Last update - 00:00 26/02/2008
Olmert aides: Demonstration in Gaza 'much ado about nothing'
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's airplane was winging toward Japan late Sunday night when Hamas said it would stage a mass demonstration against the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip. Some defense establishment officials predicted horrific scenarios with tens of thousands of Palestinians breaking through the border to Israel.
While Olmert was between earth and sky, Acting Prime Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak decided to beef up the troops on the border. They also issued a threatening message to Hamas that Israel would react harshly to any attempt to breach the fence. The media headlines warned of taking the struggle up another notch in Gaza.
An hour and a half before landing in Tokyo's Haneda Airport, Olmert marched toward the most important person on the plane at that moment - the man holding the satellite telephone. "I'm going to hear about the game between Beitar and Maccabi Netanya," he told the reporters, who wondered what the hurry was.
Olmert sat on a seat at the end of the plane and started asking questions. He already knew the results (2:0 to Beitar) but wanted to hear details. "I heard Gal Alberman scored a great goal," he told the reporters.
"Sir, what about the warnings that a Palestinian mass could breach the border in the Gaza Strip," asked Channel 2 reporter Udi Segal.
"I know of no such warnings," Olmert replied curtly, reluctant to answer questions.
A few minutes later he pulled himself together and added, "we must remember that in the Middle East every scenario is possible, and therefore we must prepare accordingly."
Only after landing did Olmert, his advisers and the reporters realize what a commotion had taken place in Israel while they were in the air.
At first the entourage grumbled about Livni and Barak's "hasty" statement, which had been issued without consulting Olmert. Then, realizing that this would spark another spat in the media, they changed their tone. "Hamas announced its intentions after we had taken off and Livni and Barak thought it wasn't sufficiently dramatic to bother the prime minister on his flight, and that's okay," an Olmert aide said.
"They did what they had to do," he said. "Their statement was blown up by the media although it was quite moderate."
Olmert's people were all business-as-usual. Military secretary Meir Kalifi was briefed from Israel, but the morning was devoted to a tour of Tokyo and the atmosphere was amazingly pastoral.
In the early evening, after it transpired that the Gazans had stayed home, Olmert's people announced that altogether it had been "much ado about nothing." Olmert knew that more people came to Teddy Stadium to see Alberman score than participated in the demonstration in Gaza.
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