Kadima’s Talking Points

Recently, Kadima has used the open portion of the Terkel commission to lambaste the Prime Minister, Defense Minister and government in a completely irresponsible manner. Kadima criticized PM Netanyahu for stating that Defense Minister Barak was in charge of the flotilla operation while he was in Canada, and then DM Barak received their ire for saying that he reviewed the plans with army brass before authorizing the mission. Also, both critiques called the operation a failure.

So let’s assume that everyone had acted differently, what would Kadima have said then? Would they have heaped praise on our leaders? Or would it be more a long the lines of:

Netanyahu: I was the only one in charge, and did not delegate responsibility, even while I was in Toronto.

Kadima: What arrogance! The PM has no faith in his cabinet ministers and leaves the country like a headless chicken while he is seven time zones away!

Barak: I made the decision myself with no input from the Chief of Staff or the head of the naval commando unit.

Kadima: Didn’t Barak read the Winograd report? The government was instructed to review the viability of every operation with the army AND the operational commanders!

Oh well, I guess there is no pleasing some people when there are political points to be scored. But what about the “failed” operation, shouldn’t someone be blamed? Well, considering that Kadima, itself, tried very successfully to push the blame for the Second Galil war on to the army, and that in that conflict Israeli soldiers and Israeli and Lebanese civilians were killed, it is quite hypocritical for those same people (Livni, Bar On) to require heads to roll for a very successful operation, where only nine armed enemies were killed.

Yes, it would have been nicer if the commandos were not temporarily ambushed and captured, or if they had advanced knowledge of how Jihadi some of the passengers were, but there is no such thing as perfect intelligence and the soldiers reacted quicly and properly to secure the safety of their men, subdue the attackers with minimal force (considering the violent intentions of the attackers) and successfully complete the mission, which was to commandeer the vessel. It is a self-defeating attitude to state that this operation “failed.” In fact, Kadima leader Tzipi Livni repeatedly defended the operation as a success, when agreeing with the government was seen as politically expedient.

While the next election is still a ways off, I hope that the Israeli public can see Kadima as a party that is willing to endanger the country for the sake of its own gains. They deserve to be severely punished at the ballot box.