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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001543 
 
STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD 
 
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM 
NSC FOR NEA STAFF 
 
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PARIS ALSO FOR POL 
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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: 
------------------------- 
 
All media led with the return of the bodies of abducted IDF soldiers 
Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser.  Major media highlighted pictures 
of PM Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Olmert, and IDF Chief of 
Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi comforting the killed servicemen's 
families.  Media quoted officials as saying that an initial 
examination of the bodies revealed that both soldiers were killed 
during the assault on their border patrol two years ago, an attack 
that sparked the Second Lebanon War.  Uncharacteristic of the 
subdued headlines in most newspapers, but reflectingQide public 
sentiment, Israel Hayom bannered:QOur Pain, their Wickedness," Shas 
newspaper Yom Leyom: "Pain opposite a Cruel Enemy," and GlobeQ 
"Whom We Deal With."  The media reported that yesterday Hizbullah 
Secretary-General Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah "left his bunker" to 
participate in the celebrations for the release of Samir Kuntar and 
his comrades.  Media quoted Kuntar as saying that Israel will be 
longing for eliminated Hizbullah COO Imad Mughniyah.  Yediot quoted 
a senior Israeli source as saying that Kuntar is slated for 
assassination.  Maariv printed a lengthy interview with Kuntar.  The 
Jerusalem Post reported that Knesset members vowed revenge against 
Nasrallah.  Leading media cited Israel's concern that Hizbullah will 
initiate attacks against Israel and prevent IAF overflight of 
Lebanon. 
 
The media reported that Morris Talansky's five-day cross-examination 
will start today.  Yediot reported that the FBI is probing 
Talansky's possible money laundering in the U.S. 
 
Leading media reported that the U.S.-Iran dialogue has resumed after 
30 years.  Israel Radio quoted the British daily The Guardian as 
saying that the U.S. will open an interests section in Tehran next 
month.  Israel Radio quoted officials in Jerusalem as saying 
yesterday that the demand that Iran suspend its enrichment of 
uranium has to be a condition for any negotiations and should not 
under any circumstances be dropped. 
 
Israel Radio reported that the Pentagon has informed the Congress 
that it may sell Israel four warships manufactured by 
Lockheed-Martin which cost $1.9 billion.  The ships belong to a new 
generation designed for coastal patrolling. 
 
Yediot reported that early this month a large Israeli-made drone 
crashed in Afghanistan, and implied that it may have fallen into the 
Taliban's hands.  The UAV was on an intelligence mission at the 
service of the Spanish forces 
 
Maariv cited a Reuters news item that many U.S. Evangelicals have 
disassociated themselves from Olmert because of his willingness to 
divide Jerusalem. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the Shin Bet and Israel Police have opened a 
criminal investigation against former IDF Intelligence (MI) chief 
Eli Zeira, on suspicion of disclosing state secrets.  This marks the 
first time that the Shin Bet has investigated allegations involving 
state security against a senior officer -- Zeira is a major 
general-- and former MI head.  The investigation is focusing on the 
allegation that Zeira revealed the name of Ashraf Marwan, the Mossad 
agent and Egyptian businessman who died under mysterious 
circumstances in London about a year ago. 
 
Maariv advises Israelis to buy property in the U.S. at this time. 
 
Leading media reported that the Israeli pharmaceutical company Teva 
is weighing the acquisition of the U.S. firm Barr Pharmaceuticals 
for $7.4 billion. 
 
Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post reported that Eric Silver, doyen of 
the foreign press in Jerusalem, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 
¶73. 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote on page one of the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "[U.S. officials'] excuses for 
changing American policy vis-a-vis Iran sound exactly like Olmert's 
excuses for agreeing to a cease-fire with Hamas and a prisoner 
exchange with Hizbullah."Diplomatic correspondent Shimon Shiffer wrote in the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "Hizbullah has proven 
over the past two years that his understanding of Israeli society is 
not so great as one believes." 
 
Veteran columnist Evelyn Gordon wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post: "Unless the U.S., and the world, 
understand that appeasing Hizbullah at Israel's expense will only 
invite further aggression, Sheba could well prove the spark that 
ignited a chain reaction of international conflicts round the 
globe." 
 
