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Viewing cable 04TELAVIV1758, ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
04TELAVIV1758 2004-03-23 10:42 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Tel Aviv
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TEL AVIV 001758 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD 
 
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM 
NSC FOR NEA STAFF 
 
JERUSALEM ALSO FOR ICD 
LONDON ALSO FOR HKANONA AND POL 
PARIS ALSO FOR POL 
ROME FOR MFO 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: IS KMDR MEDIA REACTION REPORT
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
Assassination of Hamas Leader Ahmed Yassin 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Jerusalem Post quoted a senior official in FM Silvan 
Shalom's delegation in Washington as saying Monday that 
PM Sharon is tentatively scheduled to visit Washington 
on April 14 to present his plan for unilateral 
separation from the Palestinians. 
 
The assassination of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin 
on Monday and its possible repercussions dominate the 
media today.  All media quoted PM Sharon as saying 
before the Likud Knesset faction: "Israel has struck 
the foremost Palestinian murderer and terrorist." 
Israel Radio reported that the participants of a 
defense establishment meeting convened by Defense 
Minister Shaul Mofaz defined Hamas as a "strategic 
enemy that must be eliminated."  Leading media stressed 
the symbolic character of Yassin's killing.  Leading 
media reported that last Tuesday, at the inner security 
cabinet meeting, Shin Bet head Avi Dichter expressed 
reservations about the planned strike on Yassin, saying 
that the GOI should have found an opportunity to 
assassinate the entire Hamas leadership at once.  All 
media quoted Labor Chairman Shimon Peres as saying he 
would have opposed the killing.  Ha'aretz reported that 
a senior member of the IDF's General Staff thrust aside 
criticism of Israel's action, saying: "One could think 
that we killed Martin Luther King." 
 
The media cited a leaflet being distributed in the 
territories, which says: "The earth will tremble under 
the Israelis' feet."   All media quoted Hizbullah 
leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah as saying: "Sharon has 
opened the gates of hell and nothing will stop us from 
cutting off his head."  Hizbullah launched artillery 
fire along the eastern portion (Sheba Farms/Hermon) of 
the Israel-Lebanon border.  Israel Radio reported that 
the IDF's northern command decided that, should 
Hizbullah increase its attacks, the IDF would respond. 
All media quoted PA Chairman Yasser Arafat, who 
proclaimed a three-day mourning period in the PA, as 
saying that this was a "heinous crime" and a "cowardly 
act" that will "strengthen the national unity among all 
Palestinian factions."  Leading media reported that 
groups identified with Al Qaida have made threats on 
Israel and the U.S.  Ha'aretz reported that, 
immediately after Yassin's assassination, the Foreign 
Ministry launched a campaign to draw attention to the 
connections between Hamas and Al Qaida. 
The media reported on axe and knife stabbings in Ramat 
Gan and Jaffa, and Qassam rocket launchings from the 
Gaza Strip at targets in Israel.  The security 
services, including police, went on a high alert and 
are expected to remain so through the Passover holiday 
(mid-April). 
 
While the media underscored National Security Advisor 
Condoleezza Rice's repeated statements Monday that 
Hamas is a terrorist organization and that Israel is 
entitled to defend itself (headlines in Ha'aretz: "U.S. 
Didn't Condemn; the Rest of the World Did" and Maariv: 
"America Is Behind Us"), Israel Radio this morning 
noted that the U.S. Administration "speaks in two 
voices": the radio quoted State Department Spokesman 
Richard Boucher as saying that the U.S. was deeply 
troubled by the event in Gaza, which he asserted 
increases tension and does not help efforts to resume 
progress towards peace. 
 
