Cablegate: Israel Media Reaction

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 TEL AVIV 004950

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD

WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM
NSC FOR NEA STAFF

JERUSALEM ALSO FOR ICD
LONDON ALSO FOR HKANONA AND POL
PARIS ALSO FOR POL
ROME FOR MFO
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: IS KMDR MEDIA REACTION REPORT
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

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SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT:
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1. Gaza Disengagement

2. Iran: Nuclear Program

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Key stories in the media:
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All media reported on mass anti-disengagement prayers
held next to Jerusalem's Western (Wailing) Wall on
Wednesday, which were attended by 70,000 to 100,000
protesters, depending on the sources. Ha'aretz
reported that senior IDF and police officers admitted
on Wednesday that the number of right-wing activists
who have infiltrated Gush Katif has risen significantly
recently, just four days before the start of
disengagement. Ha'aretz reported that leaders of the
Yesha Council of Jewish Settlements in the Territories
are planning to give protesters at tonight's anti-
disengagement rally in Tel Avi a long list of
instructions for disrupting the evacuation of Gaza
Strip settlements set for next week. Jerusalem Post
reported that commanders suspended the final exercise
in the kibbutz of Kerem Shalom (south of the Gaza
Strip) on Wednesday after complaints that border
policemen used excessive force against soldiers acting
as settlers.

Speaking on Israel TV last night, PM Sharon said that
Binyamin Netanyahu's "flight" from the government was
"irresponsible." Sharon, who complained about the
incitement against him, said that one of the Likud
"rebels," who was part of a delegation he dispatched to
Washington in order to discuss the disengagement, asked
a congress member to prevent U.S. military aid to
Israel after the disengagement. Various journalists
named Knesset Member Uzi Landau as the "rebel" in
question. Landau denied the allegation. Speaking on
Israel Radio this morning, Likud "rebel" Knesset Member
Gilad Erdan said that Sharon is making unverified
claims and accusations against his opponents because of
recent public opinion polls.

Israel Radio cited the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram as
saying that Israel and Egypt will sign a protocol next
week on the handover of the Philadelphi route to Egypt.
Leading media quoted Netanyahu as saying, in a speech
to the Knesset Wednesday: "The agreement with Egypt is
full of loopholes; it is a very bad agreement. Egypt
has committed itself to preventing smuggling, but it
has not prevented arms smuggling. It is so clumsy that
it is tragic." Israel Radio reported that on
Wednesday, PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas asked
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to pressure Israel

SIPDIS
to pull out from the Philadelphi area. The station
said that they discussed the coordination between
Israel and the Palestinians prior to disengagement.
Israel Radio reported that this morning, Israeli and
Palestinian officers will start managing a joint
operations room in the Gaza Strip, which will work on
pre-disengagement coordination.

In a speech broadcast last night on all three TV
channels, President Moshe Katsav begged forgiveness
from his "brothers," the settlers due to be evacuated,
and asked them to prevent a rift in the nation.

Ha'aretz cited research it conducted recently, which
found that, for the first time, the proportion of Jews
living in territories under Israel's control has
dropped below 50 percent, standing slightly more than
49 percent. The results are based on figures supplied
by Israel and the PA's official statistics bureaus.

Ha'aretz reported that the U.S. representative to the
UN, John Bolton, visited the offices of the Israeli
delegation to the UN on Tuesday and held a long talk
with Israel's Representative Danny Gillerman. The
newspaper says that the Israeli delegation saw Bolton's
visit as a special gesture toward Israel. The
newspaper reported that sources in the Israeli
delegation refused Wednesday to divulge the contents of
the conversation, but quoted UN sources as saying that
Gillerman had outlined Israel's plan of action for the
next General Assembly that opens next month. Ha'aretz
writes that Gillerman reportedly said Israel would take
increased steps to combat anti-Israel resolutions in
the General Assembly and to improve its position among
the bloc of European nations. The newspaper says that
the two ambassadors also agreed to continue the close
cooperation between their two delegations and to
coordinate moves.

