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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000290 
 
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 
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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.  Chad 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media reported that in response to the Hamas suicide bombing in 
Dimona, Israel killed nine Hamas operatives in the Gaza Strip. 
Palestinians in turn fired heavy barrages of rockets at southern 
Israel -- including some in the Ashkelon area -- that wounded 
several including a 14-year-old girl.  Tuesday's rocket barrages 
were the heaviest since Hamas breached the border with Egypt two 
weeks ago.  Leading media reported that some of the rocket fire was 
directed at President Shimon Peres, who was scheduled to visit 
Sderot in the afternoon.  Ha'aretz cited the IDF's belief that 
should the escalation continue, a large-scale ground operation in 
Gaza will become more likely.  Maariv reported that the IDF is 
weighing stepping up targeted assassinations. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that FM Tzipi Livni is expected to 
present her ministry's recommendations to allow Egypt to increase 
the number of soldiers and security guards along the border, at a 
special meeting scheduled for Wednesday at the Prime Minister's 
Office.  At the same time, government officials told The Jerusalem 
Post that Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Gilad, the powerful head of the 
Defense Ministry's Diplomatic-Security Bureau, remained opposed to 
any increase to the 750 troops already there.  The officials were 
quoted as saying that Gilad believed the Egyptians currently had 
enough troops deployed along the border and that what was needed 
were not additional troops, but an increase in motivation. 
 
Prof. Yehezkel Dror, one of the members of the Winograd Commission, 
hinted in an interview with Maariv that the fact that PM Olmert may 
reach peace or that new elections could bring Likud leader Binyamin 
Netanyahu to power influenced the commission's conclusions.  Dror's 
remarks triggered a strong rebuke from Likud members and other 
right-wing politicians.  Several media quoted Dror as saying on 
Tuesday at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya that Israel has 
turned abductions of its citizens into a weapon against itself. 
Israel Radio later quoted members of the commission as saying that 
Dror's remarks only reflected his own views.  Leading media reported 
that on Tuesday FM Tzipi Livni wrote all employees in her ministry 
-- in Israel and abroad -- that the Winograd report "holds a mirror 
to Israel's leadership [and] reflects a very harsh picture."  Livni 
wrote that the ministry is bracing for future events.  The Jerusalem 
Post reported that a number of Foreign Ministry employees "reacted 
with a mixture of cynicism and bemusement" to Livni's letter, which 
one ministry official said smacked of self-aggrandizement, in 
particular because Livni wanted to amplify her role in the 
achievement of UN Resolution 1701. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that an interministerial task force was 
established to examine the possibility of stationing an 
international force in the Gaza Strip.  Among other things, the 
panel is analyzing the similarities and differences between Lebanon 
and Gaza and assessing the effectiveness of UNIFIL, the 
multinational UN force in Lebanon. 
 
Lading media reported that Shas chairman Eli Yishai asked FM Livni 
on Tuesday morning to end diplomatic negotiations with the 
Palestinians in the wake of Monday's bombing in Dimona. 
 
Yediot reported that Iran has conceived special assembly lines for 
weapons intended for Hamas in the Gaza Strip. 
 
Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post reported that on Wednesday the High 
Court of Justice will hold a hearing on a petition by Peace Now and 
Palestinian landowners demanding that the state dismantle the 
illegal outpost of Migron. 
 
In what it called a "U.S. flip-flop," Ha'aretz quoted National 
Intelligence Director John "Mike" McConnell as saying on Tuesday 
before the Senate Intelligence Committee that it is unclear whether 
Tehran has returned to producing nuclear weapons in the past six 
months.  He warned that Iran "would be technically capable of 
producing enough highly enriched uranium for a weapon" by the end of 
next year. 
 
