Five years after it burst onto the world air, "The Submarine Affair" is still reminiscent of Rachel's wonderful song, "and maybe things never were."
Some senior officials claim the system is corrupt.
Others, no less senior, claim that "purchasing the submarines was the cleanest procedure ever."
So, like the Harpaz affair, as in the Netanyahu trial, as in the Shlomo Benizri case, as with Deri, and Litzman, so is the "vessel affair," as it is called by its official name, surrounded by Pata Morgana, a mirage.
It is not clear what is true and what are similarities, what are the accusations and what are the fabrications, what is relevant and what is political, what has been revealed and what has been plastered.
After all, Netanyahu was the target, but he was soon cleared.
Police then investigated, the money transfers were documented and there is even a state witness, Mickey Ganor.
But the same state witness denies any criminal act, has repeatedly threatened to repeat it and to this day has not resulted in a single person conviction.
Ganor is a state witness who is much more like Nir Hefetz - that is, aiding the defense - than Shlomo Dachner, Talansky or Shula Zaken, who decided Olmert's case.
PM Bennett with Lapid and Gantz,
And other oddities.
Members of the government inquiry committee set up by Defense Minister Ganz two years ago resigned strangely shortly after appointments.
The State Comptroller, who agreed to take their place at the head of the committee, also quickly backed down.
Or even take the reaction from the day of, Abriel Bar-Yosef, former deputy head of the National Security Council, to the government's decision to establish a commission of inquiry.
As a key defendant in the case, who allegedly received bribes from Magnor, Bar-Yosef should have buried his head in the ground and feared death from what the commission would discover in his case.
Instead, he says the exact opposite: "We welcome the decision to set up a commission of inquiry. The initiators (Bennett Ganz and Lapid - etc.) want to do so at this transparent time, for political and cynical reasons.
They are assured that as they came to curse, they went out to greet those they seek to eliminate. "
Bar-Yosef says that "in such a commission of inquiry, the involvement of senior officials in all systems who are not accused will float: in the army, in the National Security Council, the most senior officials who still serve in the government, their aides and other accountants.
All those who could lie under the guise of fog, who filed affidavits contradicting their testimony to the police, and those who have so far dragged their feet for understandable reasons with butter smeared on their heads, will actually be required to give explanations for their actions.
Tear the mask off the cynical face of many eyeballs.
The truth is, when you go out, you will shake the forearms. "
It should be remembered that Bar Yosef, as well as David Sharan, Modi Zandberg, Ganor and the other defendants, have been prevented from giving their version to the public for years.
From the beginning of the first investigation until the end of the trial, the prosecution prohibits them from being interviewed.
This is the practice in all affair.
It turns out that the public hearing is conducted in the presence of one party - that of the prosecution.
This distortion creates a distorted picture of reality in public opinion, which in turn affects the prosecution and the courts.
The severe blows suffered by the prosecution in the Netanyahu trial reflect this fundamental breakdown.
If Nir Hefetz or Bar Yosef could have told the public in real time what they knew about the cases in which they were suspected, the public would not have been surprised by what they had to say and it is possible that the prosecution would have spared much disgrace.
The mountain gave birth to a mouse
Either way, time and time again the pattern of huge affair rocking the country returns, which for years it has not been clear whether there is meat in them or just hot air.
These cases are also dealt with selectively, or so-called selective enforcement by the authorities.
In the Harpaz affair, for example, there was undoubtedly the involvement of the then chief of staff, Gabi Ashkenazi. But Ashkenazi received inside assistance through a secret meeting with the then commissioner, Dudi Cohen.
In addition, despite explicit blackmail threats he made against journalist Ayala Hasson and her husband, the case against him was miraculously closed.
Of all those involved, only the S.G.
Only Boaz Harpaz was prosecuted.
Despite the wide-ranging public repercussions of the affair, Harpaz was punished with only 220 hours of public service.
The mountain gave birth to a mouse.
And this is the pattern in the cases mentioned above, and in the arrest of Miriam Feierberg, Vali Escozido, and Alon Hasanaf and in many other cases.
The Israel Police and the State Attorney's Office, often with the media and pushing it - as in the submarine affair - announce loud applause for huge cases, but end them with a weak response.
Again and again, they fall captive to conceptions that have no facts behind them and spin the country in vain.
It would not be a surprise if these were also the findings of the "submarine affair."
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