MOURNING BECOMES MOFAZ

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001702 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV PINR KPAL KDEM IS SUBJECT: MOURNING BECOMES MOFAZ REF: Tel Aviv 1632 - "THE LIVNI CAMPAIGN MANTRA" SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - PLEASE TREAT ACCORDINGLY. ¶1. (SBU) Summary: The morning after the festive Jerusalem launch of his campaign for the leadership of the Kadima party, Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz received lead-story status in two major Hebrew language dailies. The August 6 headlines, however, captured a negative storyline regarding possible campaign improprieties and Palestinian pessimism about his candidacy. The electronic media all but ignored the Mofaz campaign messages on security and Jerusalem, giving him barely ten seconds of prime time news coverage to his pledge to maintain a united Jerusalem. In fact, all four of the presumed candidates have yet to formally announce their candidacies within the Kadima Party - despite press appearances, political mantras and prolific polling that suggest otherwise. Formal registration of candidates for the Kadima primary does not begin until August 11 - after the nine-day mourning period ("Tisha B'Av") commemorating the destruction of the Jewish temples is over. Candidates must present 10,000 NIS and 300 signatures to the party before August 24 when the list formally closes, according to retired Judge Dan Arbel, Chairman of the Kadima Elections Committee. End Summary. -------------- MEDIA SPINS NEGATIVE STORIES ABOUT MOFAZ -------------- ¶2. (U) Rather than focus on the substance of the ten-minute prepared text he delivered to some 300 supporters at the Mount Zion Hotel in view of the Old City walls in Jerusalem, Ha'aretz coupled the Mofaz declaration that "If elected PM I will personally handle negotiations with the PA" with the PA rejoinder "A Mofaz victory in the Kadima Primaries will be disastrous for the peace process." ¶3. (SBU) Mass-circulation Ma'ariv, true to its tabloid format, pictured Mofaz and FM Tzipi Livni, the front-runner in the Kadima race, under the caption "the battle for the succession." In a giant banner headline, Mofaz is quoted as alleging: "Livni has a team dedicated to hunting me down but I am not fazed by it. I too can hire someone to run a negative campaign but I don't." Livni's office was reported this morning to have dismissed the allegations by Mofaz as "nonsense." ¶4. (U) Not to be outdone, Israel's most popular newspaper, Yediot Ahronoth, went one step further with a report that a working visit to Eilat port by Mofaz several months ago turned into a political rally and was attended, during working hours, by a number of Eilat port workers who had joined Kadima. They later attended a political event in a local city hotel - also on work time. A port worker who had signed up colleagues for membership in Kadima is quoted by Yediot as saying: "It's important to help Mofaz now. He will help us later on." -------------- THE MOFAZ CAMPAIGN - WHAT'S THE HURRY? -------------- ¶5. (SBU) The first nine days of the Jewish month of Av falls in August this year, and mark a period of lamentation for the destruction of the First and Second Temples. Mofaz referred to them in his August 5 speech in Jerusalem: "In this place before the walls of the Old City, whose destruction we are marking these days, I promise to maintain a united Jerusalem as Israel's eternal capital." ¶6. (U) Some commentators were mystified as to what Mofaz hoped to achieve by lobbying Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef during this period of Jewish mourning when he paid him a courtesy call -- presumably to seek his blessing -- shortly before making his campaign speech. Interviewed August 6 by Israel Radio about the meeting with the Shas leader, Mofaz had little to say except to deny that the subjects of child allowances, welfare or other budgetary issues related to coalition politics were raised. ¶7. (U) Pressed on his political action-plan if elected leader of Kadima, Mofaz told Israel Radio he would seek to form a broad-based government and that he believed this was preferable to elections. Asked to name his preferred coalition partners, Mofaz was non-committal saying all the Zionist parties would be welcome to join but that the initial approach would be made to current coalition members. While Mofaz was at pains last night to emphasize his wealth of experience in the field of security -- hammering home the word "security" some 22 times -- he is clearly betting that his security credentials are his most effective means of compensating for of his lack of experience in the field of coalition politics. -------------- MOFAZ AND THE PALESTINIANS -------------- ¶8. (U) Anticipating Palestinian hostility to the mere notion of his leadership of Kadima, Mofaz last night did his best to soothe the anxieties of a Palestinian partner in future dialogue when he declared "I want to remind people that the one who signed the Wye Accord and carried it out was me, as head of the IDF Planning Administration. I spent nights with them and solved security, economic and humanitarian issues, both as chief of staff and as defense minister...They know me...Mahmoud Abbas, Salam Fayyad and Saeb Erekat. They'll say that everything I promised I delivered." ¶9. (SBU) Comment: According to polls, Mofaz lags behind Livni in the leadership race and given Livni's relentless campaign on the theme of transparency in governance (REFTEL),Mofaz can ill-afford the negative press he received in the last 48 hours. Mofaz chose to launch his Kadima primaries campaign during a period in which it is traditional, even among Jews who are not Orthodox, to refrain from embarking on a new project, inaugurating a new position or office, dedicating a new institution or signing any agreement. Jumping out ahead of the other three Kadima contenders came at the expense of violating a tradition, a move that his other rival, Likud Party Chairman Binyamin Netanyahu, deftly avoided on August 2 when he joined the Shas spiritual leader at a "Torah Scholarship Conference." MORENO