British FM Jack Straw was the Western statesman who 
condemned Israel's strike most forcefully (for 
"unlawful killing").  The Romanian President canceled 
his visit to Israel.  Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak 
canceled a visit to Israel by Egyptian legislators who 
were supposed to attend a ceremony marking 25 years of 
peace with Israel.  Many Arab states, including Jordan 
and Syria, denounced Israel's "crime."   Leading media 
reported that the Monitoring Committee of the Israeli 
Arab Leadership has declared today as a "national day 
of mourning."  Jerusalem Post and Israel Radio reported 
a mourning march will take place in Nazareth this 
afternoon to protest what was described as "a terrorist 
crime by a sovereign state, more reminiscent of the 
Mafia and gang warfare."  Hatzofe reported that Monday 
Deputy Employment, Industry and Trade Minister Michael 
Ratzon (Likud) called on Interior Minister Avraham 
Poraz (Shinui) to revoke the citizenship of any Israeli 
who would mourn Yassin. 
 
Yediot published the results of a Mina Zemach (Dahaf 
Institute) poll conducted Monday: 
-60 percent of Israelis approve Yassin's assassination 
(61 percent in a parallel Maariv/New Wave poll); 32 
percent object; 8 percent are undecided. 
-81 percent believe that terrorist attacks will 
increase; 15 percent say that the assassination will 
not influence the situation; 1 percent believe that the 
assassination will reduce the number of terrorist 
attacks; 1 percent are undecided. 
-"How will the assassination influence terrorist 
attacks in the long term?"  It will not influence them: 
32 percent; it will reduce them: 32 percent; it will 
increase them: 30 percent; 6 percent are undecided. 
-"Are you now more concerned that you or your family 
could be harmed by terrorism?"  No change: 52 percent; 
more concerned: 47 percent; less concerned: 1 percent. 
 
------------------------------------------- 
Assassination of Hamas Leader Ahmed Yassin: 
------------------------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "Sheikh Yassin 
bears responsibility for the death of hundreds of Jews 
in his life.  The question that ought to trouble us now 
is how many Jews he will kill in his death." 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: 
"'Justified' does not mean necessary and wise.... [But 
in the long term] the wisdom of Monday's assassination 
is to be measured by the extent to which moderates on 
both sides consolidate their positions, and the 
conflict moves from a stage of escalation to one of 
reconciliation." 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one 
of popular, pluralist Maariv: "Sharon's problem is that 
generally, it begins like this, with small, calculated 
steps that are successful in their own right ... but it 
ends in tears, blood, bereavement and a state 
commission of inquiry." 
 
Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in 
Ha'aretz: "There are many infrastructures overseas 
ready to cooperate with Hamas and the dilemma for the 
organization now is whether to become part of a global 
organization, which it has so far avoided." 
 
Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar opined in Ha'aretz: 
"First, the execution ... freed Sharon from the image 
of being a defeatist.... Secondly, closer ties between 
Hamas, Hizbullah and Fatah in Gaza is the best proof of 
all that there is nobody to talk to about painful 
concessions in the West Bank." 
 
Veteran print and TV journalist Dan Margalit wrote in 
Maariv: "Yassin's assassination is a compensation for 
the disengagement plan." 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: 
"U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice did 
subsequently straighten the record somewhat.... But why 
was the U.S. State Department so quick to imply that 
Israel and Hamas must both be 'restrained?'" 
 
Correspondent Efraim Ganor wrote in popular, pluralist 
Russian-language Novosty Nedely: "It was difficult to 
expect Hamas and the other extremists not to use 
Yassin's assassination as a reason for bloody actions." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
I.  "Operation From the Gut" 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (March 23): 
"From a moral standpoint, there was nothing wrong with 
killing Sheikh Yassin.  Every terrorist in the past few 
years who embarked on a suicide-bombing mission carried 
with him Yassin's ideology stuffed inside his bomb 
belt.... Did he deserve to die? Of course he did. The 
question is whether we deserve it.  It seems to me that 
there are two governing approaches to security for the 
Israeli government: the one focuses on inflicting pain 
on the other side.  The other focuses on minimizing the 
pain caused to our side.  The fence, for instance, was 
geared to minimize the Israelis' pain. That is the 
secret of its allure.  The government, which did not 
 
