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P 161325Z OCT 08
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002337 
 
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 
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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.  Iran 
 
¶2.  Mideast 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media reported that PM-designate Tzipi Livni was supposed to 
meet with Shas Chairman Eli Yishai last night, but the meeting was 
canceled. A statement released jointly by their bureaus said the 
cancelation was due purely to family obligations on Yishai's part, 
and had nothing to do with the progress of the negotiations. 
However, HaQaretz quoted Shas sources as saying that earlier in the 
day, the party had rejected an offer from Livni to increase the 
child allowances by 600 million shekels (around $165,000). Political 
sources from various parties thus predicted that Livni would have to 
substantially up her offer -- to something approaching the 1 billion 
shekels (around $275,000) that Shas is demanding -- to sign a deal. 
Shas has also said it would not agree to spread the sum out over a 
period of several years, which Kadima would prefer.  Livni's 
negotiating team did, however, meet yesterday with Knesset members 
from United Torah Judaism (UTJ), as Kadima sources were later 
surprised by the generosity of Kadima's budgetary offers, which in 
many areas even exceeded UTJ's demands.  Maariv bannered a statement 
by Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, the leader of UTJQs QLithuanian 
branch,Q that Qsitting in a government headed by a woman is not a 
simple thing.Q  The media reported that Livni also met yesterday 
with Meretz-Yahad chairman Haim Oron, and that the two parties' 
negotiating teams are slated to meet today.  Leading media reported 
that both that and the meeting with UTJ were meant to signal to Shas 
that "we don't need you to form a government," and that, unless it 
settled for a more modest increase in child allowances, Livni would 
look for ways to replace it.   Oron stressed that if any 
restrictions are put on negotiations with the Palestinians, such as 
Shas and UTJ are demanding, "Meretz will not sit in such a 
government."  The current coalition, which includes Shas, has 67 
MKs; without Shas, Livni would be left with only 55 MKs. If she 
could pull it off, however, the addition of both Meretz and UTJ 
would bring the coalition back up to 66 MKs. 
E 
The media continued to report on the financial crisis in Israel and 
around the world. 
 
HaQaretz reported that the IAF is developing a computerized system 
to quickly predict where a missile will land with considerable 
accuracy, very shortly after it is launched.  That would enable the 
Home Front Command to order people in a relatively small area into 
shelters, rather than in broad regions of the country. 
 
Yediot reported that DM Ehud Barak is planning to extend the tahdiya 
(truce).  The newspaper reported that the defense establishment has 
clarified to Egypt that Israel wants to maintain the tahdiya in Gaza 
for an unlimited period of time. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Deputy DM Matan Vilnai told the 
newspaper yesterday that a demonstration planned for Sunday calling 
for Gilad ShalitQs release will be detrimental to the negotiations 
slated to be renewed later this week 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that, for the first time in years and in 
the face of IranQs nuclear drive, Israel surpassed Saudi Arabia in 
arms purchases in 2008, reaching just over $20 billion. 
 
The media reported that IDF soldiers shot and critically wounded a 
Palestinian who threw a fire bomb at them near Ramallah.  This 
follows a similar incident on Tuesday, in which IDF troops shot dead 
a Palestinian youth who tried to throw a fire bomb at the West Bank 
settlement of Beit El. 
 
Maariv and The Jerusalem Post reported that four peace activists 
were arrested yesterday for vandalism in the outpost of Adei-Ad near 
the settlement of Shilo.  The settlers vowed to avenge the 
incursion. 
 
HaQaretz reported that two Palestinian girls have been detained 
without trial for four months. 
 
Yediot reported on newly-discovered photographic evidence that 
Israeli fighters executed an Arab prisoner -Q apparently during the 
War of Independence. 
 
HaQaretz and The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday Sen. Barack 
ObamaQs campaign dismissed Rev. Jesse JacksonQs assertion -Q cited 
in major Israeli media -- that as president, the Democratic 
candidate would rid the U.S. of years of QZionist control. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted a senior PA official in Ramallah as saying 
yesterday that PA President Mahmoud Abbas has turned down an 
Egyptian proposal to hold separate talks with Hamas officials in 
Cairo before the end of the month. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday Israeli activists decried 
a decision by Australia to withdraw a threat to take Iranian 
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the International Court of Justice 
for inciting genocide against Israel. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that in an interview with the newspaper, 
Miguel dQEscoto Brockman, the head of the UN General Assembly, 
professed his love for Israel. 
 
HaQaretz reported that a new book by James Bamford Q QThe Shadow 
Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on 
AmericaQ -- accuses Israeli high-tech companies of working for 
Israeli intelligence against the U.S.  However, HaQaretz says that 
Bamford totally ignores the two countriesQ close intelligence 
cooperation. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the Rabbi Yosef Stern, the head of 
the QhesderQ yeshiva in Acre, which combines military service with 
religious studies, warned this week of a larger Arab problem that 
will have to be dealt with or else it will Qblow in our faces. 
Rabbi Stern was quoted as saying that more Jewish families must move 
into the city to counter the Qdemographic threat. 
 
