| Israel's Intelligence and Tactical Blunders |
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By Jay Bushinsky In other words, they "do not go tick-tock," as they say in Hebrew slang. The truth is that it was foolish and unnecessary to fly the raiding party by helicopter to the maritime location where the targeted vessels were concentrated and drop them by cable to the ships' decks. It also was a mistake to attack them in international waters. These tactics turned into a disaster not only in terms of the consequent loss of life, but also because of the unprecedented damage it did to Israel's international image. Never since the Jewish state was established 62 years ago has it faced such an outburst of mass hatred and high-level criticism as a result. The naval commandos literally were sent into an ugly ambush in which the Jihad-oriented passengers aboard the biggest ship, the Mavi Marmara, were waiting for them with knives, iron This scenario could have been averted had Barak, the general staff and naval command reviewed the relevant intelligence data. They evidently were unaware that many if not most of Israel's intelligence community could or should have told Barak that the Freedom Flotilla was funded by IHH, that it made it possible for the Freedom for Gaza Movement to purchase the ships that ultimately sailed from Turkey on their bogus humanitarian mission. Anyone who received and read the tendentious and misleading communiqués issued by Freedom for Gaza leaders and considered the rantings of its U.S.-born leader, Greta Berlin, a Jewish woman who opposes Israel's existence as a Jewish state and agrees unequivocally with Hamas' nefarious objectives and methods could not but understand what her emissaries' intentions were -- not to relieve Gaza's alleged suffering, but to discredit, humiliate and undermine Israel. Ironically, after the flotilla surrendered to the commandos and its ships were escorted to Ashdod where their cargo was offloaded for transfer overland to Gaza, Hamas announced that it would not accept it! So much for the Strip's humanitarian crisis and urgent needs. This does not mean that Israel should agree to an international inquiry. The Israelis have competent and experienced jurists and military experts who can do the job themselves -- with one or two qualified foreign observers if their presence on the investigatory panel will enhance its credibility. Surely, the U.S. would not and did not allow an international inquiry into the Mai-Lai atrocity 17 years ago in which at least 347 unarmed Vietnamese were killed or atone for the conditions in the Guantanamo detention facility. No other country would comply to such a demand under similar circumstances. The one thing that Israel must do, however, is to cast the blame where it belongs in accordance with the investigators' findings. And if this means that Barak, especially, or conceivably, Netanyahu too, must resign, then so be it.
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