[(Continued from p.6)]
suffering land to the Syrians. But never mind, the protege of Mr. Peres went on to genuflect to the Clintons. "Just a few weeks ago," he boasted, "First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton visited Israel and touched so many hearts in our country and encouraged our peace efforts." [As in publicly embracing Suha Arafat after she indulged in the medieval blood libel of accusing Israel of poisoning the wells.] "Speaking of the Clintons," added St. Barak, "let me tell you frankly I wish we Israelis will always have such true friends in the White House." The New York Times referred to these remarks as "unprompted." Translation, they were probably written by James Carville if not by Hillary herself.In the meantime, back in Israel, one of his spokesmen was fending off IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis). "Is the Government withdrawing because the Palestinians fulfilled their obligations or despite their failure to honor their obligations?" asked Dr. Aaron Lerner. "I have no answer to your question," said the mouthpiece. Eventually Lerner extracted the following official statement: "The Prime Minister thinks that the Palestinians are honoring their principal obligations." IMRA noted that they have not confiscated weapons nor gone after the terrorist infrastructure (to do so, the PA would have to dissolve itself). The spokesman repeated the "honoring their principal obligations" line several more times. Finally, Lerner asked, "Can you point to a specific action in the [Wye] agreement that the Prime Minister believes had to be carried out before an Israeli withdrawal?" "No, not specific," came the admission. This is the result of the "unflagging diplomatic efforts made by the Clintons," those "true friends" extolled by Barak.
As always, the suicide process is outcome-based. Alienation of the Land and withdrawal by Israel to indefensible borders is Barak's definition of "simultaneity and momentum and win-win strategies" that exist in a twilight zone beyond Palestinian behavior and all other sublunary considerations.
On PBS, Mr. Barak explained to Mr. Rose that he acts under these "key concepts [simultaneity & momentum] with a real expectation, not, you know, a kind of wishful expectation and of a role for the United States toward the end of the end game." And what is the end of the end game, as this realist sees it? "To provide the political and strategic umbrella, and somehow together with the EU and the G8, maybe even the financial safety net." It is realistic, in Barak's view, to expect America to spend $25 billion up front and $5 billion/year subsequently to defend a nation that does not want to defend itself.
While Barak soared above the world talking of a "peace of the brave" with Syria's Assad, Assad's son Bashar said, "There may be a formal peace but Syria will keep arming itself." The Syrian News stated in an editorial that "the peace battle has the same aims as the October [1973] war." Assad's Vice President put it even more bluntly: "The Israelis are targeting all Arabs and the Islamic world at large. Anyone who believes he is safe from Israeli threats is entertaining a great illusion." It is in this context that Barak dreams his golden
(Continued on p.11)
On May 2, 1996, a meeting was convened in the Jerusalem office of Israel's then-Attorney-General, Judge Michael Ben-Yair. In attendance were senior Justice Ministry officials including Edna Arbel, the State Prosecutor; Moshe Lador, Jerusalem District Attorney and his assistant, Liora Chavilio; Talia Sasson, head of the Special Section for Anti-Incitement; Noam Sohlberg, aide to the Attorney-General, and three senior General Security Services (Shabak) officers, Chezi Kallo, G. Ben-Ami and Eli Barak.
Three and a half years later, in mid-October 1999, after preventing an attempt by Knesset member Michael Eitan to read out the transcript of that recorded meeting on live TV, current Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein first declared the document classified and then secret and had a court gag-order issued. An appeal of this decision was accepted by the Supreme Court. Justice Daliah Dorner termed the document "humiliating" to those who participated in the meeting. What had transpired there?
The transcript revealed that the meeting's agenda was devoted to a single topic: what to do about the criminal complaint made by Israel Media Watch against TV's Channel One reporter Eitan Oren. The complaint charged him with engaging in acts of deceit and violating public trust under paragraph 284 of Israel's Penal Code.
The complaint was made on November 27, 1995, two months after Oren had broadcast a fake swearing-in ceremony which showed several youngsters, led by Avishai Raviv, swearing over the graves of Lehi (Stern Group) fighters at Mt. Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem to kill both Jews and non-Jews to prevent Oslo from happening. Following the admission of Raviv's first lawyer that her client had acted in collusion with the film crew, Israel Media Watch had made the complaint and Attorney General Ben-Yair ordered a police investigation which ended in early February 1996.
It is noteworthy that the May 2, 1996
meeting took place after the recommendations of the
Shamgar Commission of Inquiry were known, which included
a sharp attack on the General Security Service's
operational running of Avishai Raviv. In fact, the
Commission's report noted that the ceremony was a "staged play". This
[(Continued on p.8)]
December 1999 - 7 - Outpost