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P 030535Z DEC 08
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002677 
 
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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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.  Global War on Terror 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media reported on the return of the remains of the Israeli 
victims of MumbaiQs terror attacks.  The Jerusalem Post reported 
that yesterday senior Foreign Ministry officials lashed out at the 
Zaka rescue and recovery organization, charging that the group was 
causing considerable damage to Indo-Israeli ties by "meddling" in 
Mumbai.   The officials were quoted as saying that public criticism 
of Indian commandos could have serious diplomatic repercussions. 
 
All media reported that today the Labor Party will hold its primary 
under the shadow of polls predicting that it will lose as many as 
half its seats in the upcoming Knesset elections.  The media report 
that the spots of Deputy DM Matan Vlinai, Education Minister Yuli 
Tamir, National Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, former 
DM Amir Peretz, and Knesset Finance Committee Chairman Prof. Avishay 
Braverman are uncertain. 
 
HaQaretz quoted a senior Israeli diplomatic source as saying this 
week that President-elect Barack Obama is considering the 
appointment of Daniel Kurtzer, former U.S. Ambassador to Egypt and 
Israel, to become his administration's presidential envoy to the 
Middle East.  HaQaretz said that President-elect Barack Obama's 
decision to appoint a special envoy reporting to him directly, 
rather than to the Secretary of State, indicates that the 
president-elect attaches special importance to the regional peace 
process.  Reportedly, several of Obama's advisers recommended the 
appointment.  According to the daily, the special envoy job could 
infringe on the prestige of Hillary Clinton, who was appointed 
secretary of state on Monday.  On the other hand, it could ease any 
apparent conflict because of Bill Clinton's close ties with the Gulf 
States.  The Jerusalem Post said that, in announcing ClintonQs 
nomination, Obama named the Iranian threat and the effort to make 
peace between Israelis and Palestinians as two of the top three 
issues facing the incoming secretary of state.  The Jerusalem Post 
reported that IsraelQs UN Ambassador Gabriela Shalev welcomed 
ObamaQs nomination of Susan Rice to be U.S. envoy to the UN. 
 
Leading media reported that yesterday right-wing activists stepped 
up operations to resist an operation by security forces aimed at 
evicting them from the QHouse of ContentionQ in Hebron. 
 
Major media reported that yesterday Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu 
threatened to withhold ministerial appointments from any party 
Knesset member who supports far-Right activist Moshe Feiglin 
attempts to gain a spot on Likud's Knesset list.  "Placing Feiglin 
on Likud's Knesset list would harm Likud's strength. Feiglin is not 
Likud. He is extreme right," Netanyahu was quoted as saying. 
 
Electronic media reported on a high security alert at the entrances 
to Tel Aviv this morning. 
 
HaQaretz reported that PM Ehud Olmert's attorneys are weighing how 
to respond to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz's offer to hold a 
hearing for Olmert prior to charges being filed against him in the 
Rishon Tours double-billing affair.  Leading media reported that 
Olmert refuses to heed KadimaQs call to resign, saying that his 
decisions re professional. 
Leading media reported that yesterday Fatah operative Muhammed Abu 
Driyah died of his wounds sustained while resisting arrest.  The 
leading Internet news service Ynet quoted Palestinians as saying 
that he had been granted clemency by Israel as part of amnesty 
agreement, but Israel asserts he had returned to terrorism 
Leading media reported that yesterday the Jerusalem District Court 
sentenced Ahad Alma, one of the masterminds behind the assassination 
of minister Rehavam Zeevi, to life in prison. 
 
The Jerusalem Post cited an internal Defense Ministry document, 
according to which unprecedented military coordination and a sincere 
effort by the PA to crack down on Hamas has led to a unique economic 
surge in the West Bank over the past year. 
 
Visiting Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg was quoted as 
saying in an interview with HaQaretz yesterday: "I understand why 
Israel is saying that all the options [against Iran] are on the 
table, but I do think that any armed action or any war would be 
really a catastrophe." while on a 30-hour visit to Israel and the 
Palestinian territories.  The Jerusalem Post reported that Netanyahu 
assured Schwarzenberg yesterday that he would continue diplomatic 
negotiations with the PA if he wins the elections in February and 
that those negotiations would take place alongside what he has 
called efforts to achieve Qeconomic peace. 
 
Israel Radio reported that HaQaretz reporter Amira Hass was expelled 
from Gaza because she would not accept protection offered by the 
Hamas authorities.  HaQaretz reported that she was detained by 
Israeli police last night for having entered Gaza without a permit. 
 
The Jerusalem Post told the story of a Qready-made peace plan 
dropped in 1982 by President Reagan on the late PM Menachem Begin. 
 
HaQaretz reported that yesterday a rabbi, a priest, and an imam met 
along the shores of the Lake of Galilee to pray for rain. 
 
Yediot reported that on Friday Orly Avior, a female US citizen and 
resident of Netanya, will fly to Afghanistan for prolonged reserve 
duty in the U.S. Army. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Herb Keinon wrote on page one of the 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: QThat ObamaQs team 
represents continuity is, from IsraelQs vantage point, a strong 
positive. 
 
