Egozi’s Fury

This post is also available in: עברית (Hebrew)

The Americans are concerned about Syria’s chemical disarmament process and it’s slow rate of advancement. Welcome to the party, Washington. If you had read my column you would have realized by now that Assad is fooling you along with the rest of the world, everyone except Israel. He’s just following the example of his Iranian friends – an apparent gesture of goodwill that left the global community convinced he’s letting go of his chemical weapons. He never had any intention of letting any weapons go, and most – or all – of the weapons are still in his possession. He sacrificed a small amount of chemicals and toxins to keep this charade going, with his actual arsenal almost unaffected. The world wants to be fooled, Damascus realized it and Tehran realized it.

And as for Israel, despite the fact that we see through the act Israel still stopped manufacturing chemical protection kits, as if Assad is busy replacing his chemical weapons with soda containers. So we’re not actually that different from the rest of the world. They fall for the Syrian lies, we fall for our own lies. Logic isn’t involved in both cases.

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The trickle of rockets from Gaza continues. The Air Force tickles the Hamas and hits some abandoned buildings, or, as the IDF Spokesman’s Office referred to them, “weapons manufacturing facilities.” You might think they mean a modern rocket manufacturing plant, but it’s actually a run-down ruin where Qassam rockets are assembled – sometimes using old water pipes. But Israel, its government safe and sound in distant Jerusalem, got used to the trickle and will do nothing in response.

I suggest having the cabinet ministers spend just a few nights in the south, in the same towns that are targeted. After a few rocket alarms go off in the middle of the night things will look very different.

So Minister Steinitz said yesterday that if the trickle continues “the IDF will have to enter Gaza again,” resulting in more IDF casualties. Dear Mr. Steinitz, no one has to set foot in Gaza. You just have to take out some infrastructure facilities: Two days without power and with almost no drinking water will bring Hamas to its knees. You don’t have to endanger any soldiers by starting another operation, you just have to be able to actually stand up to a wave of global condemnations.

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For two days headlines dealt with the inane argument between the Defense Ministry and the Homeland Defense Ministry, about the necessity of the latter. And that was it. Just like a State Comptroller report, it’s all been filed away. The problems are still there, though.

IHLS – Israel Homeland Security

No one is in charge of the Israeli civilian home front, a completely baffling situation. Why doesn’t the Prime Minister address the two ministers and demand a solution within the hour? A government which accepts a trickle of rockets also accepts the loss of personal safety of each and every citizen. Oh well, at least the ministers and their close friends get to keep their offices and shiny armored cars.

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The privatization of the Israel Military Industries has been in the works for years, without any noticeable progress. Lately there have been false rumors about progress, but nothing was actually done. It’s just talk.

Here, too, the Defense Minister and the Minister of the Treasury should have done their job and given their top officials one day (if they were in a good mood) to bring this bad joke to an end. It looks like someone just doesn’t want this to happen, otherwise there’s no explaining this endless process.

IMI is extremely important for Israel’s security, and it’s just barely holding on. Not because it lacks good people or technologies, but due to its main shareholder – the government – not doing its job. What else is new?

As long as the cabinet ministers get media attention they don’t feel the need to actually take care of critical problems.

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The Ministry of Defense and the IDF can’t seal the breached barrier between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, letting hundreds of illegal workers through every day. Army bases are similarly exposed – weak points remain vulnerable for years and military weapons keep getting stolen.

We’re very, very lucky that our enemy is the Palestinians. If we were facing attacks like those conducted by the Vietcong during the Vietnam War we would be in a lot of trouble. Things do change, though. Enemies get more and more sophisticated while we can’t even maintain a simple barrier. Our luck will run out eventually, this can’t go on forever.

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And in conclusion, the U.S. warned Israel that our safety and economy are in danger should the peace talks with the Palestinians fail.

Well, Washington seems to have a strange fixation on Israel. Genocide in Syria, Turkey – a member of NATO – friendly towards China, Iranian nuclear weapons: No reaction from the U.S. Israel’s safety should the talks fail? The fate of the world depends on it, obviously. This goes beyond pathetic.