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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 TEL AVIV 000379 
 
SIPDIS 
 
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 
USCINCCENT MACDILL AFB FL FOR POLAD/USIA ADVISOR 
COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE FOR PAO/POLAD 
COMSIXTHFLT FOR 019 
 
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: 
-------------------------------- 
 
PA Elections: Hamas Victory 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media bannered Hamas's overwhelming victory in the 
Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) elections.  Hamas 
reaped 76 seats in the PLC, while Fatah gained only 43 
seats in the legislature.  Major media reported that 
Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas leader in Gaza, is likely to 
become the next Palestinian PM.  The three major Hebrew 
dailies led with Acting PM Ehud Olmert's comment 
following a high-level security meeting he held on 
Thursday afternoon: "A Hamas-led Palestinian Authority 
is no partner."  This morning, Israel Radio reported 
that Israel has decided to transfer a monthly payment 
of social dues to the PA.  Ha'aretz reported earlier 
that Olmert had decided he would delay the transfer of 
the funds.  Leading media reported that at the meeting, 
cabinet members sharply criticized IDF Intelligence and 
the Shin Bet for not having predicted the makeover. 
All media reported that Hamas ruled out talks with 
Israel and that Fatah declined Hamas's offer to 
participate in a Hamas-led government. 
 
Major media reported that during a news conference on 
Thursday, President Bush praised the Palestinian 
democratic process.  The media further quoted him as 
addressing Hamas: "But I will continue to remind people 
... that if your platform is the destruction of Israel, 
it means you're not a partner in peace.  And we're 
interested in peace."  Leading media quoted Secretary 
of State Condoleezza Rice as saying Thursday via 
videoconference to the World Economic Forum in Davos, 
Switzerland: "We offer our congratulations to President 
Abbas and the Palestinian people on an election process 
that was peaceful and free of violence."  The Secretary 
was also quoted as saying that the U.S. has not changed 
its position on Hamas.   Israel Radio reported that 
senior Quartet representatives -- UN Secretary-General 
Kofi Annan, Secretary Rice, Russian FM Sergey Lavrov, 
and EU policy chief Javier Solana -- held telephone 
consultations on Thursday and that they are slated to 
meet in London on Monday.  The radio reported that FM 
Tzipi Livni talked on the phone with foreign ministers, 
including Secretary Rice.  The Jerusalem Post reported 
that on Thursday, Livni met with EU Mideast envoy Marc 
Otte and that Olmert later met with Quartet 
representative James Wolfensohn.  The Jerusalem Post 
reported that on Thursday, former U.S. President Jimmy 
Carter, the head of the international monitoring team 
of the PLC elections, urged the international community 
to fund the new PA government even though it will be 
led by an internationally declared terrorist 
organization.  The Jerusalem Post and other media cited 
the EU as saying that Hamas must recognize Israel and 
renounce violence if it wants to maintain relations 
with Europe. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted Hebron settlers as saying on Thursday 
that the IDF plans to declare the Jewish section of 
Hebron a closed military area this morning, in 
preparation for the evacuation of nine Jewish families 
from the city's wholesale market.  The newspaper 
reported that the settlers, who believe that the 
evacuation is slated to take place next week, are 
planning a major solidarity conference Tuesday against 
the proposed move. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that on Thursday, IDF soldiers shot 
dead a nine-year-old Palestinian girl along Israel's 
border with the Gaza Strip.  This was the second time a 
Palestinian child was killed this week. 
 
The media reported that on Thursday, the Knesset's 
House Committee formally approved the split in the 
Shinui faction.  Eleven of the faction's Knesset 
members, headed by former party head Yosef (Tommy) 
Lapid and his deputy, Avraham Poraz, will from now on 
be know as the "Secular Faction."  The name "Shinui" 
will be kept by the three remaining MKs, Ehud Ratzabi, 
Ilan Leibowitz, and Yigal Yasinov. 
 
Expanding on its disclosure on Thursday, Yediot (Ronen 
Bergman) wrote that Sudan was the country in which 
Osama bin Laden was staying when the Mossad and a unit 
of IDF Intelligence planned to assassinate him.  The 
newspaper said that Israeli intelligence had been 
helping investigate an attempted assassination of 
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Ethiopia and came 
across a group of radicals based in Sudan and led by 
bin Laden. The newspaper said that Egyptian President 
Hosni Mubarak threatened to take military measures 
against Sudan when he got wind of who was behind the 
assassination attempt, that Sudan subsequently gave in 
to the Egyptian threats, and that Iranian intelligence 
and bin Laden started relocating the terrorists from 
Sudan. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that on Thursday, Professor Klaus 
Schwab, the chairman and executive director of the 
Davos World Economic Forum, offered a sweeping apology 
to all delegates for an article calling for the boycott 
of Israel that appeared in Global Agenda, a 
"prestigious magazine" issued by the forum.  Ha'aretz 
reported that some American Jewish leaders attending 
the conference said they were not satisfied with the 
apology. 
 
