Making hay even before the sun shines

Knesset lawmakers may have chosen to kick the can down the road on deciding whether to unleash an explosive report on the 2014 Gaza war, but the press is still laser-focused on the issue, aided by leaks and continuing bitter sparring amid the fallout from what’s been reported on so far.

A day after releasing a large trove of secret transcripts from security cabinet meetings in the lead-up to the war and during the fighting, Yedioth Ahronoth notes that Education Minister Naftali Bennett and former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon are back at each other’s throats again, helpfully aided by back-to-back appearances at a Tel Aviv security conference, in what the paper terms “the battle after the war.”

The paper though, is clearly still taken with its own scoop, bordering its page with a large graphic pulling out some of the juicier quotes from a day earlier.

The paper also quotes heavily from Netanyahu’s defense against claims that he knew about the tunnel threat and didn’t act, or didn’t act in the right way – and wouldn’t you know it – that’s the lead to Israel Hayom.

“We managed this war in the field, not in the meeting minutes,” Netanyahu is quoted saying at the top of the free tabloid’s write-up.
The paper’s Haim Shine also comes to Netanyahu’s defense in a column, which seems to mainly miss the point of these post-mortem reports, writing that all is well since the Gaza war ended well, and the state watchdog’s hindsight is 20/20 anyway.

“There’s no doubt that Operation Protective Edge met its main goal and allowed for years of quiet in the south. Hamas leaders are keeping their fighters in check so as not to bring an IDF response,” he writes. “It’s easy to take one element of the war, like the tunnels, and use it to try to influence understanding of a long-term strategy. If that is the proof, we are in trouble. We should respect the institution of the State Comptroller, but there’s nothing easier than sitting in an air-conditioned room and analyzing after the fact military operations and state decisions made in real time. There’s no wisdom like hindsight. It’s very important to draw conclusions, but there’s a big problem with taking them seriously when their subjects are trying to use them for political gain.”

The man who is scooping up all that political gain is Bennett, though other politicians have also tried to make hay, but Israel Hayom quotes one bereaved father saying that political infighting is what led to his son’s death in the first place.

“This is a political manuever, one of the most disgusting ones there can be, which is the start of a process to water down the comptroller report. My son was killed because of political fighting in the cabinet,” Ilan Sagi, whose son Erez fell in the Gaza operation, is quoted saying.

Amos Harel in Haaretz writes that the report will make it look like Bennett was correct in accusing Netanyahu of failing to keep his ministers abreast and was correct to push for an operation against the tunnels.

But he also notes it’s not so simple, tearing down the assertion that all has been hunky dory since the war while he is at it.

“There’s a big difference between good instincts about a possible military risk, as Bennett showed early on, and responsible management of a complex operation with strategic implications,” he writes. “While the operation that the security cabinet eventually approved damaged the tunnels, it’s unclear whether deterrence was achieved against Hamas, as Bennett had promised. And perhaps more importantly, despite the operation, Hamas had rebuilt its attack tunnels by about a year after the war.”

While Yedioth’s lead story is about the Gaza report and political bickering, much of its front page is taken up with an exclusive picture of Ben Hassin in a prison in an unidentified Arab state, where he is being held for murder and may be hanged if his family doesn’t come up with $120,000 in blood money. The case broke into the open Tuesday, following months in which it simmered just on the other side of the censor’s firewall.

Yedioth calls the story “unbelievable,” and includes details for those who want to help the former anti-IS fighter’s family raise the money, which apparently they need desperately.

“I haven’t raised a shekel yet,” he’s quoted saying. “If I don’t manage it, my son will be executed or will get 25 years in prison. We have to save him. The hourglass is draining. I hope the Israeli public will help me.”

Closer to home, Haaretz leads its paper with the government’s go-ahead for 2,500 new settlement homes. In an analysis, Barak Ravid notes that Netanyahu may be doing what he can while Trump gets settled in, but early signs from the White House indicate a short honeymoon for the settler right before a new diplomatic process begins.

“A few days after Trump took office, the impression that the president and his people perceive the Israeli-Palestinian issue as one of the more sensitive ones on his desk is becoming clear. In the two briefings Spicer has held since Trump was sworn in, he was asked six times about issues involving the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. In each instance, Spicer gave laconic answers and did all he could to move on to the next topic,” he writes. “Trump has placed the Israeli-Palestinian peace process higher on his priorities than people think. It’s not for nothing that he appointed his omnipotent son-in-law Jared Kushner and his close adviser Jason Greenblatt to deal with the issue.”