Keep Us Strong WikiLeaks logo

Currently released so far... 64621 / 251,287

Articles

Browse latest releases

Browse by creation date

Browse by origin

A B C D F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

Browse by tag

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Browse by classification

Community resources

courage is contagious

Viewing cable 09TELAVIV2738, ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

If you are new to these pages, please read an introduction on the structure of a cable as well as how to discuss them with others. See also the FAQs

Understanding cables
Every cable message consists of three parts:
  • The top box shows each cables unique reference number, when and by whom it originally was sent, and what its initial classification was.
  • The middle box contains the header information that is associated with the cable. It includes information about the receiver(s) as well as a general subject.
  • The bottom box presents the body of the cable. The opening can contain a more specific subject, references to other cables (browse by origin to find them) or additional comment. This is followed by the main contents of the cable: a summary, a collection of specific topics and a comment section.
To understand the justification used for the classification of each cable, please use this WikiSource article as reference.

Discussing cables
If you find meaningful or important information in a cable, please link directly to its unique reference number. Linking to a specific paragraph in the body of a cable is also possible by copying the appropriate link (to be found at theparagraph symbol). Please mark messages for social networking services like Twitter with the hash tags #cablegate and a hash containing the reference ID e.g. #09TELAVIV2738.
Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
09TELAVIV2738 2009-12-18 11:30 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Tel Aviv
VZCZCXYZ0004
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTV #2738/01 3521130
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 181130Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4644
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAHQA/HQ USAF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEADWD/DA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/CNO WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI PRIORITY 0049
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 2961
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN PRIORITY 7008
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 7218
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 6458
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 5117
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 7318
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 4075
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 2292
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 0953
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 8472
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 3484
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 7457
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 9538
RUEHJI/AMCONSUL JEDDAH PRIORITY 2278
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM PRIORITY 3368
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHMFISS/COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/COMSIXTHFLT  PRIORITY
UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002738 
 
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.  Mideast 
 
2.  Iran 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
The media reported that DM Ehud Barak steadfastly expresses his 
determination to carry out the 10-month moratorium on settlement 
construction and that he will not recant his opposition to IDF 
soldiersQ refusal to serve.  Israel Hayom and other media quoted 
rabbis supervising the hesder yeshivas (which combine religious 
studies with military service) as saying that loyalty to God comes 
before loyalty to the army.  However Yediot reported on a group of 
more moderate rabbis, expressing a differing opinion.  The Jerusalem 
Post reported that infighting among yeshiva heads may tear apart the 
hesder framework. 
 
HaQaretz reported that it is possible that years ago -- until 2004 
-- the problem of Iran's nuclear project could have been solved by 
one tough blow and with relatively minimal risk.  At that time, the 
project was dependent on one facility: the uranium conversion plant 
in Isfahan.   If it had been bombed, Iran would have lost large 
quantities of raw material for uranium enrichment and its nuclear 
program would have been set back years. But nothing happened and the 
Iranians went ahead and dispersed their facilities and materials 
into fortified bunkers that would be far more difficult to hit. 
Iran has also, in the meantime, reinforced its response capabilities 
to an attack.  HaQaretz reported that when Benjamin Netanyahu was 
finance minister in Ariel Sharon's cabinet, he urged Sharon to focus 
on the struggle against Iran.  When Netanyahu resigned over the 
disengagement plan and Sharon left Likud and established Kadima, 
Netanyahu told Sharon that if he acted against Iran before the 
election, Netanyahu would support him.  Sharon did not act. 
 
