ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 09 TEL AVIV 001648

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

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SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT:
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1. Mideast


2. Iran: Nuclear Program


3. Iraq

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Key stories in the media:
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Ha'aretz reported that Interim PM Ehud Olmert will meet
with President Bush on May 23.

Israel Radio reported that this morning, two members of
Islamic Jihad were killed and three other Palestinians
were wounded in an IDF targeted assassination operation
in Deir el-Balah in the southern Gaza Strip.

All media reported that on Wednesday, the PA thwarted
an attempt by the Popular Resistance Committees to blow
up the Karni cargo terminal between the Gaza Strip and
Israel with 500 kg of explosives. The media reported
that two attempts to attack troops of the Multinational
Force and Observers (MFO) in Sinai failed. The
Jerusalem Post reported that the state told the High
Court of Justice on Wednesday that the Palestinians
have only themselves to blame for the fact that Israel
shuts down the Karni crossing as often as it does and
that, as a result, the local population suffers.
Israel Radio cited the London-based newspaper Al-Hayat
that Palestinian forces uncovered a tunnel that may
have been used to attempt to assassinate former PA
minister Muhammad Dahlan.

Leading media report that on Wednesday, Olmert decided
to order the completion of the separation fence, in
particular the "Jerusalem envelope," by the end of the
year. However, The Jerusalem Post reported that Olmert
declined to institute a deadline for the completion of
the Jerusalem fence. The media reported that Olmert
ordered the gaps in the "Jerusalem envelope" sealed
with a temporary fence immediately.

Maariv and The Jerusalem Post reported that on
Wednesday, during his visit to Norway, PA Chairman
[President] Mahmoud Abbas called for the convening of
an international conference on the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict. The Jerusalem Post quoted Arab League
Secretary-General Amr Moussa as saying that the time

SIPDIS
for Abbas's proposal had not come. The Jerusalem Post
reported that Asaf Shariv, a spokesman for Olmert,
categorically rejected Abbas's idea, saying that no
summit would take place until the PA reins in
terrorism.

In its lead story, Ha'aretz quoted Maj. Gen. Amos
Yadlin, the head of the IDF Intelligence Branch, as
saying Wednesday at a public appearance that Iran has
purchased ground-to-ground missiles from North Korea
with a range of 2,500 km. Yadlin was quoted as saying
that some of the missiles have already arrived in Iran.
Major media reported that on Wednesday, Iran's Supreme
Leader Ali Khamenei threatened the US with worldwide
strikes, were it to attack Iran. Israel Radio noted
that the UN Security Council's ultimatum to Iran
regarding its uranium-enrichment program will expire
Friday. Israel Radio reported that on Wednesday, the
US House of Representatives passed, with a large
majority, a bill that would tighten sanctions against
Iran.

Labor Party MK Ephraim Sneh was quoted as saying in an
interview with The Jerusalem Post that under Amir
Peretz's leadership, the Defense Ministry will wield a
strong hand against settlers who violently resist
government policy, and that Peretz would also cease to
turn a blind eye to illegal building in the West Bank.
Major media (banner in Maariv) cited the intention of
Yisrael Beiteinu Avigdor Lieberman not to join Ehud
Olmert's government. Maariv quoted him as saying that
the new government has no future and that the Labor
Party will only bring subversion. All media reported
that on Wednesday, the Pensioners' Party (Gil) became
the first party to sign a coalition agreement with
Kadima. According to the agreement, the Pensioners and
Kadima will operate as one 36-MK parliamentary bloc.
Israel Radio reported that Kadima is expected to sign
coalition agreements today with the Labor Party, Shas,
and United Torah Judaism.

Major media reported that AG Menachem Mazuz has decided
that there was insufficient evidence to try Ahmed
Sa'adat, the former head of the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) for his part in the 2001
assassination of tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi. Four
other PFLP members, however, will face charges in
connection with the murder. Israel Radio reported that
Fuad Shubaki, who was involved in weapons smuggling and
in the affair of the weapons ship Karine-A, will be
tried in a military court.

The Jerusalem Post cited claims by volunteers,
including Americans, that settler violence is rising
against Palestinians in Hebron.

Israel Radio reported that Egyptian intelligence chief
Omar Suleiman will visit Yemen to investigate the
possibility that Al-Qaida activists who escaped from a
Yemeni jail were involved in the Sinai bombings.
Yediot reported that several senior position holders in
the Egyptian intelligence services blamed Israel for
the bombings.

Leading media reported that Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a
surprise visit to Baghdad on Wednesday to express the
USG's support for new Iraqi Prime Minister Jawad al-
Maliki.

Yediot reported that the Syrian government sent a
letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and to the
current president of the UN Security Council, saying
that the UN envoy to Lebanon, Terje Roed-Larsen, is
taking a pro-Israeli stance. Yediot noted that former
PM Ariel Sharon and other senior GOI officials had
refused to receive Roed-Larsen, whom they viewed as
anti-Israeli. Leading media reported that on
Wednesday, President Bush authorized freezing the
assets of anyone involved in the 2005 assassination of
former Lebanese PM Rafiq Hariri.

