‘Still Small Voice’ of Israeli Media Dissent Over Syrian Nuclear Story

The doubters of the U.S.-Israel story that the IAF attacked a Syrian-North Korean nuclear facility in Syria last weak are few and far between inside Israel. So it is worth noting a story published in Hebrew by Israeli Channel 10 correspondent, Yigal Laviv, which warns us to suspend belief until the facts are more fully known.

He begins by likening the Syrian attack and the entire nation’s basic ignorance of the facts surrounding the attack to a 1959 scandal in which a routine call-up of military reserves escalated into a regional standoff that nearly led to war between Israel and her Arab neighbors. He notes that Menachem Begin, then head of the Opposition, went to the rostrum of the Knesset and blessed the military enterprise whatever it might be without even knowing anything about it. Laviv says that Israelis today are in almost the same boat. Except for knowing there was an attack of some sort they know nothing else for certain. Laviv’s reports continues:

All the other speculation isn’t worth anything and is in the realm of wild guesses…It’s important to note that all the serious American press is basing its speculations on Israeli sources. The Israeli prime minister and American president have a clear way of verifying what happened. They can analyze the satellite images from before the attack and after and see what happened. There’s no doubt that this has already been done. The fact is that neither Israel nor the U.S. have published the data. The governments of Israel and the U.S. both want to increase pressure on Syria and prevent any peace agreement between it and Israel. Were there in their hands reliable proof that served this purpose, they would take great pains to publish it. Not publishing reliable data like satellite photos of the area attacked shows that the images provide nothing useful for both nations.

The flood of speculation about what Israel attacked only serves the interest of the U.S. and Israel. The two governments learned from the mistakes made by the U.S. in announcing its reasons for the war in Iraq. Iraq was attacked because of material fabricated by the U.S. and Israel supposedly proving that Iraq had WMD…Because of a fear of repeating the same mistakes the two governments are careful to avoid direct involvement [in publicizing the reasons for the attack] and prefer to exploit the media to distribute their propaganda.

The Israeli media continues to play the role of spokesperson for the military establishment. Almost every media outlet provides absolute support for the attack without their having any idea what happened. The media forgot that they gave the same support only a year ago to the second Lebanon war without knowing what happened there too. The Winograd Commission has not yet concluded, but it is clear that almost every decision by the government and the military establishment erred and endangered Israel to no purpose. The current defense minister in his former role as prime minister erred in several strategic decisions which deepened the regional conflict and prevented possibilities for peace. The disintegration of negotiations with Syria and the Palestinians; and the building of the Separation Wall are only a few examples.

Olmert and Barak have already proven to have made mistakes which have endangered the State. Why do the media rush yet again to give them credit [they don’t deserve].

Thanks to Sol Salbe and Shraga Elam for alerting me to this article which I translated (in haste and a little roughly). For any Hebrew speakers this is Yigal Laviv’s blog.