VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTV #1837/01 2331058
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 201058Z AUG 08
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8057
RHEHAAA/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 4288
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 0895
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN PRIORITY 4626
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 5079
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 4282
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 2626
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 5044
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 1906
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 0119
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 8891
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 6371
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 1290
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 5393
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 7354
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM PRIORITY 0302
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHMFISS/COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/COMSIXTHFLT  PRIORITY

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001837 
 
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.  Israel: Governance 
 
¶2.  Pakistan: Musharraf Resignation 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Major media reported that PM Olmert sent a stern warning to Beirut 
yesterday, pledging that Israel would not restrain itself if Lebanon 
sanctioned a new Hizbullah offensive.  Olmert was quoted as sayng 
that that the next war "will also reach the cities and the homes of 
Israeli citizens, and the goal of our enemies will be to strike at 
the Home Front.  To this end they are procuring equipment meant to 
strike at the population." 
 
Yediot and The Jerusalem Post reported that Olmert intends to reach 
a compromise with the Labor Party on the budget and will offer to 
increase government expenditures by an extra half percentage point. 
Yediot reported that the Finance Ministry threatens a crisis with 
Olmert over this point. 
 
Israel Radio reported that Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered the 
closure of all crossings to Gaza following the firing of a rocket 
into Israel yesterday.  Earlier Ha'aretz quoted Israeli and 
Palestinian officials as saying that Israel had earlier in the day 
allowed food and other supplies to enter Gaza through the Kerem 
Shalom crossing, which had been closed for months. 
 
Major media (lead story in Yediot) quoted a senior source in the 
Pentagon as saying that the Iranian satellite experienced a 
"dramatic failure."  Israel Radio cited an Iranian denial of the 
U.S. statement.  Ha'aretz quoted former Mossad director Ephraim 
Halevy as saying in an interview with the Arab Alhurra-TV that 
Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad is the greatest gift ever 
received by Israel. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the Kadima chairmanship race was 
temporarily halted yesterday when the party's leadership decided to 
hold a re-vote in the Kadima council on whether the primary should 
be held, due to irregularities in the way the original decision was 
approved last month. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that according to a ruling released 
yesterday, the High Court of Justice has given the state three more 
months to work out a mutually acceptable arrangement with settlement 
leaders to remove the residents of the unauthorized Migron.  Major 
media reported that yesterday a wedding was held at the ruins of the 
evacuated West Bank settlement of Homesh with the authorization of 
the Defense Ministry. 
 
Leading media reported that yesterday the High Court of Justice 
issued a show-cause order and an interim injunction in response to a 
petition by four human rights groups demanding tougher charges 
against two soldiers involved in shooting a bound Palestinian at 
Na'alin a month ago. 
 
Yediot reported that contrary to an official Israeli request, Jordan 
will release today four Jordanian prisoners who killed two Israeli 
policemen in 1990.  Israel Radio reported that Aljazeera-TV 
confirmed their release. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted a GOI source as saying yesterday that contrary to a 
previous report, the daughter of senior Palestinian peace negotiator 
Ahmed Qurei has not been issued a blue Israeli identification card. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday Russia's deputy army 
chief, Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, accused Israel of arming the 
Georgian military with mines, explosive charges, special explosives 
for clearing minefields, and eight kinds of unmanned aerial 
vehicles. 
 
All media reported on the passing away yesterday at 89 of Benjamin 
Gibli, who headed IDF Intelligence at the time of the so-called 
Lavon Affair -- the scandal over a failed Israeli covert operation 
in Egypt, in which Israeli military intelligence planted bombs in 
Egyptian, American, and British-owned targets in Egypt in the summer 
of 1954.   Leading media reported that although Gibli promised to 
publish posthumously a book about his role in the affair, he will 
"take his secret to the grave." 
 
Yediot reported that MIT has selected Technion Institute researcher 
Dr. Hussam Hayek as one of the 35 most promising young scientists. 
He invented an instrument that can detect cancer using Qsmell. 
 
