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Last update - 17:38 22/11/2007
Thanks to The Washington Post
By Gideon Levy
Tags: IDF, Washington Post, Syria 

We can rely on friends like the United States: Our faithful ally has once again come to our assistance. Were it not for the American media, we would know nothing whatsoever about that mysterious night. Only because of the United States is the fog now beginning to lift. It is such a sign of weakness that 10 days after the action that was - or was not - taken by the Israel Air Force in Syria, the Israelis were fated to grope around in the dark or to rely on the American media, as if there were no local media here.

The combination of sweeping censorship and media representatives that do not fight enough on behalf of the freedom of information is dangerous. Israel attacks, or does not attack, bombs or does not bomb - who knows? And nothing is said to the people, everything is secret, without any public supervision or accountability. The public is expected to keep quiet and to blindly support its government and army, no matter what. This is an intolerable situation at all events, but the special circumstances of the incident in Syria make the blackout on it especially dangerous.

For months now, the security establishment has been flooding us with incessant warnings about an impending confrontation with Syria. The source of these warnings and the degree to which they can be trusted has never been clarified. The average news consumer knows merely that Syria has proposed peace and has cautioned against starting a war. He also knows that Israel did not relate favorably to the peace proposal and did not even try to challenge it or to examine how serious it was. The situation is explosive, the defense establishment has told us time and again.
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And then suddenly one night - boom! Suspicious cargo from North Korea, according to the report in The Washington Post; North Korean know-how for enriching uranium, according to Fox News; an aerial-photography mission, according to The New York Times; or weapons systems and "a big hole in the desert," according to CNN.

It's any man's guess what happened and, mainly, any man's guess whether such an action, if taken, was at all justified. Did we once again go off on a dangerous and pointless military adventure, as some say - or perhaps it was indeed a necessary and unequaled action? Against the backdrop of the defense establishment's own warnings about the explosive nature of the situation, such acts can have fateful significance. And if, heaven forbid, a war does break out now with Syria, what will they say? That the situation was already explosive and that that action did nothing to change it? Will we go to war when we do not even know what was, or was not, done in the skies of Syria, in our names?

There are serious doubts here. At the helm of the decision-making process in Israel today stand the prime minister, who has a proven military failure chalked up to him, and the defense minister, who has an innate tendency toward military adventurism. There is no one we can rely on with our eyes closed - certainly not on Ehud Olmert or Ehud Barak. One wants to wipe away the stains of his failure in Lebanon and the other wants to prove he is better than his predecessor. To this must be added a battered army, which is likewise trying to get people to forget its failure. And what about us? We are expected to support them and their actions with our eyes shut.

The usual reason given for the resounding silence is that Israel does not wish to embarrass Syria or drag it into a war. That is a strange excuse. It is to be hoped that it was taken into account before the air force planes took off to wherever it was that they flew - if they did indeed fly there. Syria will, or will not, take retaliatory action against Israel not for what it says, but for what it does. News reports do not drive a country to go to war.

The Israeli media have unconditionally given themselves up to the smoke screen. It is not the media's job to weigh the considerations of war; their job is to report. When they do not even try to fight for this, they are not doing their job properly. As was to be expected, the smoke screen is gradually dissipating meanwhile, but not thanks to the Israeli media. Only after everything is clarified will we know whether it was correct to jeopardize ourselves, in a situation that was so explosive, or whether we perhaps got involved in yet another adventure.

