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PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTV #1743/01 2210958
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 080958Z AUG 08
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7924
RHMFUU/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAHQA/HQ USAF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEADWD/DA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/CNO WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI PRIORITY 4245
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 0852
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN PRIORITY 4578
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 5034
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 4237
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 2577
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 4997
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 1861
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 0073
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 8848
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 6328
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 1245
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 5350
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 7308
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM PRIORITY 0241
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHMFISS/COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/COMSIXTHFLT  PRIORITY

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001743 
 
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.  China Olympics 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that a top Israeli defense official has 
told the daily that if Russia goes through with the sale of its most 
advanced anti-aircraft missile system to Iran, Israel will use an 
electronic warfare device now under development to neutralize it and 
as a result present Russia as vulnerable to air infiltrations. 
Media quoted Defense Minister Ehud Barak as saying in an interview 
with the Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera that all options for 
dealing with the Iranian threat were "open and ready."  Barak 
stressed the importance of "strengthening and accelerating economic 
sanctions against Iran."  Media reported that in Beijing today 
President Shimon Peres met with Chinese President Hu Jintao and 
stressed to him the "global nature" of Iran's nuclear problem. 
Media quoted Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as saying yesterday 
in an interview with Yahoo News and Politico that the U.S. would not 
"say yes or no" to an Israeli military strike on Iran.  She also 
said that Iran's answer to the incentives package offered by world 
powers Qis not a really serious answerQ, and warned that new 
economic sanctions were the next likely step if the country 
continued to refuse to freeze its nuclear program.   Iranian Press 
Attache in Damascus Majeed Bishtistani was quoted as saying in an 
interview with the Arabic-language Assennara, in response to Israeli 
and American calls to attack Iran, that if Israel does anything 
stupid it will endure an unprecedented devastating reaction. 
 
Ha'aretz wrote that U.S. Gen. Keith Dayton "has a daunting task: 
convincing Palestinians that by organizing their security forces, 
they can bring statehood closer, and showing Israelis that if they 
ease restrictions, the Palestinians will be more responsible 
neighbors." 
 
Several media quoted the British Consulate as saying that a small 
group of settlers attacked a delegation of British diplomats during 
a visit to Hebron yesterday.  The British diplomats were taking part 
in a tour by Breaking the Silence (an organization of veteran 
Israeli soldiers that collects testimonies of soldiers who served in 
the territories during the Second Intifada). 
 
Israel Radio reported that three Gaza students wrote Secretary of 
State Condoleezza Rice this week, asking that she rescind the 
revocation of their student visas to the U.S.  One of them wrote 
that he did not understand the reason for the move.  Ha'aretz 
reported that a Palestinian woman who gave birth to quadruplets at 
Ashkelon's Barzilai Hospital this week this week cannot have her 
husband visit her from Khan Yunis (Gaza)  -- nor will Israel let her 
return to him in Gaza 
 
Maariv reported hat the IDF favors the continuation of the truce 
with Hamas, and that Shin Bet is opposed to it. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted a source in the Attorney General's Office 
as saying that Israel is battling hard to overturn a Spanish court's 
decision to issue arrest warrants against six current and former 
politicians and senior military officials. 
 
The Jerusalem Post and Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that a 
compromise has been reached regarding the unauthorized outpost of 
Migron: The settler leadership is set to vote on a Defense Ministry 
proposal to relocate the community, most likely to an undeveloped 
area of a nearby settlement. 
 
Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday Israel 
opened a roadblock to trucks on a road near Hebron. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Israel will hold Lebanon responsible for any 
attacks against Israel, in particular for any Hizbullah efforts to 
avenge the death of its military leader Imad Mughniyah.  The 
decision represents a change in Israeli policy, after always firmly 
separating Hizbullah and the Lebanese government. 
 
All media reported that yesterday Finance Minister Roni Bar-On 
endorsed FM Tzipi Livni's candidacy for Kadima chairmanship. 
 