Liberal columnist and anchor Ofer Shelach wrote on page one of the 
popular, pluralist Maariv: "A strong society, which loves life, does 
not bother with vain posturing and promises of revenge." 
 
Ha'aretz editorialized: "The crux of [the] reassessment [of Israeli 
policy on prisoner exchange] should be how we differentiate between 
the living and the dead, between exchanges involving live prisoners 
and dead soldiers -- a differentiation that has become worryingly 
blurred in Israeli society." 
 
Middle East affairs commentator Dr. Guy Bechor, a lecturer at the 
Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in Yediot Aharonot: "The situation 
in southern Lebanon is stable at present and does not appear to be 
threatening.  By and large the latest developments in Lebanon have 
been positive from Israel's point of view." 
 
Conservative columnist Uri Orbach "addressed"  the Lebanese people 
in Yediot Aharonot: "Israel has no border conflict with you, the 
Lebanese people, but we definitely have a big struggle over your 
moral limits.... For 30 years you have failed to tell between a 
national hero and a child-murderer." 
 
Columnist Ari Shavit wrote in Ha'aretz: "Two years after an 
ephemeral militia provoked a regional superpower, the militia is 
growing stronger than ever, and the regional superpower is in a 
state of turmoil, degeneration and foggy stupor." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "The Summer of Talk" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote on page one of the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (7/17): "The prisoner-body 
exchange between Israel and Hizbullah should be seen in its wider 
context.... American officials mock their Israeli counterparts any 
time they recite long-winded monologues about the 'struggle between 
moderates and extremists' in the Middle East. How does this struggle 
exist in the same universe as Israel's agreement to talk to Hamas 
and Hizbullah? the Americans ask.  But their excuses for changing 
American policy vis-a-vis Iran sound exactly like Olmert's excuses 
for agreeing to a cease-fire with Hamas and a prisoner exchange with 
Hizbullah.  The Americans and the Israelis insist that it is not 
dialogue, that the tough policy remains intact and that they do not 
believe the other side." 
 
II.  "Petty Nasrallah" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Shimon Shiffer wrote in the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (7/17): "Since the 
[Second Lebanon] War, Hizbullah ... has been behaving with 
restraint.  I suggest that Israeli not blame themselves for 
everything.... Nasrallah has proven over the past two years that his 
understanding of Israeli society is not so great as one believes. 
When he wanted to trade body parts of other soldiers, the families 
of the soldiers were the first to tell him: 'Keep the body parts; we 
won't pay for what you have left.'  Udi Goldwasser and Eldad Regev 
came back home yesterday because Israel had clarified that there is 
a possibility that they would be declared killed in action and that 
Hizbullah would not get anything." 
 
III.  "Hizbullah's Next Pretext" 
 
Veteran columnist Evelyn Gordon wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post (7/17): "Pressing Israel to cede Sheba is 
worse than pointless; it is destructive.  By demonstrating that no 
border, even if unanimously certified by the Security Council, is 
actually final -- that each 'certified' border is merely a starting 
point for new territorial claims -- it would preclude any chance of 
Middle East peace.  Clearly, Israel would have no incentive for 
additional withdrawals under these circumstances.... Even worse, 
however, a Hizbullah victory over Sheba would eliminate other 
countries' incentive to restrain their own radical organizations.... 
If Hizbullah's tactic succeeds, it would be a win-win proposition 
for every government in the Middle East.... It is rare that a single 
decision contains the potential for sowing so much havoc.  But 
unless the U.S., and the world, understand that appeasing Hizbullah 
at Israel's expense will only invite further aggression, Sheba could 
well prove the spark that ignited a chain reaction of international 
conflicts round the globe." 
IV.  "Tenacity, But No Revenge" 
 
Liberal columnist and anchor Ofer Shelach wrote on page one of the 
popular, pluralist Maariv (7/17): "Our problem isn't Nasrallah.  The 
macabre sights that he produces, including a display of coffins on 
live broadcast yesterday, are not really an ingenious toying with 
the battered Israeli psyche.  If anything, they only confirm what we 
think of him, and the sense of our own moral superiority.  The 
problem is the paradigm of the Goldwasser and Regev families, who 
over the last two years have been the epitome of a tenacious and 
effective public battle on the one hand, and a noble one on the 
other -- but this model has not been implemented in other places, 
including in the government and in the media.  The problem is that 
we are beginning to believe that we are indeed made of spider 
webs.... There is no point in looking back, there is also no point 
in continuing the festival of crying, which is probably not to the 
liking of these two noble families.  What we have to remember is: A 
strong society, which loves life, does not bother with vain 
posturing and promises of revenge.  It does not try to repay its 
enemies' insults with other insults and cruelty for cruelty, it does 
not wallow in its pain and on the other hand, it does not preoccupy 
itself endlessly with its image of deterrence." 
 