Leading media reported that Turkey has detained at
least 10 alleged members of Al-Qaida, who are suspected
of preparing to attack Israeli tourists. Several media
cited a denial by the Turkish police Wednesday.

Israel Radio quoted Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Shalah
as saying that his group will continue its attacks in
Israel and the territories after the disengagement.

Israel Radio reported that today, Jordan's King
Abdullah II will meet with Israeli Arab leaders from
the Negev, headed by Knesset Member Talab El-Sana
(United Arab List). The radio reported that the King
will ask to hear from his guests about their conditions
and the situation following the Shfaram attack.

Jerusalem Post quoted Vice PM and incoming Finance
Minister Ehud Olmert as saying Wednesday, in a
Jerusalem address to the foreign press, sponsored by
the Washington-based pro-Israel advocacy group The
Israel Project, that Israel's upcoming pullout from the
Gaza Strip is not a trade-off for keeping the West
Bank, and that the government is ready to resume
negotiations with the Palestinians, based on the road
map, after the unilateral withdrawal. Olmert was
quoted as saying, in an interview with Yediot, that by
resigning, Netanyahu aimed to topple the government and
thwart the disengagement.

Yediot quoted GOI sources, particularly at the Foreign
Ministry, as saying that the renewed alliance between
PM Sharon and FM Silvan Shalom following Netanyahu's
resignation could cost Danny Ayalon his post of
ambassador to the U.S.

Jerusalem Post reported on a project in which Arab and
Jewish youngsters get to know each other by playing
soccer. The initiative is sponsored by Soccer for
Peace, a New York-based non-profit organization, in
cooperation with the Givat Haviva Institute.

Jerusalem Post reported that famed U.S. entertainer and
political activist Harry Belafonte told the newspaper
Wednesday that he was retracting his recent statement
on Cybercast News Service that Jews had served "high
up" in the Third Reich, a comment which angered several
Jewish organizations. He continued, however, to
maintain that Jews had contributed to Hitler's cause
and that the Bush administration resembled the Nazi
regime.

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1. Gaza Disengagement:
-----------------------

Summary:
--------

Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: " The
disengagement opponents' incitement against the law and
the orders will not sabotage the evacuation, but will
pave the way to civil war.... This lawless state is not
the one we yearned for."

Geography Professor at Haifa University Arnon Sofer
addressed the settlers in popular in popular, pluralist
Maariv: "Disengagement is Israel's elixir of life. It
will be implemented and will return sanity to Israel!"

Settler leader Bentzi Lieberman responds in Maariv to
Amnon Sofer: "Pressure by Rice and the U.S. President's
advisers stand opposite the weighty identity and the
deep connection that have existed for millennia between
the Jewish people and its historic homeland."

Middle East affairs commentator Guy Bechor, a lecturer
at the Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in mass-
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "Paradoxically,
Israel is today more disengaged from Gaza than it will
be in a few weeks if the idea of the safe passage route
is implemented."

Block Quotes:
-------------

I. "Flouting the Law"

Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized
(August 11): "The disengagement opponents' incitement
against the law and the orders will not sabotage the
evacuation, but will pave the way to civil war. Anyone
who objects to the evacuation may express his opinion
and speak out against it loudly, as well as point to
the risks he thinks it entails. Democracy is tested by
the freedom it grants to express opinions that others
see as upsetting and diverging from the proper path....
But freedom of expression does not mean freedom of
incitement. Freedom of protest does not include
freedom of incitement to disobey the law, nor the right
to stop democratic processes at the Kissufim road
[leading to Gush Katif]. This lawless state is not the
one we yearned for."