Israel Radio quoted FM Avigdor Lieberman as saying yesterday that 
Israel did all it can for Fatah, including allowing it to hold its 
congress in Bethlehem, but that it will make no more gestures to the 
Palestinians. 
Yediot quoted Israeli diplomatic sources as saying that over the 
past couple of days Syrian President Hafez Assad conveyed to 
Netanyahu a message on renewing negotiations with American mediation 
-- proposing a withdrawal to Q67 lines in exchange for 
normalization, but without severing links with Iran.  Israel Radio 
reported that Frederick Hoff, assistant to Special U.S. Envoy to 
Middle East Peace met yesterday in Damascus with Syrian FM Walid 
Muallem and discussed with him ways of renewing the peace process 
between Israel and Syria.  This was reported by the Lebanese 
newspaper As-Safir.  According to the report, Washington is 
interested in renewing the activity in this track.  Meanwhile, 
Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan has expressed surprise at PM 
Benjamin Netanyahu's refusal to renew the Turkish mediation and [his 
preference] to give France the role of mediator between Israel and 
Turkey.  In an interview to the Syrian media, Erdogan said that it 
was not important whom Netanyahu would choose as a mediator, but 
rather what Syria would say.  He reiterated that Ankara was willing 
to resume its mediation between the countries, but it did not make 
sense for Turkey to mediate if one of the sides was not interested 
in this.  The Turkish PM said that it did not seem likely that 
indirect talks between Syria and Israel would be renewed at the 
present stage. 
 
Leading media quoted the London-based Arab newspaper A-Sharq Al 
Awsat as saying yesterday that Hamas is leaning toward accepting 
Israel's latest offer on a deal for the release of Gilad Shalit, 
although it does not include the release of major Palestinian 
terrorists.  According to the paper, there is still disagreement 
within Hamas between those who support accepting the Israeli offer 
and those who insist on holding out for the release of all major 
terrorists.  HaQaretz reported that Palestinian sources have told 
the newspaper that Hamas leadership abroad and the group's military 
wing in Gaza are leading opposition to the deal, while the Hamas 
leadership in Gaza and in the prisons support it.  The report also 
said that the senior terrorists in question have told the Hamas 
leadership that if they are not released in this deal they will 
remain in prison for life.  These include Abbas Sayad, planner of 
the Park Hotel Passover suicide bombing, and Issa Barghouti and 
Abdullah Barghouti, commanders of the Hamas military wing in the 
West Bank. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted Israeli officials as saying yesterday that 
the U.K. failed Israel on arrests, while Israel did its part in the 
case of filmmaker James Miller, who was allegedly killed by an IDF 
soldier. 
 
The media stressed the importance of the visit of world leaders, 
principally President Obama, to the U.N. Climate Change Conference 
in Copenhagen, in order to rescue it.  Leading media reported that 
President Shimon Peres told the conference that Israel will reduce 
its greenhouse gas emissions growth by 20%. 
 
Israel Radio quoted the London-based Al-Hayat as saying that 
Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman will come to Israel 
tomorrow to discuss the resumption of the peace process.  The radio 
reported that Egypt favors a total settlement freeze. 
 
Israel Radio quoted U.N. Special Coordinator for the Middle East 
Peace Process Robert Serry as saying that Israel has still not met 
its Roadmap commitments, despite the temporary construction freeze. 
However, he called upon the Palestinians to renew negotiations with 
Israel.  In his monthly briefing last night at the Security Council, 
Serry said that the smuggling of arms and terrorists to Gaza was 
continuing.  He warned that the situation in Gaza was continuing to 
deteriorate, and called upon Israel to permit the rehabilitation of 
areas that remained in ruins after the IDF operation. 
 
Makor Rishon-Hatzofe headlined an interview with Jerusalem Mayor Nir 
Barkat: QAmerica WonQt Tell Him Where to Demolish or Build. 
 
HaQaretz reported that the ministerial committee on legislation is 
to vote Sunday on an amendment proposed by Knesset Member David 
Rotem (Yisrael Beiteinu) to the Basic Law on Human Dignity and 
Freedom, intended to bring it into line with the controversial 
Citizenship and Entry to Israel Law.  Rotem believes the Knesset 
must keep the High Court of Justice from annulling a controversial 
law that denies citizenship to Palestinians married to Israelis. 
Rotem, who is chairman of the KnessetQs Constitution, Law and 
Justice Committee, has garnered 44 Knesset members to submit the 
bill with him. 
 
