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P 281004Z OCT 08
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002402 
 
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 
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DA WASHDC FOR SASA 
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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.  Mideast 
 
¶2.  Iran 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Major media quoted PM Ehud Olmert as saying that he would remain 
caretaker until the formation of a new government early next year. 
HaQaretz quoted police sources as saying on Monday that enough 
evidence has been amassed against PM Olmert for an indictment to be 
filed against him within days,  In theory, that could lead to his 
ouster from office even before new elections are held in early 
February.   Leading media reported that DM and Labor Party leader 
Ehud Barak has challenged Kadima Chairperson Tzipi Livni and Likud 
leader Benjamin Netanyahu to an American-style debate.  Leading 
media quoted Netanyahu as sayng that he will not give up Jerusalem 
or the Golan.  Media reported that chief Palestinian negotiator 
Ahmed Qurei praised Livni for not removing Jerusalem from the 
negotiations.  Media reported that Shas Chairman Eli Yishai has 
accused Kadima of arrogance and racism.  He was quoted as saying in 
an interview with Israel Radio this morning that he would tone down 
his remarks.  Maariv reported that Netanyahu met with Pensioners 
Party Chairman and cabinet minister Rafi Eitam, who has since broken 
his contacts with Kadima.  The newspaper reported that the sides 
deny having concluded an agreement between them. 
 
HaQaretz cited reports that have reached the GOI that French 
President Nicolas Sarkozy is very critical of U.S. presidential 
candidate Barack Obama's positions on Iran.  Sarkozy has made his 
criticisms only in closed forums in France, but according to a 
senior Israeli government source, the reports reaching Israel 
indicate that Sarkozy views the Democratic candidate's stance on 
Iran as "utterly immature" and comprised of "formulations empty of 
all content."  According to those reports, Sarkozy told Obama at 
their July meeting that that for the new American president to 
change his country's policy toward Iran would be "very problematic." 
 An Israeli source was quoted as saying that following their July 
meeting, Sarkozy repeatedly expressed disappointment with Obama's 
positions on Iran, concluding that they were "not crystallized, and 
therefore many issues remain open.Q  According to the Israeli 
source, Sarkozy plans to begin intensive negotiations with the new 
U.S. administration, regardless of whether it is headed by Obama or 
Sen. John McCain, even before the new president takes office in 
January, with the goal of persuading him to continue the current 
policy on Iran. However, HaQaretz reported that Sarkozy's pessimism 
does not stem only from Obama's stance; it also stems from the 
overall behavior of the international community toward Iran's 
nuclear program, and particularly its inability to agree on a fourth 
round of Security Council sanctions against the Islamic Republic. 
HaQaretz cited SarkozyQs belief that this foot-dragging will make it 
impossible to effect a change in Iran's nuclear policy. 
 
Yediot quoted two American sources conversant with the American 
commando operation in Syria as saying that it was actually carried 
out in prior coordination with Syrian military intelligence.  The 
Jerusalem Post reported that representatives of 14 Arab states held 
a three-day conference in Damascus last week aimed at reinvigorating 
the decades-old economic and trade boycott of Israel. 
 
Maariv reported that Israel protested to Egypt about military 
maneuvers that Israel says are directed against it. 
 
HaQaretz reported that DM Barak favors barring right-wing extremists 
who attack soldiers or policemen from entering the West Bank and, in 
extreme cases, even putting them in administrative detention.  The 
newspaper quoted Attorney General Menachem Mazuz as saying that 
Barak plans to discuss the issue with senior army, police, and legal 
officials. 
 
HaQaretz, The Jerusalem Post, and Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that 
at a meeting with IsraelQs Ambassador to the U.S. Sallai Meridor, 
Republican vice-presidential hopeful Gov. Sarah Palin told him they 
would be working together.  HaQaretz and Makor Rishon-Hatzofe 
reported that Meridor is also scheduled to meet with Democratic 
vice-presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden.  Makor Rishon-Hatzofe 
reported that the McCain campaign allegedly warned U.S. Jews that an 
Obama victory might produce a new Holocaust. 
 
HaQaretz reported that about two weeks ago, 250 Russian speakers 
from around the country attended a symposium sponsored by backers of 
the Geneva Initiative. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted visiting legendary boxing promoter Don 
King as saying yesterday that the African American community should 
learn from how the Jews appreciate their historical struggles. 
 
Maariv featured the case of Pvt. Michael Handman, an American-Jewish 
soldier who was beaten unconscious after he complained about 
religious discrimination at Ft. Benning in Savannah, GA.  Maariv 
said that the phenomenon is widespread on U.S. Army bases. 
 
Leading media reported on, and Yediot bannered, the thwarting of an 
assassination attempt on Sen. Barack Obama. 
 
