ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000012 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: -------------- The media reported that yesterday the IDF continued its ground operations in Gaza, and showed that it is readying an expanded ground operation. An IDF soldier was killed and 40 wounded. Israel Radio reported on HAMAS attempts to kidnap an Israeli solider and on false HAMAS claims to have successfully abducted Israeli soldiers. Israel Radio cited Palestinian sources as saying that 70 Palestinians were killed in the ground operation. The Jerusalem Post quoted senior diplomatic officials as saying yesterday that the IDF has a Qfew more daysQ to carry on with its Gaza offensive and weaken HAMAS before the international community ratchets up pressure for a cease-fire. Over the weekend the media quoted Israeli officials as saying that the IDF has called up tens of thousands of reservists for the ground operation. Maariv and The Jerusalem Post cited the Israeli concern that HAMAS might launch missiles on Rehovot and Rishon Lezion -Q over 40 km from the Gaza border. HaQaretz reported that yesterday PM Ehud Olmert and his Foreign and Defense ministers, Tzipi Livni and Ehud Barak, decided that Israel would like to see a diplomatic agreement bring the military operation in Gaza to an end -Q so long as the deal excludes Hamas. The newspaper reported that Israeli leadership will convey that message to visiting European statesmen today, stressing that an agreement in Gaza should include both regional and international components. Maariv (Ben Caspit) reported that Iran recently sent Israel an explicit warning. This warning was passed on by means of a Scandinavian embassy in Tehran, and it read as follows: If you launch a ground operation in the Gaza Strip, weQll act against you. Maariv and The Jerusalem Post quoted Vice President Dick Cheney as saying on Saturday on CBSQs QFace the NationQ that Israel did not ask for U.S permission before its incursion into Gaza. Cheney reiterated the U.S position placing exclusive responsibility for the situation on Hamas. Yesterday Israel Radio reported that the U.S. administration is working for a cease-fire. State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack was quoted as saying that the administration is very concerned over the humanitarian situation in Gaza, but added that HAMAS is the one holding the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip hostage. He said that Israel must be alert to the effects of the ground operation on the civilians in Gaza. McCormack said that a cease-fire must be established as quickly as possible, but emphasized that it must be long-term and acceptable to all sides. The media reported that yesterday New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg flew to Israel for a daylong trip to express solidarity for Israelis under HAMAS fire. Yediot reported that Israel is trying to recruit international support, with the backing of the U.S. and Germany, to reach a unilateral agreement. Leading media reported that Israel is injecting humanitarian aid into Gaza. The media reported that over the weekend protesters across Europe urged Israel to end its military campaign. Israel Radio quoted Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan as saying yesterday that Israel is doing inhuman deeds in Gaza and it will destroy itself. HaQaretz and other media reported that IDF Intelligence head Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin told the cabinet on Sunday that Hizbullah might carry out a limited attack in the north via a Palestinian terror group in response to the IDF ground operation. HaQaretz quoted a government source in Jerusalem as saying that the military is on high alert in the north against a flare-up. The source said that many reservists have been called up for service in the north. Yesterday, citing the AP, The Jerusalem Post reported that an Israeli air strike flattened GazaQs best private educational institution, the American International School in Beit Lahiya, which has been targeted by Islamic militants in the past. HaQaretz reported that the Finance Ministry is budgeting 2.4 billion shekels (around $635 million) for the war in Gaza and that if spending passes this point, the reserve will run out. Maariv wrote that the cost of the war is estimated at 10 billion shekels (around $2.65 billion). HaQaretz and The Jerusalem Post reported that QWaltz with Bashir, the animated documentary about Israeli soldiers and their memories of IsraelQs 1982 war with Lebanon, was chosen best picture of 2008 by the National Society of Film Critics. -------------- Gaza Operation: -------------- Summary: -------------- The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: QSarkozy is a friendly leader who during his term in office has contributed to Israel's improved standing in Europe. Israel can return the favor for his support and bestow on him a diplomatic achievement if it adopts his initiative for a lull in the fighting. Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: QThe government should listen to its own pessimistic forecasts at the start of the operation, rather than to the euphoria that enveloped it in the following days. There is nothing more treacherous than euphoria in time of battle. Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote on page one of Yediot Aharonot: QOn the 10th day of warfare, are we close to meeting the goals of the operation? The answer: Not yet. Veteran journalist and anchor Yaron London wrote in Yediot Aharonot: QQProportionalityQ should not be measured by the number of corpses but by the foeQs malevolence.... HamasQs ideology does not allow this movement to cease fire of its own volition. The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: QThose who are sincere about fostering coexistence should stop bashing the IDF and start telling the Palestinians: Stop the violence. Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in Ha'aretz: QA lasting diplomatic solution to the Gaza situation demands more than an agreement between HAMAS and Israel -- it demands pan-Arab reconciliation. Arab affairs correspondent Smadar Perry wrote in Yediot Aharonot: Q[Foreign Minister Ahmed] Abu al-Gheit first and foremost serves the interests of Egypt, which at present appear to match the Israeli interests: To get rid of the HAMAS leadership. Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "Lull Now" The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (1/5): QIsrael embarked on Operation Cast Lead with the aim of stopping rocket and mortar fire on its territory, weakening Hamas, and improving the security situation in the south. It is vital to preserve these goals and not get dragged into a futile pursuit of HAMAS in an effort to topple its regime. Experience teaches that expanding the set of objectives complicates achieving them, turning a lightning-quick operation into a long war of attrition. The government and IDF succeeded in mustering domestic and international legitimacy for an extensive military operation against the rocket fire, and it would be a pity to risk that legitimacy if the fighting drags on Quntil HAMAS waves a white flagQ.... Sarkozy is a friendly leader who during his term in office has contributed to Israel's improved standing in Europe. Israel can return the favor for his support and bestow on him a diplomatic achievement if it adopts his initiative for a lull in the fighting and declares its readiness to begin immediate negotiations on a new, stable security arrangement in the Gaza Strip. II. "Time to Say QEnoughQ" Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (1/5): QWhether a cease-fire agreement is reached or not, the Hamasniks who have been killed and will yet be killed will be replaced by others, and new [arms] depots will be built instead of the ones destroyed. The key is to prevent arms and ammunition smuggling from Egypt. If success is achieved on this score, with the aid of international efforts and cooperation on Egypt's part, HAMAS will lose a large part of its destructive potential. About this too, we can say: It will be enough for us. The government must not [let the operation] evolve, it must not be tempted, it must not become entangled. The HAMAS militiamen, who instead of directly fighting the soldiers disappeared yesterday into the alleyways or hid in their bunkers, were not being cowardly. They were trying to draw Israel inwards, into places that it must not reach. The next two days will be critical: The cease-fire, which was rightfully rejected out of hand last Wednesday, will look more correct and riper after the end of the first stage of the ground operation. The government should listen to its own pessimistic forecasts at the start of the operation, rather than to the euphoria that enveloped it in the following days. There is nothing more treacherous than euphoria in time of battle. III. "We HavenQt Won Yet" Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote on page one of Yediot Aharonot (1/5): QOn the 10th day of warfare, are we close to meeting the goals of the operation? The answer: Not yet. HAMAS may regret, as [an] intelligence officer said to the Defense Minister, but it has still not broken. It has taken a very serious blow -- but is standing on its feet and conducting warfare with order and a rationale. The next exit point, in which it will be possible to discuss an arrangement, will apparently and unfortunately only be after the completion of the limited ground move and the takeover of the Qholding area. IV. "Sorry for Having Been Right" Veteran journalist and anchor Yaron London wrote in Yediot Aharonot (1/5): QThose who view the border issue as I do should have supported the withdrawal from Gaza. At the same time, they should have demanded that for any violation of our territory the enemy should pay a price dubbed in the juristsQ lingo Qdisproportionate. QProportionalityQ should not be measured by the number of corpses but by the foeQs malevolence.... HamasQs ideology does not allow this movement to cease fire of its own volition. HAMAS aspires to apply an Islamic religious rule, establish a Palestinian state in the entire Land of Israel [a.k.a. Palestine], and set up an equitable and prosperous society. [HamasQs] three goals Q- religious, diplomatic, and social -Q cannot be implemented simultaneously. ¶V. QA Moral War The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (1/5): QFar from there being Q3,000 [Palestinians] killed and wounded, more like 500 have been killed -- 400 of them HAMAS Qmilitants, according to Palestinian Arab and UN sources inside Gaza cited by the Associated Press. Israeli sources put the Palestinian civilian death toll at some 50.... Pointing this out does not diminish the dreadful loss of dozens of innocent Palestinian lives in a week's worth of fighting. It does show, however, that the IDF continues to do everything possible to avoid Qcollateral damage.Q But its prime mandate is to protect the lives of Israeli civilians and minimize risks to our citizen-soldiers.... The folks at [the liberal Jewish-American lobby] J Street believe Qthere is no military solution to what is fundamentally a political conflict....Q HAMAS would beg to differ. Indeed, HAMAS has been trying to prove the contrary, forcing Israel's hand. What Israel's critics need to understand is that there can be no political solution while we are under Palestinian bombardment. Those who are sincere about fostering coexistence should stop bashing the IDF and start telling the Palestinians: Stop the violence. VI. QEgypt-Syria-Rift Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in Ha'aretz (1/4): QThe intensification of the military operation in Gaza has not yet led to a similar increase in the Arab states' diplomatic efforts. A lasting diplomatic solution to the Gaza situation demands more than an agreement between HAMAS and Israel -- it demands pan-Arab reconciliation.... The opening of the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza is a vital condition for a cease-fire, but Cairo fears that letting HAMAS control the crossing will bring it Arab and international recognition, while Cairo will be left responsible for the Strip. For its part, Syria is striving to obtain HAMAS recognition that would grant it and Iran positions of influence in any future diplomatic process. Saudi Arabia has adopted the Egyptian stance, which sees HAMAS as the primary culprit for the current situation, and both countries have a double account to settle -- with Hamas, for not adhering to the provisions of the 2007 Mecca Agreement, intended to end the group's feud with Fatah, and for sabotaging the planned November summit in Cairo; and with Syria for torpedoing talks between the rival groups. If [a] cease-fire holds, the second stage can go into effect, in which Turkey mediates among Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Egypt to draft an Arab agreement for reconciling HAMAS and Fatah, after which Palestinian elections may be held. In the meantime, the Turkish proposal seems like a distant vision that can offer no immediate solution to the fighting. VII. QCommon Interests Arab affairs correspondent Smadar Perry wrote in Yediot Aharonot (1/5): QWe should not hurry to see [the Egyptian Foreign Minister] as a Qlover of ZionQ or the QZionist foreign minister,Q as he is derided by the Arab world. Abu al-Gheit first and foremost serves the interests of Egypt, which at present appear to match the Israeli interests: To get rid of the HAMAS leadership, not to open the crossings, to suffocate and make life unbearable until Abu Mazen's regime returns to Gaza.... A word of warning: Do not give him commendations from Jerusalem, do not shower praise on him, and do not make a mistake about the Egyptian Foreign Minister. If the operation becomes entangled to Egypt's detriment, Abu al-Gheit will be the first to lash ot at us as he is now pounding Hamas. CUNNINGHAM