Maariv reported on the results of a poll that shows that the Israeli 
government is using to support its position that the Palestinians 
are prepared to concede the right of return.  The newspaper said 
that the poll, by the Arab World Research and Development, conforms 
to a great extent to the proposal that was made by Vice PM Haim 
Ramon, who has written an Israeli proposal for the final status 
arrangement in which only a handful of refugees would be permitted 
to resettle inside Israel, and that the others would be permitted 
only to return to the territory of the Palestinian state.  The 
principal findings of this poll, which was reported to the cabinet 
ministers by Shin Bet Director Yuval Diskin, also shows that there 
has been a drop in the overall support for the two-state solution.` 
 
Ha'aretz reported that thousands of right-wing activists, including 
hundreds wearing sackcloth as a symbol of mourning, gathered at 
Jerusalem's Western Wall on Tuesday for a day of prayer aimed at 
keeping Jerusalem unified in the face of proposals to divide the 
city.  The rally was organized with the approval of three of 
Israel's leading rabbis: Yosef Sholom Elyashiv, Shas spiritual 
leader Ovadia Yosef, and former Mordechai Eliyahu, who have a wide 
following among all sectors of the religious public. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Knesset Member Benny Elon (National 
Union-National Religious Party) is proposing the establishment of an 
international body in lieu of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) 
to deal with the resettlement of Palestinians over the next decade. 
Elon was quoted as saying that Jordan, not the PA, is the 
Palestinians' official representative. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "[Ehud 
Barak's] remaining in the government while behaving like a 
separatist may add to his political power, but will cause 
destructive paralysis and damage the government's operations, 
politics and the country." 
 
Arab affairs correspondent Smadar Perry wrote in mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "Now of all times, we need to set our 
anger and old scores [with Egypt] aside and sit down for a serious 
talk about this affair." 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "Israel 
knows all too well that the price of reckless prisoner deals is the 
loss of many civilian lives, more kidnappings, and more suffering. 
A truly responsible and reformed premier cannot overlook such 
experience." 
 
Columnist and former justice minister Yosef Lapid wrote in the 
popular, pluralist Maariv: "Following the [Second] Lebanon War, 
Syria noted that Israel's Achilles' heel is its home front." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Either In or Out" 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (2/6): "As the 
publication of the final [Winograd] report approached, [Ehud] Barak 
... continued to broadcast a vague message that presumably lets him 
change his mind at any given moment.  First he declared that the 
report was severe, but he said he had to stay in the government 
'because of the challenges that are confronting the country.'  Just 
one day later he told his party faction that the 'report is severe, 
with personal and ethical conclusions that are not simple,' that 
Olmert is not immune to criticism and that 'we will decide when to 
respond and we will determine a date for elections.'  Barak's choice 
does no honor to him and shames the Labor Party.... If Barak 
believes that Olmert is not worthy of continuing to head the 
government, and is interested in replacing him, he must resign and 
run at the head of his party in elections.  If he has chosen to stay 
he is signaling that he has confidence in Olmert.  Remaining in the 
government while behaving like a separatist may add to his political 
power, but will cause destructive paralysis and damage the 
government's operations, politics and the country." 
 
II.  "A Bone in Both Our Throats" 
 
Arab affairs correspondent Smadar Perry wrote in mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot (2/6): "Who is angrier?  Prime Minister 
Olmert and Defense Minister Barak came away from the Gaza border 
breach affair embittered not only with Hamas.  They are angry (very 
much so, but quietly for the time being) with Egyptian President 
Hosni Mubarak, who was already marked as a collaborator by the 
convoys of Gazan pilgrims to Mecca, the arms smuggling and the 
penetration of armed terrorists to Sinai... On the other side of the 
divide, Mubarak is seething with anger at Israel.  His political 
senses and the intelligence he had warned him about an impending 
catastrophe.  Two days before the fence collapsed Mubarak warned 
Olmert and Barak that the Gaza cage was on the verge of boiling 
over, that the despair therein was liable to cause a meltdown.... We 
need to talk.  Now of all times, we need to set our anger and old 
scores aside and sit down for a serious talk about this affair.  We 
need to examine along with Egypt the new situation and to create 
cooperation -- to think about the present and to plan the future. 
The Shin Bet with the Mukhabarat [the Egyptian Intelligence 
Service], IDF Intelligence with the Egyptian military intelligence, 
the Israeli security establishment with the Egyptian security 
establishment, the Israel Police with the Egyptian police.  We need 
to shy away from the cameras and to sit down until we obtain 
results, until trust is established.  Egypt and Israel arenQt going 
anywhere and Gaza is stuck like a bone in both sidesQ throats. If a 
fence is built, then build it with Egypt, not behind its back." 
 