HaQaretz reported that President Shimon Peres is due to meet Turkish 
President Abdullah Gul today at the Copenhagen summit.  Media quoted 
DM Ehud Barak as saying yesterday that he will make an official 
visit to Turkey next month and meet with Turkish DM Vecdu Gonul. 
These are the first meetings with Turkish officials since a crisis 
erupted between the two countries after the Israeli offensive in 
Gaza nearly a year ago.  Ahmet Oguz Celikkol, the Turkish envoy to 
Israel, met with Barak yesterday and invited him for an official 
visit. 
 
Israel Radio reported that Itamar Ben Gvir, assistant to Knesset 
Member Michael Ben-Ari, and right wing figure Baruch Marzel, are 
demanding that the Bank of Israel back down from its intention to 
issue banknotes bearing the portrait of the late PM Yitzhak Rabin. 
They are quoted as saying that Rabin was a controversial figure, who 
was responsible for the disasters that overtook Israel, as they put 
it. 
 
Electronic media reported that this morning unknown people 
vandalized and removed the infamous German sign QArbeit macht frei 
(work will set you free) from the gate of the former Auschwitz death 
camp in Poland.  Media quoted Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli 
Edelstein (Likud) as saying that the theft is a "critical failure of 
the Polish police."  Edelstein also said that "we are in a period in 
which anti-Semitic acts are on the rise and there is a tangible fear 
for the safety of Diaspora Jews."  Media quoted Yossi Levy, the 
Foreign Ministry's spokesman for the Hebrew press, as saying: "It's 
hard to imagine what kind twisted (person) would want to steal this 
terrible symbol at the entrance to the death camp."  Polish 
Ambassador to Israel Agnieszka Magdziak-Miszewska told Israel Radio 
that this act is not anti-Semitic, but represents the denial of the 
Holocaust as a whole. 
 
HaQaretz noted that the children of a U.S. pilot stationed in Iraq 
lit a Hanukkah candle in the White House yesterday. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
------------ 
1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
I.  QA Basis for Talks 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (12/18): 
QNetanyahu's demand to renew the negotiations Qwithout prior 
 
conditions,Q his refraining from officially accepting the Roadmap, 
and ignoring his predecessors' proposals belie his repeated calls to 
Abbas to show courage and return to the negotiations.  Peace 
proposals that were officially conveyed to the other side and the 
American mediators, Netanyahu knows, have not really been taken off 
the table.  Instead of wasting time on futile arguments he must show 
the same courage he is demanding of Abbas and continue the 
negotiations from the point where they were cut off last year. 
Israel's growing international isolation should remind Netanyahu 
that there is a price for foot-dragging in affairs of state and spur 
him to end the conflict as soon as possible and implement the 
two-state solution.  That is his mission. 
 
II.  QStep by Step 
 
Diplomatic correspondent and television anchor Ben Caspit wrote in 
the popular, pluralist Maariv (12/18): QThe year is ending and 
nothing has happened -- a cul-de-sac.  Remember ObamaQs vision for a 
quick agreement? The grandiose plan that we all reported with such 
enthusiasm, an agreement within a year or two: a historic speech in 
Cairo, followed by a map that would be imposed upon the sides -- and 
peace upon Israel.  All this is up in smoke.  There are no 
negotiations and no signs of negotiations.  The Americans are 
helpless.  To their credit, they have understood how arrogant and 
unwise they were.  The question is what we do now.  How do we get 
out of this?.... On one hand an Israeli government freezes 
settlements like no other one has done before; on the other hand a 
Palestinian leader who doesnQt want and cannot talk to it. 
Whichever way you look at it, you arrive at an interim solution -- 
something like the Mofaz plan, which is in fact the Peres plan, 
which actually is the Barak plan.... Even the Prime Minister is 
standing behind the plan -Q standing and shivering.  He will never 
sign it or be affiliated with it but he knows that if it comes from 
Washington he will be there to accept it.... IsraelQs standing in 
the world has never been this bad.... Netanyahu sees these things 
and understands them.  This is why a proposal for an interim 
agreement could work for him under certain conditions.  Up till now, 
the Americans have vigorously opposed it.... [But] the picture has 
been changing in recent weeks.  The Americans understand that the 
Palestinians will oppose anything.  Since the Israelis are also 
opposed to a final settlement, it is better to go for the Qsmall 
option and bring the Palestinians there for better or for worse.... 
Dennis Ross is already checking [the plan].... The only condition is 
that is comes ... from Washington, not Jerusalem, which will make it 
much more difficult for the Palestinians to reject.... Netanyahu 
will accept an arrangement -- even a temporary one -- and get a 
historic spike in international public opinion. 
 
