ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 TEL AVIV 001669

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

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Key stories in the media:
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Israel Radio quoted Assistant Secretary of State for
Near Eastern Affairs David Welch as saying that Hamas
might have found ways to circumvent the boycott imposed
on fund transfers to the PA. The radio also cited
Welch's concern that Hamas and Al-Qaida may be merging
their operations.

All media reported that last night, representatives of
Kadima and the Labor Party signed a coalition
agreement. The accord includes a call for evacuating
West Bank settlements and states that the government
will work "to shape the permanent borders of the state
as a Jewish state with a democratic majority." The
agreement explicitly states that the territory of the
Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West
Bank] " will be "reduced." Furthermore, the government
will work to shape the borders "through negotiation and
agreement with the Palestinians on the basis of mutual
recognition, previously-signed agreements, the
principles outlined in the road map, an end to violence
and the disarmament of the terror organizations."
Maariv quoted senior Kadima members as saying that
Olmert will carry out "limited convergence." Maariv
quoted one of them as saying that Olmert's power in the
Knesset is limited while Hamas is ruling on the
Palestinian side. The newspaper cited a denial by
Olmert's bureau. The Labor Party will control the
defense, education, infrastructure, agriculture and
tourism ministries and will also have two ministers
without portfolio. The Labor Party's Central Committee
will vote Sunday on the mode of selection of the
party's ministers, which media say may not be in Labor
Chairman Amir Peretz's favor. The media said that the
Shas party might get four ministers in the government.

Maariv reported that Arab League Secretary-General Amr
Moussa told the newspaper in Paris last night that
"convergence is not peace."
Ha'aretz reported that IDF Intelligence chief Maj. Gen.
Amos Yadlin hinted Wednesday that Syria is poised to
begin talks on major arms purchases in light of
expectations of increased revenue due to rising oil
prices. Yadlin was quoted as saying that larger oil
producers like Iran and Saudi Arabia were also
channeling their oil revenues into arms deals, and that
some of the Syrian arms purchases are expected to go
toward refitting its air force, which stopped buying
new planes in the 1980s. Yadlin also said that the
Syrians continued to focus their arms production on
rockets and longer-range SCUDS. Production, he said,
was continuing on 200 to 300 millimeter rockets with a
range of dozens of kilometers. Some of these weapons
are apparently being transferred to Hizbullah,
including the array Hizbullah has deployed along the
border between Lebanon and Israel.

Leading media reported that on Thursday, Foreign
Ministry DG Ron Prosor summoned Swedish Ambassador
Robert Rydberg to the Foreign Ministry to clarify
Stockholm's decision to withdraw from a NATO air force
exercise due to Israel's participation. The media
reported that Prosor also spoke to the Swedish
Ambassador about Stockholm's reported plans to grant
visas to two Hamas representatives -- the first
European state to do so. Prosor reportedly told
Rydberg that if Israel was not regarded as a legitimate
peace-keeping force, it should come as no surprise if
Israel did not see a legitimate role for Sweden in the
Middle East peace process. Ha'aretz quoted Rydberg as
saying that the Hamas officials had not requested visas
and therefore were not granted them.

Major media reported that only one Palestinian -- an
Islamic Jihad Qassam rocket operator -- was killed in
the IDF's targeted assassination Thursday in the Gaza
Strip.

Ha'aretz and Hatzofe quoted PA FM Mahmoud Zahar as
saying Thursday on Al Jazeera-TV that there is no
reason other parties cannot broker negotiations between
the Hamas-led PA government and Israel. Ha'aretz also
reported that Palestinian PM Ismail Haniyeh threatened
last week to resign together with his cabinet if Khaled
Mashal, head of the political wing in Damascus, did not
retract harshly critical statements he made about PA
Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas last week.
The Jerusalem Post quoted officials as saying that
Ateret Cohanim, an organization that aims to settle
Jews all over Jerusalem, has reached an accord with the
Jewish owners of a soon-to-be-vacated police station in
the Ras el-Amud neighborhood of East Jerusalem to house
Jews in the building after police move out.

Maariv reported that this week, Israel revoked former
Palestinian PM Ahmed Qurei's VIP pass.

Citing AP, Ha'aretz reported that in an interview
Thursday, Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah
acknowledged giving Palestinian factions financial and
political support, but that he denied arming them.