Palestinian sociologist Mohammed Naim Farhat, who teaches at 
Bethlehem University, wrote in the independent, left-leaning 
HaQaretz: QFrom time to time we hear Israelis describe Palestinians 
as champions at missing opportunities.  Someone should warn the 
Israelis so they do not become the champion of lost opportunities. 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Jerusalem Mostly Pleased with Obama Choices" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Herb Keinon wrote on page one of the 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (12/2): QObamaQs campaign 
theme of change did not resonate well in Jerusalem, if only because 
Israel was happy with the status quo with Washington.  That ObamaQs 
team represents continuity is, from IsraelQs vantage point, a strong 
positive.  While Jerusalem did not always see eye-to-eye with 
[former Middle East security envoy and newly appointed national 
security advisor Gen. (ret.) James Jones) over the last year , 
particularly with regard to his apparent support for international 
forces, perhaps from NATO, in the West Bank, there was a sense that 
he definitely understood and was sympathetic to the countryQs 
security needs and concerns.  Regarding Clinton, one senior 
diplomatic source said there was relief at her choice because it is 
always easier dealing with a known quantity, rather than an unknown 
one. 
 
II.  "What Israel HasnQt Tried" 
 
Palestinian sociologist Mohammed Naim Farhat, who teaches at 
Bethlehem University, wrote in the independent, left-leaning 
HaQaretz (12/2): QIsrael, strong on the one hand but anxious on the 
other, needs a new perspective to define the problems and means for 
solving them; a perspective based on humility and an understanding 
of the wise use of force.  This new perspective must recognize the 
other and the rights of the other as a whole; to look for a real 
partner instead of dismissing that partner or trying to destroy, 
humiliate, change or determine the characteristics of that partner. 
As for the Palestinians, they must reevaluate their worldview, which 
has proven an utter failure in solving the conflict.  The French 
literary critic Roland Barthes said that only things that seem 
obvious can be shocking. To this category belong the repeated 
failures of strong Israel.  The Palestinians are also failing, in 
their own way.  Violence is the only thing winning in this play, 
whose subject is the conflict between two peoples.  And Israel is 
responsible for the violence. Anyone who does not see in an 
agreement a supreme interest from Israel's point of view, and a very 
essential interest from the Palestinian point of view, and does not 
work to bring it about, transforms the obvious into a deep 
historical swamp.  From time to time we hear Israelis describe 
Palestinians as champions at missing opportunities.  Someone should 
warn the Israelis so they do not become the champion of lost 
opportunities. 
 
------------------------- 
¶2.  Global War on Terror: 
------------------------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: QBy 
factoring in the Sunni-Shi'ite divide even when we think about 
Pakistan and Mumbai, we register a phenomenon that threatens 
destabilization from India to Egypt. 
 
The nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe editorialized: 
QStrategic consensus and true international coordination are needed 
in this battle. 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Thinking Beyond Mumbai" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (12/2): 
QWe know well that Muslim extremists are at war with other 
civilizations. We know too that there is a struggle between 
Islamists and moderates for the soul of Islam. What we often fail to 
remember, however, is yet another overlapping with Islam -- between 
the Sunni and ShiQite worlds.... All of this highlights a fact that 
should become increasingly relevant to the foreign policy planning 
of the incoming Obama administration, as well as to the next Israeli 
government:  The line between jihad within Islam and jihad against 
non-Muslims is becoming more and more blurred.... True, the 
Sunni-Shi'ite rivalry is but one layer in the exceptionally complex 
and at times indecipherable matrix of Islamic politics.  It is also 
true that it can occasionally be overcome, as when Persian Shi'ite 
Iran supports Arab Sunni Hamas because both share a radical agenda. 
But ever since Ayatollah Khomeini's 1979 revolution in Iran, Sunni 
establishments from Cairo to Baghdad to Amman, fearing a rising 
Shi'ite tide, got their backs up.... By factoring in the 
Sunni-Shi'ite divide even when we think about Pakistan and Mumbai, 
we register a phenomenon that threatens destabilization from India 
to Egypt. 
 
II.  "International Cooperation Needed to Stamp Out Terror" 
 
The nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe editorialized (12/2): 
QIt doesnQt matter whether [terrorist] operations are conducted by 
the Mujahedeen of southern India or Lashkar a-Taybeh or Al-Qaida 
together with Pakistani intelligence.... This is a technical matter. 
 The ideology is the same ideology that is behind terror in Israel 
and in the PA, in London, Manhattan, and Madrid, in Lebanon, Iraq, 
and Iran.  The democratic world must start calling things by their 
name.... Above all, strategic consensus and true international 
coordination are needed in this battle, so that we no longer hear on 
the Israeli radios the spokesmen of Hamas and other spokesmen saying 
through the Israeli announcer that we have lost the war against 
terror. 
 
MORENO