A few thoughts on the Israeli situation

This post is also available in: עברית (Hebrew)

By Arie Egozi

The discussion held a few days ago by cabinet minister Gilad Erdan, on the Israel Broadcast Authority reforms, is important; but the fact that it was held now is beyond absurd. Minister Erdan is also the Home Front Defense Minister, and these days he should focus only on defending the home front. Minister Erdan knows, however, that when it comes to home front defense he has no authority whatsoever.

Instead of fighting for authority he would rather deal with the issue of the IBA reforms. The Israeli home front is exposed, disorganized. It’s not Erdan’s fault, his predecessors and other ministers neglected the issue; but holding that IBA discussion now is a bit strange, even when you’re the Home Front Defense Minister.

I have seen some Knesset committee heads dealing with home front defense giving interviews over the last few days, full of self importance. You didn’t have to be a body language expert to understand that they were babbling; they know very little about the subject and it’s not very interesting to them. Oh well, as long as they get a few minutes on TV.

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Those pictures showing IDF soldiers at a Palestinian party in Hebron, carried on the shoulders of some of the Palestinians, were surreal. They could have been killed, kidnapped, they could have just vanished. But it’s not their fault. There’s no discipline in the IDF and that’s why that happened. The lax discipline is the cause of a number of failures, such as easy breaking into bases to steal weapons, and more.

An army depends on discipline. The IDF forgot that fact. You can just walk by the Matkal Camp in Tel Aviv, which is supposed to be the “face” of the army, to understand that discipline is just a recommendation in the IDF. Now, when you’re talking about not following dress codes, that just looks bad. When you steal weapons from bases, that’s serious. When soldiers on patrol enter a place where those who constantly look for ways to harm the IDF are having a party, that’s an incredible lack of responsibility; and the commanding officers are supposed to be responsible. True discipline would have prevented these kinds of incidents.

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Any army, and especially the IDF, naturally acts to get within combat range with its enemies. But if and when the U.S. attacks Syria; and if and when Syria, Lebanon and the Hamas will try to attack Israel in order to help their brothers; the IDF will have to restrain itself and avoid contact with forces in Syria, Lebanon or Gaza. These enemies can be handled from far away, we just need to stop being afraid of how the world will react. The Air Force, with the aid of long range ground systems, can cause any potential attacker to give up very, very quickly. We just need brave leadership. Sending in ground troops in these cases is a mistake.

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Now that it’s clear that Israel is alone even against Iran the Air Force can easily demand and get the systems it wanted: more F-35 stealth fighters, better refueling aircraft and addition systems. Without the decision to immediately disable any enemy using all means, and the IDF has many means, no weapons systems – no matter how advanced – will matter.

iHLS – Israel Homeland Security

Weapons are used according to decisions made by the civilian leadership. In Israel the leadership over the last few years operates mainly like ballet dancers, tiptoeing so no one in the world will get angry. People are sick of this stupid attitude. If the IDF can’t operate in full force then what exactly is the point of having such a powerful army?

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Airport Authority spokespersons applauded the actions by the security guards, who stopped a stolen truck right next to terminal 3. That incident might as well have been an actual terror attack. The fact that it was just a stolen truck is pure coincidence. If that same truck was loaded with explosives and was still stopped at the same spot it could have been a huge disaster.

That truck should have been stopped – using any means necessary – much earlier, while it was still on the long road leading from the security checkpoint at the exit from the highway leading to terminal 3. I only hope they will arrive at the necessary conclusions.