III.  "No More 'Crazy Deals'" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (2/6): 
"Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is understood to have decided in favor 
of 'relaxing' the criteria that qualify Palestinian terrorist 
convicts to be swapped for kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit.  His 
decision is geared to loosen definitions of which convicts have 
'blood on their hands,; a category of convicts that it has been 
longstanding Israeli policy not to release.... Thus the Olmert 
government, though acting for the laudable cause of bringing home a 
kidnapped soldier, potentially escalates the risk of more terrorism 
to Israel's civilian population (whose defense is the government's 
primary obligation), boosts some of Israel's worst enemies, and 
simultaneously diminishes  the credibility of these enemies' 
potentially more moderate political rivals.... The Winograd report 
.. approvingly notes American resolve not to negotiate with 
terrorists, a 'factor that makes the kidnapping of Americans 
unprofitable.'  The fact that Olmert seems to be acting in direct 
and unequivocal contravention of the conclusions of the very report 
he ceremoniously undertook to accept and implement casts heavy 
doubts on his credibility and prudence.  But he should have known 
better even without the report.... Israel knows all too well that 
the price of reckless prisoner deals is the loss of many civilian 
lives, more kidnappings, and more suffering.  A truly responsible 
and reformed premier cannot overlook such experience." 
 
IV.  "The Next War Will Not Be Like the Previous One" 
 
Columnist and former justice minister Yosef Lapid wrote in the 
popular, pluralist Maariv (2/6): "For some reason, Israel is not 
worried about the possibility of Syria starting a war.  Mossad 
Director Meir Dagan warned this week that Syria has doubled its 
number of missiles.... Following the [Second] Lebanon War, Syria 
noted that Israel's Achilles' heel is its home front.... There are 
two reasons why Israel does take this threat seriously.  The first 
is practical -- Syria cannot afford to start a war with Israel, even 
were Hizbullah to support it.  There is great logic in this.  Assad 
knows he could be beaten, even he were able to cause Israel great 
harm.  The only question is whether Syria would act according to 
that logic.... The second reason ... is that the [Israeli] 
government has enough trouble as it is." 
 
--------- 
¶2.  Chad: 
--------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Ovadia Soffer, former Israeli ambassador to Chad and France, wrote 
in the popular, pluralist Maariv: "The war now raging in Chad ... 
goes beyond the rebels' attempt to topple Idriss Deby, Chad's 
current President.  The rebels are openly supported by the Sudanese 
regime." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"African Plots" 
 
Ovadia Soffer, former Israeli ambassador to Chad and France, wrote 
in the popular, pluralist Maariv (2/6): "Chad's importance to Israel 
grew after Qadhafi came to power (at the beginning of my tenure in 
Chad).... Years later, around the Yom Kippur War, Chad broke its 
relations with Israel, followed by most African states; but while 
those resumed their relations with Israel in the 80s, Chad has not 
done so.... The war now raging in Chad ... goes beyond the rebels' 
attempt to topple Idriss Deby, Chad's current President.  The rebels 
are openly supported by the Sudanese regime, which is attempting to 
prevent the European EUROFOR unit from positioning itself along the 
Sudanese border.... [Sudan] is taking advantage of the West's 
ineptitude.  Meanwhile the flow of refugees to Cameroun and other 
neighboring countries is increasing.  They leave behind hundreds of 
bodies and thousands of wounded in Chad and Kenya as well -- where 
battles and mutual ethnic killings, as [Sudan] is destabilizing 
pro-Western regimes and strengthening global terror and the regimes 
supporting it." 
 
JONES