Maariv quoted a former official in the Israeli defense 
establishment as saying in a research paper written for 
Tel Aviv University that 220 Israeli companies are 
engaged in selling weapons and military equipment 
around the world -- with support from the Defense 
Ministry. 
 
All media reported on International Holocaust Memorial 
Day, which is commemorated today throughout the world 
for the first time. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin 
Scalia as saying in a lecture at Tel Aviv University on 
Thursday that judges are not experts on policy, and 
that they should not make decisions on questions of 
values and morality over which the public is divided. 
 
A Yediot/Mina Zemach (Dahaf Institute) poll conducted 
on Thursday: 
-"How should Israel relate to the PA if Hamas controls 
its government?"  Speak with it: 48 percent; disconnect 
from it: 43 percent. 
-"How should Israel relate to the PA if Hamas takes 
part in the government?"  Speak with it: 67 percent; 
disconnect from it: 28 percent. 
 
Maariv printed the results of a TNS/Teleseker Polling 
Institute survey conducted on Thursday: 
-"Following Hamas's victory in the elections, and 
assuming that it will form the next Palestinian 
government, how do you believe Israel should act?" 
Announce that Israel is prepared to negotiate with 
Hamas, but only after the latter announces that it is 
canceling its desire to eliminate Israel: 40 percent; 
totally disconnect with the PA, freeze diplomatic 
negotiations, and resume assassinations of senior Hamas 
members: 29 percent; continue to act as usual and work 
to resume negotiations in accordance with the American 
Roadmap: 27 percent. 
-"Regardless of your personal view, do you believe that 
a new disengagement in Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West 
Bank] -- including an evacuation of settlements -- will 
be carried out?  Yes: 66 percent; no: 25 percent. 
 
---------------------------- 
PA Elections: Hamas Victory: 
---------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "Israel does 
not always have to be dragged after the whims of the 
U.S. administration." 
 
Editor-in-Chief Amnon Dankner wrote on page one of 
popular, pluralist Maariv: "We are faced with a 
Palestinian leadership that, unlike Arafat and his 
heirs, does not hide behind a mask." 
 
Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev 
Schiff wrote in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: 
"The tendency in Washington is to do as they do in 
Lebanon -- maintain contact with the government, but 
not with ministers from Hizbullah.  All this will 
change if Hamas forms the next Palestinian government." 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post 
editorialized: "We should hold the new Palestinian 
government to the standard the old one should have been 
held to: no fight against terrorism, no money." 
 
Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in 
Ha'aretz: "A clash [between President Bush and] 
Congress over the issue [of Hamas] is a definite 
possibility." 
Nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe editorialized: "The about- 
face we witnessed during the PA elections teaches us 
that President Bush's Mideast Roadmap is no longer 
relevant." 
 
Deputy Managing Editor and right-wing columnist 
Caroline B. Glick wrote in The Jerusalem Post: "The 
failure of Israel's leadership is one of the most 
significant causes of Hamas's ascension to political 
power." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Get Used To Them" 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (January 27): 
"The immediate requisite conclusion is disengagement. 
The Israeli governments have maintained a love/hate 
relationship with the senior members of Fatah.  They 
fought with them, scorned them, worked with them, made 
deals, collected memories, and learned to laugh at the 
same jokes.  All this is over now.  The relations 
between Israel and Hamas are saturated with one 
ingredient: blood....  One of the most painful 
diplomatic errors of Sharon's government was its 
conduct vis-a-vis the U.S. administration on the matter 
of the [Palestinian] elections.  Israel, says a senior 
government source, could not oppose the demand of the 
U.S. administration to enable the elections to be held. 
That may be true.  But Israel had to fight for its 
demand to exact an entrance fee from Hamas.  It did not 
pay any price: not a commitment to refrain from terror; 
not recognition of Israel nor consent to the road map; 
it won the jackpot in the lottery without even buying a 
ticket.  Israel does not always have to be dragged 
after the whims of the U.S. administration.  At least 
from the standpoint of exporting democracy, the Bush 
administration, acts superficially and with poor 
judgment.  Obeying its dictates has a price....  It is 
possible that the upheaval in Palestinian politics will 
impact the mood of the Israeli voter.  Netanyahu has a 
certain opportunity here.  But 2006 is not 1996: it is 
difficult to envision Hamas dictating the outcome of 
the elections here.  There may be a certain consolation 
in the midst of the harsh feelings.  A four-month 
election campaign has been forced upon the Israelis. 
There is consolation in the fact that the most 
important election event -- the most dramatic one -- is 
already behind them." 
 
