A Daily Analysis
By Marc Schulman

November 5, 2008- Israeli Media's View of Obama Election

Israeli news broadcasts of the last few days has been dedicated almost exclusively to coverage of the American elections. Now that Senator Barack Obama has won, some of the attention has turned to what it means for Israel. On that, opinion is divided. There does not seem to be any concern that he is anti Israel, rather that he likely to be an activist and possibly effective President. Most of his Middle East advisors are well known from the Clinton Administration and most believe in a more activist policy in the Middle East. If you are an Israeli who either is opposed to any concessions or you believe there is no point since neither the Palestinians nor the Syrians are willing to make any concessions, you fear the Obama administration is likely to be problematic. If on the other hand, if you think there is room for some agreements then you do not worry.

Observers believe that the Obama administration is likely to try to make progress on the Palestinian front. These same observers believe that any attempt at progress with the Palestinians are likely to fail at which time the Obama administration will turn its attention to the Syrian track.

The cease fire in Gaza was broken today by Israel. It had actionable intelligence on a tunnel that Hamas was digging to kidnap another Israeli soldier. Israeli troops advanced 250 meters into Gaza to destroy the tunnel. Seven Palestinians were killed in the action. Hamas responded with 30 Qassams to the Southern Negev. Both sides want the cease fire to continue so it is expected that this event will end with today's exchange of fire.