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P 301342Z OCT 08
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002419 
 
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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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 
 
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SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
Mideast 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Leading media quoted officials in Jerusalem as saying yesterday that 
PM Ehud Olmert will meet President Bush in the U.S. before Bush 
leaves the White House in January.  HaQaretz also quoted a senior 
Palestinian official as saying yesterday that the Quartet of Middle 
East peacemakers will meet November 6 at Sharm el-Sheikh to assess 
progress in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. 
 
All media quoted Yisrael Beiteinu leader, MK Avigdor Lieberman, as 
saying yesterday before the Knesset plenum that Egyptian President 
Hosni Mubarak should Qgo to hell.Q  President Shimon Peres and PM 
Ehud Olmert apologized to Mubarak.  In another development, Mubarak 
was quoted as saying in an interview with Yediot that Israel will 
receive a letter from Gilad Shalit.  He said that the Palestinians 
will not harm Shalit. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted a senior Shas source as saying yesterday 
that it would be a mistake for Shas to forge close ties with 
Benjamin NetanyahuQs Likud.  The newspaper commented that the remark 
doused rumors of a Shas-Likud alliance heading into the election 
season.  The Jerusalem Post further quoted the source as saying that 
Shas should stay away from a man who generates a lot of antagonism. 
The media quoted Netanyahu as saying that he will not give the 
education portfolio to Shas but keep it for the Likud.  Maariv 
reported that Netanyahu intends to hire an adviser to Barack Obama 
or John McCain for his campaign.  Maariv and other media reported 
that, in an effort to woo the Russian immigrant vote,  Kadima 
chairwoman Tzipi Livni is distancing herself from the ultra-Orthodox 
and trying to promote alternative marriages.  Israel Radio reported 
that today Livni offered Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz the No. 
2 slot on KadimaQs list and the management of the partyQs elections 
campaign.  The radio quoted Labor Chairman Ehud Barak assaying that 
his party will hold primaries. 
 
HaQaretz reported that the McCain campaign has started airing a clip 
purportedly accusing Barack Obama of not taking the Iranian threat 
seriously.  Leading media reported that the McCain campaign is using 
ObamaQs link to Palestinian advocate and former University of 
Chicago professor Rashid Khalidi to hammer away at Obama, and that 
it demanded yesterday that The Los Angeles Times release a video in 
its possession showing Obama giving a toast at a goodbye party for 
his Chicago colleague.  HaQaretz cited a Reuters report that 
yesterday in Florida, Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. 
Joe Biden sought to reassure Jewish voters of his and Barack ObamaQs 
commitment to Israel. 
 
Israel Radio reported that DM Ehud Barak closed all crossings to 
Gaza following Qassam rocket fire on the western Negev. 
 
Leading media reported that the U.S. announced yesterday that it 
closed its embassy in Damascus for security reasons. 
 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday the High Court of Justice 
made it clear to the 20 Jewish families occupying a disputed 
building on QWorshipersQ WayQ in Hebron that they would not be 
allowed to continue living there, and urged them to withdraw a 
petition filed on their behalf and leave the building voluntarily. 
If not, it seems certain that the police will forcibly evict them 
from what they call Beit Shalom. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the Islamic Movement in Israel 
vowed to fight a ruling handed down by the High Court of Justice 
yesterday that the Simon Wiesenthal Center-affiliated Museum of 
Tolerance could be built on its planned site in central Jerusalem 
even though it was part of the old, deconsecrated Mamila Muslim 
cemetery. 
 
All media reported on an academic strike that threatens to paralyze 
IsraelQs universities, with HaQaretz demanding extensive reforms and 
streamlining in academia.  Hundreds of students and lecturers 
demonstrated in front of the Knesset yesterday. 
 
HaQaretz and Israel Radio cited the belief of Dr. Eilat Mazar, an 
archeologist excavating the City of David, the most ancient part of 
Jerusalem, that the "gutter," or water system mentioned in the Bible 
as the way King David's men conquered Jerusalem, may have been 
found. 
 
Leading media reported that the government decided on Wednesday 
during a meeting headed by DM Barak and attended by the country's 
top military and legal brass that Israel will reduce government 
services to illegal outposts in the West Bank in a bid to combat 
settler violence.  Major media reported that yesterday the High 
Court of Justice agreed to allow far- Right activists Itamar 
Ben-Gvir and Baruch Marzel to lead a mid-November march through the 
Israeli-Arab city of Umm al-Fahm.  While the Association for Civil 
Rights welcomed the decision, the Israeli Arab leadership was 
appalled.  Leading media reported that yesterday a synagogue in the 
mixed city of Lod was set on fire. 
 
Leading media reported that the second Free Gaza protest boat docked 
off the coastal strip amid stormy weather early yesterday morning, 
despite earlier Israeli declarations that it would not let the SS 
Dignity enter the Hamas-controlled territory.  HaQaretz quoted a 
Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying that the GOI changed its mind 
at the last minute.  Israeli left-wing activist Gideon Spiro was 
among the boatQs 27 passengers from 13 countries. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted Turkish officials as saying that Turkish 
DM Vecdi Gonul is in Israel for a two-day visit, the focus of which 
is to examine a batch of unmanned aerial vehicles that Turkey is 
slated to acquire. 
 
HaQaretz reported that Vatican officials are furious over Minister 
Isaac Herzog's statement in HaQaretz last Thursday that the planned 
beatification of Pope Pius XII, who headed the Catholic Church 
during the Holocaust, is "unacceptable." 
 
The Jerusalem Post ran a feature story on Chicago Rabbi Caper Funnye 
Jr., ObamaQs cousin-in-law. 
 
Israel Radio reported that the Israeli businessman who was abducted 
in Ghana managed to escape. 
 
