A frivolous government
The testimonies of Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak to the Turkel Committee reveal grave flaws about their judgment and discussions on the most sensitive diplomatic and security matters.
Haaretz Editorial Tags: Israel news Benjamin Netanyahu Ehud BarakThe testimonies by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak to the Turkel Committee arouse considerable concern. In describing the decision-making process before the takeover of the Turkish flotilla to the Gaza Strip, the two men revealed grave flaws about their judgment and discussions on the most sensitive diplomatic and security matters.
The suspicions that arose immediately after the operation were confirmed in all their gravity in the testimonies. Netanyahu testified that a decision by the defense minister had imposed the naval blockade on Gaza at the time of Operation Cast Lead; the defense minister had apparently informed the prime minister at the time, Ehud Olmert. According to Netanyahu, no discussion was held in any larger forum about the blockade and its implications. When threats about breaking through the blockade grew, the government tried to use diplomacy to thwart the flotilla, and when the diplomatic effort failed, it resorted to the bullying takeover of the ships.
According to Netanyahu, the main consideration guiding him in his decision later to open the gates of Gaza was Israel’s image in the international media. The Palestinian population’s suffering was not on his mind beyond the general statement that “there is no humanitarian crisis” in the Gaza Strip.
In the same spirit, the meeting of the forum of seven senior ministers before the takeover focused on the implications for “the media effect,” as Netanyahu said. He recalls a cursory discussion: “I received several ideas, issued a few instructions ... but we didn’t get into a discussion of the operation’s details.”
Barak presented a completely different version, to the point that it’s hard to believe that the prime minister and the defense minister took part in the same discussion. According to the defense minister, the ministers and officials went into detail, asked serious questions and expressed concern about complications: “There wasn’t a situation of people not understanding the situation.” Barak praised the government and attributed the responsibility for the hitches to the military, just as Netanyahu had attributed the responsibility to the defense minister.
The Turkel Committee has done well not to be content with the narrow mandate it received from Netanyahu and Barak and in deciding to examine the nature of their decisions. The significant contradictions between the testimonies and the attempts by the prime minister and the defense minister to pass the buck on down show that something basic is creaking at the top. The committee must thoroughly examine the issues so we can learn lessons and reduce the risk of similar mishaps in the future.
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Israelis did good and this probe has ended The attacks on the commandos were instantaneous. The passengers hit them with clubs, stabbed them and picked one commando up and threw him 30 feet down a deck. Permission to use the handguns was finally granted, and at least nine passengers were killed as seven commandos were wounded. if Haaretz had any consideration and respect for its homeland they wouldnt have a tizzy about it already and ignore the old bla bla already
If so, I would consider you very anti-patriotic, and obviously that precludes any possibility of having what you call "respect and consideration for your homeland".
Can someone put Israel first for a change !!
And you know it but blame the Israelis - your pleasure... Jews..... Israelis voted the Right because of the constant bombing of Israel for 8 years. That was when swallowing more of it was no longer possible. Since then, we stand with the IDF, not with the government ! The same happened before in the times of Rabin and Peres - again Likud was voted in. Slowly, the Labor and the entire Left had no voters anymore ! They became superfuous....due to Arafat before, and Hamas, after. Hezbollah is a new voter of the Likud !!!! Turkey too.....All of you who threaten our existence. WE VOTE IDF!
So, you stand with IDF regardless what they are doing and saying? You stand with them when they kill innocent children in Palestine? Well, I don't know whom you do a favor.
I speculate that he probably thinks that if the inhuman thugs around him have free reign to do any harm they wish with total impunity to people outside of his circle, than those forces will never devellop the desire to attack him, especially if this person is a personnal promoter. But this is just a guess, god knows what is actually going on in his mind.
so stop whinging and make peace---not war.
Like France in the late 1930s, Israel has what it voted for. A crypto-fascist and his sycophants. It is possible that there is a smidgeon of difference between Netanyahu and Paul Reynaud. Those differences are largely because the 'center' in Israel had drifted so far 'right' by the 21st century that only Adolf Hitler might have qualified as 'right'. Like Paul Reynaud Netanyahu only became Prime Minister by the most narrow of margins. Paul Reynaud by a single vote, Netanyahu by the prostitution of Ehud Barak. Israel, like France in the summer of 1939 has the government it elected. God have mercy upon your souls.
Both Netanyahu and Barak are men out of their time. They are both the kind of men who ran France during 1938 and 1939. Men only concerned with their personal gain and totally devoid of any concern about the future of their nation if that got in their way.