III.  QWanted: Wisdom 
 
Editor-in-Chief David Horovitz wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post (12/18): QOur tragedy will be if stubborn 
bloody-mindedness forces a cataclysmic schism where good sense and 
tolerance could have prevented it.  The ancient history of Jewish 
sovereignty in this region is a bitter saga of internal intolerance 
dividing and then destroying the capacity of our people to govern 
themselves.  Whatever the rights and wrongs of the Gaza pullout, the 
modern lesson of disengagement is that a responsible awareness of 
the greater good can reconcile even viewpoints that may seem to be 
utterly conflicted.  Where the destiny of Judea and Samaria [i.e. 
the West Bank, with emphasis on the settler movement] is concerned, 
and for the sake of Israel, there are lessons that simply must be 
internalized. 
 
--------- 
2.  Iran: 
--------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
 
I.  QA Time to Sanction? 
 
Washington correspondent Hilary Leila Krieger wrote in the 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (12/18): QThis week the 
U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed legislation 
limiting IranQs access to refined petroleum by a lopsided vote of 
412-12.  But while it might be the season to be merry, supporters of 
stricter sanctions against Iran shouldnQt uncork the champagne 
bottles just yet.  The House also passed sanctions legislation last 
Congress -- an even more comprehensive bill sponsored by the late 
Tom Lantos -- but the measure never made it through the Senate, let 
alone to the PresidentQs desk.  In fact, recent years have seen many 
bills, some forward progress, but ultimately failure.  The question 
is whether the new year will finally bring a new law. Of course, 
even if thereQs a change in the congressional course and sanctions 
are passed after years of trying, it still doesnQt mean thereQll be 
change where itQs most important -- in the Iranian regimeQs 
behavior. 
 
II.  QLetQs Hear Other Voices about Iran 
 
Uri Bar-Yosef, a member of the International Relations Department at 
the University of Haifa, wrote in the independent, left-leaning 
Ha'aretz (12/18): QThe theoretical question arises -- what is 
preferable, a regional balance of fear or removing the 
nonconventional capability of all countries in the region (including 
Israel)?  [In the public Israeli discourse] the bombing of the Iraqi 
nuclear facility was a story of success and salvation.... Did the 
Begin Doctrine prove itself?  Is the best way to deal with the 
Iranian initiative something similar to that doctrine?  What might 
be the ramifications of an Israeli attempt to destroy the Iranian 
project with regard to Iran's ability to achieve nuclear weapons and 
its readiness to use them when it gets them?.... [Officially] 
military superiority is a condition for deterring a nuclear Iran.... 
Theoretically the opposite is also true.  Since the capability of a 
second strike, which foreign publications attribute to Israel, 
contributes to nuclear stability, and since Israel supposedly has 
such a capability, the Israeli interest must be that Iran also has 
such a capability.  Therefore, no matter how absurd it sounds, the 
most reasonable thing Israel could do with the submarines Germany is 
building for it -- and which, according to foreign reports, are to 
serve as platforms for a second strike -- is to deliver them to Iran 
so that, like their counterparts already in service in Israel (as 
foreign sources report), they will calm Iran's fears about losing 
its nuclear capability after a surprise Israeli attack. This will 
contribute to stability.  This logic, of course, is totally contrary 
to the accepted military logic that Israeli officers and shapers of 
Israeli policy are used to.  That's why the subject must be opened 
to a public debate in which other voices can be heard. 
 
CUNNINGHAM