VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTV #2720/01 3401151
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 051151Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9461
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAHQA/HQ USAF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEADWD/DA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/CNO WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI PRIORITY 4695
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 1299
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN PRIORITY 5109
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 5503
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 4724
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 3146
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 5496
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 2338
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 0563
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 9290
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 6779
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 1725
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 5792
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 7774
RUEHJI/AMCONSUL JEDDAH PRIORITY 0621
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM PRIORITY 0935
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHMFISS/COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/COMSIXTHFLT  PRIORITY

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002720 
 
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.  Hebron Violence 
 
¶2.  Obama Administration 
 
¶3.  Global Economy 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media reported that the IDF and police are preparing for a wave 
of violence by extremist West Bank settlers against Palestinians 
after yesterdayQs evacuation of 200 settlers from Hebron's QHouse of 
Contention.Q  Settlers erupted in violence yesterday in protest of 
the eviction.  Settlers torched fields, olive groves, and yards in a 
wadi (dell) between Hebron and the settlement of Kiryat Arba.  They 
also opened fire on Palestinians, wounding three.  Settlers hurled 
stones at Palestinian vehicles on a number of roads in the areas of 
Nablus, Ramallah and Hebron.  In Bitin, north of Ramallah, settlers 
broke into a home and vandalized Palestinian property, and in 
several other West Bank villages, anti-Muslim graffiti was sprayed 
on mosque walls.  Protests spread to major Israeli highways and 
communities.  The Jerusalem Post and Israel Radio reported that the 
PLOQs Executive Committee demanded that Israel evacuate the Hebron 
settlers immediately. 
 
Leading media reported Minister Isaac Herzog and Knesset members 
Ophir Pines-Paz, Avishay Braverman, and Shelly Yacimovich took the 
top four spots in Labor's primaries after Chairman Ehud Barak, whose 
position is secured.   The polling stations reported 58% voter 
turnout.  HaQaretz and Yediot reported that Likud Chairman Benjamin 
Netanyahu has drawn up a list of preferred candidate for the party 
primaries, which will take place on Thursday, with MK Yuli Edelstein 
as No. 1. 
 
All media reported that State Prosecutor Moshe Lador told PM Ehud 
Olmert's attorneys yesterday that the state would close the 
investigation into the 2005 privatization of Bank Leumi, in which 
Olmert was suspected of wrongdoing while serving as finance 
minister. 
The Jerusalem Post quoted Robert Serry, the UN Special Coordinator 
for the Middle East Peace Process, as saying that a new Israeli 
government and the U.S. administration must continue the Annapolis 
peace process. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted Turkish sources as saying yesterday that 
Israel and Syria may hold a fifth round of indirect talks before the 
general election on February 10.  The newspaper also reported that 
the Syrian ambassador to Egypt has left Cairo in what some observers 
note is an indication of tension in Syrian-Egyptian relations. 
 
Leading media reported that, in a clear sign of EgyptQs increasing 
frustration with the Hamas leadership, Mustafa el-Fiqi, a top 
Egyptian parliamentarian, warned this week that his country would 
not allow Hamas to establish an Islamic state in Gaza. 
 
Leading media reported that yesterday the public council of the new 
right-wing party Habayit Hayehudi (the Jewish Home) decided that the 
three MKs who had applied for candidacy on the partyQs list will not 
be on it.  Maariv reported that a poll commissioned by Orthodox and 
ultra-Orthodox found that a new political grouping that would 
potential merge Shas, United Torah Judaism, and the Jewish Home 
could be expected to garner 30 Knesset seats and become the largest 
party in the Knesset.  Maariv reported that Orthodox millionaires in 
the U.S. are funding this initiative. 
 
NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer was quoted as saying 
yesterday in an interview with Yediot that he views Hizbullah as a 
purely terrorist organization. 
 
Rashid Khalidi, the Columbia University Professor of Modern Arab 
Studies, was quoted as saying in an interview with HaQaretz that he 
does not think that President-elected Barack Obama can make a 
fundamental change in U.S. policy on the Israeli-Palestinian 
conflict. 
 
HaQaretz (English Ed.) reported that last week a new right-wing 
Evangelical organization pledged to help fund the military academy 
in Dalyat al-Carmel, following a first official visit by a Christian 
Zionist delegation to the Israeli Druze city last month. The 
project, if completed, would be the first such contribution by 
Evangelicals to the Druze community.  Prominent Druze figures 
praised the nascent relationship, but anti-conscription activists 
argue that in courting donors, the Druze leadership needs to divert 
charity to more pressing needs. 
 
