to track IAF fighter jets, 
the systems could be used by Hizbullah in the event that Damascus 
supplied them with advanced radar-based air defense systems.  The 
Jerusalem Post reported on growing concern in Israel following 
Lebanese President Michel Suleiman's statement on Sunday at the 
Paris meeting of the Mediterranean Union that should diplomacy fail 
to return "Israeli-occupied land" to Lebanon, the Lebanese Armed 
Forces will take it by force. 
 
Yediot bannered a picture of Palestinian terrorists training in the 
synagogue of the abandoned Gaza settlement of Atzmona. 
 
Leading media reported that Barack Obama is expected to visit the 
region next week.  Media reported that he will visit Sderot and fly 
over the country in a helicopter.  Israel Hayom reported that 
right-wing MKs and a settler leader denounced Obama's retraction of 
his AIPAC Conference comments on Jerusalem.  The Jerusalem Post and 
HaQaretz reported that yesterday PA officials welcomed Obama's plans 
to visit Ramallah. 
 
Major media reported that Quartet Mideast envoy Tony Blair will 
visit Gaza next week.  This will be his first trip to the area since 
Hamas seized control a year ago.  At noon Israel Radio reported that 
the visit was canceled due to security reasons. 
 
Leading media reported that Assad warned yesterday that any attack 
on Iran's nuclear program would have grave consequences for the 
U.S., Israel and the entire world.  The Jerusalem Post quoted House 
Speaker Nancy Pelosi as saying on Sunday at the opening of the 94th 
national conference of the Hadassah Zionist Women's Organization in 
Los Angeles: "Israel bears the brunt of [the Iranian] threat ... and 
the safety not only of Israel but of the entire world depends on 
forcing Iran to give up its nuclear capability." 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted Ron Nachman, Mayor of the West Bank 
settler city of Ariel, as saying yesterday that the city has 
received final approval to construct 27 new factories, thus tripling 
the size of its industrial park.  The daily quoted Peace Now 
Executive Director Yariv Oppenheimer as saying: "This is surrender 
to the demands of the settlement leadership."  Nachman defended his 
move by saying that this park employs both Jews and Palestinians. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted Israel's Civil Aviation Authority as saying that the 
U.S. could curtail the activities of Israeli airlines in the U.S. 
after the Federal Aviation Administration inspects the aviation 
sector here next week.  Concerns have also been raised over a 
possible blow to Israel's standing in the international aviation 
sector.  The FAA inspection will last four days and examine the 
flight-safety performance of the Civil Aviation Authority, one 
Israeli airline, and Ben-Gurion International Airport.  The Civil 
Aviation Authority will be the main focus. 
 
Yediot quoted Israeli diplomats in the U.S. as saying that they 
cannot make ends meet.  The newspaper reported that Israel's 
Consul-General in Miami Ofer Bavli wrote the Foreign Ministry in 
Jerusalem that the weakening of the dollar and rising prices in the 
U.S. are causing family budget problems, forcing him to dip into his 
savings to make ends meet. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted Microsoft as saying yesterday that it has agreed to 
buy Zoomix, an Israeli start-up specializing in data quality 
software.  The deal is estimated at between $25 million and $35 
million.  This is Microsoft's eighth such acquisition in Israel. 
 
 
 
 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: ". An 
improvement in relations with any of the Arab countries contributes 
to Israel's security more than any reservoir of weapons that Israel 
has at its disposal." 
 
Political commentator Shalom Yerushalmi wrote in the popular, 
pluralist Maariv: "The talks between the sides need to be, from 
Syria's perspective, endless, perpetual, ostensibly serious, long 
and enervating, but with no final result.  Syria will make the most 
out of those kinds of talks." 
 
