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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000055 
 
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.  Mideast 
 
¶2.  Gaza Crisis 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
The media reported that yesterday three IDF soldiers were killed in 
the fighting in Gaza. 
 
Media reported that the diplomatic-security cabinet will decide this 
morning whether to expand the IDFQs ground operation and send 
reservists to Gaza, or agree to the cease-fire.  The Jerusalem Post 
quoted Israeli sources as saying that no cease-fire resolution would 
be acceptable unless it ensured the establishment of a mechanism to 
prevent a resumption of arms smuggling into Gaza through tunnels 
under the Philadelphi Corridor from Egypt.  The media reported that 
Amos GiladQs mission to Cairo was unproductive, as Hamas rejected 
EgyptQs cease-fire proposal.  Major media reported that Egypt is not 
prepared to admit forces on its side of the Gaza border.  The 
Jerusalem Post quoted Israeli officials as saying that they did not 
see the end of the Bush administrationQs time in office as a 
deadline for the military campaign in Gaza. 
 
Israel Radio reported that last night the UN Security Council passed 
a resolution urging an "immediate, durable and fully respected 
ceasefire," and for Israel to withdraw from Gaza after a 14-day air 
and ground offensive.  The U.S. abstained from the vote.  Israel 
Radio reported that IsraelQs Ambassador Gabriela Shalev told the 
Council: The responsibility for the current hostilities lies 
squarely with Hamas.  The radio quoted Secretary of State 
Condoleezza Rice as saying that Washington backed the text and had 
abstained only because it wanted to see the results of an Egyptian 
mediation effort.  The radio noted that Hamass name was not 
mentioned in the resolution.  Yediot said that the world pushed for 
the resolution, and that the U.S. yielded.  Israel Radio quoted 
Hamas as saying that it is not a partner to the resolution since it 
was not consulted. 
 
HaQaretz reported that the High Court of Justice is scheduled to 
review today a petition from eight Israeli human rights groups who 
asked the court to order the IDF to vouch for the safety of medical 
teams in Gaza and allow injured people to be evacuated to medical 
facilities.  The Red Cross, meanwhile, has accused Israel of 
delaying ambulance access to the Gaza Strip, and demanded it grant 
safe access for Palestinian Red Crescent ambulances to return to 
evacuate more wounded without being fired on by Israeli soldiers. 
Maariv cited UNWRAQs claim that Israel has shelled an assistance 
convoy.  The Jerusalem Post reported that there is Qconfusion over 
who fired and who helped. 
 
Maariv highlighted President Shimon Peres role in the mediating 
efforts. 
 
Leading media reported that Lebanese PM Fouad Siniora condemned the 
rocket attacks on Israel from his country yesterday, and announced 
that an investigation has been launched into the incident, as 
tensions heightened on the northern border. 
 
The Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, 
Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, who is scheduled to visit Israel for 
high-level talks Sunday, was quoted as saying in an interview with 
HaQaretz: "NATO has never had a discussion about deploying forces to 
Gaza; NATO is not a party to the Middle East Peace Process." 
Scheffer was quoted as saying that the prospect of Israel's 
membership in NATO is virtually impossible. 
 
HaQaretz and other media reported that Attorney Nurit Elstein, the 
KnessetQs legal adviser, ruled yesterday that a special majority of 
80 of 120 Knesset members is required in order to postpone the 
Knesset elections. 
 
HaQaretz and Maariv reported that the presumptive secretary of 
state, Hillary Clinton, will put Dennis Ross in charge of the 
Iranian nuclear crisis. 
 
HaQaretz cited an internal report drafted by IDF Intelligence that 
shows that intelligence assessments on the eve of disengagement were 
written to please the government. 
 
Khader Nour Al Din, member of the political council of Hizbullah, 
was quoted as saying in an interview with the Arabic-language 
newspaper Kull Al-Arab that Nasrallah is confident that the victory 
of Hamas would be a victory for the nation but that its failure, God 
forbid, would be the end of the Palestinian case. 
Abu Mujahid, spokesman of the Popular Resistance Committees, was 
quoted as saying in an interview with Kull Al-Arab that the enemy 
soldiers have not moved one meter within the Gaza Strip and see only 
missiles and rocket but not the fighters on ground. 
 
