HEADLINES FROM THE HEBREW PRESS SUMMARY OF EDITORIALS FROM THE HEBREW PRESS

HEADLINES FROM THE HEBREW PRESS HA’ARETZ 1. ONE MONTH AFTER YASSIN: IDF ASSASSINATES RANTISI; MASHAL: DON’T ANNOUNCE NAME OF SUCCESSOR. Another two killed in assassination, and 10 injured. Military sources: There will be additional assassinations. Hamas: Response to assassination will be 100 revenge attacks. Tens of thousands of Hamas and Fatah supporters demonstrate in Gaza. IDF declares high level alert – expecting revenge terror attack. Assassination was decided upon after Ashdod terror

HEADLINES FROM THE HEBREW PRESS HA’ARETZ 1. ONE MONTH AFTER YASSIN: IDF ASSASSINATES RANTISI; MASHAL: DON’T ANNOUNCE NAME OF SUCCESSOR. Another two killed in assassination, and 10 injured. Military sources: There will be additional assassinations. Hamas: Response to assassination will be 100 revenge attacks. Tens of thousands of Hamas and Fatah supporters demonstrate in Gaza. IDF declares high level alert – expecting revenge terror attack. Assassination was decided upon after Ashdod terror attack. Assessment: A-Zuhour will take Rantisi’s place in Gaza. 2. ANOTHER TERROR ATTACK AT EREZ CHECKPOINT: BORDER POLICEMAN KILLED AND THREE INJURED. 3. Intelligence: Mishap in New Zealand. CONCERN: TWO MOSSAD MEN CAUGHT DUE TO FORGED PASSPORTS. HATZOFEH 1. RANTISI’S LAST MISTAKE. Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi eliminated by Israeli helicopter when he emerged from hiding place. His son Muhammad and bodyguard Ismail Nasser were also killed. Operation to eliminate him a few days ago was cancelled minutes before it was to be carried out when it became evident that many children were in the vicinity. 2. DISENGAGEMENT PLAN: WAVERING LIKUD MINISTERS LEANING TOWARDS OPPOSING. Anger in Likud at Sharon’s obligation to Bush to freeze construction in settlements, including settlement blocs that will remain under Israeli control. Coalition Chairman Gideon Saar opposes plan. United Torah Judaism members reject proposal to meet Sharon. 3. HOLOCAUST MARTYRS AND HEROES REMEMBRANCE DAY EVENTSW TO BEGIN THIS EVENING. MA’ARIV 1. Less than one month after Ahmed Yassin was eliminated: SUCCESSOR ALSO ELIMINATED. Defense Minister convened senior IDF officers on Friday and demanded: Eliminate Rantisi by Saturday night. IAF missile hit him last night. End of a pediatrician who became a child murderer. 2. TERROR ATTACK AT EREZ: BORDER POLICEMAN KILLED. Terrorist succeeded in infiltrating explosive through metal detector. Victim: Corporal Kfir Ohayon. 3. 59 YEARS: WE WILL NOT FORGET. Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Day events begin tonight. 4. COMPLICATIONS IN NEW ZEALAND. Foreign sources: two Mossad agents arrested on suspicion of falsifying New Zealand passports. Two other Israelis wanted by local police. YEDIOT AHRONOT 1. Operation “Electronic Eradication:” Hamas: Bush responsible, Israel will pay. RANTISI ELIMINATED. Less than one month after Yassin eliminated – Israel also killed his successor. Israel: This is not the last elimination. Hamas: We will not reveal the next leader. 2. TWO MOSSAD AGENTS ARRESTED IN NEW ZEALAND. Tried to obtain fake passport. Israel: This is criminal affair. 3. TONIGHT: HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY. 4. BORDER POLICEMAN KILLED AT EREZ. Suicide bomber succeeded in getting through security. ______________________________ SUMMARY OF EDITORIALS FROM THE HEBREW PRESS Yediot Ahronot says that from Israel’s point-of-view, all of Hamas’s leaders are, “dead men walking,” and adds that, “They are more and more dead, and less and less walking.” The editors declare that, “One thing is clear – It cannot be that those who dispatch others on suicide attacks will be able to sleep peacefully in their beds,” and assert that, “If eliminating terrorists on the way to an attack is justified, then eliminating the commander and the inciter who dispatched the terrorist on his way is justified seven times over.” The paper suggests that, “Experience proves that senior terrorists, even the fanatics among them, don’t want to become martyrs. They’re afraid to die and the fear deters them and their cohorts. The targeted rocket – the rocket with a personal address on it – is the Israeli answer to the ticking Islamic bomb.” The editors believe that, “Palestinian society itself will have to willingly uproot Hamas if it ever wants to live as a normal society.” Hatzofeh writes: “Every European country has, or had, its Jews – those whom it was possible to say were taking over the national resources, those whom it was possible to accuse of killing Christian children, those who were bloodsuckers. And since we dreamed to be like all the nations, a country like all the countries – the State of Israel also has its Jews: The settlers, the religious, the haredim.” Hatzofeh, in its second editorial, accuses Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of hypocrisy in enlisting US President George Bush’s support for his disengagement plan and recalls that the former complained bitterly when former US President Bill Clinton came to the support of former Prime Minister Ehud Barak. The editors suggest that Prime Minister Sharon’s embrace of US President Bush may come back to haunt Israel if John Kerry beats Bush in the November election.