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P 261022Z SEP 08
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002217 
 
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.  Attack on Professor Sternhell 
 
¶2.  Iran 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the chances of new Kadima leader 
Tzipi Livni quickly forming a coalition took a hit on Thursday when 
talks broke down in a secret channel that had been formed between 
Livni and Labor Party Chairman Ehud Barak. 
 
All media, except the religious press, highlighted yesterday's 
attack against Prof. Zeev Sternhell.  Media quoted FM Tzipi Livni as 
saying that this is an intolerable event that cannot be hushed, and 
Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu that the attack was revolting. 
Ha'aretz and other media reported that Internal Security Minister 
Avi Dichter called the incident a "nationalist terror attack 
apparently perpetrated by Jews" and was quoted as saying that the 
police would not rest until "those terrorists" were behind bars. 
Israel Radio reported that French FM Bernard Kouchner condemned the 
attack.  The media reported that the far Right groups would not 
condemn the assault. 
 
The Jerusalem Post and Israel Radio reported that yesterday PA 
President Mahmoud Abbas met with President Bush at the White House. 
The two expressed their hopes regarding the continuation of the 
Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.  The radio reported that the UN 
Security Council will discuss the settlements and that the Quartet 
will debate the negotiations.  The Jerusalem Post reported that 
Russia will take part in the Quartet meeting, despite tensions with 
the West which led to Moscow's decision this week not to participate 
in high-level talks on Iran. 
 
Ha'aretz reported on the rehabilitation of Mossad under Director 
Meir Dagan in Israel's fight against Iran and Hizbullah.  The 
Jerusalem Post cited the belief of EU diplomatic sources who 
specialize in the Middle East that Israel cannot stop the Iranian 
nuclear program on its own using military means. 
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday an interministerial 
committee presented Olmert with a list of 450 names of Palestinian 
prisoners to be released in exchange for Gilad Shalit, in a move 
immediately dismissed by Hamas as insufficient.  Ha'aretz reported 
that Shalit is being held hostage by the PA unity deal.  Yediot and 
other media reported that 20 Israeli writers and poets, including 
David Grossman, A. B. Yehoshua, and Amos Oz, have written PM Ehud 
Olmert that everything must be done so that Gilad's fate will not be 
similar to that of MIA Ron Arad. 
 
Media reported that in New York President Shimon Peres met with 
Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain and his running 
mate Gov. Sarah Palin.  Yediot reported that Peres complained to UN 
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon about the honorable reception given on 
the international scene to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. 
 
Israel Radio quoted Shaul Mofaz as saying that he is staying in 
Kadima and that he will resume his duties as transportation minister 
on the agreed date. He would not, however announce his return to the 
party leadership. 
 
Makor Rishon-Hatzofe quoted Livni associates as saying that 
negotiations with Syria will be frozen. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that a team of officers from the 
Pentagon's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program was in Israel this week 
for talks with the IAF aimed at finalizing details regarding Israeli 
plans to officially purchase the stealth fighter-jet next year. 
 
Leading media reported that, warning about a non-conventional attack 
against Israel, Defense Minister Ehud Barak has approved a new plan 
under which all "secure rooms" built after 2009 will need to be 
fitted with chemical and biological filters. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Israel and Azerbaijan have signed a weapons 
deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars. 
 
Leading media reported on an impending crisis surrounding the 2009 
state budget: Labor wants a 2.5% increase, whereas Livni is in favor 
of a 1.7% increase.  Maariv quoted a senior Labor official as saying 
that his party is not adamant about this. 
 
Yediot reported that the U.S. Embassy in Israel has refused to grant 
a non-immigrant visa to a Jewish woman from Iran whose brothers live 
in the States.  The newspaper quoted the Embassy's response that 
visitors from third countries find it hard to prove their 
eligibility for a visa, and that there are other embassies in which 
staff speak Persian and that are better suited to judge the 
eligibility of Iranian applicants.  Yediot also reported that 
Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit has embarked on a campaign to help 
Israelis enter the U.S. without the need for visas. 
 