Maariv presented the results of a TNS/Teleseker poll on voting 
intentions for the Knesset elections: 
In brackets: Maariv's January 1 poll): 
Likud 29 (28); Kadima: 27 (28); Labor Party: 17 (16): Yisrael 
Beiteinu: 13 (12); Shas: 9 (11); Arab parties: 10 (10); United Torah 
Judaism: 6 (5); Meretz: 5 (6); National-Religious Party-Jewish Home 
4 (4)//. 
 
QEleven days ago the IDF started the fight against Hamas in order to 
stop rocket fire against Israel.  Do you approve or are you opposed 
to this operation? 
Approve: 91.4%; opposed: 3.8%; 4.8% are undecided. 
QThe Knesset elections are set for February 10, 12009.  In light of 
the fighting in Gaza, do you favor postponing them or holding them 
on the scheduled date? 
Postpone the elections: 48.6%; keep the scheduled date: 41%; 10.4% 
are undecided. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Defense commentator Amir Oren wrote in the independent, left-leaning 
Ha'aretz: QThe influence of the President-elect has been reflected 
in the behavior of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is 
trying to achieve a legacy of balance -- demonstrating a clear show 
of compassion for Muslims -- as distinct from the overall legacy of 
her president, George W. Bush. 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"The Best-Laid Plans" 
 
Defense commentator Amir Oren wrote in the independent, left-leaning 
Ha'aretz (1/9): QIsrael has wasted its days of grace and is 
approaching the start of the Obama administration.  The influence of 
the President-elect has been reflected in the behavior of U.S. 
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is trying to achieve a 
legacy of balance -- demonstrating a clear show of compassion for 
Muslims -- as distinct from the overall legacy of her president, 
George W. Bush.  Rice's liaison to the next administration is her 
friend retired Gen. James Jones, her security envoy to the region. 
He rejected her attempts to have him assigned as her deputy, but has 
agreed to serve as Obama's national security adviser.  In Bush's 
final two weeks, the voice being heard is that of Rice, the hands 
are those of Jones, and the policy is already being coordinated with 
Obama.  Time is not on Israel's side. 
 
---------------- 
¶2.  Gaza Crisis: 
---------------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz: QA decision to reject [the 
Egyptian-French-American compromise] may, instead of causing the 
collapse of Hamas rule in Gaza, bring about the crash of Abbas' rule 
in the West Bank.  And that will, by extension, destroy the 
Roadmap. 
 
Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote in the mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot: QThe motivation [of Condoleezza Rice] 
these days to take a dip in the dirty waters of the Middle East, to 
put it lightly, is not particularly high. 
 
Very liberal columnist Gideon Levy wrote in Ha'aretz: QAnyone who 
justifies this war also justifies all of its crimes.  Anyone who 
sees it as a defensive war must bear the moral responsibility for 
its consequences. 
 
Editor-in-Chief David Horovitz wrote on page one of the 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: QIf Hamas remains 
intransigent over the weekend, signs are that a reluctant political 
echelon will order a reluctant IDF leadership to send a confident 
and well-trained ground force of many thousands to confront Hamas's 
fighters as never before. 
 
Arab affairs correspondent Jacky Hoogie wrote in the popular, 
pluralist Maariv: QIt was Ehud Olmert who sent the airplanes, but 
Mubarak who took the muck. 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "No End sans Hamas" 
 
Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz (1/9): QAt midnight Friday, according to 
Hamas's interpretation of the Palestinian constitution, the tenure 
of Mahmoud Abbas as President of the Palestinian Authority comes to 
an end.  The confrontation in the Gaza Strip has granted Israel the 
opportunity to decide whether Abbas will lose his legitimacy before 
some of his nation, or will secure continued Fatah rule in the West 
Bank.  The decision to adopt the Egyptian-French-American compromise 
may bring an end to the fighting in the Strip and create the 
conditions for the resumption of the peace process.  A decision to 
reject it may, instead of causing the collapse of Hamas rule in 
Gaza, bring about the crash of Abbas' rule in the West Bank.  And 
that will, by extension, destroy the Roadmap.... Incorporating the 
PA in the running of the crossings would retain Gaza as an 
inalienable part of the Palestinian situation.  Since its election 
victory three years ago, it turns out that including Hamas in 
Palestinian government is a necessary condition to solving the 
problem. 
 
