I usually disagree with everything haber and herzog say in their depressive dependence ont he US and their fears. But in matters of speciall operations, israelis should shut the hell up and that applies to the rotten US state department big mouth psaki who has been publicizing idf operations. Yaalon who is the best defense minister israel has had in 30 years, and bibi should be quiet unless the publication is used as a tool to worry and sow fear in iran. In the past, there has been too much political exposure of special operations and assets like olmert, that bloody crook according to zaken, slipped and talked about israeli nuclear arsenal and then the leaking of the syrian operation. Haber's point is good that israelis should keep quiet about operations and that applies to that lousy shimon shiffer of ynet news.

In 1981 Peres who was part of Begins coalition planned to make public Begins plan to destroy Saddam Hussains nuclear reactor because he was worried about how it would affect diplomatic relations with France who were building the thing for Saddam. Begin had to move up the plan ahead of schedule to beat Peres who was planning to go public about the whole plan so there would be no element of surprise so no point in carrying it out. The coalition system encourages this sort of thing because we have more parties than we know what to do with and they join the coalitions and everybody is looking to make political capital so if they think its going to advance their political careers then there is no such thing as something that should be kept quiet or actions that should not be taken.

Eitan clearly does not understand war today. It's as much PR as it is weapons and battlefields. We are trying to be destroyed with PR every single day.. Bravo to the IDF, bravo to our leaders. Keep making noise defending our wonderful state.

Because of some (venerable) Israeli's attitude reflected in Haver's disdain for PR, Israel has for years left this field without a battle to its opponents and enemies, loosing it to them. An army, and a country, is not Coca Cola, but in order to prevail in public opinion it needs public relations (PR).

Israel needed the sensational PR win to illustrate directly to the world that Iran is continuing to spread it's support for terrorism wide and far - and more importantly that Israel has an effective military deterrent capibility. It also illustrates how shameful the leading world powers - especially the USA - are in refusing to interdicte illegal weapons transfers that violate countless internatnional laws just so that they can continue negotiating with the vile center of the axis of evil.

This operation demands that it be told because it exposes the duplicity of the Iranian regime especially during these 'negotiations.'

Which is which? "Their names are Jawhar Nasser Jawhar, 19, and Adam Abd al-Raouf Halabiya, 17. They were once soccer players in the West Bank. Now they are never going to play sports again. Jawhar and Adam were on their way home from a training session in the Faisal al-Husseini Stadium on January 31 when Israeli forces fired upon them as they approached a checkpoint. After being shot repeatedly, they were mauled by checkpoint dogs and then beaten. Ten bullets were put into Jawhar’s feet. Adam took one bullet in each foot. After being transferred from a hospital in Ramallah to King Hussein Medical Center in Amman, they received the news that soccer would no longer be a part of their futures. (Israel’s border patrol maintains that the two young men were about to throw a bomb.)"

Would the author prefer that we had kept quiet about Entebbe, too? Humiliation of the enemy is an important part of everything Israel does. You will note that the Europeans have had absolutely nothing to say about the interdiction of the KLOS-C. Stunned silence speaks all. This was a conquering moment, and it deserves all the open congratulations that can possibly be mustered. And the more it sticks in Iran's craw, the better.

operations. Don't kid yourself. The 15 sec of glory gained by the PR moment will cause Israel much pain in further operations. What most of you don't get is that Israel has been in a deadly conflict with the enemy for 70 years. This is not about to go away in a Facebook sec. Stealth and secrecy is the key to continued operational success. The enemy has much international support even from Israel's so called friends. 'Lose lips sink ships.'

This time the gov't decided to use it for PR purposes, perfectly legitimate. Whether the operation was wisely thought out or not is another matter. The PR stunt seems to have flopped while revealing the depth of our intelligence would appear to be counter-productive. But like any chess move, we wait to see our enemies response.

So when we get a chance to show that we are the good guys and that our enemies are the bad guys... We take it.

The question is not whether the story should be exposed but, rather, HOW the story is told. That is the point of this article and makes perfect sense

Mr. negativity, pontificates again. The world must be told over and over that Iran is a murderous terror state. The publication of this successful raid was an appropriate way to publicize that reality. Eitan go to your medicine cabinet and grab a prozac.

the reason mr haber cannot come out and just condemn the publicity surrounding this raid, is that his hero, shimon peres, was the absolute biggest example of all the things which he objects to. if anyone ever polished his public image with the blood, sweat and tears of the idf, it was peres. so it's a little rich of mr haber to criticize the government for doing nothing more than what his favourite labour-niks have been doing for decades.

#6 makes a good point about exposing Iranian duplicity... But the current bragging circus and video releases seem to go beyond any exposure needs... What IS going on??

I am sick and tired of the lefties criticizing the right for things that they themselves did when they were the government. Do they think that we have short memories or that we are so stupid?

therefore I believe you will understand the following: The April 1988 IDF Navy operation is analogous, similar to, parallel with the IDF Navy operation of this past week. For ease of identification lets call them apples. The July 1976 Entebbe Operation is NOT analogous with the two aforementioned operations because IDF forces entered the sovereign territory of another nation in order to carry out the rescue of Israel civilians. For ease of identification lets call this an orange. A similar orange would be the involvement of the Israeli government in the Munich Olympics rescue operation...that is also an orange. Now of course since you are not stupid, I am sure that you know that apples and oranges DON'T MIX...if we mix them then we what brits call "chalk and cheese" FYI chalk and cheese doesn't mix either. Got it? good!

It is hardly a uniform situation for all publicity - some things are good to publicise if they serve a larger purpose, i.e. showing Iran's duplicity, destructiveness, & lying on a global scale, or perhaps the occasional "We can get you anytime, anywhere - you are NEVER out of our sight & reach..."; publicising other things are not necessarily productive. A long distance raid leaving a site blown to bits & few dozen nuke technicians dead may be ascribed to a "Work accident", so as to prevent the hue & cry of "Israel invading sovereign territory" etc, etc. As for the usually incredibly ignorant, loud mouthed, publicity seeking, gloryhound Israeli politicians - I wholeheartedly agree that they should finally learn to shut up. Next thing you know, they will be awarding each other medals on TV, strutting around with gold braid draped red uniforms, pith helmets adorned with peacock feathers, & Marshal's batons! I always preferred the classic Israeli silent, ruthless, & deadly approach. Much more productive - the less the other side(s) know or can surmise, the better...