"For state security one may sometimes not tell the whole truth."

link

Haaretz/ here

" ... A few other aspects of Netanyahu's conduct in the affair are surprising. First of all, why did he have to travel secretly to a friendly country like Russia, rather than officially, as befitting the prime minister of Israel? Former prime minister Ehud Olmert, who made a similar trip to Russia two years ago, announced he was going a few hours beforehand and did not allow the press to come along because of the sensitivity. Second of all, why did Netanyahu make the trip behind the backs of the Foreign Ministry and the Israeli Embassy in Moscow, which are responsible for relations with Russia?

Another strange element is the way Netanyahu traveled to Moscow. Instead of taking an Israel Air Force plane, the prime minister's bureau leased a small private jet belonging to businessman Yosef Maiman, at a cost of more than $20,000. The intention was apparently to keep the visit as deep a secret as possible. But is the pilot of a private jet more trustworthy than an Israel Air Force pilot in terms of potentially leaking the trip?

The most surprising question of all is the fact that Yedioth Ahronoth released the report. If the visit was so secret, how is it possible that the prime minister's bureau allowed the military censor to let the paper report it, as well as reporting the issues raised during the visit itself? "

Posted by G, Z, & or B at 10:11 PM

Russian Report Confirms Netanyahu’s Visit, Says He May be Planning Attack


10/09/2009 Russian media on Thursday continued to cover Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's mysterious visit to Moscow that was leaked to the media from his office.

Kommersant newspaper quoted "experts" as saying they believe a visit of this kind could have stemmed from urgent circumstances, "for example, in the event that Israel plans to attack Iran".

At first, Moscow denied a visit ever took place, but after Netanyahu's office was forced to admit to the Israeli PM's Military Secretary Meir Kalifi's lie, a senior Kremlin source also confirmed to Kommersant that the Israeli prime minister did indeed visit the city.

Russian media also directed questions on the visit to the Israeli embassy in Moscow, but embassy sources said that if there was such a visit, "We know nothing about it."

The paper then quoted what it called an "informed" Israeli source, who wished to remain anonymous, as saying, "Such a visit could be related to new information and could threaten the Iranian nuclear program. It should not be ruled out that Israel may be ready to move on to decisive actions with regards to Iran, and Netanyahu has decided to inform the Kremlin of this."

Russian Foreign Minister Spokesman Andrei Nesterenko published an announcement saying, "We have no knowledge of a Netanyahu's 'secret' visit to Moscow. We saw reports in various media. They are inconsistent. Other than that, I cannot tell you anything. I have no detailed information in the matter, or any information in the matter. We have seen the reports."

The Israeli prime minister's aides who published the false announcements of his whereabouts were a loss for words.

Wednesday night the Prime Minister's Office published yet another announcement in an attempt to rectify the damage, said, "The prime minister was busy with secret, classified activity. The military secretary took his own initiative to defend this activity."

Israeli daily Haaretz reported Thursday that Netanyahu’s conduct and that of his advisers regarding his secret trip to Moscow reveal that anarchy, turf wars and mendacious responses to both the media and the public are but a few of the manifestations of the organizational culture prevailing in the office that runs the Zionist entity.

Haaretz added that Monday morning when reporters who called the prime minister's bureau to find out his schedule were told he was on a "military trip" until the late afternoon. A few hours later, when Netanyahu had not yet returned from the trip, several reporters sought answers from the prime minister's media adviser, Nir Hefetz. The latter had to admit that he did not know where Netanyahu was. That fueled the rumor mill about the prime minister's "disappearance."

It added that on Monday night, the Israeli prime minister's bureau released a strange statement to the press. It was signed by none other than Kalifi, who wrote the report because Hefetz did not know where Netanyahu had been, and therefore refused to sign off on a statement whose veracity he could not gage. According to Kalifi's statement, Netanyahu was in a "security facility in Israel."

Kalifi says he released the statement to the press on his own initiative. Netanyahu defended himself by saying that he did not know about Kalifi's statement. However, it is difficult to believe that Kalifi's statements were truly made on his own initiative, as all such statements to the media must be approved by Netanyahu personally. A little more than 24 hours later, when Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Netanyahu had actually been on a secret visit to Russia, it became clear that Kalifi's statement had been completely untrue.