Israel’s Primitive Policy Making Culture Exposed
02/06/2010 Israel stood helpless, disoriented, and bewildered in front of the magnitude of the damage caused by its decision makers. On Monday, Israel succeeded in turning the entire world opinion against it after it committed a massacre in international waters against activists on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla. At least nine unarmed activists were shot dead, most of them Turks.
Who is responsible for the bloody raid on the “Freedom” flotilla?
THEY ARE WAVING HEZBOLLAH FLAGS IN GREECE
Channel 10’s correspondent Ilan Goren reported from Germany that “animosity towards Israel has turned global. “Although the central point is in Turkey, animosity is now in all of Europe. They are waving Hezbollah flags in Greece. We can see the same picture in France, Sweden, and Germany not to mention the United States and Argentina and Venezuela in Latin America,” Goren reported.
“Israel is facing a tough situation on the international opinion level, and what we are doing is whipping ourselves, feign crying, and decry what had happened to us. The fact is that Israel is in real trouble today, at least on the media level. The world is looking at us as cruel hearted vis-à-vis the weak Palestinians,” Shai Bazak, Netanyahu’s former consultant told Israeli television on Tuesday.
NOTHING LEARNED FROM SECOND LEBANON WAR
Yehezkel Dror is a Winograd Committee member and he is now finishing a book on on Israeli statecraft. He believes that the events of the military operation to stop the flotilla to Gaza make patently clear that the main lessons of the Second Lebanon War, as set out by the Winograd Committee, have not been applied and therefore, the political-strategic front has kept on failing.
In a Haaretz article, Dror said that “realistic, goal-oriented training is essential. Behavior during the operation clearly shows that the forces were not trained for the real thing...Beyond all the recommendations detailed here, the Winograd Committee stressed the need for radical change in the culture of political-security decision-making. However, Monday's operation once again exposed Israel's primitive culture of policy-making, with all its dangers.”
“There is consensus in Israel that what happened was the responsibility of the army. After a successful term for Gabi Ashkenazi, a military failure has occurred. There are accusations within the army as to who should shoulder responsibility,” Raviv Druker, the political analyst for Channel 10 said.
TIME FOR COMPLETE DISENGAGEMENT FROM GAZA
For its part, Haaretz lashed out at the Israeli conception that stipulates that what is not realized with force can be realized with more force. The Israeli leftist daily called for a ‘complete disengagement from Gaza.
However in his article, Aluf Ben’s approach was closer to what Dror was trying to warn about; being unrealistic. Ben tried to persuade his readers that after years of blockade and a war that killed and injured 5,000 Palestinian civilians with internationally banned weapons in the 2008 Gaza war, were responsible for the Gazans’ welfare, and should Israel disengage completely, the people of Gaza will suffer.
“Israel would inform the international community that it is abandoning all responsibility for Gaza residents and their welfare. The Israel-Gaza border would be completely sealed, and Gaza would have to obtain supplies and medical services via the Egyptian border, or by sea. A target date would be set for severing Gaza's water and electricity systems from those of Israel. The customs union with Israel would end, and the shekel would cease to be Gaza's legal tender. Let them print their own Palestinian currency, featuring portraits of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin,” Ben said.
“What is happening today is a towering process taking us from one incident to another. The others do not understand our point of view and animosity towards us is mounting. We lack a successful Israeli propaganda,” Avi Primor, former Israel Ambassador to Germany told Israeli television.
ISRAEL NEEDS A SCAPEGOAT
Apparently, Israel’s fear of the dangerous repercussions of its bloody massacre in international waters, was met with calls to account – perhaps – a scapegoat to be sacrificed at the altar of the Israeli failure. Zionist media have already started speaking about how the Israeli army is collecting data in case a probe takes place.
“Whoever thinks that the Israelis are ready to stay mum is mistaken. There is no doubt that there are failures at the operational and the strategic levels, but the bold title is that ‘Israel had failed,’” Eitan Kabel, an Israeli Member of Knesset (Labor) told Israeli television Tuesday.
ISRAEL LOSING POLITICS, DIPLOMACY...MAYBE ECONOMICS SOON
Some commentators in Israel believe that the problem lies at the political level and the damage caused by the Freedom flotilla massacre was only political. Egypt has ordered the reopening of the Rafah crossing - although conditionally and not permanently - but this has not happened during the Israeli war on Gaza in 2009. The crime also boosted the relationship between Hamas, Iran, Turkey and Syria. Israeli Ambassadors across the globe were summoned and chided over the crime in international waters. The UN Security Council condemned the flotilla raid and the whole world is calling for an end to the blockade on Gaza.
On the economic level, Israel could lose $2.2 billion of trade relations with Turkey.
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
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