-------------------- 
¶1.  Hebron Violence: 
-------------------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: QEvery 
law-abiding citizen must say loudly and clearly: I am sick and tired 
of these self-declared messiahs.... This is the time for the rule of 
law to exercise its full power against its destroyers. 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one of the 
popular, pluralist Maariv: QThe incited, deranged youth, which 
understands that a majority of the Israeli public has accepted the 
fact that at some point we will have to part from territories in 
Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank], and has decided to prevent 
this at all costs.  So here it is: If we want to survive here, we 
will have to stop them, at all costs. 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: QThe continuation will 
not be in this house, but elsewhere, and it will be harsh and cruel. 
 Arabs will attack Jews.  Jews will attack Arabs.  Jews will attack 
Jews.  The hatred is great, and too many elements have an interest 
in fueling it. 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: QThe 
contemptible behavior of settler radicals does not negate [the Jews 
historical] right [to Hebron]. 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Mayhem in Hebron" 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (12/5): QThe 
evacuation of the House of Contention in Hebron yesterday brought a 
cautious measure of optimism that, in spite of everything, the 
government has decided to enforce the rule of law and not surrender 
to lawbreakers and their Yesha Council settler lobbyists.  But the 
evacuation is only one step in the necessary campaign against the 
settlers, whose opposition threatens to spread throughout the 
territories.... The feigned innocence of some of the settler leaders 
and their distinction between the thugs and the Qhilltop youthQ are 
no more than a rhetorical sleight of hand.  The failed negotiations 
between the QresponsibleQ leadership and the Defense Minister prove 
that the difference between the leadership and the thugs is 
semantic. In view of these events, every law-abiding citizen must 
say loudly and clearly: I am sick and tired of these self-declared 
messiahs.... The Israeli cabinet, which examines every act and 
statement in the light of electoral repercussions, is not permitted 
to let the IDF and the law become a mockery.  The IDF must stop the 
hooliganism and violence from spilling over onto the Palestinian 
street, which yesterday appeared to be the main victim in the 
struggle between the troops and the settlers.  The settler thugs 
must know that what they call the Qprice tagQ -- a euphemism used to 
intimidate the defense forces -- is a double-edged sword.  This is 
the time for the rule of law to exercise its full power against its 
destroyers. 
 
II.  "After Them the Deluge" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one of the 
popular, pluralist Maariv (12/5): QThe evacuation of the disputed 
house was done with perfection.... Contrary to disengagement, it was 
not determination and sensitivity, just determination.  The general 
feeling in the [security] establishment is that Qwe cannot put up 
with them any longerQ -- that it cannot continue this way, that this 
errant organ needs to be chopped off.  The rebels, let's call them 
that here, treat the State of Israel as a hostile entity.  They were 
evacuated?  They will exact a price.  They will open fire at 
Palestinians, lay siege to houses, block roads, set fire to whatever 
is flammable, in the hope that everything will blow up.  Yesterday, 
at long last, the security establishment removed the gloves.... 
Contrary to disengagement, contrary to [the evacuation of the 
unauthorized outpost of] Amona, this time a dramatic escalation was 
noted.  No longer an orderly, serious, sane settler leadership. 
There is no longer such a thing.  Now we are talking about the hard 
core.  The incited, deranged youth, which understands that a 
majority of the Israeli public has accepted the fact that at some 
point we will have to part from territories in Judea and Samaria 
[i.e. the West Bank], and has decided to prevent this at all costs. 
So here it is: If we want to survive here, we will have to stop 
them, at all costs. 
 
