ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

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SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

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SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT:
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Gaza Operation

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Key stories in the media:
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All media reported that yesterday Israel stepped up the pressure on
Hamas and dropped a one-ton bomb on the home of one of the groupQs
top five leaders, Sheikh Nizar Rayyan, killing him and a reported 18
others Q including his family. The IDF made final preparations for
a ground operation expected in the coming days. However, The
Jerusalem Post quoted some security sources as saying that the
likelihood of a massive IDF ground incursion into Gaza was receding.
Israel Radio quoted Ismail Radwan, an official of HamasQs military
branch, as saying that Qall Zionists interestsQ were now in danger.

All media reported that yesterday an Ashdod a high-rise building
took a direct hit from a Hamas rocket.

Major media reported that yesterday in Paris FM Tzipi Livni rejected
calls for a 48-hour "humanitarian pause" and told her French
counterpart, Bernard Kouchner, that Hamas must not be given the
opportunity to gain any sort of legitimacy within a renewed truce.


The Jerusalem Post today (and Maariv yesterday) reported that the
diplomatic bid for a truce will intensify next week.

The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday Fatah operatives in the
West Bank criticized the PA leadership and accused its
representatives of failing to take a Qtough stanceQ against the
current IDF operation.

The media reported that yesterday 51 rockets landed in communities
surrounding Gaza. Hamas quoted the IDF as saying this week in an
interim report of the current situation that the threat that Hamas's
ballistic capabilities pose to the people of the Negev is less
serious than initially presumed and that the residents of the
targeted areas are not demonstrating signs of panic. Still, the
newspaper quoted Deputy DM Matan Vilnai as saying that should the
IDF mount a ground invasion into the Strip, Hamas is expected to
pick up the pace and take more risks in launching rockets.

Israel Radio quoted the Arabic-language newspaper Assennara as
saying that Israel warned Syria not to let Hizbullah attack Israel.
The radio reported that Egypt has requested that the Israeli
military not attack mosques, even if they conceal weapons. On
Wednesday night the IAF destroyed the Hawa Mosque in southern Gaza.

All media reported that DM Ehud Barak and FM Tzipi Livni are engaged
in an unprecedented war of words, slander and struggle for credit.

Leading media reported that at the urging of the High Court of
Justice. Israel agreed yesterday to allow eight foreign journalists
into Gaza when it reopens the border. The Tel Aviv-based Foreign
Press Association had petitioned to let up to 12 foreign journalists
into Gaza.

The media reported that yesterday two Israelis were shot and wounded
in a shopping mall in Odense, Denmark.

Maariv presented the results of a TNS/Teleseker poll on voting
intentions for the Knesset elections:
In brackets: Maariv's December 25 poll):
Kadima:28 (30); Likud 28 (29); Labor Party: 16 (11): Yisrael
Beiteinu: 12 (13); Shas: 11 (10); Arab parties: 10 (10); Meretz: 6
(7); United Torah Judaism: 5 (5); National-Religious Party-Jewish
Home 4 (3); Hadash: 4 (4); United Arab List-Arab Movement for
Renewal: 4 (4).

Today, in light of the fighting against Hamas and the performance of
the political echelon, has your attitude toward any of the following
people changed for the better, for the worse, or has remained
unchanged?
Ehud Barak :For the better: 43.9%; for the worse: 2.5%; unchanged:
48%
Tzipi Livni: For the better: 27.9%; for the worse: 3.1%; unchanged:
63.5%
Ehud Olmert: For the better: 24.4%; for the worse: 7.1%; unchanged:
63.5%
Benjamin Netanyahu: For the better: 23.0%; for the worse: 3.5%;
unchanged: 68.4%

The Jerusalem Post cited the results of a poll taken by Smith
Research this week: Since the previous poll published on October 31,
Likud rose from 27 seats to 29; Labor went up from 14 to15; and
Kadima fell from 27 to 23. The Right blocQs advantage over the Left
remains a hefty eight mandates, 64 to 56.

On Wednesday Channel 2-TV cited a poll conducted by Geocartographia
that showed that 90 percent of the Israeli public supports the Gaza
operation.

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Gaza Operation:
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Summary:
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Columnist and former Meretz Party Chairman Yossi Sarid wrote in the
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: QI hate all the terrorists in
the world, whatever the purpose of their struggle. However, I
support every active civil revolt against any occupation, and Israel
too is among the despicable occupiers.

The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (1/2):
QSix days into Israel's confrontation with Hamas, just one world
leader has steadfastly shown genuine understanding of our dilemma --
George W. Bush.... We are reasonably confident that the incoming
administration will cut Hamas no more slack than the outgoing one.

Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote on page one of the
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: QNobody expects Hamas
to wave white flags.... But they are not reading Israel correctly.

Conservative Op-Ed Page Editor Ben-Dror Yemini wrote in the popular,
pluralist Maariv: QThe conflict isnQt between Hamas (with its
rockets) and Israel. It is between Hamas as one of the constitutive
elements of radical Islam and the free world,

Political and parties columnist Sima Kadmon wrote on page one of
Yediot Aharonot: QIf something can already be summed up at this
stage of the operation, it is that is not recommended to hold wars
during election campaigns.

