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DE RUEHTV #1755/01 2241206
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P 111206Z AUG 08
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
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RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN PRIORITY 4584
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RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 4242
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 2583
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 5002
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 1866
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 0078
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 8853
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 6333
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RHMFIUU/COMSIXTHFLT  PRIORITY

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001755 
 
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.  Fighting in Georgia 
 
¶2.  Mideast 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Over the weekend almost all media led with the fighting in Georgia. 
Today Yediot bannered: "Russia's Iron Fist."  Ha'aretz quoted 
Foreign Ministry officials as saying that Israel is hoping to 
maintain a low profile with regard to the war in Georgia.  One 
source noted that currently, neither side of the conflict is pleased 
with Israel's position, since Russia has been irked by 
Israeli-Georgian weapons deals for some time, and Tbilisi is now 
frustrated by Israel's decision to halt arms exports.  Ha'aretz 
reported that in a move which drew heavy criticism from defense 
officials, Israel's Foreign Ministry over the weekend recommended 
complete cessation of the sale of weapons and security-related 
equipment to Georgia in light of the fighting between its troops and 
the Russian Army.  Several media quoted the Foreign Ministry as 
saying yesterday that it "recognizes the territorial integrity of 
Georgia,"  "The Foreign Ministry's approach demonstrates a naively 
simplistic view and a lack of understanding of the complex world of 
the security deals which Israel is conducting with foreign 
partners," a defense official told Ha'aretz on condition of 
anonymity.  The Jerusalem Post reported that Tbilisi wants Israel to 
place diplomatic pressure on Russia, whereas Israel is consulting 
Russia to fend off bilateral tension.  Speaking on Israel Radio 
yesterday Georgian Minister Temur Yakobshvili praised Israel for its 
role in training Georgian troops and was quoted as saying that 
Israel should be proud of its military might. 
 
Speaking about the situation in the Gaza Strip, Barak admitted in an 
interview with Channel 10-TV yesterday that even a large-scale IDF 
invasion would not stop militant attacks on Israel, adding that he 
would prefer to see the current cease fire between Israel and Hamas 
remain in place.  He was quoted as saying that a seven-week-old 
Egyptian-mediated truce is effectively halting the Qassam rocket 
barrages.  Referring to FM Tzipi Livni's bid to gain the 
premiership, Barak was also quoted as saying: "It is possible to 
have a prime minister without a security background.  The question 
is what would be wise to do," adding that the country had "seen this 
deficiency at work two years ago" referring to PM Ehud Olmert's lack 
of military experience, and how that disadvantage manifested itself 
in what is widely held as Olmert's faulty handling of the Second 
Lebanon War in 2006.  Barak was also quoted as saying that in his 
mind the right thing to do now, in the face of security threats and 
the impending economic recession, would be to form a national unity 
government.  Barring this, Barak was quoted as saying that general 
elections should be held. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted a Defense Ministry official as saying yesterday that 
the Egyptian mediators brokering a deal for the release of Gilad 
Shalit have made no progress in their talks with Hamas.  Israel 
Radio and other media quoted a senior Hamas source who told the 
London-based Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat that Egypt was not interested in 
expediting the deal for Shalit's release because it did not want 
Hamas to receive credit for it.  The source was quoted as saying 
that Egypt was not eager to invest efforts and persuade Israel to 
agree to the terms for concluding the deal. Ha'aretz also reported 
that Egypt has recently sealed dozens of tunnels that were used to 
smuggle goods and weapons from the Sinai to Gaza. 
 
Yesterday Israel Radio cited London's Sunday Times as saying that 
the Syrian general who was assassinated last week, Mohammed 
Suleiman, supplied Hizbullah with advanced anti-aircraft missiles. 
The British newspaper quoted Israeli sources as saying that last 
month PM Olmert asked French President Nicolas Sarkozy to give 
Syrian President Assad a message that as far as Israel is concerned, 
he has crossed a red line by supplying Hizbullah with arms. 
 
Yesterday Maariv reported that last Wednesday the High Court of 
Justice ruled that the PA does not enjoy full sovereign status and 
that lawsuits may be brought against it in Israeli courts, which 
could lead to dozens of damage suits against the PA. 
 
