Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08TELAVIV1743
2008-08-08 09:58:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Tel Aviv
Cable title:  

ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

Tags:  OPRC KMDR IS 
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VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTV #1743/01 2210958
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 080958Z AUG 08
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7924
RHMFUU/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAHQA/HQ USAF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEADWD/DA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/CNO WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI PRIORITY 4245
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 0852
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN PRIORITY 4578
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 5034
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 4237
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 2577
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 4997
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 1861
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 0073
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 8848
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 6328
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 1245
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 5350
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 7308
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM PRIORITY 0241
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHMFISS/COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/COMSIXTHFLT PRIORITY
UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001743 

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:
--------------------------------

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001743

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. China Olympics

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

The Jerusalem Post reported that a top Israeli defense official has
told the daily that if Russia goes through with the sale of its most
advanced anti-aircraft missile system to Iran, Israel will use an
electronic warfare device now under development to neutralize it and
as a result present Russia as vulnerable to air infiltrations.
Media quoted Defense Minister Ehud Barak as saying in an interview
with the Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera that all options for
dealing with the Iranian threat were "open and ready." Barak
stressed the importance of "strengthening and accelerating economic
sanctions against Iran." Media reported that in Beijing today
President Shimon Peres met with Chinese President Hu Jintao and
stressed to him the "global nature" of Iran's nuclear problem.
Media quoted Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as saying yesterday
in an interview with Yahoo News and Politico that the U.S. would not
"say yes or no" to an Israeli military strike on Iran. She also
said that Iran's answer to the incentives package offered by world
powers Qis not a really serious answerQ, and warned that new
economic sanctions were the next likely step if the country
continued to refuse to freeze its nuclear program. Iranian Press
Attache in Damascus Majeed Bishtistani was quoted as saying in an
interview with the Arabic-language Assennara, in response to Israeli
and American calls to attack Iran, that if Israel does anything
stupid it will endure an unprecedented devastating reaction.

Ha'aretz wrote that U.S. Gen. Keith Dayton "has a daunting task:
convincing Palestinians that by organizing their security forces,
they can bring statehood closer, and showing Israelis that if they
ease restrictions, the Palestinians will be more responsible
neighbors."

Several media quoted the British Consulate as saying that a small

group of settlers attacked a delegation of British diplomats during
a visit to Hebron yesterday. The British diplomats were taking part
in a tour by Breaking the Silence (an organization of veteran
Israeli soldiers that collects testimonies of soldiers who served in
the territories during the Second Intifada).

Israel Radio reported that three Gaza students wrote Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice this week, asking that she rescind the
revocation of their student visas to the U.S. One of them wrote
that he did not understand the reason for the move. Ha'aretz
reported that a Palestinian woman who gave birth to quadruplets at
Ashkelon's Barzilai Hospital this week this week cannot have her
husband visit her from Khan Yunis (Gaza) -- nor will Israel let her
return to him in Gaza

Maariv reported hat the IDF favors the continuation of the truce
with Hamas, and that Shin Bet is opposed to it.

The Jerusalem Post quoted a source in the Attorney General's Office
as saying that Israel is battling hard to overturn a Spanish court's
decision to issue arrest warrants against six current and former
politicians and senior military officials.

The Jerusalem Post and Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that a
compromise has been reached regarding the unauthorized outpost of
Migron: The settler leadership is set to vote on a Defense Ministry
proposal to relocate the community, most likely to an undeveloped
area of a nearby settlement.

Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday Israel
opened a roadblock to trucks on a road near Hebron.

Ha'aretz reported that Israel will hold Lebanon responsible for any
attacks against Israel, in particular for any Hizbullah efforts to
avenge the death of its military leader Imad Mughniyah. The
decision represents a change in Israeli policy, after always firmly
separating Hizbullah and the Lebanese government.

All media reported that yesterday Finance Minister Roni Bar-On
endorsed FM Tzipi Livni's candidacy for Kadima chairmanship.

