The storm before the storm

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared war on the state comptroller’s report on Monday, and his defense of the military brass’s decision-making dominates the press’s coverage on Tuesday morning. The government watchdog was set to publish the much-anticipated investigation into the Israeli government and IDF’s handling of the summer 2014 conflict in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday afternoon. State comptroller reports are usually massive, lengthy tomes, but the sheer volume of ink spilled in Hebrew press reports on the report before the report even came out may outdo the report itself.

Netanyahu threw his weight behind the military brass regardless of the findings of the investigation into the management of the 2014 war in the Gaza Strip, and his comments are the top of the agenda in Israel Hayom.

“Unlike the state comptroller’s report,” said Netanyahu on Monday, a day before the report was set for publication, “I support the heads of the IDF, Shin Bet and defense establishment, who protected and protect the citizens of the State of Israel.”

With the long-awaited publication of the report, and after generals and politicians have traded barbs and thrown shade aplenty, “the critics will finally know, along with the rest of the public, what conclusions were drawn by the sweeping investigation,” the paper tells its readers.

The paper says that the prime minister preemptively rejected the findings of the report, which other papers pointed out a day earlier is likely to place much of the blame squarely on his shoulders. “The truly important lessons are not found therein, and we are applying them thoroughly, consistently and silently,” Netanyahu said

The pro-PM newspaper’s writers are at red alert, battle stations ready to defend Netanyahu from the state comptroller’s challenge. Twin op-eds by Netanyahu’s praetorian guards at Israel Hayom, Haim Shine and Dan Margalit, step forward. Shine writes that the war was a resounding success and dismisses the value of the comptroller’s investigation as 20/20 hindsight. “My concern is that the state comptroller’s report on the issue of Operation Protective Edge will cause more harm than benefit,” he writes.

Shine makes an argument akin to the one invoked in defense of not punishing IDF Sgt. Elor Azaria: If cabinet members and army commanders must make decisions in real time with a future state comptroller’s critique looming over their heads, their decision-making will be flawed. His bottom line is clear: “State comptroller reports and investigation committees must be reserved for extreme cases, like the Yom Kippur War and the [Second] Lebanon War,” he says.

Haaretz is far less enthused by Netanyahu’s remarks, and Amos Harel writes in his front page op-ed that the prime minister is “speaking Trumpish” and putting the state comptroller in his sights along with the “Bolshevik media.” His comment about backing up the heads of the military regardless of the report’s findings “is surprising at best and scandalous at worst. The demand for the comptroller to exhibit patriotism is baseless. [Comptroller Yosef] Shapira doesn’t need to back up or demonstrate love for the heads of the IDF; his job is to evaluate their actions.”

“The ad hominem attack on former justice Shapira proves that Netanyahu is pressured,” Harel adds. “The strange thing about all this is that it’s doubtful Netanyahu even needs this preemptive strike against the comptroller. Though the report uses harsh language about him, it doesn’t include any recommendations to take practical steps against the prime minister.”

Maariv leads with an op-ed by chief analyst Ben Caspit, which opens with criticism of Netanyahu: “What went through Netanyahu’s head when he composed those comments he delivered yesterday to his Likud faction meeting at the Knesset?” Caspit thinks it was no slip of the tongue, but a carefully calculated statement that could be reconstructed to debunk critics when it comes to political scandals and criminal investigations against him.

“The state comptroller, according to Netanyahu’s conception, needs to hand out medals of honor,” Caspit says. “The statements Netanyahu made yesterday are incitement against the state comptroller, Judge Yosef Shapira, and against the head of the security department in the comptroller’s office, Brig. Gen. Yossi Beinhorn, and against the members of his staff.”

Shockingly, Yedioth Ahronoth passes up a golden opportunity to lay into Netanyahu. Instead of a Nahum Barnea op-ed raking the prime minister over the coals and saying he’s a threat to democracy and the existence of the state of Israel, the paper calmly reports on the anticipated elements of the report. It does mention first and foremost that “first among the investigated is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,” but that’s stating the obvious. The paper’s leading op-ed addresses the insider baseball issue of outgoing Southern Command general Sami Turgeman’s beef with the General Staff. By Yedioth’s standards, that counts as highly favorable coverage for Netanyahu.