'If we were being cynical, we would have said PM wants the entire success to be exclusively his'
Timing of Iranian ship raid too perfect
Op-ed: Is it possible that day and time of IDF's interception of arms vessel were carefully selected to coincide with Netanyahu's Hollywood visit?
The IDF's
seizure of the Iranian missile ship
reminded me of the joke about the hypochondriac who asked to have the following statement written on his gravestone: "Told you so."
If we were being cynical, we would have argued that it could not possibly be incidental, that the day and time when the fighters got on the ship were carefully selected to coincide with the prime minister's stay in the city of films. Is there a more suitable setting than the city of films for the bold operation which took place in the middle of the night? Even the Netanyahu family's host, producer Arnon Milchan,
would not have come up with such a screenplay.
And that's exactly what Netanyahu said Wednesday, when the reports about the Navy commando force's takeover of the ship off the coast of Sudan emerged. The prime minister, who has a famous miserable timing, both generally and personally, presented a perfect timing this time, as one day after his AIPAC speech and two days after his meeting with Obama he was able to say to the world, "Told you so," and claim that Iran's true colors had been revealed.
Seized Weapons
Ron Ben-Yishai
Analysis: Iranian arms smuggling was likely aimed at preparing ground for response to attack on Tehran's nuclear facilities. Question remains whether weapons were intended to reach Gaza organizations or Sinai terrorists. Admirable intelligence move spared Israel the answer.
If we were cynical, perhaps we would ask why the report was published when the ship is so far away from Israel's coasts, with several more days before it reaches its destination. And is it possible that the enthusiasm to publicize the operation at this timing might have put the lives of the fighters on the ship in danger?
If we were cynical, we could have said that the prime minister gained from this timing twice: Once from success while he is at the top of the world, no pun intended, and the world loves success stories after all, and the second time – because at such hours of fame how can anyone criticize the Netanyahu family's bombastic trip, including the son Yair, to Hollywood. One really has to be petty to engage in such marginal issues at a time like this.
And how else can we know how successful this operation was? By the fact that several hours after it was published, the Prime Minister's Office issued an order to all ministers not to give any interviews about the operation. If we were being cynical, we would have asked: Why? Why is the prime minister, who wants to expose Iran's real face so much, finding it difficult to expose his ministers' face in this context? After all, such a success actually requires the ministers to report to all television networks in the world, so why prevent it?
So if we were being cynical, we would have said that the prime minister wants this entire success to be exclusively his. His pictures congratulating the chief of staff and Navy commander on his cell phone are basically the only pictures he would like to see broadcast on the television networks. Perhaps a picture or two of Ya'alon at the operations room. But having every single minister go out and take a bite of his success? One can only assume that even the sentence Lapid wrote on his Facebook page on Wednesday – "after several days of eager anticipation, an exemplary performance by the IDF" – overclouded his joy. The prime minister would have liked to be the first and only person to initiate, plan and execute the operation. Because who likes to share their success? And Netanyahu has already seen all the ministers who now want to be part of the fame disappear when he needed them with the Marmara failure.
We would have said all these things if we were being cynical. But luckily we're not being cynical and we can rejoice wholeheartedly over a successful operation, over excellent intelligence and thank the courage of the IDF's fighters once again.
And mainly, we can rejoice over the way Netanyahu managed to reveal Iran's true colors.