HaQaretz and Maariv reported that the Jerusalem Municipality is 
expected to name a street after Adir Zik, the broadcaster whose 
extreme right-wing remarks against former prime ministers Yitzhak 
Rabin and Ariel Sharon aroused fierce controversy and won him 
enemies on both sides of the political spectrum. 
 
Yediot reported that Israeli investigators will leave for the U.S. 
to probe suspicions against outgoing PM Ehud Olmert in the 
Rishontours double-billing affair. 
 
Leading media reported that the Justice for the Elderly faction has 
reunited with the PensionersQ Party, from which it split in April 
after a bitter quarrel.  Leading media 
reported that the united party threatens to stay out of the 
coalition. 
Maariv reported that following arrests of senior Indian officials 
for bribing in carrying out missile deals with Israel, the Indian 
Defense Ministry has issued special instructions for contacts with 
Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. and Israel Aerospace 
Industries. 
 
Leading media reported that over 35,000 people took part in the 
annual Jerusalem March on Wednesday, thronging the streets of the 
city in celebration of Sukkoth. 
 
Yediot found a Qhappy communityQ of Israeli researchers at 
Princeton. 
 
--------- 
¶1.  Iran: 
--------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: QIf 
conflict comes, heaven forbid, the responsibility will fall on those 
who denigrated the dangers; removed the option of force from the 
international negotiating agenda, and undermined sanctions. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"Falsely Pragmatic on Iran" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (10/16): 
QOf all the pragmatic countries in Europe talking sanctions while 
stoking the Iranian economy, none disappoints more than Germany.... 
Germany remains Iran's main European trading partner.   Now comes 
the news that last month, the German Ambassador to Iran, Herbert 
Honsowitz, in contravention of EU guidelines, sent his military 
attache to an Iranian military parade.  Honsowitz, ever the 
pragmatist, is a strong booster of German-Iranian relations, 
including trade.  This newspaper takes at face value Ahmadinejad's 
October 26, 2005 pledge, before the ominously named World Without 
Zionism Conference, that QIsrael must be wiped off the map.Q  We do 
not beat the drums of war.  But if conflict comes, heaven forbid, 
the responsibility will fall on those who denigrated the dangers; 
removed the option of force from the international negotiating 
agenda, and undermined sanctions.  It will fall most heavily on 
those who fueled Iran's economy and were comfortable being 
spectators at the parade as the Shihab missiles rolled by. 
 
------------ 
¶2.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Veteran journalist Evelyn Gordon wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post: QNot only has Washington abrogated its 
2004 promise, but Olmert has buried any possibility of resuscitating 
it.... Bush's letter has become just another bit of fish wrapping. 
 
Former Israeli cabinet minister Natan Sharansky wrote in the 
Jerusalem Post: QA [smart] idea would be to try [former IDF 
chief-of-staff Moshe] YaQalonQs alternative approach, and to link 
the peace process -- Israeli concessions, transfers of money and 
authority, etc. -- to a transformation of Palestinian society. 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Just Another Bit of Fish Wrapping" 
 
Veteran journalist Evelyn Gordon wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post (10/16): QNot only has Washington 
abrogated its 2004 promise, but Olmert has buried any possibility of 
resuscitating it.  Sharon claimed to have secured three American 
pledges in exchange for the disengagement: a free hand in fighting 
Palestinian terror post-withdrawal, opposition to resettling 
Palestinian refugees in Israel, and support for retention of the 
settlement blocs. And most Israelis considered this trade-off 
worthwhile.  Four years later, however, all three have evaporated -- 
just as disengagement opponents warned that they would.  And Bush's 
letter has become just another bit of fish wrapping. 
 
II.  "Can Israel Approach Peace from the Bottom up?" 
Former Israeli cabinet minister Natan Sharansky wrote in the 
Jerusalem Post (10/16): QA [smart] ides would be to try [former IDF 
chief-of-staff Moshe] YaQalonQs alternative approach, and to link 
the peace process -- Israeli concessions, transfers of money and 
authority, etc. -- to a transformation of Palestinian society.  This 
would indeed be a long-short road, and would no doubt take a number 
of years to implement.  But given the disasters that have befallen 
Israelis and Palestinians over the last 15 years, it would be 
infinitely better than the alternative.  Would a new U.S. 
administration accept such an approach?  After meeting with both of 
the candidates, I have no doubt that regardless of who wins this 
November, an Israeli government that would embrace this new approach 
would win the support of the White House.  Barack Obama began his 
public career as a community organizer and argues persuasively in 
his books that true change comes from the bottom-up.  For his part, 
John McCain has repeatedly expressed his view that a reformed 
Palestinian society is critical to any successful peace process. 
Moreover, either candidate would welcome an approach that would be 
different than the previous unsuccessful efforts.  Indeed, the real 
question is not whether this new approach will be supported in 
Washington, but whether it will be supported in Jerusalem.  In the 
past, initiatives that might have moved the peace process in a 
constructive new direction were left stillborn by passive 
governments. 
 
CUNNINGHAM