ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002483 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 CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL FOR POLAD/USIA ADVISOR COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE FOR PAO/POLAD COMSIXTHFLT FOR 019 JERUSALEM ALSO ICD LONDON ALSO FOR HKANONA AND POL PARIS ALSO FOR POL ROME FOR MFO SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OPRC KMDR IS SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION -------------- SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: -------------- ¶1. Mideast ¶2. Pakistan -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- All major media reported that Binyamin Netanyahu won the Likud primary with 73.2 percent of the vote. Far-Right activist Moshe Feiglin garnered 23.4 percent, and World Likud Chairman Danny Danon 3.5 percent. The 40-percent turnout was considered high. Maariv reported that Feiglin apparently lied to US tax authorities concerning the nature of his faction, "Jewish Leadership," which he defined as an NPO, not a political group. Maariv found that Jewish Leadership's American branch transferred USD 407,000 to the faction's Israeli branch in 2005 -- and USD 433,000 in 2004. Leading media reported that Israel and Syria are seeking to forestall the possibility of a miscalculation leading to war. Syrian Vice President Farouk Shara was quoted as saying that Damascus does not intend to initiate war over the Golan Heights, a message that was echoed by PM Ehud Olmert. "Israel is not interested in war with Syria, but we are preparing for any eventuality," Olmert told officers during a visit to Northern Command headquarters on Tuesday. Israel Radio quoted Defense Minister Ehud Barak as saying that neither Israel nor Syria wants war. Israel Radio quoted a senior GOI source as saying that what counts are Syria's actions, not its positive declarations. Leading media reported that on Tuesday six to 13 Palestinians, including three Hamas militants and the 70-year-old mother of one of them, were killed and at least 20 were hurt in an IDF operation in the Khan Yunis area of central Gaza. An IDF soldier was lightly wounded during an exchange of fire. Maariv cited an IDF assessment that Hamas troops performed like a regular army. The Jerusalem Post reported that "in an unusual diplomatic move," PM Olmert did not urge US congressmen to fight the proposed US arms sale to Saudi Arabia, and that FM Tzipi Livni went to bat for PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in meetings with a delegation of Democratic Congressmen over the past two days. Israel Radio reported that today in Jericho FM Livni is scheduled to meet with Japanese FM Taro Aso, Jordanian FM Abdelelah al-Khatib, and top Palestinian official Saeb Erekat. The four are scheduled to sign an agreement to establish an agricultural-industrial park and an airport in Jericho. The park, labeled "the Valley of Peace," was conceived by Aso and President Shimon Peres several months ago when Aso visited the region. Leading media quoted Hizbullah Secretary-General Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah as saying in a recorded speech on Tuesday that his group is not interested in war with Israel, but if that the latter initiated a war, it would be more surprised than last year. Israel Radio reported that in New York on Tuesday Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik urged UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to expel Iran from the organization. Itzik was quoted as saying that it is not possible for a UN member state to call for the destruction of another member state. The radio reported that Ban concurred with Itzik on that point. Itzik also raised the arming of Syria and demanded that UNIFIL forces in Lebanon be bolstered. The Jerusalem Post quoted Israel's Ambassador to the UK, Zvi Hefetz, as saying on Tuesday in an article in the British daily The Guardian that calling for dialogue with extremists risks damaging the peace process. He was responding to the House of Commons' Foreign Affairs Committee report published on Monday that called on Israel to negotiate with Hamas. Maariv reported that although the IDF has changed the name of the "neighbor procedure" practice to "zroa netuya" (extended arm),it remains in place. According to this procedure, soldiers or police officers surrounding a house in hostile areas, where a fugitive terrorist is hiding may ask a local Palestinian to enter the house, inform the fugitive he is surrounded and ask him to surrender. Yediot reported that Fatah's Central Committee has chosen Muhammad Ghnaim (Abu Maher) to succeed Mahmoud Abbas as PA chairman. The Jerusalem Post reported that in Ramallah on Tuesday PA Information Minister Riyad al-Malki told a group of Israeli and Palestinian journalists that the PA government plans to use radio in its efforts to recover Gaza. Ha'aretz cited an AP wire report that on Tuesday lawyers for Muslim charity leaders accused of aiding Hamas terrorists scored a rare win in a Dallas court when a federal judge blocked some evidence seized by Israeli soldiers during raids of Palestinian organizations. Maariv reported that the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology was ranked 38th in a world list of technological-engineering schools compiled by Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Most of the highest-ranking universities are American, while the Technion is ranked fourth among similar European universities. Leading media reported that at least 175 people were killed and 200 wounded in a triple bombing in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq. Ha'aretz reported that British detectives investigating the death of Ashraf Marwan, who was a Mossad agent during the Yom Kippur War, are increasingly becoming convinced that he was murdered. Makor RIshon-Hatzofe quoted Republican presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani as saying on Tuesday that he is opposed to the establishment of a Palestinian state. The Jerusalem Post reported that Hazrat Maulana Jameel Ahmed Ilyasi, President of the All-India Association of Imams and Mosques, will arrive in Israel on Saturday as part of a "peace delegation" of Indian Muslim leaders. Ha'aretz reported that the Custody Tribunal has ordered the release of 20 jailed infiltrators from Eritrea and the Ivory Coast. The ruling pulls the rug out from under the state's plan to keep the infiltrators in camps. The Jerusalem Post reported on the farewell party hosted by the US Ambassador for former DCM Gene Cretz and his wife Annette. The newspaper highlighted key moments in Cretz's career and said that Ambassador Jones introduced Cretz's successor Luis G. Moreno and his wife Gloria. Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post reported that American filmmaker David Lynch will make his first visit to Israel on October 14. -------------- ¶1. Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- Conservative columnist Yosef Harif wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv: "Now is the time for Israel to clarify once and for all with the US the promise that President Bush made to Ariel Sharon that Israel would retain the large settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank]." Veteran journalist Yosef (Tommy) Lapid, Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council, and former justice minister wrote in Maariv: "Olmert and Abu Mazen can speak until tomorrow. People say that the dogs bark and the convoy moves on. In this case, the convoy of peace will not move on." Former Knesset speaker Avraham Burg wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The army of the democratic state, as well as its systems of governance, must purify itself from all the enemies planted by theocracy." Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "Caution, Conference" Conservative columnist Yosef Harif wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv (8/15): "Israel must ... weigh what it stands to gain from the [proposed] international [Middle East] meeting, in which, apart from the Palestinian Authority and the US, Arab states (Egypt, Jordan, and perhaps Saudi Arabia, the European countries included in the Quartet, Russia, and the UN, are supposed to participate. All participating bodies share the view that a Palestinian state must be established alongside Israel. All sides -- except the United States -- support full Israeli withdrawal to the '67 borders. In those circumstances Israel may find itself isolated in its demand for defensible borders -- which in practice means leaving under Israel's control land that is vital for its security. Now is the time for Israel to clarify once and for all with the US the promise that President Bush made to Ariel Sharon that Israel would retain the large settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank]. Also, Israel must demand that the US make an unambiguous promise that it will not let the conference impose solutions contradicting Israel's positions regarding the right of return and Israel's status in Jerusalem." II. "On the Road to Nowhere" Veteran journalist Yosef (Tommy) Lapid, Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council, and former justice minister wrote in Maariv (8/15): "There is a point to the talks between Olmert and Abu Mazen as long as the two understand that there is no point to them. There is a point to them, because aspiring to peace is a welcome matter, and because in the absence of talks a vacuum is created, into which the desperation that serves the extremists is drawn. There is no point to the talks, because in the end they lead nowhere. Nowhere means that there will be no agreement. The relations between us and the Palestinians in Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank] will flow without a formal arrangement, as is happening now, for the time being. The die was cast when Israel withdrew from Gush Katif.... Any concession acts as a boomerang. The Palestinians prefer suffering and war to prosperity and peace.... The second constraint that does not enable a final status arrangement is that there is no government in Israel, nor will there be one in the foreseeable future, which is capable of evacuating 250,000 or 100,000 or even 50,000 settlers.... The governmentQs yielding to the settlers is a shameful capitulation to force, an annulment of the rule of law ... a tragedy for generations to come. But this is the reality in which we live. A destructive reality, an insane reality, but reality. Olmert and Abu Mazen can speak until tomorrow. People say that the dogs bark and the convoy moves on. In this case, the convoy of peace will not move on." III. "Time to Attack" Former Knesset speaker Avraham Burg wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (8/15): "There is no theological difference between certain rabbis from Hebron, the former Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, and the evangelical preacher hoping for Armageddon at the site of our Megiddo.... And in war, like in war: The legal standing of the inciting rabbi is the same as that of the inciting sheikh, because both are equally hostile. One wants to see me dead physically, and the other wants to see me dead democratically and morally. Since I oppose the death sentence in all cases, I cannot thus condemn my domestic enemies. But the army of the democratic state, as well as its systems of governance, must purify itself from all the enemies planted by theocracy. The 'army of God' must not be permitted to gain control of the institutions of state power. The state must cut the lifeline of these subversive elements, and rescind the benefits it grants them. Democracy must stop apologizing and defending itself -- the time has come for initiative and attack. Weak words and nebulous formulae will not help anything here. In the choice between them and us, I favor us - for democracy, and against all its enemies, both inside and out." -------------- ¶2. Pakistan: -------------- Summary: -------------- Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Musharraf may have exhausted his usefulness, but for now, he is still necessary." Block Quotes: -------------- "The Limits in a Friend" Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (8/15): "Musharraf is a friend the US can neither do with or without. Of course, America supports democracy everywhere -- so long as the democratic regime will not be more extreme than its predecessor. The Americans are not interested in repeating the mistake they made with the Palestinian Authority. 'Imagine a Hamas government in a country with nuclear weapons,' is how an administration official responded to those calling for greater pressure for democratization in Pakistan. The problem with Pakistan, as far as the administration is concerned, is not the hypocrisy of supporting, financially and politically, a dictator who is refusing to allow a democratic process. This is something the Americans can live with, as they have with their friends in Cairo or Jordan. The problem is that the dictator is no longer useful the way he used to be, and there is no appropriate replacement. Musharraf may have exhausted his usefulness, but for now, he is still necessary." JONES