Ha'aretz, Maariv, The Jerusalem Post, Hatzofe, and
Israel Radio reported that Sweden called off its
participation in international AIR FORCE exercises
("Volcanex 2006") to take place in Italy next month
because of the involvement of the Israel AIR FORCE in
the drills. The media quoted senior officials in
Stockholm as saying: "Israel is not currently acting in
the name of peace, and therefore, it should not take
part in the demonstration." A Swedish Foreign Ministry
official was quoted as saying: "The point of the
operation is to prepare for international cooperation
in preserving world peace. The participation of the
Israeli AIR FORCE changes the prerequisites of the
drill." Swedish Defense Minister Leni Bjorklund was
quoted as saying that her country is withdrawing
because of the participation of a "state that does not
take part in preserving international peace."
Ha'aretz's web site quoted a GOI source as saying: "The
lack of sympathy for Israel in Sweden is out of
proportion. Some government ministers spearhead the
most anti-Israel approach in all of Europe, and
particularly in Scandinavia. In meetings between
senior Israelis and Swedish ministers, the Swedes
refuse to listen to Israel's positions."

Major media reported that on Wednesday, President Bush
announced the nomination of Fox News host Tony Snow as
White House Press Secretary.

Yediot reported that State Comptroller Micha
Lindenstrauss has reached the conclusion that Shimon
Peres, no. 2 in Kadima, is suspected of illegal
activity related to USD 320,000 in foreign donations he
received in the Labor Party's primaries around six
months ago.

All media reported that ex-minister Prof. Yuval
Ne'eman, world-renowned physicist and former head of
the Atomic Energy Commission, died Wednesday at age 81.
He was among the founders of the campaign for retaining
the land of Greater Israel.

Maariv and The Jerusalem Post reported that Microsoft
will open a new R&D center in Tel Aviv. Maariv said
that the American computing giant was "expressing
confidence in Israel."

The Jerusalem Post cited a report released earlier this
month by URCH Publishing [a British-based company] as
saying that a boom in Middle Eastern pharmaceutical
markets is imminent, although Israel may not be a
beneficiary of the trend. The Jerusalem Post quoted
the author of the report, Jean-Michel Saliba, as saying
that "multinationals must be wary of the inadequate
level of intellectual property rights protection in the
region." The newspaper wrote that US pharmaceutical
companies lose around USD 555 million, in the Middle
East, alone, due to lack of patent protection.
Yediot reported that American rock singer Lenny Kravitz
will visit Israel for the first time this summer.

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1. Mideast:
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Summary:
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Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "It is hard to
imagine more convenient political conditions for
Olmert's convergence plan. If he does not hurry to
take advantage of them, he will lose the opportunity
and his plan will disappear into thin air."

Liberal op-ed writer Yael Paz-Melamed commented in
popular, pluralist Maariv: "[A big cabinet] is bad,
annoying, and costly, but if it is what will make the
government implement its diplomatic plan, it's worth
it."

Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in
Ha'aretz: "The US, exhausted in Iraq and preoccupied
with its problems, is in no hurry to enter a futile
face-off with the Kremlin, and will agree to pay a high
price to avoid one. Part of it might be paid in
Israeli currency. One cannot change this but rather
just try to get used to it."

Block Quotes:
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I. "And Thank You to Hamas"

Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (4/27): "Interim
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert needs Hamas more than any
other player. From his point of view, a Hamas
government that is weakened, lacks international
backing and is hungry for assistance is the best
alternative on the Palestinian side.... Before the
elections, Olmert spoke about the rest of US President
George W. Bush's term, until January 2009, as a 'window
of opportunity' for carrying out the convergence plan.
Bush's term now seems an eternity compared to that of
the Olmert government, which is unlikely to survive
until then.... Fatah enjoyed international support,
which reduced Israel's freedom of operation. Hamas has
no such status. Its refusal to recognize Israel,
adherence to an extremist ideology and vocal support of
last week's terror attack in Tel Aviv assist Israeli
public relations. The internal struggle is
preoccupying the Palestinians and freeing Israel to
deal with its own issues. It is hard to imagine more
convenient political conditions for Olmert's
convergence plan. If he does not hurry to take
advantage of them, he will lose the opportunity and his
plan will disappear into thin air."

II. "Yes to a Big, Costly Government"

Liberal op-ed writer Yael Paz-Melamed commented in
popular, pluralist Maariv (4/27): "The government that
Olmert is building -- at least it appears so -- is one
that will allow the convergence move to happen, even if
Avigdor Lieberman and 'Yisrael Beiteinu' enter the
cabinet.... Olmert is turning the Labor Party and its
leader into his senior partners in the government....
It transpires that in order to satisfy [Labor Party
Chairman Amir] Peretz, he must be given seven
ministers. This is bad, annoying, and costly, but if
it is what will make the government implement its
diplomatic plan, it's worth it."

