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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002057 
 
STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD 
 
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM 
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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.  PM Olmert's Legal Entanglement 
 
¶2.  Global War on Terror 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Ha'aretz quoted a police source as saying yesterday that there is a 
good chance that PM Ehud Olmert could be convicted of money 
laundering, a crime which carries a maximum 10-year jail sentence. 
While a bribery charge is regarded as much harder to prove, the 
source added that it would be difficult for Olmert to evade the 
money-laundering charges.  The media reported on the controversy 
sparked by Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann's comment that the 
police have "toppled" Olmert.  Although Olmert announced on July 30 
that he would resign the day after the Kadima primaries, The 
Jerusalem Post quoted Kadima leadership candidates and their 
loyalists as saying that he must go a step further and leave the 
Prime Minster's Office now. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that a special ministerial task force has 
completed drafting a list of 450 Palestinian prisoners whom Israel 
would be willing to release in exchange for Gilad Shalit.  The 
newspaper says that a ministerial committee headed by Vice PM Haim 
Ramon finished drafting the list on Sunday and submitted it to 
Olmert.  In the next few days, Olmert will discuss it with FM Tzipi 
Livni and DM Ehud Barak, and if the three approve the list, it will 
be sent to Egypt for transfer to Hamas as a formal Israeli offer. 
This is the first time Israel has submitted a list of its own, 
rather than merely approving or rejecting names submitted by Hamas. 
At the same time, Israel is threatening to take "various active 
measures" should Hamas continue to delay talks over the captive 
soldier. Israeli officials sent this message to Hamas via an 
Egyptian mediator last week.  Yediot reported that a growing number 
of members of the Israeli defense establishment want to break up the 
"tahdiya" (truce) in order to create pressure on Hamas  to resume 
the talks to release Shalit.  Nasser a-Din a-Shaer, who was Hamas 
deputy prime minister, was quoted as saying in an interview with 
Israel Radio that most of the Palestinians were willing to end the 
conflict with Israel if a permanent agreement based on the 1967 
borders were reached.  He said he himself was willing to recognize 
Israel if this step were mutual.  He urged Israel not to ignore 
Hamas and not to persecute its activists in the West Bank, because 
it is better to work with people whom one knows, and not with people 
operating as an underground.  He added that PA President Mahmoud 
Abbas need not fear a Hamas takeover of the West Bank, since Israel 
would not allow it.  A-Shaer pointed out that although he served in 
the Hamas government, he himself is not a member of the 
organization. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Gen. James Jones, Washington's security 
coordinator for Israeli-Palestinian talks, will arrive here tonight 
for what will probably be his last visit in this capacity.  Ha'aretz 
reported that Israeli security sources told the paper that it would 
be a mistake to make security concessions in a formalized document 
outlining Israel's security needs if no corresponding 
Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic agreement is reached. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that yesterday former Shas chairman Aryeh Deri, 
who was recently released from prison from prison for "crimes 
involving moral turpitude," is considering running for mayor of 
Jerusalem, and has secured the support of the spiritual leaders of 
two religious parties: Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv of United Torah 
Judaism and Rabbi Ovadia Yosef of Shas.  MK Meir Porush of United 
Torah Judaism had hoped to win the election. 
 
Yediot reported that in order to increase her chances in the Kadima 
primaries, FM Tzipi Livni will try to convince Internal Security 
Minister Avi Dichter or Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit to quit the 
race. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that a three-country panel (including 
Nigeria, South Korea, and Azerbaijan) was chosen yesterday to 
examine Israel's human rights record as part of a Universal Periodic 
Review this year of 64 countries by the UN Human Rights Council in 
Geneva. 
 
Leading media reported that the Russian company building the Iranian 
nuclear reactor of Bushehr announced yesterday that the works at the 
plant had reached their final stage.  Israel Radio quoted President 
Shimon Peres as saying that Russia will eventually join sanctions 
against Iran.  Yediot reported that Pensioners Affair Minister Rafi 
Eitan hinted in an interview with the German weekly Der Spiegel that 
Israel may kidnap Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.  Eitan took 
part in Adolf Eichmann's abduction. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Israel is preparing for a Hizbullah terror 
attack in the country or overseas in revenge for the murder of 
Hizbullah operations chief Imad Mughniyah in a Damascus car bombing 
in February.  Security sources were quoted as saying that Israel was 
preparing for various possibilities, including a hit on an Israeli 
embassy overseas, the murder of a senior Israeli incumbent or 
retired official overseas, an attempt to abduct Israeli 
businesspeople overseas and even an attack on the northern border. 
Israel Radio quoted the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida, based on 
Israeli sources, as saying that Shin Bet and Mossad have recalled 
seven former Israeli officers residing in foreign countries because 
of possible Hizbullah threats on their lives. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted the Civil Administration as saying that a 
series of Israeli good will gestures to the Palestinians in the West 
Bank has helped strengthen the Palestinian economy since the 
beginning of the year. 
 