II.  Condoleezza's Memoirs 
 
Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote in the mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot (1/9): QAlready in the first week of 
Operation Cast Lead, the State Department began the process of 
searching for a mechanism to end the Israeli military operation.  A 
draft of an American document, which made its way to Israel already 
at the end of last week, tried to tackle the issue of supervising 
Philadelphi Road.  The draft spoke of American involvement in the 
area to a much greater degree than at present and with strict 
supervision from Washington in implementing the agreements.... 
Defense Minister Ehud Barak fully embraced the American plan. 
However, while Rice was writing the document with her right hand, 
her left hand was busy writing the memoirs of her golden days at the 
White House.  In other words, her motivation these days to take a 
dip in the dirty waters of the Middle East, to put it lightly, is 
not particularly high.  At first the Americans tried to pass their 
plan for a cease-fire through a conference of the Arab League.  That 
turned out to be a bad joke.  The Egyptian were not willing to play 
the role which the Americans had designated for them on the issue of 
smuggling.  They oppose a high profile American presence on their 
side of the Philadelphi Road -- a matter of national prestige and 
protecting their sovereignty.  And no less important: so not to 
anger the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.  The American plan 
evaporated.  The mediating ball fell back into the Egyptian court. 
Sarkozy added a European touch to the American initiative and nearly 
stole the show away from the Egyptians.  As of now the 
French-Egyptian proposal is the only one on the table.  But the 
Americans have not completely disappeared.  They have simply 
forfeited the lead and are staying backstage. 
 
III.  "The Time of the Righteous" 
 
Very liberal columnist Gideon Levy wrote in Ha'aretz (1/9): QThis 
war, perhaps more than its predecessors, is exposing the true deep 
veins of Israeli society.... The unbridled aggression and brutality 
are justified as exercising caution: the frightening balance of 
blood -- about 100 Palestinian dead for every Israeli killed, isn't 
raising any questions, as if we've decided that their blood is worth 
one hundred times less than ours, in acknowledgement of our inherent 
racism.... Anyone who justifies this war also justifies all of its 
crimes.  Anyone who sees it as a defensive war must bear the moral 
responsibility for its consequences.  Anyone who now encourages the 
politicians and the army to continue will also have to bear the mark 
of Cain that will be branded on his forehead after the war.  All 
those who support the war also support the horror. 
 
 
 
IV.  "Time Is Running out for an Escalation Israels Leaders Dont 
Really Want" 
 
Editor-in-Chief David Horovitz wrote on page one of the 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (1/9): QIf Hamas remains 
intransigent over the weekend, signs are that a reluctant political 
echelon will order a reluctant IDF leadership to send a confident 
and well-trained ground force of many thousands to confront Hamas's 
fighters as never before.  Israel would do so knowing that the 
international  Qwindow of opportunity is narrowing, that the UN 
Security Council is getting impatient, and that anything resembling 
Tuesday's shelling of an UNRWA school that causes heavy civilian 
casualties would be terminal.  Beyond that phase would lie a 
full-scale invasion to overthrow Hamas and reoccupy the Gaza Strip, 
involving the participation of many tens of thousands of reservists. 
 This was emphatically not a declared goal of Operation Cast Lead, 
not least because there is no clarity whatsoever as to how the 
ensuing vacuum could or would be filled. 
 
¶V.  QThe Guardian of Israel 
 
Arab affairs correspondent Jacky Hoogie wrote in the popular, 
pluralist Maariv (1/9): QThose who followed the debates around the 
[Gaza] operation were certainly exposed to a strange development: 
It was Ehud Olmert who sent the airplanes, but Mubarak who took the 
muck.  If Hamas survives the bloody cycle, Cairo will be the big 
loser among all partners who handled the Israeli operation.... For 
Arab governments, the successes of Hamas and Hizbullah in holding on 
in confrontations with strong regular armies are particularly 
significant in strategic terms.... Resistance will remain 
unvanquished. 
 
CUNNINGHAM