The Jerusalem Post reported that the US has refrained
from pressing Pakistan to drop its anti-Israel trade
embargo.

The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel and the US did
not oppose appointing Iran to serve as a vice chair of
the UN Disarmament Commission when the Commission
decided on the nomination two weeks.

Hatzofe reported that on Thursday, following the Sinai
bombings, the Egyptian security services arrested the
head of Al Jazeera-TV in Egypt on suspicion of
broadcasting disinformation in order to vilify the
Egyptian regime.

Hatzofe cited the Lebanese newspaper Al-Diar that
quoted European diplomatic sources in Iraq as saying
the Mossad deposed its agent in Irbil, northern Iraq.

The Jerusalem Post reported that Jewish American
organizations are at the forefront of coordinating a
rally that will take place this Sunday in Washington
under the banner: "Save Darfur."

Maariv ran a feature on French native Philippe Hababou-
Solomon, who organized fundraising events in the 1990s
-- including a gala dinner with then President Bill
Clinton -- for Robert Torricelli, who was then New
Jersey's Democratic Senator. Solomon spent time in
American and French jails. The newspaper also wrote
that Hababou-Solomon laundered money in Donald Trump's
Atlantic City casinos and almost bought an important
Israeli sports club.

Yediot reported that the Israeli company Aeronautics
Defense Systems was selected to protect the Nigerian
oil industry.

A Yediot/Mina Zemach (Dahaf Institute) poll:
-"Are you satisfied with the government's composition
as it is shaping up?" Dissatisfied: 55 percent;
satisfied: 39 percent.
- "Are you satisfied with Ehud Olmert's performance in
the process of forming the government?" Dissatisfied:
51 percent; satisfied: 37 percent.
-"Is the nomination of Amir Peretz to the post of
defense minister the right step?" Not the right step:
76 percent; the right step: 21 percent.

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1. Mideast:
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Summary:
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Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote on page one of
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "This is the first
time an Israeli government commits itself in advance to
dismantling settlements."

Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in
Ha'aretz: "Global support for Israel hinges on Bush's
continued support. It's important that Iran sees Bush
hugging us, too."

The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post
editorialized: "Unilateralism is one thing: doing
something for nothing is another."

Deputy Managing Editor and right-wing columnist
Caroline B. Glick wrote in The Jerusalem Post: "The
nature of the war being waged against Israel changed,
perhaps irreversibly, this week."

Israeli attorney Deborah Housen-Couriel, an analyst at
the Re'ut Institute, a non-partisan Zionist think-tank,
wrote in The Jerusalem Post: "Ultimately, policies that
promote the long-term economic well-being of the
Palestinian Authority can benefit Israel as well."

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


I. "To Sharon's Left"

Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote on page one of
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (4/28): "The
diplomatic guidelines of the Olmert government are
based on the Prime Minister's victory speech on
election night. They focus on the effort to shape
permanent borders that would guarantee Israel's future
state with a democratic majority." But they don't
content themselves with this general goal. The text of
the speech, which was appended to the guidelines, has
an additional, very significant line: 'Israel's
territory, the border of which will be determined by
the government, will necessitate a reduction of the
territory of Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria
[i.e. the West Bank]." This is the first time an
Israeli government commits itself in advance to
dismantling settlements. The Sharon government's
guidelines, which were agreed upon in early 2003 -- a
few months before Sharon decided to pull out from Gaza
-- were much fuzzier."

II. "Walking on Eggshells"

Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in
Ha'aretz (4/28): "Every once in a while, some great
brain gets up and denounces our 'dependence' on the US.
One of them was Menachem Begin, who summoned then U.S.
Ambassador Sam Lewis and snapped: 'We are not your
vassals'.... Congressional elections are coming up at
the end of this year, and Olmert needs to make sure
that even if Bush loses his majority, the U.S. Congress
continues to support Israel as it has until now.
Because this is where the power lies. This is where
the commitments, the guarantees, the budgets and the
pledges come from. When we say Israel's fate depends
on US support, it's not just the president we need
behind us - we need Congress, too. Even if the
Democrats win a majority this time, it won't harm the
close ties that have developed between us and Bush....
It's no coincidence that Ariel Sharon used to call Bush
the best president Israel has ever had. Why? Because
they saw eye-to-eye on the threat posed by global
Islamic terror. Bush gave Sharon a free hand to carry
out targeted assassinations, and held a diplomatic
umbrella over him in the UN Security Council.... Global
support for Israel hinges on Bush's continued support.
It's important that Iran sees Bush hugging us, too.
Olmert must carry on the Sharon-Bush pact to walk
shoulder-to-shoulder, pulling no surprises on one
another."

