ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 TEL AVIV 004930

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD

WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM
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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. Iran: Nuclear Program


2. Mideast

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Key stories in the media:
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Most major media led with disengagement-related
developments. Ha'aretz highlighted the collecting of
army-issued weapons in Sa-Nur and Homesh, two of the
northern West Bank settlements slated for evacuation,
and the closing of Ganim and Kadim, the settlements
with a similar status, to non-resident Israelis. The
media reported that Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz signed
an administrative order obliging Miriam and Yaron
Adler, who moved to Sa-Nur last year to protest the
disengagement, to return to their former residence in
Kiryat Arba (next to Hebron). The media reported that,
in a rare move, Attorney General Menachem Mazuz decided
to deport Sa'adia Hershkopf -- a dual American and
Israeli citizen and one of the three activists of the
outlawed group Kach put into administrative detention
by Mofaz this week -- to the U.S. for 40 days. The
deportation will replace his administrative detention.

Jerusalem Post quoted a senior diplomatic official as
saying that Israel will retain security responsibility
for the northern West Bank. Jerusalem Post reported
that Palestinian officials have confirmed to the
newspaper that they have been told this by Israel as
well. The newspaper quoted a Western diplomatic
official as saying that PA Interior Minister Nasser
Yousef complained to U.S. envoy Lt.-Gen. William Ward
during a meeting Tuesday about Israel's intentions
regarding overall security control of the northernmost
part of the West Bank after disengagement. Israel
Radio filed a similar report. Israel Radio reported
that today at the Erez Crossing, Ward and Palestinian
Deputy Interior Minister Jamal Abu Zayd will discuss
the deployment plan of Palestinian forces in the Gaza
Strip.

Yediot reported on the acceleration of departure
preparations by Gush Katif residents. Leading media
reported that extremist settlers are hoarding food and
gas.

Most media (lead stories in Maariv and Hatzofe, as the
latter banners: "Binyamin Netanyahu -- on His Way to
Premiership") cited polls conducted among registered
Likud voters, indicating that Netanyahu would beat
Ariel Sharon in a contest for party leadership:
-Channel 10-TV/New Wave poll: Netanyahu: 42.1 percent;
Sharon: 27.7 percent; other answers: 30.2 percent.
-Ha'aretz/Dialogue Institute poll: Netanyahu: 35
percent; Sharon: 29.1 percent; Knesset Member Uzi
Landau: 17.3 percent; other answers: 18.6 percent.
According to this survey, Netanyahu would prevail over
Sharon, 47 to 33 percent, if the two men ran alone.
(Landau announced Tuesday he would run for Likud
chairmanship.)

Ha'aretz and Israel Radio reported that Mofaz and PA
Civilian Affairs Minister Muhammad Dahlan agreed
Tuesday that Israel would start demolishing the
settlers' houses in the Gaza Strip, after which the
World Bank would hire the services of Palestinian and
Egyptian firms to complete the task. Some of the
rubble would serve Palestinian construction in the
Strip. The media reported that Quartet envoy James
Wolfensohn attended the meeting. Ha'aretz reported
that Wolfensohn left for Washington last night to
present the plan to senior U.S. administration
officials.

Ha'aretz cited a report by Tel Aviv University's Jaffee
Center for Strategic Studies, according to which the
center of operations for Palestinian terror will move
to the West Bank after disengagement, and the PA's
inability to efficiently control events in its areas
will allow Hamas to gain strength. The newspaper says
that Shlomo Gazit, a Jaffee Center researcher and a
former head of IDF Intelligence, argues in the report
that disengagement "will be accomplished and achieve
its benefits on condition that Israel withdraw
completely to the June 4, 1967 borders."

Leading media reported that President Moshe Katsav will
speak to the nation tonight, urging settlers and the
government to exercise moderation. This is the first
time ever that a president of Israel will thus address
the Israeli people.

Ha'aretz reported that PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud
Abbas told the Palestinian Legislative Council Tuesday
that, "based on information that reached the PA" and on
agreements reached with Israel regarding the
disengagement, it appears that Israel will allow the PA
to build a port in the Gaza Strip, and that the two
sides had reached agreement on Gaza crossing points.
Ha'aretz also reported that Abbas hinted that the
Palestinian legislative elections would take place in
January.

Hamodi'a and other media cited a report published
Tuesday in the Saudi newspaper Al-Watan, according to
which the second stage of the Israel-Hizbullah prisoner
swap deal failed, following Hizbullah's inability to
provide details about the fate of Israeli MIA Ron Arad.

Maariv quoted official Iranian sources as saying that
the missile Shihab-3 is now able to reach targets in a
2,000-km range with one-meter precision.

Israel Radio quoted A-G Mazuz as saying before the
Knesset's State Control Committee today that it has not
been proven up till now that incitement was the cause
of the late PM Yitzhak Rabin's assassination, but that
deficient security measures were to blame for it. The
radio reported that left-wing politicians expressed
outrage at Mazuz's pronouncement and quoted Meretz
Knesset Member Ran Cohen as saying that this was a
particularly inopportune time to make such a comment.

Leading media reported that two Israeli motorists were
moderately wounded in a drive-by shooting Tuesday in
the southern Hebron hills. While the army is treating
the incident as a terrorist shooting, police have not
ruled out the possibility of criminal motivation behind
the attack, noting that the Israelis are known to the
police.

