Ya'alon stands fast with Netanyahu against comptroller report
After State Comptroller Shapira censures PM, former defense minister Ya'alon, former IDF chief Gantz and other defense officials for failing to apprise the Security Cabinet of vital information during Operation Protective Edge, and its shortcomings in preparing to stave off the tunnel threat, Ya’alon blames the unreliable ministers, praises operational handling; ‘Cabinet was the worst I have ever known.’
The statement by Ya'alon, who served as defense minister during the incursion, comes just hours after the state comptroller published a report highlighting the mishandling of the summer offensive at the highest political echelons.
“I am saying this as someone who has participated in the cabinet since 1995. It was a leaking cabinet, a superficial, political and populist cabinet,” Ya’alon said in a video he uploaded to the internet.
It contained, he said, "people who spoke with one voice in the cabinet and then another in public. This reality turned the discussions into one big farce and if it wasn’t for the prime minister, the chief of staff and for me, it could have ended in a disaster.
“I don’t claim to be perfect. I am also a human being and it could be that we should have found a solution to this kindergarten then that was formed in real time,” he said in reference to the cabinet.
“I am proud of the fact that I stood with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz against the public frenzy and the political subversion,” Ya’alon added. “We conducted the deployment in a professional, considered and responsible manner and restored quiet to Israel.”
Despite his apparent confidence in the success of the government's handling of the operation, Ya’alon went on to acknowledge that lessons did have to be drawn from it. “Whoever fought and commanded knows that there is no military deployment from which we cannot learn. In this respect, the state comptroller has a uniquely important job," he stressed.
"But the report that has come out authored by him unfortunately does not allow for this truth. The Protective Edge report has become a political report. This is a report that examines partial aspects of a complex deployment and ignores serious considerations," Ya'alon asserted.
IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot also commented on the report. “In recent years we began trainings and preparations. The power of the intelligence will enable the IDF to function sharply and enable it to win,” he said.
“The IDF is learning the lessons of the report and created a working program for the improvement in its capabilities in the Gaza Strip. The IDF is not immune to criticism about Protective Edge but we must remember that we are talking about the best people who have contributed to the security of the state,” he pointed out.
However, with his own reputation and legacy at stake, Ya’alon was among a few lone voices defending the prime minister, as a deluge of comments pointing the finger squarely at Netanyahu came flooding in.
Chairperson of the Yesh Atid party, MK Yair Lapid, who then served in the Security Cabinet, said that the report “clearly concludes that the State of Israel under the leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu was not properly prepared for Operation Protective Edge."
Lapid also accused the prime minister of knowing about the strategic threat of tunnels, and pointed to what he described as his failings to order the IDF to prepare an operational plan and to keep the Security Cabinet apprised of developments. He added that Netanyahu also failed to tell the public the truth.
“Since then the political leadership, especially the prime minister, has consistently refused to admit its mistakes and learn the lessons which will allow the IDF and the Security Cabinet to improve for the next operation,” Lapid said in a statement.
As a result of these failures, the statement continued, Israel embarked on the most protracted operation since the War of Independence with Protective Edge, which concluded with the death of 68 soldiers and 5 civilians.
Despite the death toll and sacrifices, Lapid added, Israel's southern residents were not significantly better off.
“Even after that long operation, the residents of the Gaza region continue to live under the constant threat of terror. Hamas feels it is able to face Israel and remain standing. Worst of all, nothing has been done since to ensure it doesn’t happen again," he charged.
Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett, who served in the Security Cabinet during the operation and who was one of the most vociferous in publicly slamming Netanyahu for concealing information, described the day on which the report was released as “not easy and which demands responsibility and sensitivity.”
“During these moments, our hearts are with the families who lost the most precious things of all, and with the families of Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul for whom the war has still not ended.”
MK Amir Peretz (Zionist Union) also offered his thoughts on the report, saying that it paints a gloomy picture. “It exposes attempts to blur the authority and the responsibility of the prime minister, who decides by himself the material which will be presented to the cabinet and its agenda,” Peretz said.
Speaking to Ynet, Peretz accused Netanyahu of failing to get his cabinet under control. “Netanyahu says he didn’t present the cabinet with the information out of fear of leaks and this is extremely bad. If you fear that the ministers will leak information, you need to put them in their place.”