Major media reported that yesterday Bank of Israel Governor Stanley 
Fischer cut the bankQs discount rate by 0.25 percent. 
 
Leading media reported that telecommunications software company 
Amdocs is laying 500 staff members worldwide, including 200 in 
Israel. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: QWhat remains to be seen is 
whether in the coming election, voters will grant [Livni] the 
victory she expects -- and which she certainly deserves. 
 
Former Labor Party Knesset member Uzi Baram wrote on page one of the 
independent Israel Hayom: QIt appears that the struggle will focus 
on Livni and Netanyahu. 
 
Deputy Managing Editor and right-wing columnist Caroline B. Glick 
wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: QDue to the 
centrality of Jerusalem in Livni's failed negotiations with Shas, it 
is apparent that maintaining or ending sovereignty over united 
Jerusalem will be the central issue of the coming elections. 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "She Deserves to Win" 
 
Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (10/28): QNow, in hindsight, it 
is clear that the matter was not in Livni's hands at all: Shas never 
intended to join her government.... Livni tried to forge a new kind 
of politics.  Was she too rigid?  Yes.  Her decision to go to the 
President before she had to, for instance, was hasty.  But in any 
case, there is no doubt that she is at peace with herself.  She 
proved that she acts according to her own conscience, and that she 
speaks from her heart -- something that can definitely be termed a 
different kind of politics.  What remains to be seen is whether in 
the coming election, voters will grant her the victory she expects 
-- and which she certainly deserves. 
 
II.  QLivni or Netanyahu 
 
Former Labor Party Knesset member Uzi Baram wrote on page one of the 
independent Israel Hayom (10/28): QEhud Barak was led to the 
elections despite himself.... Benjamin Netanyahu is going to the 
elections as a possible winner.... Netanyahu will try to be moderate 
and fuzzy on diplomatic issues because he will want to retain the 
support of parts of the political center and conciliate new members 
who do not partake of the right-wingQs experience.  It appears that 
the struggle will focus on Livni and Netanyahu.  BarakQs situation 
looks difficult, but his chances of winning a larger slate of 
Knesset seats than currently predicted cannot be dismissed.  He has 
the ability to fight and convince and the defense issue has not been 
entirely lifted from the agenda as a key one. 
 
III.  "All Roads Lead to Jerusalem" 
 
Deputy Managing Editor and right-wing columnist Caroline B. Glick 
wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (10/28): QDue 
to the centrality of Jerusalem in Livni's failed negotiations with 
Shas, it is apparent that maintaining or ending sovereignty over 
united Jerusalem will be the central issue of the coming elections. 
If the Left can convince a sufficient number of voters that a united 
Jerusalem is a drain on the country's resources or that it is 
impossible to enforce Israeli law among an increasingly lawless and 
irredentist Arab population, then it will have a fighting chance of 
winning the elections.  If the Right is able to demonstrate that the 
problems that afflict Jerusalem are little different from those 
suffered by mixed Jewish-Arab cities throughout the country and are 
a consequence of government and municipal mismanagement, and are 
therefore manageable, then it will win the elections.  Today the 
problems that Jerusalem faces stem from its unique demographic 
character, municipal mismanagement and the clear if previously 
unstated intention of successive leftist governments to eventually 
withdraw from the Temple Mount and from the city's Arab 
neighborhoods. 
 
--------- 
¶2.  Iran: 
--------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Amnon Rubinstein, Law Professor at the Interdisciplinary Center and 
a former education minister from Meretz, wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post: QA rejuvenated, cocky Russia does not 
pose an existential threat to the West.... [But] Iran, unlike 
Russia, poses a real threat to the peace, stability, and welfare of 
many countries and to the very existence of the State of Israel. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"Choose Your Enemy: Moscow or Tehran" 
 
Amnon Rubinstein, Law Professor at the Interdisciplinary Center and 
a former education minister from Meretz, wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post (10/28): QWhoever is elected U.S. 
president next month will have to take a vital decision on how to 
deal with two clear and present crises: an imminent-nuclear Iran and 
an ebullient, post-Georgia Russia.  The two issues are clearly 
interconnected: Russia under Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev will 
not allow -- and will even thwart -- effective UN sanctions against 
Iran until differences with a U.S.-led alliance are remedied and the 
past East-West understanding is restored.  That this interdependence 
affects the future of Israel and the entire Middle-East is also 
manifestly clear.  Simply put, the next president of the United 
States will have to decide whether to jeopardize the isolation of 
the Iranian regime or somehow placate the Russians by, among other 
things, mothballing the idea of expanding NATO to include Ukraine 
and Georgia.... A rejuvenated, cocky Russia does not pose an 
existential threat to the West.... Iran, unlike Russia, poses a real 
threat to the peace, stability, and welfare of many countries and to 
the very existence of the State of Israel. 
 
CUNNINGHAM