Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06TELAVIV58
2006-01-06 11:49:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Tel Aviv
Cable title:  

ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

Tags:  IS KMDR MEDIA REACTION REPORT 
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 TEL AVIV 000058

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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Prime Minister Sharon's Health

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

All media led with, and extensively reported on PM
Sharon's health condition. The media cited a statement
issued last night by Hadassah Hospital Director Prof.
Shlomo Mor-Yosef, saying that he is under sedation, on
a respirator and paralyzed; that he is likely to remain
under sedation for up to 72 hours; and that it is
impossible to know what his condition really is under
sedation. The electronic media reported that this
morning, Sharon underwent another CAT scan and was
again rushed into surgery. All major Hebrew-language
media quoted medical sources as saying unofficially as
saying that there are few chances that Sharon would
recover (Yediot),or that Sharon's brain suffered
serious damage (Maariv and Ha'aretz). In its lead
story, Ha'aretz quoted Sharon's doctors as saying that
Sharon has probably suffered irreversible brain damage
that would preclude his ever resuming office.

Israel Radio quoted President Bush as saying Wednesday
at a public appearance in Washington that Sharon is "a
good man, a strong man, a man who cared deeply about
the security of the Israeli people, and a man who had a
vision for peace." The station quoted Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice as saying that Sharon "is a man
of enormous courage." Israel Radio also quoted
Secretary Rice as saying: "We are concentrating our

SIPDIS
prayers and our thoughts on hope for his recovery. I
think that is the appropriate thing at this time
because he is a huge and gigantic figure in Israeli
politics and has turned out to be in the entire Middle
East and in the world." Ha'aretz and Maariv filed
similar stories. The Jerusalem Post reported that the
Israeli Embassy in Washington kept U.S. officials
updated on Sharon's condition all Wednesday night, and
top Sharon aide Dov Weisglass phoned Secretary Rice
during the early hours of the operation and updated her

on Sharon's condition. The Jerusalem Post notes that
Acting PM Ehud Olmert "is a well-known figure in
Washington" and that last summer, weeks before the
implementation of the withdrawal from Gaza and the
northern West Bank, Olmert held a lengthy meeting with
Secretary Rice in which he provided a detailed

SIPDIS
explanation of Israel's planned moves.

Leading media reported that PA Chairman [President]
Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian leadership stressed
their concerns for the fate of the peace process and
wished Sharon well. The media quoted the leaders of
the terrorist organizations as saying that the region
would be better off without Sharon. Maariv and other
media reported that Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad expressed his hope that Sharon would die.
The media reported that the defense establishment has
increased its state of alertness, particularly along
Israel's northern border, and that there are concerns
about terrorist attacks inside Israel.

Leading media reported that Olmert will meet Peres this
morning. Ha'aretz reported that Olmert will assure
Peres that he is a valued member of Kadima, even in the
post-Sharon era. The newspaper notes that Olmert's
move comes as an effort to block any attempt by Labor
Party Chairman Amir Peretz to return Peres to Labor.
The media reported that during his first day in office,
Olmert has succeeded in uniting Kadima under his
leadership.

Maariv quoted Sharon as hinting in the last interview
he granted (to the leading Japanese business newspaper
Nikkei, on Tuesday afternoon) that Israel could start a
dialogue with Hamas if the Palestinian group canceled
its covenant advocating the destruction of Israel and
if it disarmed.

Ha'aretz reported that on Thursday, Maj. Gen. Amos
Yadlin, who was the IDF attache in Washington for the
past year, took over the post of military intelligence
chief from Maj. Gen Aharon Zeevi-Farkash.

The leading Israeli Internet news service Ynet reported
on December 30 that Secretary Rice capped its "People
of the Year" survey.

Leading media reported that on Thursday, Norwegian
Finance Minister Kristin Halvorsen, who is also the
leader of Norway's Socialist Left Party, publicly
backed a consumer boycott of Israel in solidarity with
Palestinians.

Ha'aretz (English Ed.) reported that more than 20
percent of the estimated 3,100 North American
immigrants who arrived in 2005 already had Israeli
citizenship.

Ha'aretz (English Ed.) quoted Dr. Bernard LaFayette, a
former colleague and close friend of Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr., as saying in Jerusalem Thursday that the
Dimona Hebrew Israelite community and its "village of
peace" are an international model for nonviolence.
LaFayette praised the Hebrew Israelites for not
resorting to violence, despite the fact that they were
denied recognition and permanent status in Israel for
over 30 years.

