VZCZCXYZ0001
PP RUEHWEB
DE RUEHTV #2311/01 2821201
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 081201Z OCT 08
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8746
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 4478
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 1085
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN PRIORITY 4846
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 5276
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 4488
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 2859
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 5250
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 2110
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 0335
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 9080
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 6569
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 1491
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 5582
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 7555
RUEHJI/AMCONSUL JEDDAH PRIORITY 0410
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM PRIORITY 0595
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHMFISS/COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/COMSIXTHFLT PRIORITY
UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002311
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
Please note: There will be no Tel Aviv Media Reaction report on
Thursday, October 9, 2008, due to the Yom Kippur holiday.
--------------------------------
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT:
--------------------------------
Mideast
-------------------------
Key stories in the media:
-------------------------
All media reported that a surprise 0.5-percent cut in the Bank of
Israel discount rate sent local stocks soaring yesterday.
The Jerusalem Post reported that official Kadima and Labor
negotiating teams met for the first time on Friday to try to
finalize a deal on a new governing coalition led by Kadima leader
Tzipi Livni. HaQaretz reported that the coalition talks stalled
yesterday after Labor called off a meeting between the two
negotiating teams at the last minute. Maariv and Makor
Rishon-Hatzofe reported that Histadrut Labor Federation
Secretary-General Ofer Eini will represent the Labor Party in the
talks with Kadima. Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that
Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz and his associates are opposed
to the establishment of a narrow-based government.
Leading media published transcripts of generalsQ testimony to the
Agranat Commission that investigated the Yom Kippur War. The IDF
released the tapes for publication yesterday. Then Maj. Gen. (res.)
Ariel Sharon was quoted as saying that there was no clear picture of
what was going on. The late Moshe Dayan, then Defense Minister, was
quoted as saying that he lacked military qualifications to influence
decisions. Yediot revealed that East German pilots aided Syria
during the war. HaQaretzQs military correspondent commented that
the same arrogance characterized the Yom Kippur War and the Second
Lebanon War.
EU envoy Marc Otte was quoted as saying yesterday in an interview
with The Jerusalem Post that PM Ehud OlmertQs comments about Israel
needing to make a nearly complete withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines
will certainly be a reference point in the future, although Olmert
and FM Tzipi Livni have insisted that the comments are not binding.
Leading media quoted PM Ehud Olmert as saying yesterday that he
received assurances that Russia would not allow Israel's security to
be threatened, but he offered no indication that he won the concrete
promises he sought on Russian arms sales or sanctions on Iran.
After meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Olmert also
said that Israel was not prepared to tolerate a situation in which
Iran possesses nuclear weapons, but will not take the lead in
preventing it from gaining nuclear capability. Media reported that
Olmert did not receive a clear commitment that Russia would refrain
from supplying Syria with S-300 anti-aircraft missiles or selling
advanced weapons to Iran. However, he was quoted as saying that he
succeeded in getting Medvedev to understand his fears that
Russian-made missiles and other technology could fall into the hands
of anti-Israeli militants in the region.
The Jerusalem Post and Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that the IDF is
finalizing a new PA deployment in Hebron. Makor Rishon-Hatzofe also
reported that six pipe bombs were seized during an IDF operation in
Jenin.
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday, in a letter to the
police and the Internal Security Minister, the KnessetQs Internal
Committee lamented the lack of resources available to law
enforcement forces in the West Bank.
HaQaretz reported that Israeli authorities are implementing a
closure on settlements in the South Hebron Hills east of the
separation fence for Yom Kippur, citing a lack of manpower to keep
the road open. So far, limitations on traffic have been in effect
during Jewish holidays only for the Palestinian population.
Maariv quoted the Italian daily Corriere Della Sera as saying that
Iran sent a senior official to Lebanon to replace assassinated
Hizbullah operative Imad Mughniyah. Yediot reported that last week
Jordanian intelligence arrested two flight cadets from Bahrain on
suspicion of gathering intelligence that would be used to plan
attacks against Israeli cities. The newspaper reported that
involvement by Iran or Islamic radicals is being considered.
HaQaretz reported that Khalid Dukhi, an Israeli Arab lawyer for the
workers rights group Kav La'Oved, was handcuffed and briefly
detained by police on Monday when he refused to take his pants off
during an airport security check. It was the second time in two
months that local airport officials had asked Dukhi to remove his
pants as part of a pre-flight security check. Dukhi was flying from
Tel Aviv to Eilat on Monday to provide legal assistance to Sudanese
refugees.
