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P 071218Z JAN 09
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000033 
 
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: 
-------------------------------- 
 
Gaza Operation 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media reported that yesterday up to 45 Palestinians were killed 
and 55 wounded, in an IDF shelling of a UN school in Gaza.  Major 
media cited the IDFQs response that Hamas militants had fired from 
inside the school.  HaQaretz reported that the UN Relief and Works 
Agency for Palestinian refugees is demanding an independent 
investigation and the indictment of anyone found to have violated 
international law.  The media reported on two other incidents 
yesterday in Gaza CityQs Zeitoun neighborhood, in which 33 residents 
were killed. 
 
The papers prominently displayed the portraits of the five IDF 
servicemen killed yesterday and Monday.  Among them was a soldier 
killed in a clash with Hamas. 
 
Media reported that yesterday President-elect Barack Obama expressed 
deep concern about the loss of civilian lives in Gaza and Israel. 
The media reported on efforts to achieve a cease-fire between Israel 
and Hamas including mention of a new proposal from Egyptian 
President Hosni Mubarak.  Some media speculated that the U.S. and 
France are partners in this plan.  Israel Radio reported that 
Mubarak invited PM Ehud Olmert to Egypt today to discuss the 
proposal.  Yediot and other media reported that Mubarak will invited 
Israel and the Palestinians to an urgent meeting to form agreements 
and guarantees to make sure that the current escalation does not 
repeat itself.  PM Olmert was quoted as saying in an interview with 
HaQaretz that Israel has no interest in a prolonged offensive in 
Gaza.  The leading Internet news service Ynet reported that 
yesterday Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed her 
satisfaction with the Egyptian initiative and quoted her as saying 
at the UN Security Council that one should not return to the 
previous situation and that the cease-fire must be stable.  Yediot 
reported that DM Ehud Barak is in favor of ending the war.  Major 
media reported that the diplomatic security cabinet will discuss an 
expansion of the operation. 
Yediot and Israel Radio reported that Olmert is initiating a 
Qhumanitarian corridorQ to Gaza. 
 
Leading media reported that the Hamas leadership is hiding in GazaQs 
Shifa Hospital. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the incoming U.S Congress is 
expected to consider a resolution backing Operation Cast Lead. 
 
The media reported that yesterday a Grad rocket fired by Palestinian 
militants in Gaza struck Gedera, 30 km from Tel Aviv. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday President Shimon Peres 
told Czech FM Karel Schwarzenberg, Swedish FM Carl Bildt, and EU 
Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero- Waldner that the 
EU must deliver a clear message to Hamas not to use children as 
human shields. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted the New York-based Anti-Defamation League 
(ADL) as saying yesterday that the comparisons of Israel to Nazi 
Germany being made at protests worldwide against the IDFQs Gaza 
operation are a Qcynical perversionQ of history that has no place in 
society.  ADL national director Abe Foxman particularly deplored the 
fact that this comparison was being heard at demonstrations in the 
U.S.  The media reported that yesterday in Ankara an angry crowd 
mobbed the Israeli basketball team BQnai Hasharon. 
 
Israel Radio reported that yesterday, Venezuela expelled the Israeli 
Ambassador and his staff from Caracas.  The radio reported that 
Israel is considering banishing the Venezuelan envoys. 
 
HaQaretz reported on the discovery of a sweet water reservoir along 
IsraelQs coast, under the Mediterranean.  The paper cited an 
estimate that the reservoir contains around 10% of IsraelQs annual 
water consumption. 
 
 
Makor Rishon-Hatzofe quoted Malcolm Honlein, Chairman of the 
Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, as saying in 
a conversation with the newspaper that the White House has informed 
his organization that President Bush is considering granting a 
pardon to the prisoner Jonathan Pollard. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday an Egyptian court upheld 
a ruling to annul a government agreement to export natural gas to 
Israel on concern that the fuel was sold at below-market prices. 
 
HaQaretz reported that the police in central Israel have used an 
immigrant from the U.S. as a covert narcotics agent. 
 
--------------- 
Gaza Operation: 
--------------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote on page one of the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: Q[Under Obama, the U.S. will 
support Israel, but will oppose any harmingof Palestinian 
civilians.  This means that Israe will find it difficult to close 
the crossings ito Gaza at will. 
 
Former Ambassador to the U.S.,former Minister of Foreign Affairs, 
and former Mnister of Defense Moshe Arens wrote in Ha'aretz: QMost 
of those Israeli politicians who speak of theneed to stop our 
military activity before interntional pressure forces us to stop 
have precious little experience with the American political 
establishment. 
 
Veteran journalist Hemmi Shalev wrote on page one of the independent 
Israel Hayom: QThe government and the IDF apparently still have a 
few days, perhaps up to a week, to complete the task they set 
themselves when they launched Operation Cast Lead. 
 
Deputy Editor-in-Chief Uri Elitzur, who was director of former prime 
minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bureau, wrote in the editorial of the 
nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe: QAnyone who fires mortar 
shells out of a school can't then cry about casualties among 
children and women in that same school. 
 