III.  "Battle for the Home" 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of the 
E 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (12/5): QThe 
continuation will not be in this house, but elsewhere, and it will 
be harsh and cruel.  Arabs will attack Jews.  Jews will attack 
Arabs.  Jews will attack Jews.  The hatred is great, and too many 
elements have an interest in fueling it.... The events of the past 
few days, after the High Court of Justice gave its ruling, made the 
evacuation necessary.  Those who opened a front against the Arab 
population and smeared the walls in the Jaabari neighborhood of 
Hebron with slogans such as "Mohammed the pig," should have 
understood that the affair of the house could lead to a dangerous 
escalation between Arabs and Jews, perhaps even to a renewed wave of 
terror attacks from religious motives.  This is not a game.  We are 
left with these young men and women, the youth of the house, the 
hilltop youth, a group that accepts no authority, neither the 
authority of people within the settler community nor the authority 
of their parents.  QWe are no longer the most extreme elements in 
the State of Israel,Q radical right winger Itamar Ben Gvir said to 
me in Hebron on Wednesday.  QThe state has earned this honestly. 
Even if one disagrees with his analysis, it is difficult to dispute 
his conclusion.  There is a problem here.  It will take more than a 
squad of Border Police or patrolmen to evacuate it. 
 
IV.  "Playing with Fire" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (12/5): 
QTo their credit, the leaders of the Likud, Israel Beiteinu, Kadima 
and Labor had united in calling on Hebron's Jewish residents not to 
employ physical or verbal violence.  Let history record that no 
other Knesset party joined in this proclamation.  There's an 
irreconcilable disconnect between those who would engage in or 
rationalize settler violence and mainstream Israel; between those 
who have disengaged from our- - admittedly imperfect -- Zionist 
enterprise, its army and polity, and the majority who want the rule 
of law upheld even when, to borrow from Dickens, the Qlaw is an 
ass.Q  Our overriding opposition is to anarchy and mob rule. 
Citizens are obligated to respect lawful decisions, such as those of 
the Supreme Court, even when they vehemently disagree with them. 
Let's not, meanwhile, lose sight of two other fundamentals.  First, 
the vast majority of Israelis living in Judea and Samaria [i.e. the 
West Bank] are law-abiding patriots.  Secondly, in any and all 
circumstances, Jews must be guaranteed access to the Cave of the 
Patriarchs.  The contemptible behavior of settler radicals does not 
negate this right.  For long before Christianity and Islam came on 
the scene, Hebron was already a cornerstone of Jewish 
civilization. 
 
------------------------- 
¶2.  Obama Administration: 
------------------------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Columnist Ron Maiberg wrote from Maine in the popular, pluralist 
Maariv: QFollowing an acerbic campaign and a harsh rivalry between 
them, America will be ruled by the Democratic PartyQs dream team, 
Obama-[Hillary] Clinton. 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"This Is the Way to Announce Change" 
 
Columnist Ron Maiberg wrote from Maine in the popular, pluralist 
Maariv (12/5): QWith all due honor to Vice President-elect Joe 
Biden, who certainly plans to become more that an ordinary 
vice-president, the Secretary of StateQs rule is the second most 
important after the president.  This means that, following an 
acerbic campaign and a harsh rivalry between them, America will be 
ruled by the Democratic PartyQs dream team, Obama-[Hillary] Clinton. 
 This will not be done through the impotent technique of a president 
and his vice-president, but though the powerful combination of a 
president and the secretary of state. 
 
 
 
 
 
------------------- 
¶3.  Global Economy: 
------------------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Senior editor and business correspondent Nehemia Strassler wrote in 
the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: QThe United States can 
perhaps continue to carry out a mistaken economic policy.  We must 
not follow in its footsteps.  We cannot gamble.  We must not copy 
the Americans' lack of responsibility. 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"Even Uncle Sam Can Make a Mistake" 
 
Senior editor and business correspondent Nehemia Strassler wrote in 
the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (12/5): QAs Obama promises 
more expenditures and the central-bank governor promises more 
liquidity, the economy takes another step back and the recession 
deepens further.  This is because the United States is fighting its 
previous war.  It is using old-fashioned tools.  It has not even 
learned the lesson from the prolonged Japanese recession that 
started in the 1990s and has continued to this day.  The notion that 
you have to increase government spending and lower interest rates to 
encourage economic activity is based on the Keynesian model 
developed 75 years ago, a naive model suited to the closed world of 
those days of low international trade and negligible movement of 
capital.  It is not suited to today's open world.  In the Keynesian 
model, for example, no attention is paid to the size of the public 
debt.  But when America's public debt reaches 80 percent of gross 
domestic product, as it does today, this changes the entire economic 
reality and has a strong influence on the public's behavior.... The 
United States can perhaps continue to carry out a mistaken economic 
policy.  We must not follow in its footsteps.  We cannot gamble.  We 
must not copy the Americans' lack of responsibility. 
 
MORENO