All media quoted Labor Party Secretary-General Eitan
Cabel as saying Tuesday that an internal committtee
investigating alleged forgeries in the party's
membership drive found that nearly half the forms that
were checked were illegal.

Yediot and Israel Radio reported that on Tuesday, the
cabinet approved the 2006 state budget, 12-8.
Environment Minister Shalom Simhon (Labor) voted in
favor of the budget, contrary to his party's line.

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1. Iran: Nuclear Program:
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Summary:
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Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "The
international community must flash a 'stop' sign at
Khamenei and Ahmadinejad. The leaders of the West must
remember that the perpetrators of the London terror
attacks derived their extremist ideology from similar
sources, and they must not allow the leaders of radical
Islam to have nuclear weapons."

Block Quotes:
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"Sanctions on Iran"

Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized
(August 10): "Israel cannot remain apathetic to the
worrisome developments to its east. The Iranian
nuclear program, conducted by a hostile and fanatic
regime, is rightly seen here as a grave security
threat. The U.S. intelligence assessment leaked last
week to The Washington Post which said Iran is about a
decade away from having nuclear weapons should not lull
decision makers in Jerusalem.... Israeli experts
believe that Iran needs another two to four years -- if
it abandons all agreements and restrictions -- in order
to obtain the amount of fissionable material needed for
a nuclear weapon. At that point, the balance of power
in the region will change sharply, to Israel's
detriment. The European diplomatic effort to stop
Iran's nuclearization, which Israel welcomed, has thus
far succeeded in slowing the project.... However, that
is no reason to relax. The severity of the threat, the
time pressure and Iran's blatant challenge to the
international community obligate Europe's leaders to
rethink the soft line they have taken thus far toward
Tehran.... Sanctions are not a miracle cure, especially
given the state of the world's oil markets, which would
have trouble giving up a major producer such as Iran.
But the international community must flash a 'stop'
sign at Khamenei and Ahmadinejad. The leaders of the
West must remember that the perpetrators of the London
terror attacks derived their extremist ideology from
similar sources, and they must not allow the leaders of
radical Islam to have nuclear weapons."

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2. Mideast:
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Summary:
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Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one
of popular, pluralist Maariv: "Just like the Hamas
terror attacks in February 1996 sent [Netanyahu] to the
Prime Minister's Office, more Hamas rampaging could
send him back there, in 2006, ten years later, to the
same place."

Professor Moshe Kaveh, President of the religiously
oriented Bar-Ilan University, wrote on page one of mass-
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "So far, the
demonstrations against disengagement have been
dignified, but when it comes to implementing the
decisions of the sovereign state, obedience is
necessary."

Block Quotes:
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I. "Bibi's Friends"

Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one
of popular, pluralist Maariv (August 10): "Israel's
disengagement from the Gaza Strip will begin next week.
Ariel Sharon's disengagement from the Likud began this
week. The two polls published on Tuesday ... are no
less than a political earthquake. In both of them,
Binyamin Netanyahu crushes Sharon among Likud
registered voters with a lead of over 14 percent. His
resignation from the cabinet on Monday suddenly looks
like a calculated, winning move. Up until yesterday
morning, Sharon's people were still trying to sell the
thesis that Netanyahu, as usual, 'had shot himself in
the foot'.... And yet, one must not forget: everything
depends on disengagement.... A sweeping victory could
renew [Sharon's] chances somehow. Netanyahu still
could, as usual, make some unexpected mistake. A
relative success, or a reasonable one, will also be to
Sharon's advantage. A resounding failure, obviously,
will put an end to his career.... He does not have to
go for the biggest party in order to form the next
government. It is enough for it to be in the center,
exactly in the center, for him to have an advantage
over his adversaries. And Bibi, what about him?
Netanyahu again faces a well-known situation: his
political career depends on Hamas. Just like the Hamas
terror attacks in February 1996 sent him to the Prime
Minister's Office, more Hamas rampaging could send him
back there, in 2006, ten years later, to the same
place. The next disengagement will already be his."

II. "Stop False Messianism"

Professor Moshe Kaveh, President of the religiously
oriented Bar-Ilan University, wrote on page one of mass-
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (August 10): "As
the date of disengagement approaches, leading rabbis in
the religious Zionist movement increasingly 'promise'
the settlers in the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria
[the northernmost part of the West Bank] that
'disengagement will not take place.' I respect and
acknowledge the qualities ... of some of these leading
rabbis, but I cannot break free of the worrying feeling
that in these statements, the rabbis have crossed a red
line, and are thereby endangering democracy and the
rule of law in the State of Israel, as well as the
status of religious Zionism, to which I belong.... By
statements that delude their followers, these rabbis
risk soon being declared false prophets. Jewish
history teaches us about the places and the fateful
outcomes into which false messiahs and false prophets
have led us. No less worrying are the repeated
instructions to the uniformed troops to disobey orders.
Such calls place the religious Jews in the army in an
impossible situation -- a traumatic bind of dual
loyalty.... The religious Zionist doctrine utterly
rejects disobedience towards the state institutions,
the army and the other elements of Israeli
sovereignty.... So far, the demonstrations against
disengagement have been dignified, but when it comes to
implementing the decisions of the sovereign state,
obedience is necessary."
KURTZER