Reporting from Baghdad, where he has been residing for
the past two weeks, Ron Ben-Yishai of Yediot wrote that
he discovered how terror has become a business and how
freedom of speech and the media has penetrated Iraq,
and that he had to find a new place of hiding upon
being exposed as an Israeli.

Channel 10-TV and Ha'aretz published the results of a
survey conducted on Thursday by Prof. Camille Fuchs of
the Amanet Group's Dialogue Institute:
-Sharon's party, Kadima, would win 40 Knesset seats if
elections were held today and the party were to be
headed by Acting PM Ehud Olmert. Should Justice
Minister Tzipi Livni succeed Sharon, Kadima would get
38 Knesset seats. Were Vice Premier Shimon Peres to
take leadership of the party, Kadima would win 42 seats
-- exactly the number of seats it would have garnered
four days ago, when Sharon was still healthy.

A Yediot/Mina Zemach (Dahaf Institute) poll conducted
on Thursday night:
-"Assuming Sharon does not return to public life, whom
would you like to see heading the Kadima party?"
Shimon Peres: 23 percent; Ehud Olmert: 21 percent;
Tzipi Livni: 14 percent; Shaul Mofaz: 8 percent; Avi
Dichter: 5 percent; Meir Sheetrit: 3 percent; 26
percent were undecided.
-"If Ehud Olmert heads Kadima, for which party will you
vote in the elections?" Kadima: 39; Labor Party: 20;
Likud: 16; Shas: 9; Arab parties: 7; Meretz-Yahad: 6;
Yisrael Beiteinu: 6; National Union: 5; United Torah
Judaism: 5; Shinui: 4; National Religious Party: 3
-"And if Kadima is headed by Shimon Peres, for which
party will you vote?" Kadima: 42; Labor Party: 17;
Likud: 16.
-"And if Kadima is headed by Tzipi Livni, for which
party will you vote?" Kadima 36; Labor Party: 19;
Likud: 19.

--------------
Prime Minister Sharon's Health:
--------------

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

Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "[The
Kadima Party] has no established political traditions
to help it survive in the absence of its creator. But
on the other hand, Kadima has a clear diplomatic
message and a vital role to play in the stormy days to
come."

Editor-in-Chief Amnon Dankner wrote on page one of
popular, pluralist Maariv: "The first thing that
[Acting Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert will have to do is
to impose his authority on the prominent members of
this party [Kadima], because authority, whether that of
Sharon and whether that of Olmert, is the only glue
that will hold it together and give it signs of life."

The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post
editorialized: "It will not be enough [for Kadima] to
pledge to continue Sharon's path since ... the public
could only guess what Sharon's next step would have
been."

Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in mass-
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "Sharon dealt
the myth of settling the territories a mortal blow.
The public support he earned after disengagement was no
less significant than disengagement itself."

Deputy Managing Editor and right-wing columnist
Caroline B. Glick wrote in The Jerusalem Post: "Israel
is today in dire need of leadership capable of handling
some of the most sensitive and monumental diplomacy in
its history [regarding Iran's nuclear program]."

Eytan Haber, veteran op-ed writer and assistant to the
late prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, opined in Yediot
Aharonot: "What a tragedy: at least twice in this
generation, when any chance ... of peace with enemies
and bitter neighbors may have come up, a case of 'force
majeure' intervened."

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


I. "The Way of Sobriety"

Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized
(January 6): "The joy with which Kadima was received by
the public -- as evidenced by the results of the polls,
which predicted that it would win more than 40 seats --
did not stem only from Sharon's charismatic and
dependable leadership, but primarily from the political
sobriety that he succeeded in instilling here. Over
the last two years, the personal revolution that Sharon
underwent has been shared by a large segment of the
public.... This healthy sentiment does not depend
solely on Sharon's leadership. Thus Kadima is not just
Ariel Sharon, but the basis for establishing a moderate
coalition.... The coming days will reveal whether
Kadima was just a passing political episode or a
catalyst for a major and necessary political change.
Granted, it was approved as an official party only two
days ago, and it has no established political
traditions to help it survive in the absence of its
creator. But on the other hand, Kadima has a clear
diplomatic message and a vital role to play in the
stormy days to come. If it finds a way to elect a
leadership and solidify the party even without Sharon,
that will constitute proof that there is life in the
trail Sharon blazed even after he himself is gone."

