Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05TELAVIV4472
2005-07-19 10:23:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Tel Aviv
Cable title:  

ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

Tags:  IS KMDR MEDIA REACTION REPORT 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 TEL AVIV 004472 

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

--------------------------------
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT:
--------------------------------

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 TEL AVIV 004472

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

--------------
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT:
--------------


1. Gaza Disengagement


2. Global War on Terrorism

--------------
Key stories in the media:
--------------

The major media reported that the police last night
allowed tens of thousands of anti-pullout demonstrators
to sleep at Kfar Maimon, five km west of Netivot, where
the march toward Gush Katif started. Settler leaders
promised earlier in the day that there would be no
"infiltration" of activists into the Gaza Strip during
the night. Ha'aretz reported that the Yesha Council of
Jewish Settlements in the Territories vowed to continue
the march today, but Internal Security Minister Gideon
Ezra told Israel Radio this morning that the police
will not let them do so. The media cited the right
wing's anger at police restrictions against the
marchers, which it views as civil rights violations.

Israel Radio reported that a foreign worker was
slightly wounded this morning in a mortar attack on a
Gush Katif settlement. Jerusalem Post reported that
the IDF is investigating Palestinian allegations that a
14-year-old boy was killed by IDF gunfire near the Gush
Katif junction on Monday afternoon.

Ha'aretz (Akiva Eldar) reported that, following an
inquiry by the newspaper, FM Silvan Shalom announced
Monday that he would demand that the PA disqualify the
Hamas list in the PA's legislative elections. Ha'aretz
found that Hamas's candidacy contravenes the terms of
the second Oslo agreement. "The nomination of any
candidates, parties or coalitions shall be refused, and
such nomination or registration once made will be
canceled," states Article II of Annex II, if they 1.
"commit or advocate racism" or 2. "pursue the
implementation of their aims by unlawful or non-
democratic means."

Maariv reported that PM Sharon has invited world
leaders -- including President Bush, former U.S.
president Bill Clinton, Egyptian President Hosni
Mubarak, King Abdullah II of Jordan, and King Mohamed
VI of Morocco -- to the 10th anniversary commemoration
of Yitzhak Rabin's assassination in November. The
newspaper cited the Rabin Center for Israel Studies'
hope that the leaders' visits will help restore
optimism to the region.

--------------


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

Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "In this country,
most people support the pullout.... The actions of the
Palestinians, with their bombings and their mortar
shells, only strengthen the fanatics in Israel."

Former Ambassador to the U.S., former Minister of
Foreign Affairs, and former Minister of Defense Moshe
Arens wrote in Ha'aretz: "Israel's original position,
that dismantling the Palestinian terrorist
infrastructure precede any steps toward an
accommodation with the Palestinians, was logical, and
it enjoyed the support of Washington.... We [now] seem
to be moving in the wrong direction."

Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one
of popular, pluralist Maariv: "It will take a great
deal of responsibility, lots of experience and no small
measure of wisdom to prevent the clash that is expected
over the coming days from being one that will expose us
all to harsh sights."

Ha'aretz editorialized: "[Influential rabbis] are to
blame for the ... tragic enfeeblement of the
foundations on which the national home stands."

Liberal op-ed writer Ofer Shelach opined in the
editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot
Aharonot: "Even the language that the settler leaders
use is repulsive.... [But] the police decision to stop
the organized bussing of right wing demonstrators at
their points of departure was an undemocratic act and a
bad public mistake."

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


I. "Get Down From the Rooftops"

Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (July 19): "At this
stage of the game, both parties must subdue the
extremist and rejectionist forces in their camps. But
there is no symmetry between the home conflicts of the
two peoples. In this country, most people support the
pullout, and in a solid democracy like Israel, the will
of the majority counts, no matter how much the
extremists demonstrate and threaten civil war. The
army will carry out its mission even if the craziest of
the crazies try to drag the country into a bloody
standoff.... The difference between the Palestinians
and us is that every time their organizations get into
an argument, they shoot at the Jews.... The actions of
the Palestinians, with their bombings and their mortar
shells, only strengthen the fanatics in Israel.
Sharon's standing in his party could suffer, leading to
his ouster and the onset of Intifada III. Is that what
the Palestinians want? How many more times do these
poor people intend to screw themselves?"