Former World Jewish Congress President Edgar Bronfman was quoted as
saying yesterday in an interview with HaQaretz: "Judaism must open
up and fully accept families where one of the parents is not Jewish.
If a revolutionary change is not made in the present rejectionist
attitude toward mixed couples, the Jewish community in America will
shrink and lose its influence, and American support for Israel will
be in danger."
Yediot reported that a 12-year-old cancer patient from Iran will
arrive in Israel on Friday for treatment at the Shiba Medical Center
in Tel Hashomer. His parents will accompany him.
The Jerusalem Post printed a feature article on Dan Ben-David
(Kadima), the QU.S. immigrant whoQs turned down the Knesset.Q He
gave up a Knesset seat in favor of Rachel Adato-Levy.
Leading media reported that Israeli archeologists have discovered a
fragment from the lid of a sarcophagus, bearing the inscription "son
of the high priest" in a Second Temple-era script. The fragment was
found north of Jerusalem, near Nebi Samuel, in a salvage excavation
conducted by the Civil Administration to prepare for the separation
fence.
--------
Mideast:
--------
Summary:
--------
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: QIt is clear
that the good of the country is ... [to] establish a government
whose plans and makeup reflect the fundamental guidelines of the
outgoing government.
Conservative Jewish affairs correspondent Nadav Shragai wrote in
Ha'aretz: QOne must beware of those who talk about the greatness of
the rule of law even as their hearts are full of hatred when it
comes to the Other.
Columnist Michael Freund, who was an assistant to former prime
minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wrote in the conservative, independent
Jerusalem Post: QIt is regrettable that Peres could not ... offer
some acknowledgement of failure or at least a plea for forgiveness
from the victims of Oslo.
Block Quotes:
-------------
I. "A New Government - Now"
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (10/8): QIn
this period of uncertainty and financial crisis threatening to
become a recession, the cabinet must prepare an emergency plan, but
it needs to do so in secret, without talking about it in the media.
But to carry out such plans there must be a new government as soon
as possible, a government that will last for two years, until the
scheduled 2010 elections. It [should be] clear that the good of the
country is the top priority for Barak and for Shas chairman Eli
Yishai, both of whom now need to put aside all the so-called
achievements for their voters they were trying to win, and establish
a government whose plans and makeup reflect the fundamental
guidelines of the outgoing government.
II. "The Left Marked Them"
Conservative Jewish affairs correspondent Nadav Shragai wrote in
Ha'aretz (10/8): QOne must beware of those who talk about the
greatness of the rule of law even as their hearts are full of hatred
when it comes to the Other. Someone who beats up Palestinians and
damages their property should sit in jail. But are the settlers as
a whole -- all 300,000 of them -- responsible for that?.... From the
perspective of the left and the media, settlers have become the
ultimate Other, mainly because of the ideological threat that they,
religious Zionists and anyone who identifies with them, poses to
those who pride themselves on an absence of ideology. The Kadima
party, with its blurred identity and limited values, is just one
example of this. The settlers -- in the path they have chosen, in
their faith, and even in their appearance -- represent the exact
opposite. That is their sin, and that is their reward.
III. "Atonement for Oslo"
Columnist Michael Freund, who was an assistant to former prime
minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wrote in the conservative, independent
Jerusalem Post (10/8): QIn an interview last Friday with Makor
Rishon, our President [Shimon Peres] showed little inclination
toward introspection when the subject turned to the disastrous 1993
Oslo Accords with the PLO that he helped to fashion. Asked what he
now thought of Oslo in retrospect, the putative peace-maker had only
words of praise for the unmitigated catastrophe that he brought on
this country. Disproving the notion that with hindsight necessarily
comes knowledge, Peres insisted that QOslo gave us the basis for
peace.Q What it also gave us, of course, was murder and mayhem on
an unprecedented scale, as a surge in Palestinian terror left
hundreds of Israelis dead and thousands of others injured over the
course of subsequent years.... It is regrettable that Peres could
not rise to the occasion in his interview and offer some
acknowledgement of failure or at least a plea for forgiveness from
the victims of Oslo. But not a single, solitary word of contrition,
penitence, or remorse is to be found on the subject.... Peres'
obstinate refusal to come clean is also reflective of a larger
problem in Israeli society: a lack of willingness to accept personal
responsibility for one's actions. It plagues our lives in so many
spheres, from the playground to the boardroom to the Knesset.
CUNNINGHAM