SIPDIS 
want the fence, is building it on a route that inflicts 
pain on tens of thousands of Palestinians.  That pain 
only serves to add fuel to the bonfire of terrorism. 
The result is a fence that undermines itself.  The 
policy of targeted killings, conversely, stems from the 
second approach, the one that derives satisfaction from 
the pain of the other side.... No one in the system, 
not even Sharon, believes that the assassination of the 
sheikh will reduce the scope of terror.  There is no 
strategy here: just bitter frustration and mounting 
difficulty to look the voters in the eye.  Opposite 
that stand the dangers: the fear of a rekindled popular 
uprising.... The fear of a mega-terrorist attack.  The 
fear of a religious, Jewish-Islamic war.  The fear of 
attacks on Jewish communities, from Istanbul to Buenos 
Aires.  Sheikh Yassin bears responsibility for the 
death of hundreds of Jews in his life.  The question 
that ought to trouble us now is how many Jews he will 
kill in his death." 
 
II.  "Assassination and Its Price" 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (March 
23): "The Yassin assassination was justified, no less 
so than American assassinations (which have yet to 
succeed) of Osama bin Laden and his cohorts would be 
justified.  But 'justified' does not mean necessary and 
wise: to say something is 'permitted' does not always 
mean that it is 'worthwhile'.... His activity 
undermined the shared Israeli-Palestinian interest in 
attaining an Israeli majority for the Gaza pullout, and 
transferring the region to orderly PA control. 
Yassin's assassination, however, was not a necessity in 
terms of thwarting terror attacks; and a very high 
price is likely to be paid for it.... But the true 
measure of the decision to assassinate Yassin will be 
seen in months to come, after the storms abate: the 
wisdom of Monday's assassination is to be measured by 
the extent to which moderates on both sides consolidate 
their positions, and the conflict moves from a stage of 
escalation to one of reconciliation." 
 
III.  "Sharon's Order" 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one 
of popular, pluralist Maariv (March 23): "With one 
hand, Sharon is dumping the Gaza Strip and throwing it 
over his shoulder, while with the other hand, he plans 
to do what he has tried to do his entire life: instate 
order, usually leading to a great deal of violence.... 
Sharon's problem is that generally, it begins like 
this, with small, calculated steps that are successful 
in their own right, with a lot of maps and sketches, 
but it ends in tears, blood, bereavement and a state 
commission of inquiry.  This time, Sharon is convinced 
it won't happen to him.  He is determined to return 
home safely, without a commission, with a new order in 
Gaza, perhaps even with a bit of quiet at home.  As of 
Monday, quiet is the thing farthest away in the world." 
 
IV.  "Now Hamas Could Align With Al Qaida" 
 
Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in 
Ha'aretz (March 23): "The immediate danger is that 
Hamas, lacking a clear cut leader, will split into 
factions, as happened to the Muslim Brotherhood in 
Egypt or the Jihad in Algeria, with some of the groups 
aligning with Al Qaida.  Such factions create their own 
ideologies and operations that don't necessarily take 
into consideration the local conditions.  Palestinian 
groups have so far been careful to stay clear of 
alignment with Al Qaida. But Monday Abdel Aziz Rantisi 
announced that Hamas had opened a special account with 
Israel, calling the assassination of Yassin a 
declaration of war on Islam.  That will have real 
significance if Hamas decides to turn its back on years 
of strategy and begin operations outside the country, 
striking at Israeli, Jewish or American targets 
overseas.  There are many infrastructures overseas 
ready to cooperate with Hamas and the dilemma for the 
organization now is whether to become part of a global 
organization, which it has so far avoided.  The answer 
apparently depends largely on their assessments on how 
it would affect the Palestinian cause if Palestinian 
terror begins operating overseas again.  And another 
question is if the organization is ready to endanger 
its position in Syria and other countries, by taking 
action internationally to protest the killing of 
Yassin." 
 
