Egozi’s Fury – IDF and the Continuing Circus Show

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By Arie Egozi

The trial of the Hebron soldier shooter is not anymore a circus as I had written last week. This trial has become a disgrace to the IDF and the military judiciary system.

There is everything in this saga except for a genuine trial – gimmicks, dirty politics and entertainment for the masses – all under IDF’s sponsorship.

This whole disgrace has been continuing for too long, much too long.

The trial of the soldier Elor Azaria, who had shot to death a neutralized terrorist in Hebron last March, continued at the military court last week. Politicians, journalists, interested crowd and finally a few witnesses have starred in this trial so far. A military trial should have been held in a closed military base. This trial has been a circus show right from the outset. And last week the disgrace continued in full force. This whole event does not resemble a trial at all. It is in fact the undermining of the public’s trust in the IDF judiciary system.

There will be no just trial, with all the breaking records tricks that disgust anyone who believes in fair trial.

It would be best if the Chief of Staff puts a stop to this ugly circus show, for the benefit of all of us.

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Europe has been under a murderous terrorist attack, and there is no leader that knows what to do or dares to do.

A continent that has opened its gates to hundreds of thousands of refugees understands now, too late, that it is in a state of war, and that war is only at its first stages.

Instead of reacting with firm hand, mainly in order to achieve deterrence, European leaders continue to hesitate. They stutter in different languages but the message has been the same – they don’t know what to do.

At the moment it is still possible to act. Some drastic measures are needed just before everything is out of control, and that moment is imminent.

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And another disgrace. This time Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several ministers, led by Minister Naftali Bennett, are involved. The ministers claim that the cabinet misevaluated the extent of the danger of the tunnels from Gaza prior to Operation Protective Edge (Tzuk Eitan).

The parents who had lost their dearest ones during the operation are also furious, and they are right.

This operation was undoubtedly conducted in a failed manner, and not because of the IDF but due to the mistaken conduct of the cabinet. The refrain from disclosing updated information, lack of determination and the problem of leaks caused failures which cost the lives of many soldiers.

The State Comptroller has been postponing the publication of his report mainly due to pressures put by the Prime Minister, who has been trying to soften the tone of the draft he had already seen.

Nothing could blur the feeling of a missed opportunity. There was no determination during this operation because there was no one to lead it.

A larger problem is, in fact, that  the same things might repeat if, and mainly when, the next confrontation in Gaza ignites.

The Israeli government does not learn lessons. It only excels in wars between ministers, including members of the cabinet.

So in fact, the next failed war is being built while there are still no answers regarding the  Operation Protective Edge events.

The IDF is capable of finishing the work in Gaza within days and with only few injured or killed on our side. But this requires decisiveness that the Israeli government certainly lacks. There are a lot of speeches allegedly based on combat experience, but as a matter of fact – there is nothing, nada.