Prime Minister's Office sunset overtime this week in an attempt to enhance the operation designed to clarify information that deals with missing navigator Ron Arad. Brief vigorous knew how to speak to make a bold and successful, promoted by the Israeli and focused its efforts on trying to solve the mystery of Arad.
Who Becky details of the event, can not The operation was indeed daring, but that is the essence of the Mossad: an intelligence organization operating in foreign countries, some hostile, in various types of operations, some bold. Arad. No one inside or outside the organization has ever thought of communicating these actions, for two main reasons: first, that they did not lead to a breakthrough that would shed light on what happened to Arad, where and when, and second, that the institution is supposed to act in the shadows. .
When the new head of the Mossad, Dedi Barnea, took office four months ago, he made it clear that his path would be different from that of his predecessor.
He forbade the employees of the institution and his retirees to have any contact with the media, and pledged to return the organization to the shadows.
In doing so, he expressed the feelings of the hearts of most of the organization's members, who hated the ostentatious over-exposure that characterized Yossi Cohen's period;
Some even claimed (including in conversations with journalists) that the publications caused damage to the institution.
It is not clear whether Barnea was indeed a partner in the Prime Minister's decision to expose the operation from the Knesset podium, or whether it was only reported. Sensitivities and nuances), and will never be publicized.But at the institution they heard and boiled, and not only them.Also in other parts of the defense establishment did not understand what was so urgent for Bennett to reveal an operation whose bottom line is that nothing has changed.
The risk index is rising
It is doubtful if there was anyone who made more use of sensitive intelligence information than Benjamin Netanyahu. Since revealing the "Stauber document" in the Knesset when he was the leader of the opposition in 1995, Netanyahu has accumulated an impressive mileage in the field. And yet, even if any such exposure yielded him a political dividend, it also had "meat." So when he revealed the attack on the Syrian reactor or the theft of the Iranian nuclear archive.
Bennett, in his exposure this week, achieved nothing, because the operation achieved nothing. To deny information that was in any case quite absurd - and a number of committees have ruled over the years that it does not stand the test of reasonableness - is important so that Israel can look at itself in the mirror and say it has turned every stone, but there is no breakthrough here. Certainly not a matter that requires reporting to the public, which also includes opening a new account with the Iranians.
Relying on foreign publications, Israel abducted an Iranian general from Syria, interrogated him in Africa, denied the assumption that he had any information about Arad (probably one concerning the old and unfounded claim that he was transferred to Iran and disappeared there), and released him on his way. The general returned to Iran, and is likely to have reported what happened. The Iranians decided to keep the story to themselves, until it was published this week.
Now the Iranians are obliged to respond. Israel has again publicly humiliated them. As long as the story was kept quiet, they could live with it. Just as Assad knew how to restrain the destruction of the reactor, because Israel did not brag about its attack. But from the moment things are published, national dignity considerations, which are so dominant in our region, float up. The implication is clear: a significant increase in the risk of terrorist attacks against Israelis abroad, and to be precise - against elements related to the security establishment.
This is exactly what happened this week in Cyprus, although it is doubtful whether this is related. It seems that the Cypriot infrastructure was also prepared even before the kidnapping of the general, in order to harm Israeli businessmen operating on the island. Five to six such businessmen received phone calls with warnings that their lives were in danger; Some chose to leave Cyprus, others attached security.
Several similar infrastructures have been thwarted in the past year in different countries around the world.
It can be assumed that an Israeli hand (or rather: Israeli intelligence) was involved in some or all of them.
Such assassinations serve all parties: Israel, which has protected its citizens, and the host country, which has succeeded in preventing a terrorist attack in its territory.
Naturally, all of these events were kept secret;
Just as was supposed to happen in the operation that dealt with Arad.
It is doubtful whether Bennett will build his leadership from such exposures.
The prime minister is in charge of the institution, and there is no need to brag about its operations.
In any case of hesitation, he is advised to turn to citizen Ehud Olmert, who swallowed his tongue and did not say a word about the attack on the Syrian reactor, even though he could have done it for political reasons during a particularly difficult period for him politically, legally and publicly.
State security is important in the affairs of the person in charge.
Bennett attacked Netanyahu a lot in these matters, and did the same this week.
The words of his people that the publication was made on the opinion of the Arad family is outrageous and ugly.
Both because the publication was not made on her own but with her knowledge (the Prime Minister updated Tami Arad in a phone call shortly before he spoke, and did not ask for or receive her approval), and also because the Arad family has long distanced itself from the heads of state, precisely because it found Itself as a device used for their own purposes.
Anyone who insists on hearing what Tami Arad has to say is invited to follow her activities for the release of Avra Mengistu from Hamas captivity.
If Bennett is looking for rails to the core, let's start there.
The head of the Mossad, Dedi Barnea,
It is permissible to apologize
We must honestly admit: it is doubtful whether the bronze mystery will be solved.
Israel has long reached out to anyone who might have known something, but has failed to formulate an unequivocal bottom line that will lead to an official declaration of Arad as someone who is not among the living.
And yet, in all probability, the answer is known.
Arad was killed (or killed) on the night of May 4, 1988, in the area of the Lebanese village of Nabi Shit where he was being held.
That night, the IDF acted against terrorist targets in the nearby village of Maidan, and Arad was killed when he tried to escape, or in retaliation. Only a black hole.
The conclusion about Arad's fate is also authoritative in several reports, some of the best investigators, chief among them the former deputy head of the Shin Bet, Yitzhak Ilan. Will not lead to anything.
Next week will mark the 35th anniversary of his captivity;
Instead of bragging about the operations, it would have been better for the heads of state to bow their heads and apologize to those whom the state sent to the mission, and was unable to return home.