 
¶V.  "The Deal and the Reassessment" 
 
Ha'aretz editorialized (7/17): "This marks the end of the deal with 
Hizbullah.  From this point on, what is needed is a serious 
reassessment of the Israeli position.  The crux of this reassessment 
should be how we differentiate between the living and the dead, 
between exchanges involving live prisoners and dead soldiers -- a 
differentiation that has become worryingly blurred in Israeli 
society.  One can certainly understand the Goldwasser and Regev 
families, who, until the very last moment, were unable to accept 
that their sons were no longer alive and needed clear-cut proof to 
start the mourning process.  It is harder to understand the 
addiction of an entire country to an illusion that was orchestrated 
by Hizbullah, but which relied heavily on the Israeli media and 
Israeli politicians, who infused the negotiations with promises, 
cliches, jingles, bicycle rides, and problematic statements like 
'bring the boys back home.'  After all, it was clear to all that IDF 
soldiers and fatalities are not children, and that bodies cannot be 
'brought home' -- only buried." 
 
VI.  "Hizbullah's Capitulation" 
Middle East affairs commentator Dr. Guy Bechor, a lecturer at the 
Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in Yediot Aharonot (7/17): "As a 
result of the fighting in Beirut, Hizbullah lost the legitimacy that 
had enabled it to dictate political discourse in Lebanon.... The 
Siniora government symbolizes a return to normality in Lebanon, and 
it is a masterpiece of careful ethnic representation.... The 
Christians are over-represented and the Shiites very 
under-represented. Hizbullah agreed to this.  And what about 
Hizbullah's presence in southern Lebanon, south of the Litani?  The 
IDF has charged that the organization is smuggling arms and 
munitions into that area. UNIFIL, in its last report, denies this 
categorically.  It is precisely the UNIFIL report which is worthy of 
credence, because Hizbullah abides strictly by the rules laid down 
for the territory south of the Litani.... The situation in southern 
Lebanon is stable at present and does not appear to be threatening. 
By and large the latest developments in Lebanon have been positive 
from Israel's point of view." 
 
VII.  "A Letter to the Lebanese" 
 
Conservative columnist Uri Orbach "addressed"  the Lebanese people 
in Yediot Aharonot (7/17): "Israel has no border conflict with you, 
the Lebanese people, but we definitely have a big struggle over your 
moral limits.  We identified the bodies of our [dead soldiers] Udi 
and Eldad within a few hours.  And you?  For 30 years you have 
failed to identify the nature of your Samir Kuntar.  For 30 years 
you have failed to differentiate between a national hero and a 
child-murderer.  From your point of view, it is enough for someone 
to have killed a Jew, be it a little girl from Nahariya, to be 
welcomed among you with honor due to royalty.... This is a sad day 
for Israel, but it contains pain, restraint, and pride over 
everything we are: a fortified Jewish wall against the spearhead of 
the Iranian folly, with your silence and encouragement.  Our sons 
have come back -- so has the child-murderer to your country.  With 
great grief we received bodies.  You received a bastard.  Look at 
the difference." 
 
VIII.  "Here Are the Results of That War" 
 
Columnist Ari Shavit wrote in Ha'aretz (7/17): "Here are the results 
of Israel's war against Hizbullah so far.... Two years after an 
ephemeral militia provoked a regional superpower, the militia is 
growing stronger than ever, and the regional superpower is in a 
state of turmoil, degeneration and foggy stupor.... In two and a 
half years of Olmert's government, Israel has failed in four 
different campaigns.  None of these failures was necessary. 
Basically Israel was and remains a very powerful country.  However, 
when a stupid government conducts a foolish policy in every field 
and respect, the result is a resounding failure.  This failure could 
become a real threat -- no, not a threat to our survival, but 
definitely a strategic one." 
 
MORENO