Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06TELAVIV1511
2006-04-18 10:28:00
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.

181028Z Apr 06
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TEL AVIV 001511

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
USCINCCENT MACDILL AFB FL FOR POLAD/USIA ADVISOR
COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE FOR PAO/POLAD
COMSIXTHFLT FOR 019

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


No Tel Aviv Media Reaction report Wednesday, April 19,
2006, Seventh Day of Passover holiday.

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

Mideast

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

All media bannered, and extensively covered Monday
afternoon's bombing next to the old central bus station
in southern Tel Aviv. Nine people were killed in the
assault and around 65 others, including a 16-year-old
American tourist, were wounded. The stricken eatery
had been bombed three months ago. Islamic Jihad
claimed responsibility for the bombing, which was
carried out by one of its young activists from Jenin.

Leading media reported that Interim PM Ehud Olmert told
the Kadima faction in the Knesset that Israel "will
know how to respond." Israel Radio said that the
defense establishment will recommend taking actions
against Islamic Jihad and increasing the separation
between the northern and the southern West Bank. The
Jerusalem Post quoted a senior official at the Prime
Minister's Office (PMO) as saying that, contrary to
previous attacks, "We now face a Hamas government that
not only does not stop terrorism, but condones it, and
encouraqges it, and gives comfort to its perpetators."
The PMO official was quoted as saying that Israel had
little choice but to take matters into its own hands
and take sustained, harsh steps against the terrorist
organizations. The Jerusalem Post quoted a senior
Israeli diplomatic official as saying that from the
international community's point of view, there was
nothing dramatically different between Monday's attack
and the scores that preceded it. The diplomatic
official was quoted as saying that there were those who
were stressing it was not Hamas that carried out the
attack, and that Hamas had continued to respect a truce
it declared more than a year ago. Israel Radio quoted
Israel's UN representative Ambassador Danny Gillerman
as saying in an open debate at the UN Security Council
that the Council should take energetic steps against

terrorism to prevent further attacks. The station also
quoted Gillerman as saying that pronouncements by
Muslim leaders at this week's anti-Israeli conference
in Tehran constituted a declaration of war.

The media reported that the White House and the State
Department condemned the attack and placed
responsibility for it with the PA. Leading media
reported that White House Press Secretary Scott
McClellan called the attack a "despicable act of terror
for which there is no excuse or justification." Major
media quoted McClellan as saying: "Defense or
sponsorship of terrorist acts by officials of the
Palestinian cabinet will have the gravest effects on
relations between the Palestinian Authority and all
states seeking peace in the Middle East." Israel Radio
reported that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
called FM Tzipi Livni to denounce the bombing. Leading
media reported that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
condemned the Tel Aviv bombing in and called on the
Palestinian Authority to "take a clear public stand
against such unjustifiable acts of terrorism." The
media also reported that Annan called on all parties to
abide by their obligations under international law, and
to refrain from actions that further escalate the
situation and put civilians at grave risk.

The media reported that PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud
Abbas denounced the attack, but that Hamas defended it
as a "natural reaction." Israel Radio noted that
Jordan was the only Arab country that condemned the
attack.

The Jerusalem Post reported that Senator Joseph
Lieberman, the former Democratic vice presidential
candidate and a serving member of the Senate Armed
Services Committee, told the newspaper that the US is
probably incapable of completely destroying the Iranian
nuclear program, but that as a last resort it could
attempt to knock out "some of the components" in order
to "delay and deter it." Maariv quoted the Director of
National Intelligence, Ambassador John Negroponte, as
saying in an interview with TIME Magazine that Iran
will not have nuclear weapons before 2010.

Ha'aretz reported that on Monday, a 16-year-old
Palestinian was killed and two others were wounded by
an IDF shell near Beit Lahiya (northern Gaza Strip).
All media reported on progress in Kadima-Labor Party
coalition talks.

--------------
Mideast:
--------------

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

Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev
Schiff wrote on page one of independent, left-leaning
Ha'aretz: "The responsibility for such attacks rests
with the Hamas government.... The fight against terror
has to be conducted more forcefully."

Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote in mass-
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "Hamas's
strategy isn't to rein in bombings, but to encourage
them in order to return the Israel Defense Forces to
the territories."

Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote in popular,
pluralist Maariv: "In Jerusalem, the 17th Knesset was
sworn in.... In Tel Aviv, Palestinian democracy broke
out in a pool of blood."

Arab affairs commentator Danny Rubinstein wrote on page
one of Ha'aretz: "If [Mahmoud] Zahar ... is forced to
make do with the Iranian contribution ... his
government... will be defined as an isolated government
linked to what U.S. President George W. Bush considers
the axis of evil."

Ha'aretz editorialized: "Occupation, for as long as it
continues, is also meant to protect Palestinians from
the settlers.... However, as long as ... there is not
even minimal law enforcement, there is no evidence that
it is Israel that is in control, and not the settlers."

The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global
Research in International Affairs Center, columnist
Barry Rubin, wrote in the conservative, independent
Jerusalem Post: "Last week I wrote a column on how
incredibly bad the Middle East looked from the
standpoint of 15 years ago.... Let me try to look at
the positive side.... The United States is the world's
sole superpower and despite whatever mistakes it makes
it is generally a force for good in the region."

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


I. "Sharp Blow Calls For Sharp Response"

Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev
Schiff wrote on page one of independent, left-leaning
Ha'aretz (April 18): "Monday's suicide bombing at Tel
Aviv's old central bus station has strategic
significance for the future. It is the first suicide
attack after Hamas's rise to power in the Palestinian
Authority and the first attack after the election of a
new government in Israel. The large amounts of Iranian
money flowing to Islamic Jihad clearly are allowing it
to draft many volunteers, mostly young, for suicide
attacks in Israel. Islamic Jihad perpetrated six
suicide attacks in 2005. But the responsibility for
such attacks rests with the Hamas government.... Recent
declarations about Israel's victory over terror now
sound like a bad joke. Israel continues to fail in
deterring those who transport the bombers into Israel,
with ridiculous punishments meted out for this crime.
The fight against terror has to be conducted more
forcefully, with more being done to complete the
separation fence, which is strangely taking a long
time."


