INDEPENDENT NEWS

Cablegate: Israel Media Reaction

Published: Wed 15 Aug 2007 10:02 AM
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P 151002Z AUG 07
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
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RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 9301
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN PRIORITY 2668
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 3393
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 2625
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 0605
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 3356
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 0227
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 0692
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 7284
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 4710
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 9619
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RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 5727
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002483
SIPDIS
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
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SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT:
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1. Mideast
2. Pakistan
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Key stories in the media:
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All major media reported that Binyamin Netanyahu won the Likud
primary with 73.2 percent of the vote. Far-Right activist Moshe
Feiglin garnered 23.4 percent, and World Likud Chairman Danny Danon
3.5 percent. The 40-percent turnout was considered high. Maariv
reported that Feiglin apparently lied to US tax authorities
concerning the nature of his faction, "Jewish Leadership," which he
defined as an NPO, not a political group. Maariv found that Jewish
Leadership's American branch transferred USD 407,000 to the
faction's Israeli branch in 2005 -- and USD 433,000 in 2004.
Leading media reported that Israel and Syria are seeking to
forestall the possibility of a miscalculation leading to war.
Syrian Vice President Farouk Shara was quoted as saying that
Damascus does not intend to initiate war over the Golan Heights, a
message that was echoed by PM Ehud Olmert. "Israel is not
interested in war with Syria, but we are preparing for any
eventuality," Olmert told officers during a visit to Northern
Command headquarters on Tuesday. Israel Radio quoted Defense
Minister Ehud Barak as saying that neither Israel nor Syria wants
war. Israel Radio quoted a senior GOI source as saying that what
counts are Syria's actions, not its positive declarations.
Leading media reported that on Tuesday six to 13 Palestinians,
including three Hamas militants and the 70-year-old mother of one of
them, were killed and at least 20 were hurt in an IDF operation in
the Khan Yunis area of central Gaza. An IDF soldier was lightly
wounded during an exchange of fire. Maariv cited an IDF assessment
that Hamas troops performed like a regular army.
The Jerusalem Post reported that "in an unusual diplomatic move," PM
Olmert did not urge US congressmen to fight the proposed US arms
sale to Saudi Arabia, and that FM Tzipi Livni went to bat for PA
Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in meetings with a delegation of
Democratic Congressmen over the past two days.
Israel Radio reported that today in Jericho FM Livni is scheduled to
meet with Japanese FM Taro Aso, Jordanian FM Abdelelah al-Khatib,
and top Palestinian official Saeb Erekat. The four are scheduled to
sign an agreement to establish an agricultural-industrial park and
an airport in Jericho. The park, labeled "the Valley of Peace," was
conceived by Aso and President Shimon Peres several months ago when
Aso visited the region.
Leading media quoted Hizbullah Secretary-General Sheikh Hassan
Nasrallah as saying in a recorded speech on Tuesday that his group
is not interested in war with Israel, but if that the latter
initiated a war, it would be more surprised than last year.
Israel Radio reported that in New York on Tuesday Knesset Speaker
Dalia Itzik urged UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to expel Iran
from the organization. Itzik was quoted as saying that it is not
possible for a UN member state to call for the destruction of
another member state. The radio reported that Ban concurred with
Itzik on that point. Itzik also raised the arming of Syria and
demanded that UNIFIL forces in Lebanon be bolstered.
The Jerusalem Post quoted Israel's Ambassador to the UK, Zvi Hefetz,
as saying on Tuesday in an article in the British daily The Guardian
that calling for dialogue with extremists risks damaging the peace
process. He was responding to the House of Commons' Foreign Affairs
Committee report published on Monday that called on Israel to
negotiate with Hamas.
Maariv reported that although the IDF has changed the name of the
"neighbor procedure" practice to "zroa netuya" (extended arm), it
remains in place. According to this procedure, soldiers or police
officers surrounding a house in hostile areas, where a fugitive
terrorist is hiding may ask a local Palestinian to enter the house,
inform the fugitive he is surrounded and ask him to surrender.
Yediot reported that Fatah's Central Committee has chosen Muhammad
Ghnaim (Abu Maher) to succeed Mahmoud Abbas as PA chairman. The
Jerusalem Post reported that in Ramallah on Tuesday PA Information
Minister Riyad al-Malki told a group of Israeli and Palestinian
journalists that the PA government plans to use radio in its efforts
to recover Gaza.
Ha'aretz cited an AP wire report that on Tuesday lawyers for Muslim
charity leaders accused of aiding Hamas terrorists scored a rare win
in a Dallas court when a federal judge blocked some evidence seized
by Israeli soldiers during raids of Palestinian organizations.
Maariv reported that the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology
was ranked 38th in a world list of technological-engineering schools
compiled by Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Most of the
highest-ranking universities are American, while the Technion is
ranked fourth among similar European universities.
Leading media reported that at least 175 people were killed and 200
wounded in a triple bombing in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq.
Ha'aretz reported that British detectives investigating the death of
Ashraf Marwan, who was a Mossad agent during the Yom Kippur War, are
increasingly becoming convinced that he was murdered.
Makor RIshon-Hatzofe quoted Republican presidential candidate
Rudolph Giuliani as saying on Tuesday that he is opposed to the
establishment of a Palestinian state.
The Jerusalem Post reported that Hazrat Maulana Jameel Ahmed Ilyasi,
President of the All-India Association of Imams and Mosques, will
arrive in Israel on Saturday as part of a "peace delegation" of
Indian Muslim leaders.
Ha'aretz reported that the Custody Tribunal has ordered the release
of 20 jailed infiltrators from Eritrea and the Ivory Coast. The
ruling pulls the rug out from under the state's plan to keep the
infiltrators in camps.
