ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002678

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. US-Israel Relations

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

Ha'aretz cited the belief of GOI sources that most Security Cabinet
members will support increasing financial pressure on the Gaza Strip
during the cabinet's meeting in Jerusalem today, in response to the
ongoing rocket fire at Israel. Leading media reported that Defense
Minister Ehud Barak ordered the defense establishment to examine
"the operational and legal aspects of steps designed to limit
Hamas's rule in the Gaza Strip." Ha'aretz reported that Barak told
the IDF he wanted to determine the degree to which Israel was
obligated to provide services for the Strip. The call to cut off
water, electricity, gas and fuel to the Strip is seen as an
alternative -- or, if unsuccessful, a prelude -- to a broad IDF
incursion into northern Gaza. However, Ha'aretz quoted GOI sources
as saying that PM Ehud Olmert was unlikely to authorize an
escalation in Israel's military actions in the region. Major media
reported that Sderot parents intend to demonstrate outside the
Knesset building today.

The Jerusalem Post and Ha'aretz reported that on Tuesday PM Olmert
met with the Quartet's Middle East envoy Tony Blair in Jerusalem,
and that the two discussed practical steps that would contribute to
confidence building between Israel and the Palestinians. Ha'aretz
quoted Olmert spokeswoman Miri Eisin as saying after the meeting:
"The Prime Minister is willing to take practical [security] steps,
but these steps cannot be one-sided." The Jerusalem Post quoted
officials in the Prime Minister's Office as saying that Israel is
considering the release of some 100 Palestinian prisoners before
Ramadan as a goodwill gesture to PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud
Abbas, according to the same criteria that governed the release of
some 250 prisoners in July.

Israel Radio reported that on Tuesday three IDF soldiers were
wounded in Nablus, where the army discovered a weapons lab.

Ha'aretz quoted legal sources as saying on Tuesday that the Winograd
Commission's final report on the performance of decision-makers in
the Second Lebanon War may be delayed until the spring, following
the panel's announcement that it intends to warn officials who may
be harmed by its findings. Other leading media published similar
reports. The Jerusalem Post quoted Olmert's opponents within his
Kadima party as saying that the High Court's decision to require a
lengthy legal procedure ahead of the report's release will hasten a
split in Kadima.

Leading media (lead story in Maariv) reported that on Tuesday the
High Court of Justice ordered the state to redraw, partially
dismantle and rebuild a 1.7 kilometer section of the West Bank
separation fence, which was built on land belonging to the
Palestinian village of Bil'in. For nearly three years, the fence
has been the focus of weekly demonstrations at Bil'in, punctuated by
violent confrontations between protesters, soldiers and police
deployed at the site. Maariv headlined: "Bil'in Residents Beat the
IDF."

Under the headline, "Israel Said No to the Americans," Yediot
reported that Israel turned down a US suggestion that it resume the
security coordination mechanism (DCO) with the PA in various
districts of the West Bank. The newspaper reported that US security
coordinator in the territories Lt. Gen Keith Dayton had conveyed the
proposal to Israel. Yediot also cited the concern of the IDF and
the Shin Bet over pressure by the PA to bring all West Bank cities
under its control, which would prevent free action and arrests from
the IDF in those cities.

Israel Radio quoted former US Consul-General in Jerusalem Edward
Abington as saying that Israel has provided the US with selective
intelligence on Palestinian groups aided by the Dallas-area Muslim
charity Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. He
testified on Tuesday as the first defense witness for leaders of the
foundation.

The Jerusalem Post reported that on Tuesday, at the sixth meeting of
the Ankara Forum for Economic Cooperation, plans were unveiled for
the establishment of a joint Israel-PA industrial park in the West
Bank. The Ankara Forum is a joint imitative between Israel, Turkey,
and the PA seeking to foster economic cooperation between Israel and
the PA.

Ha'aretz reported that during his visit to Jerusalem on Monday,
Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer informed FM Tzipi Livni that
he was powerless to prevent the private Austrian firm OMV from


supplying natural gas to Iran. OMV intends to sign a Euro 22
million deal by the end of the year and connect Iran to Europe's gas
supply through the Nabucco Pipeline.

Israel Radio reported that on Tuesday in Sydney White House
Spokeswoman Dana Perino congratulated Lebanese PM Fouad Siniora and
the Lebanese Government "on its victory over the terrorist
organization Fatah al-Islam in the battle for Nahr al-Bared camp in
Northern Lebanon."

The Jerusalem Post quoted the Israel Export and International
Cooperation Institute as saying on Tuesday that the weight of
Israeli exports in world trade has been gradually declining by some
25 percent over the past six years, despite the fact that shipments
of Israel goods and services rose by 36 percent during the same
period. The Jerusalem Post also reported that Israel's level of
economic freedom fell five places from 39th in 2006 to 44th this
year -- in this year's International Economic Freedom Report
published on Tuesday by the Jerusalem Institute for Market Studies
think-tank.

Ha'aretz and Maariv quoted Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit as saying
on Tuesday that Israel intends to grant citizenship to several
hundred refugees from Darfur who are currently in the country.

Maariv reported that the Interior Ministry intends to initiate
electronic voting during next year's municipal elections.

Maariv reported that on Tuesday 100 bachelor immigrants arrived in
Israel on one single flight from the US.

Yediot reported that two sisters aged 14 and 18 will be leaving for
New York tonight for a double heart transplant.

