In Israel, we do things better
Op-ed: Israel's newscasters harp on about how Israel would have handled the latest terror attack in Europe better, but they don't know much more than the average Joe. Still, they'll keep prattling on to keep the viewer from switching channels.
Media personalities and social media "celebrities" are convinced the world revolves around them. They are the ones running the world, for better or worse. They have no doubt, for example, that President Obama wakes up every morning in panic, asking with a shaky voice: "What did one or the other write about me today? What are their new suggestions against the invasion to Iraq, whaling in Japan and the escape of the giraffe from the Miami Beach Zoo?
Media personalities worldwide want to know everything right away, and also be the ones to report it. Preferably first and exclusively. In Israel, for example, if Danny Kushmaro says on Channel 2 that the color of the terrorist's shoes is black and his socks are red, Ayala Hasson will not repeat it on Channel 10 and this vital information will remain unknown to her viewers. The famed commentator who is brought into the studio will explain to the people of Zion without delay who is behind the attack: ISIS, al-Qaeda, or perhaps the terrorist's lover who sent him packing.
Terrorism constantly provides the media with juicy headlines and breaking news broadcasts, even though those planning and carrying out the attacks know terrorism cannot strike, only sting, even when it's a mass-casualty event. The US did not collapse after the 9/11 attack, Israel has not given up despite a thousand terror attacks. Terrorists seek to induce fear and panic, and what they and their senders need most in real time is information about what's happening on the ground.
Munich terrorist Ali Sonboly.
For example, one of the terrorists who committed the Ma'alot massacre in the '70s followed the gazes of the Israelis who were standing nearby and watching the standoff. It is possible that this is how the terrorists knew of the Golani Brigade's preparations to storm the high school they were barricaded in, which cost the lives of dozens of teenagers held hostage there.
During the Beit Lid massacre in the '90s, a second terrorist blew up that security forces had no knowledge of. Had they known, perhaps the dozens of people who came to aid the wounded from the first blast would not have been allowed into the scene and the second terrorist might have been caught before blowing himself up. Except that, as always, the gathering of intelligence was done while the incident was still ongoing, which is far more difficult when it comes to a lone terrorist.
That is why it was hard to listen to Israeli TV newscasters on Friday complain: "It's been 45 minutes since the attack and the Munich police doesn't know much... it's been an hour and 15 minutes... it's been over two hours... an entire city is under siege—nobody comes, nobody goes. People are stuck inside buses for three hours now... that's not okay..." what's not okay? After all, every one of those killed in that attack or any other would have preferred being stuck inside a bus for a few days, so long as they survive.
Scene of the attack in Munich (Photo: Getty Images)
When there is no information, it is the commentators' time to shine: They don't know any more than any regular Joe, but they're already prattling and babbling just so they could keep the viewers from switching to other channels. And thank God, the commentators on other channels don't know much either.
"Well," the commentators would say, "perhaps it's ISIS, maybe a frustrated immigrant, or it might actually be a local radical." And this is also the time to explain to the viewers about Germany's relations with Micronesia during the last generation.
And then the magic words come: "In Israel..." If this happened in Israel, we would have captured the terror within minutes and within hours released the names of the dead. In Israel, in Israel, in Israel. And in Israel, by the way, two advanced Patriot missiles were fired last week to intercept a drone coming from Syria—and missed. That too happened in Israel.