In its lead story, HaQaretz cited the results of a Dialogue poll 
according to which, if elections were held today, the right-wing 
camp would garner 61 Knesset seats while 58 would go to the 
center-left.  The numbers are close, but the political difference 
between the blocs is much greater, and favors the right.  Asked who 
is best equipped to deal with IsraelQs security problems, the 
respondents replied: Benjamin Netanyahu: 33%; Ehud Barak: 26%; and 
Tzipi Livni: 14%. 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Columnist Ari Shavit wrote in the independent, left-leaning 
Ha'aretz: QThe next Israeli government will not be the government of 
peace with Palestine. 
 
Contributor Jonathan S. Tobin, executive editor of the Jewish 
Exponent in Philadelphia, wrote in the conservative, independent 
Jerusalem Post: QThe idea that Bush could have prevented [the Second 
Intifada] or lessened its impact is ridiculous, since it started on 
Clinton's watch, not his. 
 
Liberal columnist Larry Derfner wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post: QKeeping [foreign sympathizers] out of 
Gaza has nothing to do with security and everything to do with 
punishment -- punishment of Gazan society as a whole.  Not just the 
terrorists, not just Hamas and Islamic Jihad, but every man, woman 
and child. 
 
Far-left columnist Meron Benvenisti wrote in Ha'aretz: QEfforts are 
being made [in the Peres Center for Peace] to train the Palestinian 
population to accept its inferiority. 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "In the Name of Peace" 
 
Columnist Ari Shavit wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz 
(10/30): QThe next Israeli government will not be the government of 
peace with Palestine.  In order to achieve an Israel-Palestine peace 
we will have to divide Jerusalem, and the next government will not 
divide Jerusalem.  In order to achieve an Israel-Palestine peace we 
will have to let refugees enter Israel, and the next government will 
not be able to let refugees enter Israel.... The government to be 
established in February or March 2009 will be far better than its 
predecessors.  It will not lead to peace with Palestine, but perhaps 
it will lead to peace with Syria.  The chances are good that it will 
seriously confront the challenge of security, the challenge of 
education and the challenge of law and governance.  However, in 
order for the government to be a worthy one it must be elected in a 
worthy manner.  If Tzipi Livni believes that she is the honest 
person who is worthy of becoming the prime minister in the next 100 
days, she must prove it. 
 
II.  "Was He Wrong about Everything?" 
 
Contributor Jonathan S. Tobin, executive editor of the Jewish 
Exponent in Philadelphia, wrote in the conservative, independent 
Jerusalem Post (10/30): QThe idea that Bush could have prevented 
[the Second Intifada] or lessened its impact is ridiculous, since it 
started on Clinton's watch, not his.  More to the point, it was 
Bush, acting against the advice of Secretary of State Colin Powell, 
whose actions directly contributed to squelching the Intifada.... 
Though Democrats now claim the 2007 Annapolis conference, which Rice 
and Bush hosted, was too little, too late, it was just as foolish as 
Clinton's Camp David debacle.  All it accomplished was to ratchet up 
the pressure on Israel again, while doing nothing to force the 
Palestinians to face reality and make peace.   As Israel prepares to 
elect new leadership and faces apocalyptic threats from Iran, with 
no assurance that the international community will act responsibly, 
the next president must avoid falling into the trap of believing 
that every Bush precedent is to be overturned.   It isn't really 
important whether Bush gets credit for doing the right thing about 
Arafat and backing Sharon's tough policies, which defeated 
Palestinian terror.  What is important is to learn the lessons not 
only from Bush's mistakes, but also from those of his predecessor. 
If the next administration is staffed by people who embrace the 
Clinton Administration's delusions about Palestinian intentions, 
then we can expect the same results that we got the last time: more 
bloodshed. 
 
 
 
 
III.  "Doctors ArenQt Terrorists" 
 
Liberal columnist Larry Derfner wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post (10/30): QIf Israel has nothing against 
Gaza's civilians, why does it want to blockade Gaza by land and sea 
to keep these foreigners from going about their business?   Because 
they're going to protest, because they're going to make us look bad? 
 I thought we were the only democracy in the Middle East.  I thought 
we believed in freedom of speech.  Seems I was misinformed.  It's 
stunts like these that give credence to the claim that Israel has 
turned Gaza into the world's biggest prison.... We say it's for 
security, to keep terrorists and weaponry from reaching the Strip. 
But medicine?  Doctors from Harvard Medical School?  Mairead 
Corrigan McGuire, who won the Nobel Peace Prize?  Keeping them out 
of Gaza has nothing to do with security and everything to do with 
punishment -- punishment of Gazan society as a whole.  Not just the 
terrorists, not just Hamas and Islamic Jihad, but every man, woman 
and child. 
 
IV.  "A Monument to a Lost Time and Lost Hopes" 
 
Far-left columnist Meron Benvenisti wrote in Ha'aretz (10/30): QOnly 
in hindsight are we able to see the fatal damage done by the Oslo 
Accords, which inspired Peres to establish the center: The accords, 
instead of bringing about a change in the status quo, have become 
the pillar of a de facto binational regime (called the 
QoccupationQ), which has become institutionalized as a permanent 
regime.... In the activity of the Peres Center for Peace there is no 
evident effort being made to change the political and socioeconomic 
status quo in the occupied territories, but just the opposite: 
Efforts are being made to train the Palestinian population to accept 
its inferiority and prepare it to survive under the arbitrary 
constraints imposed by Israel, to guarantee the ethnic superiority 
of the Jews.... The Peres Center for Peace does not publish reports 
about the catastrophic economic situation of the Palestinians and 
does not warn about Israel's responsibility for this situation. 
 
CUNNINGHAM