Eitan Haber
צילום: שלום בר טל
A state of complainers
Israelis should realize that our intelligence agencies are not omnipotent
One of the silliest moments in the Israeli media this past year took place a day after the death of Asaf Ramon, the son of Astronaut Ilan Ramon, in a jet crash. A reporter was standing somewhere on a hill in the Negev, and after describing an invisible pillar of smoke, he kept on repeating the following: “Later on, there will have to be an inquiry into the reason it took the Air Force almost an hour to reach the site of the crash.”
I’m personally familiar with pilots whose jets were downed or who bailed out during battle or in training sessions that would have loved to see the Air Force coming to their rescue in an hour. You know what? They would even be pleased with three hours.
I recalled the above words of folly recently after hearing complaints about the failure to detain Yaakov Teitel for 12 years; how could it be? How?
For dozens of years, Israelis have been fed with stories about the rare capabilities of Israel’s intelligence agencies (Military Intelligence, Mossad, and the Shin Bet) and their global reputation. For Israelis, our intelligence community is omnipotent and the best in the world. It’s as if every time Bin-Laden burps in the Afghani desert, something is recorded by our sensitive seismographs. So how could it be that our intelligence agencies knew nothing about Teitel?
Well, the natural state of things is one of ignorance. We know nothing; nada. And this is the starting point: From there, every piece of information that reaches the hands of the intelligence community is a success story. At times, nothing comes in. Other times, they know everything. Luck (but not only luck) also plays a role here.
Don’t believe in magic
For five years, our intelligence agencies looked for “the engineer,” bomb-maker Yayyah Ayyash. They were looking for him while the IDF was deployed in the Gaza Strip and our soldiers could enter any home and basement. Five whole years, thousands of hours of work, and millions of dollars later he was located and given the cell phone that exploded in his hands.
And what did we know about the nuclear activities undertaken in Libya? And in Syria?
People in this country have been educated to believe in magicians and in unreasonable and inhuman abilities. How come we didn’t know about Teitel? Well, how come it took years to uncover the so-called “Jewish Underground” in Judea and Samaria in the 1980s? In that case, 30 people kept silent, until they were captured by security forces.
Meanwhile, Teitel acted alone, took long breaks between acts and operated against Jews, Arabs, Messianic Jews, gays, and others. And he wasn’t nabbed right away. This doesn’t mean that Israel’s intelligence services are inefficient or incapable. It only means that every success story on their part is worthy of gratitude and praise.
