The author wrote : "The result of all of this was catastrophic, of course." No, of course NOT. But Bibi should be proud to take on full responsibility. Great Shayetet job.

Barnea is right, but fails to identify the root of the failure. The Prime Minister of Israel should not be wasting weeks of his time preparing for a commission of inquiry. Israel's action against the Turkish sponsored Jihadist flotilla were legal. Any questions relating to the legality should be answered by a lawyer of the international section of the AG office. There were tactical mistakes that were all the result of calling the IHH "peace activists" even when there was ample evidence that they were hardened Jihadists. This issue should be addressed by an internal IDF committee. Israel's response to Turkey should have been withdrawal of the ambassador, public condemnation of Erdogan and increased support for Kurdish resistance fighters operating against Turkish occupation forces. Israel should have tried and jailed all people who attacked IDF forces. Israel's response to the UN should have been suspension of all rights for UN personnel operating in Israel until Ban apologizes for his violation of Israeli sovereignty.

Maybe this article was written and published before Ehud Barak confirmed that he had been left in charge whilst Bibi was out of the country. Bibi has done a wonderful job of defanging Obama and Livni was left looking left behind AGAIN after Barak's testimony. Let's have some writers that aren't leaning left over their cappuccino please. Mike

This article is nonsense.

but the question that is no less important is: do you have an alternative?!! From now on, you can say BYE to the "historical Israeli leaders" :)

wew all know bibi is weak and uncertain but he knows the value of a hill, something that barnea's hero olmert knew nothing about and cared not a whit about. Barnea is in no position to lecture bibi after he sanitized the coward olmert in 2006 in the israeli elections and prevented the israeli public for ascertaining that olmert was a fearful coward, scared of one drop of blood who did not do a day of combat duty due to some type of ' injury, and who was prepared to make concessions on right of return which is th eend of national israel. Barnea who lost a son should have known better than to support the moron but was blinded by his own loss that he said-peace at any price-yes.

Just a journalist hack, he lost any credibility long ago. I'm no fan of Netanyahu, that's for sure. But Barnea is a partisan hack, he doesn't look at the national interest, that's not why he criticises Netanyahu. Barnea is strictly partisan, not objective. His only interest is to tear down Netanyahu to promote that loser Livni & Kadima. Whatever criticism I have of Netanyahu (and there are plenty), can you imagine the mess we'd be in if Kadima was running the show? Sadly, Netanyahu is the best of even worse choices, the least bad option. I wasn't going to bother writing a comment, I'm pretty sick of Israeli politicians, but this article just irked me. And, I tend to agree with #2 - his short talkback made a hell of a lot more sense than Barnea's BS. The other reason I wrote is that I hope Barnea reads the talkbacks. He needs to hear what people really think.

The PM has very very well here. Your article has not basis (all these bashing about how we prepared for that, etc., is not super patriotic, to say the least). America and Europe think and works differently to the Israeli way, and Bibi knows that. Have you ever seen the probe against the banks for example ? And how well did some the head guys approached that ? What's the point of winning a battle and losing the war ? We are building up something strategic here regarding the public opion of the world - and your article is an attept to completely ruin all these efforts. Now here is something to think of: Your country.

He will demonize the Likud and Bibi any chance he gets, while at the same time support and bolster the incompetent Livni and Kadima. Totally biased reporting

perfect sense to me. We need to become more pro-active as opposed to always responding according to what we perceive the international community's stance will be. In that way, we would, at the very least, attain more self-respect. Do we need to grovel before Erodigan and Turkey? Why didn't we just remove our ambassador when it is obvious that the current government is an enemy and means us ill will? I think the old Jewish diaspora customs are so deeply ingrained that we continue to seek approval in our diplomatic life, seeking to be acknowledged and recognized even by our enemies. At one time, Israel did not act like this and other nations respected (not the same as "liked") Israel. Olmert and Tzipi portrayed the attitude of approval seeking and it may have ruined us. Netanyahu vaccilates. But Avigdor Lieberman is self-assured, makes it clear what he wants, won't grovel and sets the agenda. In the next election, I think the prominence of Yisrael Beiteinu will become apparent on a national scale.

I hope Mr. Barnea agrees with #2 and #8. #2 is right. This was a jihad-backed attack against Israel. The government should consider it a violent and provocative act of war by the Turks and act accordingly. Turkey has joined Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah and Barack Hussein Obama in their collective war against the Jews. #8 (Terry) is right, as bad as Netanyahu is, Kadima / Livni would be an unmitigated disaster.

We need Moshe at the helm.