VZCZCXYZ0003
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTV #2715/01 3491343
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 151343Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4611
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC PRIORITY
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RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
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RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI PRIORITY 0037
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 2949
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN PRIORITY 6995
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 7205
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 6446
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 5103
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 7305
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 4063
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 2280
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 0941
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 8460
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 3472
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 7445
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 9526
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RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM PRIORITY 3350
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RHMFISS/COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/COMSIXTHFLT  PRIORITY

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002715 
 
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: 
-------------------------------- 
 
Mideast 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
 
The leading Hebrew-language newspapers this morning highlighted 
several major stories. At the top of the agenda was the arrest 
warrant issued by a British court against Opposition Head Tzipi 
Livni for alleged war crimes during Operation Cast Lead. Also making 
headlines were Finance Minister Steinitz's remarks against the 
Israeli judicial system. 
 
Ma'ariv reported that the warrant against Livni was subsequently 
withdrawn after it became evident that the former Israeli foreign 
minister was not on British soil, as suspected. Yediot Aharonot 
reports about a furious reaction by Israeli officials to the news, 
quoting an unnamed senior political official as saying: "The British 
legal system, with the support of the British Government, have 
created an absurd situation in which senior Israeli officials cannot 
visit Britain any longer...By so doing, Britain has disqualified 
itself from playing a decisive role in the peace process in the 
Middle East. Furthermore, despite clear promises that were made by 
senior British politicians that they would not allow Israeli 
personages to be harassed by pro-Palestinian elements, it now has 
become clear that those were empty promises." According to that 
report, Israeli Ambassador to the UK Ron Prosor sought an urgent 
meeting last night with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband in 
order to convey the gravity with which Israel views this 
development. 
 
All newspapers highlighted the remarks made by Finance Minister 
Yuval Steinitz yesterday, who criticized the Israeli High Court of 
Justice for issuing rulings that are financially crippling for the 
Israeli economy, suggesting that a different ruling process should 
be implemented. 
 
In a follow-up story from yesterday's decision, Yediot Aharonot 
reports on the practical implications of the decision to remove the 
Har Bracha yeshiva from the special integrative program, noting that 
current and prospective students will now be informed that if they 
choose to stay at Har Bracha they will be obliged to serve three 
full and consecutive years of military service. If they wish to 
integrate yeshiva studies with their military service by means of 
the hesder program, it will be incumbent upon them to register with 
one of the other seminaries. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported this morning that a fifth battalion of 
Palestinian security forces, trained in Jordan under United States 
sponsorship, will return to the West Bank next week to beef up PA 
forces in cracking down on Hamas infrastructure. 
 
 
Block Quotes: 
----------- 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
 
¶I. "Netanyahu and Barak must stand strong against right-wing 
yeshiva" 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (12/15): 
"Barak's decision ... does not release the IDF from its problematic 
arrangement with the yeshivas, which have become a right-wing 
bastion in combat units and whose students view their rabbis as a 
parallel source of authority to their commanding officers.... This 
is the first time the defense establishment ... has set a "price 
tag" for rabbis who undermine the foundations of democracy and tell 
their students which orders to obey and which to refuse. The support 
for Melamed among the heads of other hesder yeshivas ... shows the 
grave danger of creating within the army a private militia of the 
extreme right, subservient to the directives of the rabbis. Barak 
must therefore stand strong. He must not give in to pressure or be 
enticed into compromises and mediation. The cancellation of the 
arrangement ... must be a precedent and a warning to other yeshivas 
and their heads. But this battle cannot be left solely to the 
defense minister and the army. The prime minister must make it clear 
that he will not accept breaches of discipline or of the army's 
subservience to the elected civilian leadership - not even in the 
name of the ideology of the greater land of Israel. If he hesitates, 
he will do fatal damage to Israeli democracy." 
 
II. "Hamas at 22" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (12/14): 
"Time flies when you're spilling blood. Tens of thousands of 
Palestinians packed a Gaza City square yesterday to mark the 
anniversary and heard Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh pledge... that 
Hamas would never make peace with Israel. All in all, it has been a 
decent year for Hamas. Much of its leadership survived Operation 
Cast Lead.... It did not find it too hard to replace tons of lost 
weapons ... and reconstitute its cadre of commanders. Egypt is 
plainly unable ... to stop the smuggling.... Hamas also managed to 
keep Gilad Schalit's whereabouts secret from IDF intelligence.... 
The military setbacks suffered by Hamas ... were more than offset by 
a cornucopia of diplomatic benefits thanks to the Goldstone 
Report.... Divided between Fatah and Hamas, the Palestinian polity 
is immobilized.... If the Netanyahu government assents to a 
lop-sided prisoner release, Hamas's strength and Fatah's weakness 
will become even more pronounced. Given that Israel is not prepared 
to seize the Gaza Strip ... and that neither Palestinian elections 
nor a Palestinian unity government would solve the Hamas problem, 
... Nathan Brown of the Carnegie Middle East Center wonders if 
perhaps Israel should not explore a Machiavellian modus vivendi with 
the Islamists. It is an approach some Israeli strategists ... would 
be prepared to consider ... if only Hamas would stop reminding us 
... that "the liberation of the Strip is just a step to liberating 
all of Palestine." 
CUNNINGHAM