Makor Rishon-Hatzofe quoted visiting former presidential hopeful 
Mike Huckabee as saying that Israel-U.S. connections will become 
stronger if John McCain is elected President.  Major media reported 
that yesterday the Obama campaign appointed Daniel Shapiro as senior 
policy adviser and Jewish outreach coordinator.  Shapiro has long 
advised the campaign on issues connected to the Jewish community and 
Middle East policy. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Olmert will be questioned under caution for 
the sixth time this Friday.  Yediot cited the possibility that the 
State Prosecutor's Office might contact the FBI in order to help 
Morris Talansky following his assistance in the "money envelope" 
affair. 
 
In an interview with Ha'aretz, former Egyptian ambassador in Tel 
Aviv Muhammad Bassiouny denied having spied on Israel, contrary to 
recent media reports. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the American Embassy in Tel Aviv 
told an American residing in Israel that her children might not be 
eligible for citizenship if she spent less than five years in the 
U.S.  The newspaper reported that a U.S. Citizen and Immigration 
Services press officer referred The Jerusalem Post to the law 
regulating citizenship.  The Jerusalem Post also reported on the 
case of a Filipino caregiver of an octogenarian American immigrant 
to whom the U.S. Consulate-General in Jerusalem denied a U.S. visa. 
 
Leading media reported that US Airways wants to offer year-round 
daily service between Philadelphia and Tel Aviv. 
 
 
 
 
 
----------------------- 
¶1.  Israel: Governance: 
----------------------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Columnist Ari Shavit wrote in the independent, left-leaning 
Ha'aretz: "Livni feels that she is now the great white hope, and 
this hope empowers and obligates her.  But here and there, this hope 
nevertheless drowns her in fear and trembling." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
"The Leading Candidate" 
 
Columnist Ari Shavit wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz 
(8/20): "The leading candidate for the prime ministry is sure of 
herself.... The Foreign Minister feels that she is ready and willing 
to lead the country.... She knows that a government headed by her 
would not serve Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu's interests, and 
therefore, Netanyahu will refuse [to join a national unity 
government].  If that happens, there is a good chance that the Livni 
government will be a continuation of the current Olmert 
government.... The Foreign Minister's intellectual libido has been 
invested almost exclusively in the negotiations with the 
Palestinians.  On the issues of Iran, Syria and Hamas, Livni has no 
crystallized views.  Nor does she have any about the approaching 
economic crisis.  Yet when the candidate talks with her associates 
about the next government's agenda, she raises a plethora of ideas, 
some of which contain surprises.  First of all comes changing the 
electoral system.... But above all, Livni believes in the sanity she 
is offering.  With her, there will be no male ego games or macho 
competitions.  With her, decisions will be made normally and the 
considerations will be substantive.  Therefore, she is in a hurry; 
she wants to get to work.  Livni feels that she is now the great 
white hope, and this hope empowers and obligates her.  But here and 
there, this hope nevertheless drowns her in fear and trembling." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
------------------------------------ 
¶2.  Pakistan: Musharraf Resignation: 
------------------------------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "If the 
Arab-Israel conflict were solved tomorrow -- in its entirety -- the 
impact on south Asia would be marginal." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"Lessons from Islamabad" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (8/20): 
"When Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf shook hands with prime 
minister Ariel Sharon at the UN General Assembly in September 2005, 
Israelis hoped they were witnessing the dawn of a new era in 
relations between the second most populous Muslim state and the 
world's only Jewish one.... [Musharraf] never even came close to 
establishing diplomatic relations with Israel.  He did, however, let 
it be known that the Palestinian problem 'lies at the heart of 
terrorism in the Middle East and beyond.'  Musharraf's analysis 
demands a high degree of gullibility... Shortly after 9/11, 
then-U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell gave Musharraf an 
ultimatum: 'You are either with us or against us.'  Pakistan's 
leadership opted to cooperate with the West, champion moderate Islam 
and appease Islamist forces within the country.  In a sense, 
Pakistan has been 'with us and against us.'  Western observers can 
draw at least two lessons from the Pakistani experience.  First, 
instability in Pakistan and Afghanistan is mostly endemic; if the 
Arab-Israel conflict were solved tomorrow -- in its entirety -- the 
impact on south Asia would be marginal.  And second, Western leaders 
should stop deluding themselves about the utility of working with 
Muslim counterparts who cannot -- or will not -- deliver on their 
promises." 
 
CUNNINGHAM