--------------

1. Mideast:
--------------

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

Op-Ed Page Editor Ben-Dror Yemini wrote in the popular, pluralist
Maariv: "Some of our fellow Israelis have abducted Zionism and
turned it into a brutal enterprise of theft ... and abuse.... The
High Court of Justice set a limit to that."
Columnist Michael Freund, who was an assistant to former prime
minister Binyamin Netanyahu, wrote in the conservative, independent
Jerusalem Post: "The alarm clock is ringing, if only we will hear.
Now, more than ever, is the time to get up and put the nightmare of
terror, weakness and retreat behind us, once and for all."

Liberal columnist Ariella Ringel-Hoffman wrote in the
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "We can remember that
if there were solutions, they always relied on agreements. And this
time it depends on an Israeli-Hamas arrangement."

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


I. "A Just Zionist Ruling"

Op-Ed Page Editor Ben-Dror Yemini wrote in the popular, pluralist
Maariv (9/5): "Some of our fellow Israelis have abducted Zionism and
turned it into a brutal enterprise of theft ... and abuse. The
story of [the Palestinian village of] Bil'in opposite [the
settlement of] Matityahu-East is an example of that bad weed in
Zionism. Israel must decide which Zionism it wants: a Zionism that
grants a national home and the right of self-determination to the
Jewish people within its own state, or a real-estate Zionism that
robs the Palestinians. The High Court of Justice set a limit to
that. This time ... the court did not rule politically. It ruled
legally, despite the fact that the result is political -- and mostly
Zionist. But this is humane Zionism -- a Zionism that grants
self-determination (to the Jews),not a Zionism that take away
self-determination and rights (from the Arabs)."

II. "Stumbling toward Catastrophe"

Columnist Michael Freund, who was an assistant to former prime
minister Binyamin Netanyahu, wrote in the conservative, independent
Jerusalem Post (9/5): "What has happened to our sense of outrage?
In the wake of his meeting with Palestinian Authority Chairman
Mahmoud Abbas last week, reports surfaced that Ehud Olmert had
discussed wide-ranging concessions such as dividing Jerusalem,
uprooting dozens of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria [i.e.
the West Bank] and forgoing Israeli sovereignty on the Temple Mount.
The media even published what was said to be a copy of a two-page
document outlining Olmert's willingness to cross the few remaining
'red lines' Israel still has in what is clearly a transparent
attempt to salvage his increasingly shaky political career.... The
truth is that everything this nation holds dear is coming under
attack. Our freedom, our future, our land and our legacy are all
being pummeled and no one seems ready to stand up and do anything
about it.... Today it is Sderot under fire. But don't be surprised
when Kfar Saba, Netanya and even Tel Aviv come under attack. The
alarm clock is ringing, if only we will hear. Now, more than ever,
is the time to get up and put the nightmare of terror, weakness and
retreat behind us, once and for all."

III. "Turn On the Lights"

Liberal columnist Ariella Ringel-Hoffman wrote in the
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (9/5): "I wanted to
write that at first glance, [Vice Prime Minister] Haim Ramon's
proposal to turn off the lights in Gaza in response to the Qassam
rocket fire on Sderot appears logical, but the truth is that even at
first glance, it's stupid. And on second glance, even stupider, not
to say despicable.... [This means that] we will do whatever else we
can do to the 1.5 million people there -- starved, exhausted,
battered and bruised. And there is another contrivance, the
Judgment Day one: going into Gaza, with great force.... A wonderful
proposal after the great success of the Second Lebanon War.... So
what is left? We can continue to play with Abu Mazen, the new
Barbie doll that Olmert arranged for himself for the end-of-summer
playtime. Not only is this man lacking any real influence, he will
also never reach a real arrangement that does not ensure the right
of return, which is the main difference that no talk about a 'peace
of the brave' will make up for. I understand you, he says, but you
cannot rob the Palestinians of their dreams.... We can remember that
if there were solutions, they always relied on agreements. And this
time it depends on an Israeli-Hamas arrangement -- with the elected
Palestinian government.... Secretly, and explicitly, Israel must]
be ready to talk to anyone on any subject.... Today. Tomorrow it
will cost more. In short, turn on the lights."

--------------

2. US-Israel Relations:
--------------

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

Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in the independent,
left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Even candidates like [Mike] Huckabee and his
ilk -- less well known, more cautious about exactly defining their
plans -- can favorably surprise Israel."
Block Quotes:
--------------

"From Arkansas to Jerusalem"

Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in the independent,
left-leaning Ha'aretz (9/5): "An Israeli following the complicated
maneuverings of the longest election campaign in the history of the
US searches for signs predicting the future policies of someone who
has not yet been elected. All the candidates swear their allegiance
to Israel, so that an obvious advantage is held by those who have
already been there and proven that their heart is on the right side.
This is true of Rudy Giuliani, the Republican former mayor of New
York, who is not afraid of individually displaying his completely
hawkish pro-Israel world view. Those who like it, can like it --
those who do not, can vote for Clinton. Her advantage, in the eyes
of many of Israel's supporters, will obviously remain firm also in
the wake of the new election speech she launched in New Hampshire,
at the beginning of the week, whose aim was to present her as an
agent of political 'realism.' This is the magic formula that served
Republicans in the past.... [Republican candidate Mike] Huckabee has
already visited Israel nine times, eight times more than Bush. His
Internet site has three chapters devoted to foreign policy: terror,
Iraq and Israel; he promises that Israel 'will have access to the
state-of-the art weapons and technology that it needs to defend
itself.' At all events, it is difficult to contradict what a fan of
Huckabee's, but also of Israel's, pointed out -- that four out of
the last five U.S. presidents (Bush Sr., Clinton, Reagan, Carter)
were elected to the post when they lacked any experience in carrying
out foreign policy and dealing with international crises. They
proved that even candidates like Huckabee and his ilk -- less well
known, more cautious about exactly defining their plans -- can
favorably surprise Israel."

JONES