Yediot excerpted a new book by former U.S. Ambassador to Israel 
Martin Indyk, "Innocent Abroad," in which he claims that 
Israeli-Syrian peace was missed in Shepherdstown in 1999, and that 
former PM Ehud Barak "played around" with then President Bill 
Clinton and former Syrian FM Farouk Shara. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel has relayed to Turkey its 
reservations about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's scheduled 
"working visit" to Turkey on Wednesday. 
 
The Jerusalem Post cited an AP report that Hans-Gert Pottering, the 
head of the European Parliament, said yesterday in Lebanon that the 
EU is ready to broker Israel-Syria peace talks. 
 
All media highlighted the crash of a civilian light aircraft at 
Haifa's airport yesterday.  The media evoked ongoing concerns of a 
strike at one of the city's chemical plants. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Editor-in-Chief David Horovitz wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post: "It is not the first time that the U.S. 
has seemed to underestimate some of the potential dangers associated 
with the entirely admirable effort to enable deserving young Gazans 
to enjoy the benefits of the Fulbright program." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"That Elusive Balance" 
 
Editor-in-Chief David Horovitz wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post (8/8): "Whether or not [the] fiasco [over 
the Fulbright students from Gaza] was a consequence of an Israeli 
failure to communicate the extent of its concerns in an efficient 
manner, it is not the first time that the U.S. has seemed to 
underestimate some of the potential dangers associated with the 
entirely admirable effort to enable deserving young Gazans to enjoy 
the benefits of the Fulbright program.... But there are two other 
lessons of the Fulbright saga, and of this week's world-upside-down 
influx to Israel of terrified, desperate Palestinian gunmen from 
Gaza.  First, that Israel is the sole reliable guarantor of its own 
security and can only be thoroughly cautious in relinquishing 
aspects of that role, even as it seeks to empower relative 
Palestinian moderates.  And second, that where at least some 
Palestinians are concerned, Israel is the best guarantor of their 
security as well." 
 
------------------- 
¶2.  China Olympics: 
------------------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "Beyond 
self-interest, 21st-century China has another reason to block the 
Iranian bomb: Chinese ascendancy on the world stage.  With world 
leadership come responsibilities." 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "Fairness is a 
fundamental principle of the Olympic Games; now the guests from the 
West need to serve as an example of this." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "China's Olympic Challenge" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (8/8): 
"China's relationship with Tehran, its permanent seat on the UN 
Security Council, and its status as a first-tier world power 
position Beijing as a key player in international efforts to block 
Iran from producing nuclear weapons.  Conversely, if China joins 
Russia in helping Iran play for time, it will effectively remove the 
UN from efforts to solve the crisis via diplomacy.... The people of 
China deserve to reap the bounty of their country's extraordinary 
achievements without the unprecedented threat to world stability 
posed by Iranian fanaticism, hegemony, and bellicosity.  Beyond 
self-interest, 21st-century China has another reason to block the 
Iranian bomb: Chinese ascendancy on the world stage.  With world 
leadership come responsibilities.  President Hu must now summon the 
courage to define his country's interests within the global 
context." 
 
II.  "One World, Many Dreams" 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized  (8/8): "China 
can pride itself on the impressive successes at meeting the targets 
it set for itself in preparing to host the Games.... However, behind 
the scenes, China continues to respond with brutal toughness against 
anyone who disrupts its plans.... The human and global implications 
of the Games will be known only the day after the Olympics.  Will 
the Olympics of 'One World, One Dream' change the host country? 
Will the Beijing Olympics of 2008 usher in a new dawn?  The answer 
will be provided by 12,000 athletes and 23,000 journalists from 200 
countries, who will report home every day, every hour, about what 
they saw in Beijing.  These observers must not avert their gaze from 
the regime's possible injustices against freedom of expression and 
movement.  But they should also not fall victim to predetermined 
political views, and instead remain open to possible surprises. 
Fairness is a fundamental principle of the Olympic Games; now the 
guests from the West need to serve as an example of this." 
 
MORENO