II. "We Must Go On"

Editor-in-Chief Amnon Dankner wrote on page one of
popular, pluralist Maariv (January 6): "The first thing
that [Acting Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert will have to
do is to impose his authority on the prominent members
of this party [Kadima], because authority, whether that
of Sharon and whether that of Olmert, is the only glue
that will hold it together and give it signs of life.
The circumstances are difficult because Sharon, despite
his very serious condition, is alive. There are some
things that an acting prime minister finds it difficult
to do when the man whose place he is filling is among
the living.... He will have to battle the centrifugal
forces that will try and draw various people in Kadima
back to their mother parties, and then will have to
charm the public, to instill it with confidence and
establish a leadership figure within a short time.
Despite concerns that Sharon's leaving the political
stage threatens to erase Kadima, obviously there is a
public need for a centrist political body that is
situated between the naive and politically
inexperienced Amir Peretz, and Bibi Netanyahu, who
displays insufficient understanding of Israel's urgent
need quickly to leave the situation of the occupation
of the West Bank.... If Olmert rises up to the task, he
can do it. A great deal is in the balance, both for
him personally as well as nationally. All those who
think that a balancing and active political center is
vital to Israel, must hope that Olmert succeeds."

III. "Praying For Sharon"

The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post
editorialized (January 6): "As we pray for the recovery
of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, we must already
recognize that Israel has lost one of its greatest
leaders. Even those who would bitterly deny Sharon's
greatness in the sense of leading the nation in the
right direction cannot dispute the dimensions of the
decisions he led the nation through, which are perhaps
unmatched since his mentor David Ben-Gurion's day....
Now, however, we have no choice but to contemplate our
nation's future without Sharon.... Accordingly, it is
all the more important that each of the major parties
coherently and distinctly tell the public what they
stand for -- not just what, or who, they stand against.
This is especially true for Kadima, which can no longer
rest so significantly on the power of one political
personality. It will not be enough to pledge to
continue Sharon's path since, again, the public could
only guess what Sharon's next step would have been."

IV. "The Man and the Legend"

Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in mass-
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (January 6):
"Sharon evacuated settlements twice. The first time,
in Yamit, he was Begin's evacuation contractor. He
regretted it later. Then he regretted his regret. The
disengagement from Gaza fell entirely on his shoulders.
It somewhat improved, as expected, our political and
security situation, but increased the Qassam rocket
pressure on Sderot and brought the rockets to the
outskirts of Ashkelon. Instead of strengthening the
Palestinian Authority, it provided a hothouse for
anarchy. The enormous importance of disengagement is
its effect on Israeli society. Sharon dealt the myth
of settling the territories a mortal blow. The public
support he earned after disengagement was no less
significant than disengagement itself: a huge bloc in
the center of the political map came out of the closet.
It now openly declares: we are fed up with the
territories. That is the big bang. Nobody else,
except for Sharon, could have generated this change.
Without him, it is not certain that Kadima will be able
to maintain its achievements in the polls. There will
be voters who will go home, to the Likud, to the Labor
Party. But the change he generated will not die."


V. "Israel's New Era"

Deputy Managing Editor and right-wing columnist
Caroline B. Glick wrote in The Jerusalem Post (January
6): "For Israel to be capable of carrying out an attack
against Iran's nuclear installations it will need to
receive U.S. and NATO backing for the move. The
majority of international security analysts agree that
Israeli fighter bombers en route to Iran will need to
fly over Iraqi airspace and may even need to refuel in
Iraq. Turkish bases may also be necessary. Given
this, Israel is today in dire need of leadership
capable of handling some of the most sensitive and
monumental diplomacy in its history -- even if such
leadership were only able to convince others to carry
out the attacks on our behalf."

VI. "As a Broken Shard"

Eytan Haber, veteran op-ed writer and assistant to the
late prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, opined in Yediot
Aharonot (January 6): "It is already impossible to
avoid reflecting upon the fate of Israel and the peace
knocking at its door. What a tragedy: at least twice
in this generation, when any chance, any hope, any sign
of peace with enemies and bitter neighbors may have
come up, a case of 'force majeure' intervened -- be it
in the form of an abominable assassin or the hand of
God -- and condemned us to continue the bloody
conflict. Ariel Sharon, who has served [Israel] for
fifty controversial years -- a soldier in the battle
for peace who has instilled fear in his enemies and
adversaries, may have been the strongest prime minister
in recent years. He is lying on his white bed, 'as a
broken shard,' and fighting for his life, for another
glance, another breath. How awful!"

JONES