The Jerusalem Post reported on the farewell party hosted by the US
Ambassador for former DCM Gene Cretz and his wife Annette. The
newspaper highlighted key moments in Cretz's career and said that
Ambassador Jones introduced Cretz's successor Luis G. Moreno and his
wife Gloria.
Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post reported that American filmmaker
David Lynch will make his first visit to Israel on October 14.
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1. Mideast:
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Summary:
--------
Conservative columnist Yosef Harif wrote in the popular, pluralist
Maariv: "Now is the time for Israel to clarify once and for all with
the US the promise that President Bush made to Ariel Sharon that
Israel would retain the large settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria
[i.e. the West Bank]."
Veteran journalist Yosef (Tommy) Lapid, Chairman of the Yad Vashem
Council, and former justice minister wrote in Maariv: "Olmert and
Abu Mazen can speak until tomorrow. People say that the dogs bark
and the convoy moves on. In this case, the convoy of peace will not
move on."
Former Knesset speaker Avraham Burg wrote in the independent,
left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The army of the democratic state, as well as
its systems of governance, must purify itself from all the enemies
planted by theocracy."
Block Quotes:
-------------
I. "Caution, Conference"
Conservative columnist Yosef Harif wrote in the popular, pluralist
Maariv (8/15): "Israel must ... weigh what it stands to gain from
the [proposed] international [Middle East] meeting, in which, apart
from the Palestinian Authority and the US, Arab states (Egypt,
Jordan, and perhaps Saudi Arabia, the European countries included in
the Quartet, Russia, and the UN, are supposed to participate. All
participating bodies share the view that a Palestinian state must be
established alongside Israel. All sides -- except the United States
-- support full Israeli withdrawal to the '67 borders. In those
circumstances Israel may find itself isolated in its demand for
defensible borders -- which in practice means leaving under Israel's
control land that is vital for its security. Now is the time for
Israel to clarify once and for all with the US the promise that
President Bush made to Ariel Sharon that Israel would retain the
large settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank].
Also, Israel must demand that the US make an unambiguous promise
that it will not let the conference impose solutions contradicting
Israel's positions regarding the right of return and Israel's status
in Jerusalem."
II. "On the Road to Nowhere"
Veteran journalist Yosef (Tommy) Lapid, Chairman of the Yad Vashem
Council, and former justice minister wrote in Maariv (8/15): "There
is a point to the talks between Olmert and Abu Mazen as long as the
two understand that there is no point to them. There is a point to
them, because aspiring to peace is a welcome matter, and because in
the absence of talks a vacuum is created, into which the desperation
that serves the extremists is drawn. There is no point to the
talks, because in the end they lead nowhere. Nowhere means that
there will be no agreement. The relations between us and the
Palestinians in Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank] will flow
without a formal arrangement, as is happening now, for the time
being. The die was cast when Israel withdrew from Gush Katif....
Any concession acts as a boomerang. The Palestinians prefer
suffering and war to prosperity and peace.... The second constraint
that does not enable a final status arrangement is that there is no
government in Israel, nor will there be one in the foreseeable
future, which is capable of evacuating 250,000 or 100,000 or even
50,000 settlers.... The governmentQs yielding to the settlers is a
shameful capitulation to force, an annulment of the rule of law ...
a tragedy for generations to come. But this is the reality in which
we live. A destructive reality, an insane reality, but reality.
Olmert and Abu Mazen can speak until tomorrow. People say that the
dogs bark and the convoy moves on. In this case, the convoy of
peace will not move on."
III. "Time to Attack"
Former Knesset speaker Avraham Burg wrote in the independent,
left-leaning Ha'aretz (8/15): "There is no theological difference
between certain rabbis from Hebron, the former Hamas leader Sheikh
Ahmed Yassin, and the evangelical preacher hoping for Armageddon at
the site of our Megiddo.... And in war, like in war: The legal
standing of the inciting rabbi is the same as that of the inciting
sheikh, because both are equally hostile. One wants to see me dead
physically, and the other wants to see me dead democratically and
morally. Since I oppose the death sentence in all cases, I cannot
thus condemn my domestic enemies. But the army of the democratic
state, as well as its systems of governance, must purify itself from
all the enemies planted by theocracy. The 'army of God' must not be
permitted to gain control of the institutions of state power. The
state must cut the lifeline of these subversive elements, and
rescind the benefits it grants them. Democracy must stop
apologizing and defending itself -- the time has come for initiative
and attack. Weak words and nebulous formulae will not help anything
here. In the choice between them and us, I favor us - for
democracy, and against all its enemies, both inside and out."
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2. Pakistan:
-------------
Summary:
--------
Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in the independent,
left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Musharraf may have exhausted his usefulness,
but for now, he is still necessary."
Block Quotes:
-------------
"The Limits in a Friend"
Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in the independent,
left-leaning Ha'aretz (8/15): "Musharraf is a friend the US can
neither do with or without. Of course, America supports democracy
everywhere -- so long as the democratic regime will not be more
extreme than its predecessor. The Americans are not interested in
repeating the mistake they made with the Palestinian Authority.
'Imagine a Hamas government in a country with nuclear weapons,' is
how an administration official responded to those calling for
greater pressure for democratization in Pakistan. The problem with
Pakistan, as far as the administration is concerned, is not the
hypocrisy of supporting, financially and politically, a dictator who
is refusing to allow a democratic process. This is something the
Americans can live with, as they have with their friends in Cairo or
Jordan. The problem is that the dictator is no longer useful the
way he used to be, and there is no appropriate replacement.
Musharraf may have exhausted his usefulness, but for now, he is
still necessary."
JONES
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