II. "Terrorism Can Wait"

Former Ambassador to the U.S., former Minister of
Foreign Affairs, and former Minister of Defense Moshe
Arens wrote in Ha'aretz (July 19): "Israel's original
position, that dismantling the Palestinian terrorist
infrastructure precede any steps toward an
accommodation with the Palestinians, was logical, and
it enjoyed the support of Washington. The government
made a mistake when it abandoned that position and let
up on Israel's war on Palestinian terror just when we
were close to inflicting on them a decisive defeat.
The recent relaxation of the IDF's control in
Palestinian cities in Samaria [the northern West Bank]
may have been responsible for the latest suicide
bombing in Netanya. After finally taking the offensive
in the war against Palestinian terrorism, we seem to be
moving in the wrong direction."

III. "Burst of Energy"

Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one
of popular, pluralist Maariv (July 19): "On Monday
evening there were four, perhaps five kilometers that
separated Ariel Sharon, ensconced in the Sycamore Farm,
from his thousands of denouncers, who gathered in [the
town of] Netivot.... In reality, these adversaries are
separated by millions of light years, oceans of bad
blood, abysses of alienation and vast differences in
worldview. The loyalists of the land versus the head
of state. The Land of Israel versus the State of
Israel. Sovereignty versus messianism. Knesset and
cabinet resolutions versus Torah and rabbinical
commandments. Israel has lived under the shadow of
this problematic equation since its inception. Now it
is coming to the fore.... [The demonstrators'] energy
has now been gathered, the passion, the fire in the
eyes, from all corners of the country and assembled in
the Negev, at the gates of Gush Katif, praying for
Sharon's failure, wishing for his end.... It will take
a great deal of responsibility, lots of experience and
no small measure of wisdom to prevent the clash that is
expected over the coming days from being one that will
expose us all to harsh sights."

IV. "Toward the Edge of the Abyss"

Ha'aretz editorialized (July 19): "The call by two
former chief rabbis, Mordechai Eliyahu and Avraham
Shapira, for soldiers to refuse obeying the military
order to prevent pullout opponents from entering the
Gaza Strip is not a halakhic [rabbinical] ruling. It
is a blatant act of incitement and political sedition
that is prompting many soldiers to violate the state's
laws.... The Chief Rabbinate was established as an arm
of the state. It was defined as an entity that is
supposed to function subject to the democratic
structure adopted by the country, to represent and
serve all of Israel's Jewish citizens. Within this
framework, the rabbis were supposed to tone down the
inherent conflict between religion and state and, in
contrast, to express a consistent desire for the
synthesis between statehood and tradition.... They [and
other influential rabbis] are to blame for the even
more tragic enfeeblement of the foundations on which
the national home stands."


V. "Anti-Democratic, Not Smart"

Liberal op-ed writer Ofer Shelach opined in the
editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot
Aharonot (July 19): "A relatively small number of
demonstrators required a concerted effort of hundreds
of IDF, police and Border Police forces two days ago to
stop their advance toward the fence separating Israel
from the Gaza Strip.... Even the language that the
settler leaders use is repulsive. Those who are
shocked when they are linked to those who have chosen
unlawful means, are quick to say, on the other hand,
'stopping the protest will lead to violence'.... And
even so, the police decision to stop the organized
bussing of right wing demonstrators at their points of
departure was an undemocratic act and a bad public
mistake.... The pictures of detained buses only
sharpened the message of the protestors."

--------------

2. Global War on Terrorism:
--------------

Summary:
--------------

Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized:
"Only when Muslims themselves, as a polity, come to
understand that the toxicity of suicide bombing is
having a blowback effect on their own world will this
evil instrument of war become as antiquated as poison
gas."

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

"Today's Poison Gas"
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized
(July 19): "In 1925, six years after World War I ended,
the civilized world outlawed the use of poison gas....
Anti-civilian warfare waged by Islamists will not turn
the tide of war any more than poison gas turned the
tide of World War I.... Targeting civilians inevitably
backfires.... The international community is moving,
albeit glacially, toward banning terrorism.... Yet
international organizations and sovereign states can do
only so much. In the final analysis, it is up to Muslim
leaders worldwide to denounce the Islamists --
unconditionally. They must excommunicate the fanatics,
or stand by as Islam becomes synonymous with the stench
of scorched flesh and acrid explosives. Only when
Muslims themselves, as a polity, come to understand
that the toxicity of suicide bombing is having a
blowback effect on their own world will this evil
instrument of war become as antiquated as poison gas."

CRETZ