Chief Economic Editor Sever Plotker opined in the mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "I am puzzled over where [the admirers of 
the Prime Minister] were when Olmert made the following mistakes.... 
1) The strategic failure to deal with Hamas's rise to power.... 
[and] 2) Giving Assad a fantastic consolation prize." 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "[The 
Lebanese and Arab publics] might want to ask themselves whether this 
monster [terrorist Samir Kuntar] is worthy of such glorification. 
Is he the kind of man they want as their idol?  And if so, what does 
that say about them?" 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "With Whom Will Syria Make Peace?" 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (7/15): "The 
peace between Israel and Syria has in the past few days seemed 
closer and farther away than at any other time.... Ehud Olmert was 
striving for personal contact with Bashar Assad [in Paris this 
week], but to no avail -- because the Syrian President considers 
Olmert a weak prime minister, and he does not sell his gestures on 
the cheap.... The isolated Assad arrived in Paris like a hero, even 
though he had not changed anything substantive in his diplomatic 
conduct.  The disdainful attitude shown by Israel with regard to 
Assad's leadership ability, at the inspiration of the Americans, 
apparently came to an end, along with the conclusion of George W. 
Bush's term.... Syria's serious attitude toward peace talks with 
Israel found expression in Paris this week in Assad's public 
declarations of peace, in the indirect talks that are continuing 
through Turkey, and in the fact that the Israeli attack on nuclear 
facilities in Syria and the assassination of Imad Mughniyah did not 
make Assad change direction.  Syria has apparently decided that it 
is in its interest to join the West, and peace talks with Israel are 
one of many means of doing so.  More than at any other time in the 
past, it seems the ball is in Israel's court -- but this court is 
covered in thick political mud.  In actual fact, there is no 
government right now in Israel.... All one can demand now is that 
all those who aspire to be elected prime minister of Israel -- 
whether in Kadima, the Labor Party, or Likud -- should reveal 
publicly what their current position is on the continuation of talks 
with Syria.  It is worthwhile reminding them that it is forbidden to 
miss chances for peace, and that the price for peace with Syria is 
clear.  The price for not having peace with Syria became clear in 
the Second Lebanon War, and it is likely to become clear in the 
third and fourth war in the region.  An improvement in relations 
with any of the Arab countries contributes to Israel's security more 
than any reservoir of weapons that Israel has at its disposal." 
 
II.  "The Semblance of Diplomacy" 
 
Political commentator Shalom Yerushalmi wrote in the popular, 
pluralist Maariv (7/15): "Once again, Bashar Assad deceived everyone 
-- mainly Prime Minister Olmert. He attended the conference of 
Mediterranean countries thanks to Israel and turned into the 
undeniable star of the event. He returned to the limelight in Europe 
but made sure to turn his back on Olmert when the latter ran up to 
him and asked for a handshake, which might have saved him his career 
or given him some breathing room. And so, when Olmert spoke, Assad 
left the auditorium for his grand finale. In interviews he said 
that, like his father, he would not concede a single centimeter of 
the Golan Heights. Did anyone say anything about an historic 
breakthrough?..... Even if [Olmert were a strong prime minister], 
there isn't going to be peace with Assad's Syria.  Bashar Assad is a 
member of the most hated Alawite minority in Syria.  The members of 
this sect retain their hold on power with the use of force; they 
maintain it and justify it by means of uncompromising belligerence 
towards Israel.  The Zionist enemy is something that unites the 
Syrians around one of the most benighted regimes in the area.  Peace 
with Israel would shake the foundations of the presidential palace 
in Damascus.... Syria, in short, does not want peace.  It wants 
peace negotiations.  The talks between the sides need to be, from 
Syria's perspective, endless, perpetual, ostensibly serious, long 
and enervating, but with no final result.  Syria will make the most 
out of those kinds of talks, remove itself from its isolation, and 
receive legitimacy from the West and mainly aid from the United 
States.  That is what we saw in Paris.  The semblance of diplomacy 
and another promise by Assad that 'peace between Syria and Israel is 
possible within half a year to two years.'  Peace, meanwhile, is 
going to have to wait a lot longer.  So will war. Olmert will go and 
the settlements on the Golan Heights will flourish." 
 