Yediot excerpted a new book by former U.S. Ambassador to Israel
Martin Indyk, "Innocent Abroad," in which he claims that
Israeli-Syrian peace was missed in Shepherdstown in 1999, and that
former PM Ehud Barak "played around" with then President Bill
Clinton and former Syrian FM Farouk Shara.

The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel has relayed to Turkey its
reservations about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's scheduled
"working visit" to Turkey on Wednesday.

The Jerusalem Post cited an AP report that Hans-Gert Pottering, the
head of the European Parliament, said yesterday in Lebanon that the
EU is ready to broker Israel-Syria peace talks.

All media highlighted the crash of a civilian light aircraft at
Haifa's airport yesterday. The media evoked ongoing concerns of a
strike at one of the city's chemical plants.

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

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

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

Editor-in-Chief David Horovitz wrote in the conservative,
independent Jerusalem Post: "It is not the first time that the U.S.
has seemed to underestimate some of the potential dangers associated
with the entirely admirable effort to enable deserving young Gazans
to enjoy the benefits of the Fulbright program."

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

"That Elusive Balance"

Editor-in-Chief David Horovitz wrote in the conservative,
independent Jerusalem Post (8/8): "Whether or not [the] fiasco [over
the Fulbright students from Gaza] was a consequence of an Israeli
failure to communicate the extent of its concerns in an efficient
manner, it is not the first time that the U.S. has seemed to
underestimate some of the potential dangers associated with the
entirely admirable effort to enable deserving young Gazans to enjoy
the benefits of the Fulbright program.... But there are two other
lessons of the Fulbright saga, and of this week's world-upside-down
influx to Israel of terrified, desperate Palestinian gunmen from
Gaza. First, that Israel is the sole reliable guarantor of its own
security and can only be thoroughly cautious in relinquishing
aspects of that role, even as it seeks to empower relative
Palestinian moderates. And second, that where at least some
Palestinians are concerned, Israel is the best guarantor of their
security as well."

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

2. China Olympics:
--------------

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

The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "Beyond
self-interest, 21st-century China has another reason to block the
Iranian bomb: Chinese ascendancy on the world stage. With world
leadership come responsibilities."

The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "Fairness is a
fundamental principle of the Olympic Games; now the guests from the
West need to serve as an example of this."

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


I. "China's Olympic Challenge"

The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (8/8):
"China's relationship with Tehran, its permanent seat on the UN
Security Council, and its status as a first-tier world power
position Beijing as a key player in international efforts to block
Iran from producing nuclear weapons. Conversely, if China joins
Russia in helping Iran play for time, it will effectively remove the
UN from efforts to solve the crisis via diplomacy.... The people of
China deserve to reap the bounty of their country's extraordinary
achievements without the unprecedented threat to world stability
posed by Iranian fanaticism, hegemony, and bellicosity. Beyond
self-interest, 21st-century China has another reason to block the
Iranian bomb: Chinese ascendancy on the world stage. With world
leadership come responsibilities. President Hu must now summon the
courage to define his country's interests within the global
context."

II. "One World, Many Dreams"

The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (8/8): "China
can pride itself on the impressive successes at meeting the targets
it set for itself in preparing to host the Games.... However, behind
the scenes, China continues to respond with brutal toughness against
anyone who disrupts its plans.... The human and global implications
of the Games will be known only the day after the Olympics. Will
the Olympics of 'One World, One Dream' change the host country?
Will the Beijing Olympics of 2008 usher in a new dawn? The answer
will be provided by 12,000 athletes and 23,000 journalists from 200
countries, who will report home every day, every hour, about what
they saw in Beijing. These observers must not avert their gaze from
the regime's possible injustices against freedom of expression and
movement. But they should also not fall victim to predetermined
political views, and instead remain open to possible surprises.
Fairness is a fundamental principle of the Olympic Games; now the
guests from the West need to serve as an example of this."

MORENO