SETTLERS REACT TO ATTACK ON ISRAELI PROFESSOR

C O N F I D E N T I A L JERUSALEM 001808 SIPDIS NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE. NSC FOR ABRAMS/RAMCHAND/PASCUAL E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/25/2018 TAGS: KWBG PBTS PREL PHUM IS SUBJECT: SETTLERS REACT TO ATTACK ON ISRAELI PROFESSOR REF: TEL AVIV 2218 Classified By: Acting Principal Officer Greg Marchese, per reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Following the September 24 pipe bomb attack that wounded Israeli professor Zeev Sternhell at his Jerusalem home and the discovery of leaflets threatening Peace Now representatives at the scene (reftel),settlers condemned the attack and denied involvement. They blamed the media for "anti-settler" propaganda, accused Sternhell of past incitement against them, and suggested the leaflets were fakes. On September 25, Settler Yesha Council Chairman Dani Dayan made radio appearances in which he condemned the attack; the Yesha Council also quietly wrote a letter to Sternhell condemning the attack. END SUMMARY. Settlers: Suspicion Of Us Is Unwarranted -------------- ¶2. (C) Settlers reacted with suspicion, denial, and varying levels of condemnation to the September 24 pipe bomb attack (reftel) against left-wing Israeli professor Zeev Sternhell and police discovery of a flyer offering USD 300,000 for the killing of a 'Peace Now representative.' Although he condemned the attack, Yesha Council Chairman Dayan complained to Poloff of the "unacceptable anti-settler propaganda and incitement of the last twenty-four hours" in the media. Labeling the attack one of "indiscriminate terror," settler pioneer Elyakim Haetzni of Kiryat Arba (near Hebron) told Poloff that the "leftist media is having a field day with this," as they immediately blamed settlers for the attack. Dayan noted other high profile political attacks against Israelis in which the attacker was not from the settlements. He said a 1983 incident in which a Peace Now activist was killed by a grenade was carried out by a Jerusalem resident, while Yigal Amir, killer of PM Rabin, was from Herzilyah. Settlers: We Don't Like Sternhell But We Wouldn't Attack Him -------------- ¶3. (C) Dayan told Poloff, "I can't believe that one of our guys did this." He carefully outlined to Poloff Sternhell's history of incitement against settlers. "He incited violence with words when he called for tanks to run over Ofra and Elon Moreh (both northern West Bank settlements) and when he called for Palestinians to focus their attacks on the east side of the green line," Dayan told Poloff. "I see him as a bad guy, as do all of us," he added. Director General of the Yesha Council Pinchas Wallerstein told Poloff that the Yesha Council sent Sternhell a letter denying involvement in the incident and expressing condemnation of the attack. He said he hoped Sternhell would not release it to the press, but that the Yesha Council would inform the press within a week. Although "the right wingers will accuse us of standing with the left, it (the letter) was the right thing to do." Wallerstein called the attack "very serious; it won't help our point of view," he told Poloff. Peace Now threat faked? -------------- ¶4. (C) Yitzhar spokesman Amitai told Poloff the attack on Sternhell "smells like a provocation by the left." Both Amitai and Dani Dayan suggested that the "terminology looks like a leftist document; they look like a fake." MARCHESE