V.  "Killing Yassin Saved Sharon" 
 
Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar opined in Ha'aretz 
(March 23): "It is difficult to assume that the 
ramifications of the assassination of Yassin on the 
safety and security of Israeli citizens and on the mood 
and balance of forces in the territories were not taken 
into account by Sharon.  Sharon killed two birds with 
one missile.  First, the execution of Israel's most 
hated handicapped person freed Sharon from the image of 
being a defeatist and made him 'Arik, King of Israel,' 
once again in the Likud Central Committee.  Secondly, 
closer ties between Hamas, Hezbollah and Fatah in Gaza 
are the best proof of all that there is nobody to talk 
to about painful concessions in the West Bank." 
 
VI.  "Targeted Killing of Disengagement" 
 
Veteran print and TV journalist Dan Margalit wrote in 
Maariv (March 23): "Sharon is angry with himself.  He 
is distressed by his own current stance -- support for 
the evacuation of all Gaza Strip settlements.  The 
Right views Arik as an ideological deserter.  He no 
longer is 'the settlements' father'.  Yassin's 
assassination is a compensation for the disengagement 
plan.... The long-term consequence [of Yassin's 
assassination] is bad for Israel, because Sharon has 
made the implementation of the disengagement plan 
harder.... The disengagement could bring about a level 
of tense calm in Gaza.... On the other hand, the 
killing of Yassin has intensified another front. 
Despite all denials, there a was a silent understanding 
that the sides refrain from harming the political 
leadership." 
 
VII.  "Our Bin Laden" 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized 
(March 23): "Ahmed Yassin's death is a signal victory 
for Israel and for the war against terrorism.  He was 
the military and spiritual leader of the terror war 
against Israel, just as Osama bin Laden is, or was, the 
military and spiritual leader of the war against the 
West.... We must continue to prove that terror itself 
is futile, not the war against it.... If any government 
in the world knows this, it is the administration of 
President George W. Bush.  Yet the official State 
Department reaction was: 'The United States urges all 
sides to remain calm and exercise restraint'.... U.S. 
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice did 
subsequently straighten the record somewhat, saying, 
'Let's remember that Hamas is a terrorist organization 
and that Sheik Yassin has himself, personally, we 
believe, been involved in terrorist planning.'  But why 
was the U.S. State Department so quick to imply that 
Israel and Hamas must both be 'restrained?'  Is there 
nothing worthy of praise in the elimination of the 
leader of an organization that has murdered numerous 
American citizens and places prominently on the U.S. 
terrorist list?.... Israel has no option of losing this 
war, which is not about territory, but our existence. 
Our options are only to win more quickly, or to prolong 
it through our own ambivalence over whether to fight." 
 
VIII.  "Direct Hit at the Target" 
Correspondent Efraim Ganor wrote in popular, pluralist 
Russian-language Novosty Nedely (March 23): "This half- 
paralyzed old man [Sheikh Yassin] was not only a Hamas 
leader, but he also inspired and organized most bloody 
operations carried out by Hamas militants.... Yassin 
never hid his attitude towards Israel; he honestly 
warned that Hamas's goal is to build an independent 
Palestine on the ruins of the Zionist state. ... Sheikh 
Yassin not only declared, he also provoked ... he 
practically founded, organized, and pampered a big 
terror organization.   His biography is a 68-year-long 
history of hatred, terror and destruction.... A 
decision regarding the expediency of Sheikh Yassin's 
assassination was made quite a while ago ... [as] 
Israel's political and security leaders understood very 
well what consequences were to follow.   Current 
comments that Yassin's death will bolster terrorism are 
unnecessary.  It was difficult to expect Hamas and the 
other extremists not to use Yassin's assassination as a 
reason for bloody actions.  But when Yassin was alive 
they [Hamas] did not treat Israel with excessive 
consideration; so they need no additional causes." 
 
KURTZER