Uri Orbach
Photo: Gabi Menashe
Leave excuses for leftists
Top general's attempt to defend disengagement failure inappropriate
Outgoing Deputy Chief of Staff Moshe Kaplinsky told Yedioth Ahronoth in an interview published over the weekend that "eventually we'll have to enter Gaza and stay there for months," and immediately added that even though the disengagement from Gaza did not succeed, it should be examine through a "long term point of view, rather than a simplistic approach."
However, Moshe Kaplinsky is not just another thinker, journalist, or academic researcher focusing on the Middle East. He was Ariel Sharon's military secretary, and he is a veteran IDF major general – he is the deputy chief of staff. If we are talking about people who did not prevent the disengagement and did not express firm objection to this dangerous move, those would be kaplinsky and his IDF General Staff colleagues.
Yet now, after the retiring deputy chief of staff is engaging in the customary self-reflection ceremony and acknowledging the damages brought about by the disengagement, it would be better if he at least refrained from grading opposing views. Those are the views that were ignored, thereby bringing about a rain of Qassam rockets at southern communities.
If Kaplinsky did not have the ability and courage to sound a warning when the decisions were taken, at least he should not be grading the ones who did warn and screamed and yelled.
Indeed, the withdrawal from Gaza should be examined through a "long-term approach, rather than a simplistic one." A long-term approach would make it clear that in Gaza we saw the establishment of a Hamas terrorist state that is currently engaged in a mad armament campaign. A non-simplistic view would take into account the fact that radical Islam may also take over Judea and Samaria if we continue to adopt visions of withdrawal.
How about some modesty?
Simplicity? The IDF General Staff of Sharon and Halutz and Kaplinsky invented simplicity and short-sightedness. The major-generals and the experts nodded enthusiastically and admiringly after hearing about Ariel Sharon's disengagement decision. After all, not even one active major-general stood up and said: "I'm not taking part in this dangerous withdrawal," and announced his retirement from the army.
Therefore, Kaplinsky can indeed have his self-reflection, and it is nice to see that he came up with insights that any wise member of the Likud young guard grasped three years ago. If Kaplinsky agrees that disengagement did not bring about the desired results, we must praise him for finally having wisdom drop by for a visit, even if by an unfortunate delay.
Yet along with the process of self-reflection, it would be good for the retiring deputy chief of staff to adopt some modest habits. He should leave the foolish talk about short-sightedness to the usual leftists, those whose ideas explode in the skies of Sderot every day. Leftists from Meretz or pathetic figures from Kadima see the results of the disengagement yet cling to their seemingly complex and long-term vision, vis-à-vis the simplicity of those who warned about bad things to come and were terribly right.