Major media reported that yesterday Gabriela Shalev, Israel's first 
female ambassador to the UN, submitted her credentials to the 
organization's secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the rail line under construction between 
Jerusalem and the Mediterranean coast crosses the Green Line at 
several points.  The paper reported that leading Israeli authorities 
are seeking a novel way to ensure that the train benefits both 
peoples. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the "Pilgrim's Route" leading from Jerusalem 
to the Dead Sea is undergoing development.  Makor Rishon-Hatzofe 
reported that the Palestinian Tourism Ministry is organizing tours 
of the West Bank to teach the "Palestinian legacy" and show the 
Palestinians' hardships. 
 
Yediot cited a complaint by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater 
dancer Abdur-Rahim Jackson that he was stopped and forced to dance 
at Ben-Gurion Airport because of his Muslim-sounding name. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Palestinian director Amir Nizar Zuabi, the 
director of the Palestinian National Theater, is going to put up 
Federico Garcia Lorca's "Blood Wedding" on an Israeli stage. 
 
Maariv reported that a philanthropist will establish a "Bush Plaza" 
in central West Jerusalem. 
 
The Jerusalem Post and Ha'aretz reported that Israeli and American 
scientists working at UCLA have, for the first time, recorded 
individual brain cells in the act of calling up a memory; targeting 
where in the brain a specific memory is stored, and how to recreate 
it. 
 
Makor Rishon-Hatzofe cited the results of a Harris poll conducted 
among Palestinians and Israelis: 
 
56% of Israelis support bombing Iran's nuclear installations if 
international measures fail to prevent Iran from going nuclear; 32% 
are opposed. 
59% of Israelis are opposed to the Saudi peace plan. 
Only 38% of Israelis (as opposed to 68% of Palestinians) support the 
Roadmap. 
74% of Palestinians support abductions such as Gilad Shalit; 21% are 
opposed. 
 
----------------------------------- 
¶1.  PM Olmert's Legal Entanglement: 
----------------------------------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "Following the 
Kadima primary, the new government must be put together as quickly 
as possible, to cut short the period during which Olmert will serve 
as transitional prime minister." 
 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"Go Home" 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (9/9): "It is 
worth putting things in their place, not allowing the fabrications 
Olmert and his associates are spreading to take root in public 
opinion.  The police have not deposed an incumbent prime minister, 
as Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann had the audacity to claim 
yesterday. This false accusation is reason enough to terminate his 
tenure together with that of the Prime Minister.... The Prime 
Minister will apparently be brought to trial in the coming months 
and will end his tenure in office well before then.  To the credit 
of the political system, it can be said that it succeeded in making 
him leave long before the time when the law obligates him to.... 
Following the Kadima primary, the new government must be put 
together as quickly as possible, to cut short the period during 
which Olmert will serve as transitional prime minister.  From the 
moment he resigns, the question of his innocence will become his own 
personal matter.  The question of whether someone suspected of 
accepting bribes and who has the audacity to attack the 
law-enforcement authorities for revealing this to the public, can 
remain in office for even one more day -- that is the public's 
business to decide." 
 
------------------------- 
¶2.  Global War on Terror: 
------------------------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
New York correspondent Yoav Fromer wrote in the popular, pluralist 
Maariv: "9/11 was supposed to change history.  But that day, which 
should have advanced the world toward a newer, better age, has 
dumped us at the same place." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"The Great Pass-Up" 
 
New York correspondent Yoav Fromer wrote in the popular, pluralist 
Maariv (9/9): "The 9/11 Commission unambiguously determined that 
America cannot continue bolstering anti-democratic Arab regimes. 
But nothing has really changed.  The Egyptian and Saudi governments, 
close allies of Washington, and which supplied 16 of the 19 
hijackers, have remained stronger and more tyrannical than ever.... 
All moderate factors in the Arab world, who promised to fight 
extremist Islam, have almost disappeared.  Instead of challenging 
Islamic extremism, they chose to grovel before it.  The surrender of 
the Siniora government in Lebanon to Hizbullah, of Gaza Palestinians 
to Hamas and the Tehran moderates' to extremists prove the extent of 
their destabilization.... 9/11 was supposed to change history.  But 
that day, which should have advanced the world toward a newer, 
better age, has dumped us at the same place." 
CUNNINGHAM