II. "You're Leading Us to Another Catastrophe"

Geography Professor at Haifa University Arnon Sofer
addressed the settlers in popular, pluralist Maariv
(August 11): "You know that we Jews represent a
minority in the Land of Israel [Israel, including the
territories]. Even if we adopt fallacious demographic
research conducted by some of your friends in the U.S.,
we'll be a minority in less than ten years.... The fact
that you turn a blind eye to this key fact is a
crime!.... Your fight for Gush Katif and settlements
beyond the separation line [from the Palestinians] is
sterile and useless. Israel will have to separate from
the West Bank. This is clear to everyone who ... has
listened to Condoleezza Rice and the U.S. President's
advisers.... The worst price, which nears a
catastrophe, is the loss of Jerusalem. Your talk about
Jerusalem being your foremost interest ... is empty....
Secondly, you are turning Israel into a third-world
state. Israel's infrastructure is crumbling because
you have paved over 1,000 km of sterile by-pass roads
in the territories.... Disengagement is Israel's elixir
of life. It will be implemented and will return sanity
to Israel!"

III. "We Are Zionism's Success Story"
Settler leader Bentzi Lieberman responds in Maariv to
Amnon Sofer (August 11): "[Sharon] has managed to have
his plan passed by the government and Knesset by
manipulating the law, using proscribed methods of
threats, dismissals, bribery, and dubious appointments.
Does this contravene the essence of democracy? So
What? Shall we sacrifice all values on the altar of
democracy?.... Our entire strength lies in the Jewish
nation's firm right to establish a Jewish state in the
homeland.... Pressure by Rice and the U.S. President's
advisers stand opposite the weighty identity and the
deep connection that have existed for millennia between
the Jewish people and its historic homeland."

IV. "Regret's Brother"

Middle East affairs commentator Guy Bechor, a lecturer
at the Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in mass-
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (August 11): "It
has been decided to operate the safe passage route
between Gaza and Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank]
via Kiryat Gat 'as of now with escort convoys'.... If
the idea of the safe passage does take on flesh, then
in the framework of 'disengagement,' Israel will better
'connect' with the Palestinians from Gaza. The latter
will stand in line to cross into the West Bank, from
where they will go straight into Israel -- since the
separation fence is still incomplete. Paradoxically,
Israel is today more disengaged from Gaza than it will
be in a few weeks if the idea of the safe passage route
is implemented. Masses of Palestinians fleeing Gaza
for Israel is a scenario that is obvious and expected,
since the Third World, where the GDP is USD 900, as it
is in Gaza, always aspires to get to the First World,
where the GDP is USD 17,500, as it is in Israel. In
wake of the job seekers from the Gaza Strip, terror is
liable to follow.... Of the hastiness with which
decisions are made at this time, a Palestinian proverb
says: 'Haste is the brother of regret.'"

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2. Iran: Nuclear Program:
--------------------------

Summary:
--------
Defense commentator Reuven Pedhazur opined in
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "It is ...
reasonable to assume that if the ayatollahs control
nuclear weapons, they will arrive at a 'rational'
conclusion."

Block Quotes:
-------------

"After Iran Joins the Club"

Defense commentator Reuven Pedhazur opined in
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (August 11): "There
are many in Israel who claim that, unlike the
superpowers' decision-makers, the ayatollahs are not
rational and therefore one cannot rely on the
possibility of deterring them from using the bomb.
From there it is a short distance to promoting the idea
of attacking Iran's nuclear facilities.... However, it
is more reasonable to assume that if the ayatollahs
control nuclear weapons, they will arrive at a
'rational' conclusion. That is what happened in the
case of India and Pakistan, which joined the nuclear
club in 1998, much later than many other nations.
Since then, the leaders of both countries -- whose
prolonged dispute has already led to three wars -- have
behaved extremely cautiously with regard to any use of
military power. It is reasonable to assume that, at
the moment of nuclear truth, Iran's considerations will
be identical.... Even Khomeini was not prepared to pay
with the lives of his citizens that were being taken by
the Iraqi missiles. The price that nuclear weapons
could exact from the Iranians is, of course, infinitely
steeper and it can be assumed that no Iranian leader
would be prepared to pay it simply in order to kill
'Zionist infidels.'"

KURTZER

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