Egozi’s Fury – Throwing The Baby Out With More Than Bathwater

Egozi’s Fury – Throwing The Baby Out With More Than Bathwater

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This time the didn’t throw the baby out with just the bathwater, but with all the babies to be along with their mothers.

The dismissal of Yair Ramati, head of Homa, the missile defence agency at the Ministry of Defense, is one of the strangest events – and Israel has its share of those. Ramati probably was responsible for field security breaches. This is very serious when dealing with Israel’s anti missile defense, but the way in which the dismissal was acted out, and the dismissal itself, give rise to very disturbing thoughts regarding the state’s seniors’ judgement.

Ramati is the number one missile expert in Israel and among the top experts in the word. Even if he was responsible for breaches in field security, severe measures could have been taken against him, but not a dismissal.

What happened was that they dismissed a person who has greatly contributed to establishing Israel’s multi-layered defense system against missiles and rockets.

The Prime Minister probably didn’t know. The Minister of Defense probably didn’t ask too many questions. Otherwise it is impossible to understand how this move was not stopped.

Sources in the ministry of defense say that Americans had a hand in this strange decision. They were probably angry that information, arriving partly from the US, was on Ramati’s personal computer.

So the Americans now decide who to dismiss in Israel? Seems like it. If so, they should add a star to the US flag and appoint a governor here. It might actually solve several more problems.

Member of Knesset, Nachman Shai, a member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, has approached the state comptroller last week and will bring the matter up for debate at the committee. But the damage is already done and it is great.

Israel is in the midst of an effort to build an effective defense against rockets and missiles. They took the number one expert and tossed him. Someone in the security system, backed by the US, showed everyone who’s the boss.

They must have not considered the consequences, but that’s the way it is in Israel. No one can see beyone the tip of their own nose – and it is a very short nose.

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Whenever some mutual eavesdropping on heads of state are revealed everyone seems to be really surprised. Last week the Wall Street Journal reported that the US eavesdropped on communications and conversations of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu during negotiations on the nuclear agreement with Iran.

Why all the fuss? Everybody is listening on everyone all the time. Denials and twists and bends by both sides are ridiculous. Every country is eavesdropping on whoever it can that is of any interest.

That is why it is ridiculous, the noise being made each and every time. Even this noise is not disrupting the eavesdropping from continuing.
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I fear that should Hezbollah live up to its threat of avenging the killing of Samir Kuntar in Damascus, the Israeli response will be Gaza style – meaning “a lot of explosives on a lot of sand.”

Lebanon and Hezbollah are not Gaza and Hamas. That is why, should Hassan Nasrallah decides to do something, the response should be with a clear message which will be expressed through a lot of well aimed explosives on quality targets rather than abandoned facilities like what was done in Gaza after each rocket launched into Israeli territory.

IDF knows what to do but our leaders mostly know how to talk. When a time for action comes they fold. In Lebanon we cannot even blink. They have rockets with warheads, each one containing hundreds of kilograms of explosives.

That is why the message should be clear and explosive.

Arie Egozi iHLS editor-in-chief
Arie Egozi
iHLS editor-in-chief