All secular media underscored the concert given last night by Sir 
Paul McCartney in Tel Aviv.  The event was attended by 50,000 
Israelis. 
 
---------------------------------- 
¶1.  Attack on Professor Sternhell: 
---------------------------------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "Leniency 
toward violence is tantamount to cooperation with the [Jewish] 
terrorists." 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "All [Professor Zeev 
Sternhell] does is give expression in writing to fairly prevalent 
views among the Israeli public, including the highest ranks of 
government.  If he is a target, then almost anyone who does not 
think like an extreme right winger could be a target." 
 
Prominent liberal author A. B. Yehoshua wrote on page one of the 
popular, pluralist Maariv: "The problem is more with the relatively 
moderate settlers who live in the dozens of settlements, who 
certainly reject such acts, but do not come out particularly 
strongly against them and do not condemn the extremists in their 
community." 
 
The nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe editorialized: "[The 
perpetrators'] act is worthy of universal condemnation.  It 
endangers Israeli society and harms those trying to fight a 
legitimate battle against radical left-wing organizations." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "From Denunciations to Deeds" 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (9/26): "The 
pamphlets offering a large reward to anyone who murders Peace Now 
activists and calling for a state based on Jewish religious law in 
the West Bank remove all doubt about the identity of the terrorists 
who tried to murder Prof. Zeev Sternhell.  This internationally 
renowned expert on fascist movements in Europe, a Holocaust survivor 
whose entire family was murdered by the Nazis, was not another 
victim of some 'wild weed,' but of Jewish fascism itself, which 
continues to extend its roots.  The criminals who set the pipe bomb 
outside Sternhell's home come from the same 'garden' as ... Yigal 
Amir, the murderer of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin.... Human rights 
activists have for some time been reporting the security forces' 
failure to deal with the extreme right's systematic violations of 
the law.... Our well-guarded ministers cannot make do with lip 
service to democracy and freedom of expression.  They must order the 
security forces to treat Jewish terrorism as harshly as they treat 
Palestinian terrorism.  The Attorney General must instruct the State 
Prosecutor's Office to demand that the courts impose severe 
penalties on Jewish transgressors.  Yesterday, they aimed their 
weapons at Palestinian farmers.  Today, they are murdering members 
of the Israeli intelligentsia.  Leniency toward violence is 
tantamount to cooperation with the terrorists." 
 
II.  "Everyone Is a Target" 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (9/26): "[Professor 
Zeev] Sternhell does not give breaks.  I can testify to that 
personally since he was my teacher in the political studies 
department at the Hebrew University.  He does not give breaks to the 
Israeli right wing either.  His articles condemning the occupation, 
the settlement movement, and the settlers are direct, harsh, and 
without compromise.... If I am not mistaken, in recent years his 
writing has become a little more conciliatory.  Maybe it is because 
of his age (he is 73).  Maybe it is because of the changes that the 
political establishment has undergone.... Yesterday morning, a pipe 
bomb exploded on the threshold of Professor Sternhell's home in 
Jerusalem.  All signs indicated that the motive for planting the 
bomb was political.... This story is extremely disturbing.  It is 
disturbing precisely because of its banality.  Sternhell does not 
evacuate outposts, does not cede territory to the Palestinians, or 
put right wing criminals in jail.  All he does is give expression in 
writing to fairly prevalent views among the Israeli public, 
including the highest ranks of government.  If he is a target, then 
almost anyone who does not think like an extreme right winger could 
be a target.  Everyone is under threat." 
 