III.  "A Slew of Mistakes" 
 
Chief Economic Editor Sever Plotker opined in the mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot (7/15): "Ehud Olmert, say many people, was 
an excellent prime minister as far as we were concerned until the 
scandals with the envelopes and the double bills were exposed.  They 
were like a bolt of lighting out of a clear blue sky for us and 
radically changed our apprehension and judgment of him.   I am 
puzzled over where these people were when Olmert made the following 
mistakes.... [Such as these pertaining to regional affairs:]  1) The 
strategic failure to deal with Hamas's rise to power.  When they 
look back in retrospect, the Hamas leaders will be able to sum up 
the period between February 2006 and July 2008 as a positive period. 
 Hamas secured its hold on power, became stronger, won the hearts 
and imagination of the Muslim world, kidnapped and is still holding 
Gilad Shalit in captivity, and is gradually gaining legitimacy.  All 
this was achieved with the tacit consent of the Olmert government. 
Under the stuffed nose of this very same government, Hizbullah also 
grew stronger both militarily and politically.  While it is true 
that Nasrallah was defeated in the Second Lebanon War, the Olmert 
government managed to sweeten that defeat for him and now no one is 
more popular that he is in Lebanon.   2) Giving Assad a fantastic 
consolation prize.  Up until six months ago, Syrian President Bashar 
Assad was considered to be a diplomatic and military corpse, a 
ludicrous and washed out leader until Prime Minister Olmert extended 
a hand to him, invited him to false peace talks and, by so doing, 
rehabilitated, and even ameliorated Assad's international and 
inter-Arab status.  Syria threw Olmert a fetid bone and received in 
exchange half the kingdom.  Assad was received at the Mediterranean 
countries conference in Paris as a victorious hero, while Olmert was 
received as a loser and a guest who forced his presence on 
everyone." 
 
IV.  "A Celebration of Evil" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (7/15): 
"Preparations are in full swing in Lebanon to celebrate the return 
of Samir Kuntar.   Kuntar, who is serving multiple life sentences 
for one of the most brutal terrorist attacks in Israel's history, is 
due to be released tomorrow as part of a prisoner exchange with 
Hizbullah for Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, the two soldiers 
abducted in a July 2006 cross-border raid that triggered the Second 
Lebanon War.  According to the Lebanese media, Kuntar will be given 
a festive reception by Hizbullah at its headquarters in southern 
Beirut, and welcomed personally by its leader, Sheikh Hassan 
Nasrallah.... Lebanon's Prime Minister, Fuad Siniora, has indicated 
that his government supports the festivities planned for Kuntar.... 
However, the Lebanese people and government -- and those others in 
the Arab world, including among the Palestinians, so delighted by 
Kuntar's release -- might want to ask themselves whether this 
monster is worthy of such glorification.  Is he the kind of man they 
want as their idol?  And if so, what does that say about them?.... 
He has never expressed remorse, and, according to the Palestinian 
Authority newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, wrote a letter recently to 
Nasrallah promising not to abandon the jihad against Israel.  'I 
give you my promise and oath that my only place will be in the 
fighting front soaked with the sweat of your giving and with the 
blood of the shahids, the dearest people, and that I will continue 
your way until we reach a full victory,' the paper quoted him as 
writing.  The newspaper, incidentally, carried an article calling 
Kuntar a 'beacon of light' and an 'authentic role model.'' 
 
--------- 
¶2.  Iran: 
--------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Dan Diker, Director of the Institute for Contemporary Affairs in 
Jerusalem, a part of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, wrote 
in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "Israelis must also 
integrate the kinds of sharp intellectual, political and strategic 
differences in worldviews as noted above among U.S. officials and 
former U.S. officials, even when they share political 
affiliations." 
 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"On Green and Yellow Lights from Washington" 
 
Dan Diker, Director of the Institute for Contemporary Affairs in 
Jerusalem, a part of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, wrote 
in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (7/15): "What is 
going on [regarding current and former U.S. officials' statements 
that the U.S. has not given Israel a 'green light' to do anything 
about Iran]?  Disinformation, or perhaps a heated debate in 
Washington into which Israel has been thrust in the middle?  [Prof. 
Anthony] Cordesman's widely reported remarks at Hebrew University, 
Tel Aviv University, and at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs 
may provide insight into the contradictory signaling from 
Washington.... Cordesman suggested that Ahmadinejad is no less 
rational an actor than Bush or other Western leaders.  Cordesman's 
dismissal of the religious and ideological underpinning of the 
regime stands in sharp opposition to Bush's views, as well as those 
of Islamic affairs experts in Pentagon, vice president's office, and 
the preeminent scholar of Islam, Prof. Bernard Lewis.... Israeli 
officials and shapers of public opinion in Israel should listen 
attentively to outside assessments from Washington.  However, 
Israelis must also integrate the kinds of sharp intellectual, 
political and strategic differences in worldviews as noted above 
among U.S. officials and former U.S. officials, even when they share 
political affiliations." 
 
MORENO