III. "Something For Something"

The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post
editorialized (4/28): "The idea that Israel must
receive something concrete from the international
community if we are to proceed with a second
disengagement is more than reasonable. Unilateralism
is one thing: doing something for nothing is
another.... In an ideal world, the international
support Israel seeks would make complete sense to
Western nations, and such support would be readily
forthcoming. In practice, however, the international
community is more likely to ask itself why it should
'pay' Israel to do something if our prime minister says
he will do it no matter what. The upshot is that
Olmert would do well to more seriously consider
[Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor] Lieberman's main
demand, namely that convergence be conditioned on --
not just vaguely linked to -- international recognition
of borders that Israel has, for lack of a non-terrorist
negotiating partner, been forced to establish
unilaterally. Even with such recognition, it may be a
challenge for the government to make the case for
evacuating thousands of Israelis from their homes in
Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank] against their
will, and an immense challenge for Israeli society to
absorb. Without such a tangible benefit, implementing
convergence will likely be both unwise and impossible."

IV. "Israel's New War"

Deputy Managing Editor and right-wing columnist
Caroline B. Glick wrote in The Jerusalem Post (4/28):
"The nature of the war being waged against Israel
changed, perhaps irreversibly, this week.... The face
of the enemy has changed. If in the past it was
possible to say that the war being waged against Israel
was unique and distinct from the global jihad, after
the events of the past week, it is no longer possible
to credibly make such a claim.... This new state of
affairs demands a change in the way all of Israel's
security arms understand and fight this war. The
entire process of intelligence gathering for the
purpose of uncovering and preventing planned terror
attacks needs to be reconsidered. A reconfiguration of
political and diplomatic strategies is also
required.... Who can cause Ehud Olmert, [and his slated
ministers] Amir Peretz, Tzipi Livni, and Yuli Tamir to
take the steps required to protect Israel from the
reality exposed by the events of this past week?"


V. "It's Not About the Economy"

Israeli attorney Deborah Housen-Couriel, an analyst at
the Re'ut Institute, a non-partisan Zionist think-tank,
wrote in The Jerusalem Post (4/28): "Issues of public
heath, sanitation, and water quality are only some
examples of the need for basic [Israeli-Palestinian]
cooperation. Moreover, an Israeli 'beggar thy
neighbor' approach is neither morally permissible nor
sustainable in the long run. That leaves three
options: Redirection of the present focus from the
issue of an inflow of cash to the Hamas-led government
to that of the movement of goods and workers between
Israel and the PA.... Treating Abu Mazen as Israel's
'address' in his capacities as PA and PLO chairman....
Treating the PA's Hamas-led government as Israel's
'address'.... My advice is for the Olmert government to
begin by examining this third, most politically
difficult option.... Ultimately, policies that promote
the long-term economic well-being of the Palestinian
Authority can benefit Israel as well."

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2. Iran:
--------------

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

Senior columnist Dan Margalit wrote in popular,
pluralist Maariv: "Like in the thirties, the world is
lying to itself.... The Ayatollahs' regime must
disappear from the world."

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

"Spiritual Viruses"

Senior columnist Dan Margalit wrote in popular,
pluralist Maariv (4/28): "Like in the thirties, the
world is lying to itself. Former [US] National
Security Advisor Zbigniew Brezinski called on the US
not to act against Iran but to 'differentiate Iranian
nationalism from the religious mentality.' This is a
pipe dream. [Israeli intellectual] Dr. Tom Segev wrote
in Ha'aretz: 'Villain, stupid, maybe both --
Ahmadinejad doesn't direct his threats and abuse to
Israeli ears, but to the ears of a world that has
internalized the Holocaust as a agreed-upon code of
absolute evil.' All right, but what to do with
this?.... The Ayatollahs' regime must disappear from
the world -- or alternatively, its nuclear enterprise.
Ending its existence through every means, including the
use of force, is a supreme and just necessity."

JONES