Leading media reported that veteran journalist Shalom Kital, who 
enjoyed a special affinity with the late PM Menachem Begin, will 
soon sign on as a special adviser to Defense Minister Barak. 
 
Leading media reported on the death on Saturday in Austin, Texas, of 
the Palestinian national poet Mahmoud Darwish.  He will be buried in 
Ramallah tomorrow, despite calls by Arab intellectuals to inter him 
in the Galilee, where he was born. 
 
Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that last week left-wing Ha'aretz 
columnist Gideon Levy granted an interview to the German newspaper 
National-Zeitung, which is considered a mouthpiece for neo-Nazi 
groups.  Levy said in the interview that conditions in Israel are 
worse that those that prevailed during South Africa's apartheid 
period. 
 
Maariv reported that the Finance Ministry has banned the import of 
books printed in Syria and Lebanon -- mostly translations of popular 
children's books. 
 
------------------------ 
¶1.  FiQting in Georgia: 
------------------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Herb Keinon wrote on page one of the 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "Israel wants to help 
Georgia -- up to a point.  And that point is where that help begins 
to hurt Israel's own strategic interests with the Russians." 
 
Visiting Professor of Political Science at the University of Haifa 
Avraham (Avi) Ben-Zvi wrote in the independent Israel Hayom: "A call 
for a Russian withdrawal from Georgian territory is still missing 
from official U.S. rhetoric, to say nothing about sanctions ahead of 
a possible war." 
 
 
 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Israel Tiptoes around the Georgian Conflict" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Herb Keinon wrote on page one of the 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (8/11): "Israel wants to 
help Georgia -- up to a point.  And that point is where that help 
begins to hurt Israel's own strategic interests with the Russians. 
Israel wants to keep the Russians from Tehran, and to try to somehow 
get them on board as far as sanctions are concerned.  Israel needs 
Russia on the Iranian issue, and is not going to get that help by 
selling too much to Georgia.  At the same time, the Russian-Georgian 
conflict does give Israel some newfound leverage with the Russians. 
Because if the Russians do show signs of selling offensive arms to 
our neighbors, Israel could respond in kind by selling offensive 
arms to Russia's neighbors, such as Georgia." 
 
II.  "Groveling Stuttering" 
 
Visiting Professor of Political Science at the University of Haifa 
Avraham (Avi) Ben-Zvi wrote in the independent Israel Hayom (8/11): 
"Even if his diplomatic options are limited, there is no 
justification for the fact that Bush is entrusting the negotiating 
to other mediators, including France and even Finland.  Even if the 
U.S. administration's warnings against disproportional actions 
against Georgia can be viewed as a toughening of positions, a call 
for a Russian withdrawal from Georgian territory is still missing 
from official U.S. rhetoric, to say nothing about sanctions ahead of 
a possible war." 
 
------------ 
¶2.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "While Lebanon has no 
centrifuges or enriched uranium, it has turned into a genuine 
threat, having dragged Israel into a number of wars and perpetually 
high levels of tension." 
 
Prominent liberal author A. B. Yehoshua wrote in the popular, 
pluralist Maariv: "I had always hoped for another meeting in the 
future, but here he has died -- [Mahmoud Darwish], the poet who was 
both our adversary and our friend." 
 
Veteran journalist and anchor Dan Margalit wrote on page one of the 
independent Israel Hayom: "[The just deceased Palestinian national 
poet Mahmoud]  Darwish advocated the expulsion of a people, and if 
he were Jewish and had written in Hebrew, he would have been 
declared a war criminal, a racist and a fascist." 
 
Very liberal columnist Gideon Levy wrote in Ha'aretz: "[Shaul 
Mofaz's] hands have a great deal more blood on them than this scary 
Netanyahu has." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
¶I.  "A Single Precondition" 
 
Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (8/10): "Israel is justly 
demanding that Syria stops the arms exports to Lebanon, just as it 
has asked Egypt to stop the arms smuggling from its territory to the 
Gaza Strip.  The U.S. also maintains that Syria can prevent the 
transfer of terrorists and arms from its territory into Iraq. 
However, there is a difference between Egypt, which is trying to 
block the transfer of arms and is even combating the terrorist 
groups in Sinai, and Syria.  Because Syria ... views Hizbullah as a 
strategic asset and not a threatening rival, like Egypt views 
Hamas..... While Lebanon has no centrifuges or enriched uranium, it 
has turned into a genuine threat, having dragged Israel into a 
number of wars and perpetually high levels of tension.  Israel, 
which is threatening to forcefully put an end to the flow of arms to 
Hizbullah, cannot simultaneously toy with polite negotiations with 
Syria.  It is difficult to expect Syria to continue negotiating with 
Israel if it attacks Hizbullah's arms depots, or if it targets the 
Syrian arms storage facilities that ship to Lebanon.  But this is 
the same Syria that, following American threats and sanctions, knew 
how to put an end to terrorists and arms entering Iraq and 
recognized that it must take a step back when Turkey threatened war 
after accusing Damascus of supporting Kurdish separatist 
organizations.  Syria can and should block the border with Lebanon. 
This is not a gesture of goodwill toward Israel, but a precondition 
for continuing negotiations." 
 
II.  "A Poet, a Friend, and an Adversary" 
 
Prominent liberal author A. B. Yehoshua wrote in the popular, 
pluralist Maariv (8/10): "First of all, Mahmoud Darwish was a great 
poet who possessed true poetic power.... Mahmoud voluntarily exiled 
himself from Israel, and I always regretted that..... He seemed to 
me to be a worthy partner  -- difficult and critical, but worthy. 
Very quickly he became the Palestinians' national poet, the poet of 
exile, and the poet of the refugee condition.... DarwishQs figure 
was so enticing to me that I created a shadow of it in [my novel] 
The Liberated Bride.... He came a year and a half ago to visit 
Haifa, and Jews and Arabs here prepared a wonderful welcome for 
him..... I had always hoped for another meeting in the future, but 
here he has died -- the poet who was both our adversary and our 
friend." 
 
III.  "Adulation of a Racist" 
 
Veteran journalist and anchor Dan Margalit wrote on page one of the 
independent Israel Hayom (8/11): "More than bemoaning the 
destruction of its national sovereignty on Tisha B'Av [the day of 
mourning for the Jews' First and Second Temple], the people residing 
in Zion pranced yesterday before the coffin of Palestinian poet 
Mahmoud Darwish in a kind of adulation of someone who called in his 
works to expel the Jews from the Land of Israel, and to give them 
the bones of their forefathers to carry as they go into exile.  A 
kind of judenrein that includes the cemeteries as well.  A kind of 
Ahmadinejad in poetry.  A kind of Nakba intended for Jews.... 
Darwish advocated the expulsion of a people, and if he were Jewish 
and had written in Hebrew, he would have been declared a war 
criminal, a racist and a fascist." 
 
IV.  "Netanyahu the Devil" 
 
Very liberal columnist Gideon Levy wrote in Ha'aretz (8/10): 
"They're playing that old tune again:  Anybody but Benjamin 
('they're-afffraid') Netanyahu.  Shaul Mofaz loves peace; Tzipi 
Livni will end the occupation; and Ehud Barak will treat the 
Palestinians like human beings.  Only Netanyahu will bring disaster. 
 Once again, the political fashion is to discuss how to stop the 
king of the opinion polls and the prince of disaster.... Mofaz, for 
example, should frighten us much more: His hands have a great deal 
more blood on them than this scary Netanyahu has.  While Netanyahu 
dispatched a representative to the Syrian president and sent out 
feelers about an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan, Mofaz pledges 
'peace for peace,' insults our intelligence, and actually promises 
another war in the north.  The father of assassinations, he turned 
the Israel Defense Forces into a vengeful gang in the occupied 
territories.... Barak's current term as defense minister does not 
give us reason to fear him any less than Netanyahu: This was a 
period of disproportionate and unbridled killing in Gaza.  This is 
the man who invented the false no-partner theory and smashed the 
remnants of the Israeli peace camp.... And what about Livni?  She is 
certainly not as fearsome as Netanyahu.  But she, too, thinks that 
talks with Syria and the Palestinians are moving too fast.  After 40 
years of occupation and bloodshed, Olmert's turtle-like pace is too 
fast for his 'moderate' foreign minister.  That is the choice.... 
The media embraces Livni, accepts Mofaz as legitimate, sometimes 
supports Barak, but is terrified only by Netanyahu.  Why?" 
 
MORENO