ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001837 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. Israel: Governance ¶2. Pakistan: Musharraf Resignation -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- Major media reported that PM Olmert sent a stern warning to Beirut yesterday, pledging that Israel would not restrain itself if Lebanon sanctioned a new Hizbullah offensive. Olmert was quoted as sayng that that the next war "will also reach the cities and the homes of Israeli citizens, and the goal of our enemies will be to strike at the Home Front. To this end they are procuring equipment meant to strike at the population." Yediot and The Jerusalem Post reported that Olmert intends to reach a compromise with the Labor Party on the budget and will offer to increase government expenditures by an extra half percentage point. Yediot reported that the Finance Ministry threatens a crisis with Olmert over this point. Israel Radio reported that Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered the closure of all crossings to Gaza following the firing of a rocket into Israel yesterday. Earlier Ha'aretz quoted Israeli and Palestinian officials as saying that Israel had earlier in the day allowed food and other supplies to enter Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing, which had been closed for months. Major media (lead story in Yediot) quoted a senior source in the Pentagon as saying that the Iranian satellite experienced a "dramatic failure." Israel Radio cited an Iranian denial of the U.S. statement. Ha'aretz quoted former Mossad director Ephraim Halevy as saying in an interview with the Arab Alhurra-TV that Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad is the greatest gift ever received by Israel. The Jerusalem Post reported that the Kadima chairmanship race was temporarily halted yesterday when the party's leadership decided to hold a re-vote in the Kadima council on whether the primary should be held, due to irregularities in the way the original decision was approved last month. The Jerusalem Post reported that according to a ruling released yesterday, the High Court of Justice has given the state three more months to work out a mutually acceptable arrangement with settlement leaders to remove the residents of the unauthorized Migron. Major media reported that yesterday a wedding was held at the ruins of the evacuated West Bank settlement of Homesh with the authorization of the Defense Ministry. Leading media reported that yesterday the High Court of Justice issued a show-cause order and an interim injunction in response to a petition by four human rights groups demanding tougher charges against two soldiers involved in shooting a bound Palestinian at Na'alin a month ago. Yediot reported that contrary to an official Israeli request, Jordan will release today four Jordanian prisoners who killed two Israeli policemen in 1990. Israel Radio reported that Aljazeera-TV confirmed their release. Ha'aretz quoted a GOI source as saying yesterday that contrary to a previous report, the daughter of senior Palestinian peace negotiator Ahmed Qurei has not been issued a blue Israeli identification card. The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday Russia's deputy army chief, Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, accused Israel of arming the Georgian military with mines, explosive charges, special explosives for clearing minefields, and eight kinds of unmanned aerial vehicles. All media reported on the passing away yesterday at 89 of Benjamin Gibli, who headed IDF Intelligence at the time of the so-called Lavon Affair -- the scandal over a failed Israeli covert operation in Egypt, in which Israeli military intelligence planted bombs in Egyptian, American, and British-owned targets in Egypt in the summer of 1954. Leading media reported that although Gibli promised to publish posthumously a book about his role in the affair, he will "take his secret to the grave." Yediot reported that MIT has selected Technion Institute researcher Dr. Hussam Hayek as one of the 35 most promising young scientists. He invented an instrument that can detect cancer using Qsmell. Makor Rishon-Hatzofe quoted visiting former presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee as saying that Israel-U.S. connections will become stronger if John McCain is elected President. Major media reported that yesterday the Obama campaign appointed Daniel Shapiro as senior policy adviser and Jewish outreach coordinator. Shapiro has long advised the campaign on issues connected to the Jewish community and Middle East policy. Ha'aretz reported that Olmert will be questioned under caution for the sixth time this Friday. Yediot cited the possibility that the State Prosecutor's Office might contact the FBI in order to help Morris Talansky following his assistance in the "money envelope" affair. In an interview with Ha'aretz, former Egyptian ambassador in Tel Aviv Muhammad Bassiouny denied having spied on Israel, contrary to recent media reports. The Jerusalem Post reported that the American Embassy in Tel Aviv told an American residing in Israel that her children might not be eligible for citizenship if she spent less than five years in the U.S. The newspaper reported that a U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services press officer referred The Jerusalem Post to the law regulating citizenship. The Jerusalem Post also reported on the case of a Filipino caregiver of an octogenarian American immigrant to whom the U.S. Consulate-General in Jerusalem denied a U.S. visa. Leading media reported that US Airways wants to offer year-round daily service between Philadelphia and Tel Aviv. -------------- ¶1. Israel: Governance: -------------- Summary: -------------- Columnist Ari Shavit wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Livni feels that she is now the great white hope, and this hope empowers and obligates her. But here and there, this hope nevertheless drowns her in fear and trembling." Block Quotes: -------------- "The Leading Candidate" Columnist Ari Shavit wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (8/20): "The leading candidate for the prime ministry is sure of herself.... The Foreign Minister feels that she is ready and willing to lead the country.... She knows that a government headed by her would not serve Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu's interests, and therefore, Netanyahu will refuse [to join a national unity government]. If that happens, there is a good chance that the Livni government will be a continuation of the current Olmert government.... The Foreign Minister's intellectual libido has been invested almost exclusively in the negotiations with the Palestinians. On the issues of Iran, Syria and Hamas, Livni has no crystallized views. Nor does she have any about the approaching economic crisis. Yet when the candidate talks with her associates about the next government's agenda, she raises a plethora of ideas, some of which contain surprises. First of all comes changing the electoral system.... But above all, Livni believes in the sanity she is offering. With her, there will be no male ego games or macho competitions. With her, decisions will be made normally and the considerations will be substantive. Therefore, she is in a hurry; she wants to get to work. Livni feels that she is now the great white hope, and this hope empowers and obligates her. But here and there, this hope nevertheless drowns her in fear and trembling." -------------- ¶2. Pakistan: Musharraf Resignation: -------------- Summary: -------------- The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "If the Arab-Israel conflict were solved tomorrow -- in its entirety -- the impact on south Asia would be marginal." Block Quotes: -------------- "Lessons from Islamabad" The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (8/20): "When Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf shook hands with prime minister Ariel Sharon at the UN General Assembly in September 2005, Israelis hoped they were witnessing the dawn of a new era in relations between the second most populous Muslim state and the world's only Jewish one.... [Musharraf] never even came close to establishing diplomatic relations with Israel. He did, however, let it be known that the Palestinian problem 'lies at the heart of terrorism in the Middle East and beyond.' Musharraf's analysis demands a high degree of gullibility... Shortly after 9/11, then-U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell gave Musharraf an ultimatum: 'You are either with us or against us.' Pakistan's leadership opted to cooperate with the West, champion moderate Islam and appease Islamist forces within the country. In a sense, Pakistan has been 'with us and against us.' Western observers can draw at least two lessons from the Pakistani experience. First, instability in Pakistan and Afghanistan is mostly endemic; if the Arab-Israel conflict were solved tomorrow -- in its entirety -- the impact on south Asia would be marginal. And second, Western leaders should stop deluding themselves about the utility of working with Muslim counterparts who cannot -- or will not -- deliver on their promises." CUNNINGHAM