II.  "They've Removed the Masks" 
 
Editor-in-Chief Amnon Dankner wrote on page one of 
popular, pluralist Maariv (January 27): "As always, 
there are people with rose-tinted spectacles, who think 
that Hamas will become so moderate that it will become 
possible to do business with it.  They fondly hope that 
Hamas will suppress the prevailing anarchy among the 
Palestinians, that Hamas will stop indulging in 
terrorism, and that Israel will be willing to talk to 
Hamas as a result of all this.  This is so naive that 
it is stupid.  The only consolation that can be gained 
from the change is that now there is no doubt about 
whom we are dealing with. Now we are faced with a 
Palestinian leadership that, unlike Arafat and his 
heirs, does not hide behind a mask. It does not pretend 
to be seeking law and order.  It shows its true face, 
warts and all.  The government has no choice but to 
declare that it cannot conduct any dialogue with a 
Palestinian Authority led by Hamas.  After this 
declaration we can afford to take a deep breath and to 
wait and see what happens.  What will the Americans do 
when Bush and Condi recover from their confusion and 
disappointment, what will the Europeans mumble, and 
what will emerge about the connection between Hamas and 
Iran if the prediction that the Palestinian Authority 
will sink into a long and bloody dark age of gang 
warfare comes true?  Perhaps the less extremist 
elements in the Palestinian Authority are capable of 
recognizing a near civil-war situation only when it 
jumps at them from the ballot box." 
 
III.  "Terrorists En Route to Government" 
 
Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev 
Schiff wrote in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz 
(January 27): "It is not true that the U.S. 
administration told Israel that Hamas participation in 
a Palestinian government would lead to the cancellation 
of the administration's cooperation with that 
government.  The tendency in Washington is to do as 
they do in Lebanon -- maintain contact with the 
government, but not with ministers from Hizbullah.  All 
this will change if Hamas forms the next Palestinian 
government.  Then the issue will be a matter of 
principle, because a Hamas-led government automatically 
cancels the road map plan and the Oslo accords -- 
unless the organization adopts Mahmoud Abbas' approach. 
Without such a change, a Hamas government will not be 
able to run the PA and maintain the welfare and well- 
being of the Palestinian population." 
 
IV.  "A Terrorist Regime?" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post 
editorialized (January 27): "We should recognize the 
Palestinian people's democratic accomplishment, without 
accepting their desperate choice of saviors.  Indeed, 
we should hold the new Palestinian government to the 
standard the old one should have been held to: no fight 
against terrorism, no money.  Since a terrorist 
organization -- the very group the PA was required to 
disarm -- has become the new regime, this should mean 
an immediate cutoff of all financial assistance to the 
Palestinian Authority.  The temptation will be to give 
the new regime a trial period and only then to issue an 
ultimatum.  That would be a terrible mistake." 
 
¶V.  "A Hamas Headache For Bush" 
 
Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in 
Ha'aretz (January 27): "This is a midterm election year 
in the United States, and the remote possibility that 
either the Senate or the House will be captured by the 
Democrats will play a role in every move that is taken 
during the months ahead.... The Democrats will enjoy a 
two-fold benefit, with the possibility of assailing 
Bush from both the right and the left.  From the right, 
because he consented to the presence of Hamas in the 
Palestinian government and failed in the efforts to 
have the organization disarmed.  And from the left ... 
because his democratization project is creating more 
problems than solutions.... A clash with Congress over 
this issue is a definite possibility.... The trap of 
micromanagement is one in which American policy falls 
into time and again." 
 
VI.  "The Makeover in the Palestinian Authority" 
Nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe editorialized (January 
27): "The makeover in the PA elections, with Hamas's 
victory, has utterly changed Middle Eastern reality. 
It suddenly canceled the plans being made in the White 
House, on one hand, and in the government compound in 
Jerusalem on the other, to advance the peace process 
between Israel and the Palestinians.... The question is 
whether Jerusalem will coordinate its policy with 
Washington, or whether it will follow an independent 
diplomatic line.... The about-face we witnessed during 
the PA elections teaches us that President Bush's 
Mideast Roadmap is no longer relevant.  We have moved 
away from peace.  War clouds have fast come close to 
the region." 
 
VII.  "The Anatomy of Hamas's Victory" 
 
Deputy Managing Editor and right-wing columnist 
Caroline B. Glick wrote in The Jerusalem Post (January 
27): "On Thursday we awoke to a new reality: Hamas is 
the official leader of the Palestinians Authority and - 
- thanks to the U.S. and Israeli governments -- the 
official representative of Arab Jerusalemites.... The 
failure of Israel's leadership is one of the most 
significant causes of Hamas's ascension to political 
power, just as the persistence of radical regimes in 
Damascus is the result on the inability of the 
international community to rise to the challenge they 
manifest to international security, so too, the 
empowerment of Hamas is the result of the adoption of a 
strategy by Israel that is based on how we wish the 
world to be rather than on the way the world actually 
is.  By the same token, Israel's ability to fashion 
suitable responses to Hamas's electoral victory is 
dependent on its citizens' willingness to choose 
leaders capable of accepting the realities we face and 
acting accordingly." 
 
JONES