III. "Facing the Kremlin"

Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in
Ha'aretz (4/27): "To understand what Stalin was doing,
[George Kennan] believed [in 1946], one should go back
to the days of the czar. Would he say today that to
understand what Putin is doing, one needs to go back to
the days of Stalin? 'The Russians have decided that
the only way back into the arena is to be a spoiler,' a
source in Washington said. And Israel, as an insect on
the back of a galloping mammoth, can see the race track
from above, but cannot affect the race. A lesson in
humility for all who believe that Israel's fate is only
in its own hands. Therefore, Hamas will be invited to
Moscow, against the spirit of the Quartet's decisions
(even if not in express opposition to them),and any
diplomatic maneuvers against Iran also will get bogged
down until the Kremlin's leaders are satisfied, or
perhaps not. The US, exhausted in Iraq and preoccupied
with its problems, is in no hurry to enter a futile
face-off with the Kremlin, and will agree to pay a high
price to avoid one. Part of it might be paid in
Israeli currency. One cannot change this but rather
just try to get used to it."

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2. Iran: Nuclear Program:
--------------

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

Intelligence affairs reporter Ronen Bergman wrote in
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "The
failure [to expose Iran's uranium enrichment program]
rests mainly on the shoulders of the Mossad, but not
exclusively."

Berlin correspondent Eldad Beck wrote in Yediot
Aharonot: "Germany is responsible not only for
preserving the memory of the Holocaust; it also bears a
great deal of responsibility for the development of
Iran's nuclear program."

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


I. "Satellite or Balloon?"

Intelligence affairs reporter Ronen Bergman wrote in
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (4/27):
"Herein lies the great secret, which everyone is trying
to conceal: The Israeli intelligence community (like
the US and western European intelligence communities)
has failed so far, aside from local successes, in
thwarting the danger that it itself defines as the main
threat to the state's wellbeing and existence. This is
a double failure: Not only did Israel not prevent Iran
from going nuclear, but throughout most of this period,
it did not know enough about what was happening inside
Iran. One example is the very-late discovery of the
real route Iran chose to manufacture the bomb --
enriching uranium through centrifuges with Pakistani
assistance, and not as was believed by Israel --
through upgrading the capabilities given to Iran by
Russia by building the reactor in Bushehr. The failure
rests mainly on the shoulders of the Mossad, but not
exclusively. This is the sad truth, which even blaring
headlines [about the new Israeli satellite] sponsored
by the PR executives of Israel Aircraft Industries
cannot succeed in changing."

II. "Good Hosts"

Berlin correspondent Eldad Beck wrote in Yediot
Aharonot (4/27): "What is this dialogue that the
Europeans are holding with the Iranians? A
conversation criticizing the US. This criticism has
been expanded to Israel as well.... Everywhere he goes,
[German] Foreign Minister [Frank-Walter] Steinmeier
condemns the positions of the Iranian President
regarding the destruction of Israel and the denial of
the Holocaust, but statements are one thing and actions
are another. That is also the attitude of the German
government toward Ahmadinejad's intentions to come to
the World Cup in order to support his team. 'He can
expect criticism for his statements,' the German
Minister of the Interior said, 'but he can come. We
want to be good hosts.' When Israel made vocal demands
to impose sanctions on the Iranian government for
Ahmadinejad's statements and not to allow its national
team to attend the World Cup, Berlin officials asked
that the conflict with Iran not be made into a German
matter, saying that sports are separate from politics.
The Holocaust, which Ahmadinejad denies, was
perpetrated by Germans. Allowing him to come to
Germany is tantamount to spitting on the ashes of every
one of the six million. But Germany is responsible not
only for preserving the memory of the Holocaust; it
also bears a great deal of responsibility for the
development of Iran's nuclear program. In the mid-
1990s Israel gave Chancellor Kohl a list of German
companies that were helping the Iranians in their
efforts to obtain an atom bomb. Very little was done
to prevent this activity. Once the Germans finally got
moving, it was usually too late."

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3. Iraq:
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Summary:
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Liberal columnist Larry Derfner wrote in the
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "They call
the Americans who fought World War II the Greatest
Generation. I would call the Americans who won't be
fighting in Iraq, or anyplace else, the Hollowest
Generation."

Block Quotes:
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"The Hollowest Generation"

Liberal columnist Larry Derfner wrote in the
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (4/27): "The
world's only superpower is at war, and its ruling class
is manned almost wall-to-wall by 'chickenhawks' --
hawks by ideology, chickens by example.... The question
is this: If you are not a pacifist, if you believe that
your country needs an army and that occasionally,
tragically, it may be necessary for it to go to war,
why should somebody else and somebody else's son have
to risk their lives in that army, but you and your son
shouldn't? They call the Americans who fought World
War II the Greatest Generation. I would call the
Americans who won't be fighting in Iraq, or anyplace
else, the Hollowest Generation."

JONES