III.  "The Moderate Settlers Are the Problem" 
 
Prominent liberal author A. B. Yehoshua wrote on page one of the 
popular, pluralist Maariv (9/26): "We see all the time that violence 
on the part of settler fringe groups has gained momentum over the 
past year while the moderates among the settlers, law-abiding among 
themselves, make no serious effort to neutralize these extremist 
acts.  The problem in this case is not only the legal authorities, 
which, perhaps, attempt to prevent embarrassing acts of this sort. 
The problem is more with the relatively moderate settlers who live 
in the dozens of settlements, who certainly reject such acts, but do 
not come out particularly strongly against them and do not condemn 
the extremists in their community.  We ought to remember that since 
the state was established, three Jews have been murdered by members 
of the right wing. I think that this incident shows that things can 
only get worse as signs of an approaching peace treaty increase. 
These acts were intended to sabotage any possibility of reaching a 
peace agreement and the extremists are sending warning signals to 
anyone who wishes to compromise.  The fact that some people are not 
frightened by those warning signals makes the extremists even more 
extreme and dangerous.... In order to eradicate such occurrences, we 
depend mostly upon the unequivocal stand of the Yesha Council of 
Jewish Settlements in the Territories and the right-wing parties, 
which must be more firm in condemning these people who gather 
beneath the surface, and at the same time provide all possible 
assistance to the police in order to find them before it is too 
late.  The left wing needs to continue to give massive support to 
the process of dividing the land, which most of the nation supports 
today.  This incident is a warning light that has been lit, and 
therefore we all must understand the real danger that faces the 
entire system." 
 
IV.  "Delusional Fringes" 
 
The nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe editorialized (9/26): 
"The terror attack at the entrance of Prof. Zeev Sternhell's 
residence should serve as a warning that a low-intensity civil war 
might erupt between radical groups in Israeli society.  Many people 
on the Right feel that radical left-wing Jewish groups have gone too 
far and caused national damage.  Thus, there have been attempts to 
expose the deeds of some left-wing organizations in order to attack 
them at the public level.  'Peace Now' is definitely one of those 
organizations.  But this attack has caused tremendous public damage 
to the fight against 'Peace Now' and other movements surrounding 
it.... Prof. Sternhell is indeed a man of the Left, but he has no 
relation to any left-wing organization.  He is first and foremost an 
intellectual ... harming him is first and foremost an attacking 
against what he symbolizes: freedom of thought, freedom of 
expression, and the willingness to endanger oneself for one's 
positions.  It should be assumed that all this characterization of 
Sternhell's values as a distinguished member of academe does not 
interest the perpetrators.  Their act is worthy of universal 
condemnation.  It endangers Israeli society and harms those trying 
to fight a legitimate battle against radical left-wing 
organizations." 
 
--------- 
¶2.  Iran: 
--------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "Hope 
now rests with the U.S. and the EU to act swiftly, decisively, and 
independently to ratchet up their own sanctions efforts, and to 
apply their own severe pressures.  With French President Nicolas 
Sarkozy as EU president, now is the time." 
 
 
 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"Iranian Impasse" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (9/26): 
"Two notions must be dropped if the Iranian regime is to be 
dissuaded from acquiring nuclear weapons.... The first is the 
persistent belief in the power of transformative diplomacy.  The 
time for polite diplomatic exertions in response to the looming 
Iranian threat is long past... Nothing has been done so far to give 
the Iranian regime a compelling reason ... to stop its relentless 
push for the bomb.  Yet it must be stopped.  So if military 
intervention is to be avoided, a second -- and increasingly flimsy 
-- notion must be altogether abandoned: the idea that the UN is the 
sine qua non of legitimate action in the international arena.  Hope 
now rests with the U.S. and the EU to act swiftly, decisively, and 
independently to ratchet up their own sanctions efforts, and to 
apply their own severe pressures.  With French President Nicolas 
Sarkozy as EU president, now is the time.  The stakes couldn't be 
higher -- for Israel in particular (though by no means for Israel 
alone).  For at the very moment Ahmadinejad denies Iranian ambitions 
to build nuclear weapons, he simultaneously reiterates their 
intended objective -- to see Israel wiped off the map." 
 
CUNNINGHAM