Columnist Adi Mintz wrote in the nationalist, Orthodox Makor
Rishon-Hatzofe: QPalestinian national aspirations wonQt be able to
come into fruition in the western Land of Israel [Israel and the
territories].
Block Quotes:
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I. "A Thank You to Bush"

The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (1/2):
QSix days into Israel's confrontation with Hamas, just one world
leader has steadfastly shown genuine understanding of our dilemma --
George W. Bush.... The Arab League version Qstrongly condemns all
military attacks and the excessive, disproportionate and
indiscriminate use of force by Israel...Q It makes no mention of
Hamas's aggression. At some point, Rice will meld her own
proposals with those of French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner,
Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (who ostentatiously
boycotted Israel on his fact-finding tour of the region),and the
proposals of a bitterly divided Arab world, along with Israel's
thoughts, to produce a workable cease-fire proposal. As this
scenario plays out, we hope Hamas's military capacity will,
meanwhile, become considerably eroded.... We are reasonably
confident that the incoming administration will cut Hamas no more
slack than the outgoing one.

II. "If You (or I) Were Palestinian"

Columnist and former Meretz Party Chairman Yossi Sarid wrote in the
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (1/2): QI hate all the terrorists
in the world, whatever the purpose of their struggle. However, I
support every active civil revolt against any occupation, and Israel
too is among the despicable occupiers.... But, and pay attention to
this but, if a normative young person has a spontaneous answer that
is different from mine, and that answer also escaped the mouth of an
Israeli lieutenant general [as Ehud Barak said about 10 years ago],
then every individual must see himself as though his son is running
with the wrong crowd. If things were the other way around, our
son-whom-we-loved would be a damned terrorist, almost certainly,
because he is of the third and fourth generation of refugee
condition and oppression, and whence cometh salvation? He has
nothing to lose but his chains. Whereas we, his mother and father,
would be weeping for the departing son because he will never return
to see the land of his birth and us, except in his photograph on the
wall as a shahid, a martyr.... There are no good and bad peoples;
there are only leaderships that behave responsibly or insanely. And
now we are fighting those whom a goodly number of us would be like,
had we been in their place for 41 and a half years.
III. "The Price of the Operation"

Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote on page one of the
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (1/2): QThe name of the
game is counting the bodies and the destruction. There is no
intention to conquer territory. Taking control of the launching
areas is important, but only as a secondary goal. The idea is the
Qphysical erosionQ of HamasQs fighting force. HamasQs real assets
are not the rockets, and Gaza is not Lebanon. Hizbullah could enjoy
ongoing supplies of missiles from Syria in the course of the entire
Second Lebanon War. Gaza cannot refill its warehouses.... The
hardest scenario, which Hamas will try to drag us into, is wallowing
in the Gaza mud for an extended period of time. This would mean
expanding the ground operation to another interim stage after which
the last stage in the series of scenarios could take place: taking
over all of the Gaza Strip. There will be no surrender. Nobody
expects Hamas to wave white flags.... But they are not reading
Israel correctly. They donQt believe that it will dare embark on a
ground operation. And that is their second major mistake. The
first was not believing that it would dare act before the elections.
At most, they thought, there would be a reprisal operation,
something limited from the air. The aerial reprisal operation was
harsh, long and more extensive than they thought, and it has been
exhausted. In the first few days the Air Force destroyed 100
targets in 20 minutes. By the end of the week it spends two hours
in the air to destroy isolated targets, of gradually diminishing
value. Collecting targets is becoming harder. This could also be
an exit point -- a war that ends as a reprisal operation. However,
nobody has provided the appropriate ladder to this end. BarakQs
attempt to get a unilateral 48-hour lull to examine the dynamics got
lost in the knotty and rocky relations of IsraelQs political
leadership.

IV. "First Gaza, then the World"

Conservative Op-Ed Page Editor Ben-Dror Yemini wrote in the popular,
pluralist Maariv (1/2): QThe conflict isnQt between Hamas (with its
rockets) and Israel. It is between Hamas as one of the constitutive
elements of radical Islam and the free world.... The declared goal
is the establishment of a global Caliphate as part of an
anti-Semitic ideology that also calls for the annihilation of the
Jews.... Since political Islam has already annihilated millions
without any declaration, it must be taken seriously when it
proclaims extermination.

V. QFighting in the Political Domain

Political and parties columnist Sima Kadmon wrote on page one of
Yediot Aharonot (1/2): QIf something can already be summed up at
this stage of the operation, it is that is not recommended to hold
wars during election campaigns. If we had thought that this
business is too serious for political and personal interests to make
it into the fray, if we had hoped that something had changed -Q we
were wrong once again. Politics is bubbling on the ground like
smoldering lava. It is difficult to manage such a delicate
operation when such mistrust and mutual suspicions are troubling the
political scene. LetQs not err: The operation might shuffle all the
cards; the candidates know this well. Ask Barak. All polls
conducted this week have shown a rise in the number of the Labor
PartyQs Knesset seats -Q to say nothing about the Defense MinisterQs
status.

VI. QA Diplomatic Window of Opportunity

Columnist Adi Mintz wrote in the nationalist, Orthodox Makor
Rishon-Hatzofe (12/31): QThe question is what will happen on the day
after [the Gaza operation].... The Right must present a diplomatic
alternative that would be good for Israel and focus on the
cancelation of Palestinian security rule -Q both in Gaza and Judea
and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank]. In a nutshell , there is an
answer to the demographic problem and the fears that Israel will
have to manage the lives of over one million Palestinians in Gaza.
(The IDF comes and goes in Judea and Samaria; it doesnQt manage the
lives of Palestinians there.) The main message to be conveyed is
that Palestinian national aspirations wonQt be able to come into
fruition in the western Land of Israel [Israel and the territories]
-Q neither in the Galilee, nor in Judea and Samaria, nor in Gaza.

CUNNINGHAM