II. "Hamas Draws Israel Back Into the Territories"

Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote in mass-
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (April 18):
"Monday's bombing in Tel Aviv was a step in the process
of Israel's being drawn ... back into the territories,
the vacuum, the black hole that has been created there
since Hamas came to power. We are being dragged into
that chaos with eyes wide open.... The new [Israeli]
government will talk about convergence, the Knesset
that was sworn in on Monday can endlessly discuss new
permanent borders [for Israel], but we're going in the
opposite direction. We are not in a convergence
process, but in one of expansion -- not expansion in
terms of diplomatic gains, but an expansion of military
activity into populated Palestinian areas -- in Gaza
and the West Bank. The question isn't whether we'll
enter Jenin, Nablus, or Gaza, but when.... With the
passing of time, the fact that [Hamas] is increasingly
unable to abide by its pledges to the Palestinian
public, which might erode its might in the Palestinian
street. Hamas is 'dying' to see Israel present a
costly 'price-tag,' because it'll stick to its winning
formula: The worse off the Palestinians, the better off
Hamas is. This implies that Hamas's strategy isn't to
rein in bombings, but to encourage them in order to
return the Israel Defense Forces to the territories."

III. "Olmert's Test"

Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote in popular,
pluralist Maariv (April 18): "The Israeli democracy
festival that took place Monday in Jerusalem was
mingled with the murderousness of Palestinian democracy
that celebrated in Tel Aviv. Those two democracies
continue to embrace each other in a lethal squeeze. In
Jerusalem, the 17th Knesset was sworn in.... In Tel
Aviv, Palestinian democracy broke out in a pool of
blood.... Now is the time of Islamic Jihad. Who's
next? Fatah's Tanzim, certainly -- because when
there's a struggle between Fatah and Jihad, or between
any two factions, Palestinian democracy always channels
into the old, proven path through which the central
Palestinian regime will be embarrassed -- the killing
of Jews. Ehud Olmert will today face a significant
leadership test.... Will he declare the Palestinian
Authority an enemy country? For the fist time since
Oslo, a government that doesn't condemn terrorism is
sitting in Ramallah. The opposite is true. Its heads
view terrorism as a legitimate resistance tool."

IV. "An Inconvenient Attack"

Arab affairs commentator Danny Rubinstein wrote on page
one of Ha'aretz (April 18): "Palestinian Prime Minister
Ismail Haniyeh and Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud
Zahar are investing a lot into extricating the
Palestinian Authority from its financial troubles and
international isolation. Its image as a terror
government damages these efforts.... The Hamas
government is trying to recruit alternative sources of
funding. Zahar is on a fund-raising trip to Arab
states and appears to have notched some success.... It
is clear that Monday's terror attack is harmful to this
mission, since no Arab state wants to be seen as a
government that is identified with or assists terrorist
activity. If Zahar does not manage to win more aid
from Arab states and is forced to make do with the
Iranian contribution, he will be endangering the
position of his government, which will be defined as an
isolated government linked to what U.S. President
George W. Bush considers the axis of evil."


V. "No Arrests Yet"

Ha'aretz editorialized (April 18): "The clashes are
continuing between the kibbutz volunteers who help
Palestinian farmers work their land near the Elon Moreh
settlement and the settlers who beat them and fire at
them. This week settlers went to Kibbutz Givat
Hashlosha to give Yoel Marshak, one of the volunteers,
a personal threatening letter.... The single arrest in
the meantime was made at Marshak's initiative, not that
of the police. Marshak and his colleagues searched
for, and found, the rifle bullets fired at them two
weeks ago, and a ballistics test led to the arrest of
two soldiers.... Occupation is not only checkpoints
that protect against terror within the Green Line,
thereby making Palestinian life miserable. Occupation,
for as long as it continues, is also meant to protect
Palestinians from the settlers and make sure they can
carry on reasonable daily lives, at least in their
limited living space, now that checkpoints have made
movement between the communities a nightmare for them.
However, as long as a harassed civilian delivers the
bullet to the police officer's desk, and there is not
even minimal law enforcement, there is no evidence that
it is Israel that is in control, and not the settlers."

VI. "Now, the Good News"

The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global
Research in International Affairs Center, columnist
Barry Rubin, wrote in the conservative, independent
Jerusalem Post (April 18): "Last week I wrote a column
on how incredibly bad the Middle East looked from the
standpoint of 15 years ago, just after the Kuwait
war.... Let me try to look at the positive side....
Radical Islamists have not yet taken over any Arab
country, with violent revolts in Algeria and Egypt
being put down. Hamas now rules the Palestinians and
Islamists are making gains in several places but they
are still stuck in opposition. Syrian forces have
withdrawn from Lebanon and that country's peculiar
version of democracy has been restored.... There is a
liberal, pro-democratic movement now in the Arab
world.... Saddam Hussein has been overthrown as Iraq's
dictator.... Iraq has a chance of becoming a stable
democracy, not a trouble-free one but it is a real
possibility.... Israel is more secure, despite
continuing terrorist threats, than it has been at any
time in the past.... The United States is the world's
sole superpower and despite whatever mistakes it makes
it is generally a force for good in the region.... The
war on terrorism has enjoyed some real successes,
though obviously it is far from won, to say the
least.... There, don't you feel better? I know I do."

JONES