Meanwhile, let's thank The Washington Post for its information service
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  1.   LEVY CAN`T CONFIRM THAT EITHER 09:54  |  indrajaya 17/09/07
  2.   The only good wrap-up I saw was AFP`s 10:07  |  Rowan Berkeley 17/09/07
  3.   Kind of mish mash article... 10:11  |  S 17/09/07
  4.   Old year goes, Levy stays 10:12  |  Jonathan S 17/09/07
  5.   Gideon Levy 10:26  |  Gabe 17/09/07
  6.   Why we mistrust silence 10:27  |  Tzfonit 17/09/07
  7.   what a crock of poo 10:38  |  david 17/09/07
  8.   Nasrallah`s Promised Surprise 10:44  |  Walid 17/09/07
  9.   i agree with #6 10:52  |  Michael 17/09/07
  10.   i agree with #6 10:52  |  Michael 17/09/07
  11.   Gideon Levy opposed bombing Iraq`s nuclear facility in 81 11:04  |  Ken Jurist 17/09/07
  12.   But was there a raid? 11:16  |  Jens 17/09/07
  13.   Gideon Levy- right to know and report 11:19  |  iletzter 17/09/07
  14.   In Gideon`s warped view... 11:20  |  SystemF 17/09/07
  15.   Walid #8 Shouting and Keeping Quiet 11:24  |  Tzfonit 17/09/07
  16.   Zionism demands War! 11:40  |  Hannah 17/09/07
  17.   Thanks to IDF 11:43  |  moshe Israel 17/09/07
  18.   Mr.Levy is back [I taught with relieve that he retires] 11:45  |  dr danielito 17/09/07
  19.   Bombing of Syria 12:11  |  william 17/09/07
  20.   The American press has nothing but "leaks" 12:17  |  Mark Lincoln 17/09/07
  21.   "Thanks to the Washington Post" 12:29  |  GKJames 17/09/07
  22.   #16 Ignorant Stateless hannah 12:42  |  ZIONIST 17/09/07
  23.   Hannah, the Real One 12:58  |  Walid 17/09/07
  24.   # 8 Walid from what I have read..... 13:02  |  Lynn 17/09/07
  25.   Tzfonit 13:10  |  Walid 17/09/07
  26.   It`s about oil! 13:11  |  Pegasus 17/09/07
  27.   iletzer 13 13:15  |  realism 17/09/07
  28.   GIDEON FOREVER! 13:19  |  ron 17/09/07
  29.   Lynn 13:22  |  Walid 17/09/07
  30.   Keeping it silent from WHOM? 13:23  |  Eyal 17/09/07
  31.   all talk and no show 13:28  |  VIPER 17/09/07
  32.   What was this `Operation Orchard` than? 13:34  |  AM 17/09/07
  33.   #23, Walid 13:42  |  Hannah 17/09/07
  34.   Anything good Israel does Levi will hate 13:49  |  Shalom Freedman 17/09/07
  35.   Bored Gideon Levy boring as ever ... 13:51  |  Judge 17/09/07
  36.   Tzfonit #6 13:52  |  GABE1 17/09/07
  37.   Walid @8 14:03  |  GABE1 17/09/07
  38.   If the Arabs said grass is red... 14:06  |  Meir 17/09/07
  39.   Hannah # 16 14:12  |  ChanahS 17/09/07
  40.   In the eve of regional peace conference, assault & battery?!!! 14:13  |  Ivar 17/09/07
  41.   Walid # 25 14:15  |  ChanahS 17/09/07
  42.   Eyal in Rehovot 14:17  |  GABE1 17/09/07
  43.   Caution and sneakiness 14:21  |  Natallie Durson 17/09/07
  44.   JFK used pictures in the "Cuban Missles Crisis." 14:22  |  a wandering Jew 17/09/07
  45.   Could a New Year possibly start better than this? 14:26  |  martyrmaker 17/09/07
  46.   Israel leading the attack 14:29  |  AM 17/09/07
  47.   Levy has a point here. 14:30  |  D. 17/09/07
  48.   The conning of Israel by its ruling military junta 14:42  |  Clickfool 17/09/07
  49.   ChanahS 14:47  |  Walid 17/09/07
  50.   Gideon Levy is a traitor! He is an Israel Hater, and a self-Hater 14:51  |  Vittorio 17/09/07
  51.   #39, Chanah S. 14:57  |  Hannah 17/09/07
  52.   European approval 15:00  |  Jo Jo 17/09/07
  53.   #45, martyrmaker 15:04  |  Hannah 17/09/07
  54.   Dear Oh Dear Gideon 15:15  |  george 17/09/07
  55.   sick paranoia 15:23  |  michael cohen 17/09/07
  56.   indra #1:You don`t believe USA, you don`t believe Ahmadinejad.... 15:30  |  Vittorio 17/09/07
  57.   oh and Click fool joins the foray 15:35  |  geor 17/09/07
  58.   Thank God that Israeli media doesn`t feel that 15:37  |  Danny - Israeli one 17/09/07
  59.   Thanks to Gideon Levy 15:39  |  Jack 17/09/07
  60.   mr levy must be joking 15:46  |  citizen zero 17/09/07
  61.   Jonathan S of Frankfurt 15:50  |  shlomo 17/09/07
  62.   Ivar # 40 Appropriate times and existential threats 15:53  |  Tzfonit 17/09/07
  63.   #22, zionist 15:55  |  Hannah 17/09/07
  64.   #1 - FAKE INDRAJAYA ALERT 16:00  |  Indrajaya 17/09/07
  65.   I don`t see how the attack can be justified 16:01  |  Tosefta 17/09/07
  66.   I`M SHOCKED - G.LEVY ENTERTAINS THOUGHT THAT IT`S JUSTIFIED!! 16:06  |  Mitch Iginer 17/09/07
  67.   hannah #53 16:06  |  citizen zero 17/09/07
  68.   EVEN 16:15  |  BAROSH 17/09/07
  69.   Don`t play Coy GABE1 16:15  |  Eyal 17/09/07
  70.   Another WMD-type Gimmick. 16:22  |  Walid 17/09/07
  71.   #8 - Walid 16:28  |  Maurice 17/09/07
  72.   TO SOME....