Israeli Politics

MARTIN SHERMAN BEMOANS THE ‘COUNTLESS MCCAINS’ OF EX-SENIOR ISRAELI SECURITY OFFICERS…….

Regardless of whomever or wherever, Leftism makes the brain go gummy.

Yet CIS’s naked acrimony toward Netanyahu has expressed itself in wildly implausible accusations, undermining its credibility, on the one hand, and exposing its partisan nature, on the other. When, in a press conference, one of its leading spokesmen charged that the prime minister “is responsible for turning the United States from an ally into an enemy,” it is difficult to know whether to respond with rage or ridicule.

After all, there was little sign of anti-Israeli enmity in the enthusiasm with which Netanyahu was greeted by the representatives of the American people in Congress – unless of course back in CIS, they feel the United States legislature is not part of the United States.

NOTE: My reference to, U.S. Senator John McCain, eludes to his honorable and courageous service as a military officer and POW, and latter, his disastrous political career that has only served to undermine the very republic for which he so bravely served.

Into the Fray: My (initial) challenge to the generals – all 200 of them

Commanders

 Commanders for Israel’s Security hold press conference.‏. (photo credit:AVSHALOM SASSONI)

One does not have to be a military expert to easily identify the critical defects of the armistice lines that existed until June 4, 1967. A considerable part of these lines is without any topographical security value; and, of no less importance, the lines fail to provide Israel with the essential minimum of strategic depth – Deputy PM Yigal Allon, former commander of Palmah strike force, 1976.

…historians a thousand years hence will still be baffled by the mystery of our affairs. They will never understand how it was that a victorious nation, with everything in hand, suffered themselves to be brought low, and to cast away all that they had gained by measureless sacrifice and absolute victory… Now the victors are the vanquished… that is the terrible transformation that has taken place bit by bit. – Winston Churchill, in the House of Commons, March 1938.

With the two-state solution… Israel will collapse, because if they get out of Jerusalem, what will become of all the talk about the Promised Land and the Chosen People? What will become of all the sacrifices they made – just to be told to leave? They consider Jerusalem to have a spiritual status. The Jews consider Judea and Samaria to be their historic dream. If the Jews leave those places, the Zionist idea will begin to collapse… Then we will move forward. – Abbas Zaki, PLO ambassador to Lebanon, 2009

I realize that I have referred to these excerpts in earlier columns, but together, they encapsulate with such succinct precision the substance of the message I wish to convey this week that I feel compelled to employ them once again.

Bitterest of ironies

Arguably the bitterest irony unfolding in Israeli politics is the disheartening spectacle of scores of senior military men who spent most of their adult life defending Israel, now rallying to promote a political initiative that will make Israel indefensible.

It is indisputable that this initiative will make Israel incalculably more difficult to defend, vastly more vulnerable and a far more inviting target to attack.

As mentioned last week, toward the end of last year, a group of former high-ranking security personnel (from the rank of brigadier-general and the equivalent in the intelligence services and police) began to coalesce around an initiative launched by Maj.-Gen. (res.) Amnon Reshef, who served as commander of the IDF Armored Corps (1979-82). Today, the group, which goes by the name “Commanders for Israel’s Security,” claims have almost 200 members with over 5,000 years of accumulated security experience – very few of which had any professional pertinence to the task they have now taken upon themselves.

Although it professes to be a nonpartisan movement, it is anything but – aggressively promoting a political agenda that would be eagerly embraced by the Israeli Left, and firmly rejected by the Israeli Right.

Patently partisan

As time passes, CIS is emerging as an undisguised anti-Netanyahu lobby, working vigorously for his removal from office – and hence for ensconcing his political rivals, the Herzog-Livni duo, in power.

As I have previously pointed out, I am in no way an avid apologist for Benjamin Netanyahu. On numerous occasions I have found his performance as prime minister far from unblemished and have severely criticized his handling of affairs.

Yet CIS’s naked acrimony toward Netanyahu has expressed itself in wildly implausible accusations, undermining its credibility, on the one hand, and exposing its partisan nature, on the other. When, in a press conference, one of its leading spokesmen charged that the prime minister “is responsible for turning the United States from an ally into an enemy,” it is difficult to know whether to respond with rage or ridicule.

More here.

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