Yossi Alpher, Co-Editor of the bitterlemons.org family of 
Israeli-Palestinian Internet publications and former director of the 
Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, wrote in 
the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: QIf HamasQs Gaza-based 
leadership and armed cadres can be significantly weakened and a blow 
struck against one of IranQs two Mediterranean bases, this operation 
will have to be considered a moderate success but not a decisive 
victory. 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "ObamaQs Warning to Israel" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote on page one of the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (1/7): QIsrael's governing 
QtroikaQ met yesterday in order to find a way out of the conundrum 
Israel finds itself in, following the bombing of the school in 
Jabalya, where dozens of Palestinian civilians were killed. The 
character of the meeting had already been marked by the warning 
Israel received from U.S. President-elect, Barack Obama, who broke 
his silence on the fighting in Gaza and made it clear that he will 
have a great deal more to say after his inauguration.  The 
announcement from the Bush White House that for the time being 
Israel could carry on its offensive was little consolation.  Obama 
made it clear that starting on January 20 the rules of American 
involvement in the region will change, and his administration will 
be a lot more active in pushing the diplomatic process between 
Israel and the Arabs forward.  Obama's timing, after the strike on 
the school, signals the direction the U.S. will turn in its attitude 
to the region: It will support Israel, but will oppose any harming 
of Palestinian civilians.  This means that Israel will find it 
difficult to close the crossings into Gaza at will. 
 
II.  "The Task at Hand" 
 
Former Ambassador to the U.S., former Minister of Foreign Affairs, 
and former Minister of Defense Moshe Arens wrote in Ha'aretz (1/7): 
QThe understanding in much of the world, and especially in the 
United States, for Israel's security, and especially for its battle 
against terrorism, has grown considerably in recent years.  The idea 
that Israel may face unbearable international pressure that would 
limit its response against terrorist forces has little basis in 
fact.... Most of those Israeli politicians who speak of the need to 
stop our military activity before international pressure forces us 
to stop have precious little experience with the American political 
establishment.  Our job now is to keep our eye on the ball, and not 
be diverted from the task at hand.  The IDF must continue to pursue 
the mission it has been assigned and put an end to the firing of 
rockets from the Gaza Strip. We have the ability to do so and it 
must be done.  The consequences of failure, regardless of the 
explanations offered by Israeli politicians and the wording of the 
relevant UN Security Council Resolution, would bode very ill for 
Israel. 
 
III.  "Not Qana" 
 
Veteran journalist Hemmi Shalev wrote on page one of the independent 
Israel Hayom (1/7): QThe pictures of [yesterdayQs] atrocity 
immediately circulated from Jabalya all over the world -- to the 
barely-concealed glee of Hamas -- and added oil to the spreading 
bonfire of protest against Israel, mainly in Europe and the Muslim 
world.  However, a quick and efficient response by the IDF 
Spokesperson's Office last night saying that the IDF shell was fired 
in response to Hamas mortar shell fire managed to defuse at least 
some of the diplomatic damage that was liable to have been caused. 
As a result, and also as a direct consequence of Hamas's shaky 
standing in the international community, the incident in Jabalya 
will not lead to an immediate halt to Operation Cast Lead but will 
only expedite processes already in the works.  American 
President-elect Barack Obama was forced yesterday, for the first 
time, to break his silence, American officials will have to try 
harder to obtain a QbalancedQ statement in the meeting that began 
last night at the UN Security Council in New York and the truly 
important meetings on the Washington-Jerusalem-Cairo-Paris route 
will also be sped up to reach an arrangement on the complex issues 
of preventing arms smuggling and on arrangements for the crossings. 
The government and the IDF apparently still have a few days, perhaps 
up to a week, to complete the task they set themselves when they 
launched Operation Cast Lead.  A separate question is if they know 
what to do with the time, which despite everything, is still at 
their disposal. 
 
 
IV.  "Hamas Is Responsible for The Deaths" 
 
Deputy Editor-in-Chief Uri Elitzur, who was director of former prime 
minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bureau, wrote in the editorial of the 
nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe (1/7): QEven though the 
awful pictures of injured and dead children were broadcast time and 
again by the Arab TV networks, Hamas has failed for the time being 
to elicit a global outrage similar to the one that was caused by the 
[1996] incident in Qana in Lebanon.  Evidently, it isn't always true 
that a picture is worth a thousand words.... Just as the assertion 
that it is impossible to fight terror organizations successfully has 
been disproved, so too it is evident that the conventional wisdom 
that it is impossible to fight propaganda and there is nothing that 
can be done in the face of a picture of children casualties, has 
been refuted.  Anyone who fires mortar shells out of a school can't 
then cry about casualties among children and women in that same 
school, and he places himself in mortal danger.  That assertion, 
when it is spoken with self-confidence, is well-received in the 
world and even in the Arab world. 
 
¶V.  QItQs All in How You Want to Define QVictory 
 
Yossi Alpher, Co-Editor of the bitterlemons.org family of 
Israeli-Palestinian Internet publications and former director of the 
Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, wrote in 
the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (1/7): QThe leadership 
in IsraelQs Sunni Arab state neighbors is torn among the sympathy 
for the plight of Palestinians, its anger with the militant 
Islamists, its fear of Iran, and its concern lest the Arab masses 
support Hamas, Hizbullah, and Iran.... If Hamas, riding on a wave of 
Palestinian and broader Arab sympathy, agrees to return to talks 
[with Fatah], it is important both for Israel and the moderate Arab 
leadership that it not be allowed to exploit them to ride to power 
in the West Bank as well.  Few Israelis and Arabs hold out the hope 
that Operation Cast Lead will actually lead to the elimination of 
Hamas, whose true leadership is in Damascus and whose Palestinian 
supporters easily number in the hundreds of thousands.  If HamasQs 
Gaza-based leadership and armed cadres can be significantly weakened 
and a blow struck against one of IranQs two Mediterranean bases, 
this operation will have to be considered a moderate success but not 
a decisive victory. 
 
CUNNINGHAM