Weekly Commentary: Mr. Sharon Isn't Fiddling As Israel Burns -- He Has A Full Orchestra

2005-06-16

Aaron Lerner

If Nero figuratively fiddled while Rome was burning, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has a full symphony orchestra playing with him as he sucks the Jewish State into an incredibly bizarre self inflicted disaster.

A disaster Mr. Sharon has imposed on Israel in the desperate hope that this will keep the criminal justice system at bay.

No. This isn't some half-baked conspiracy theory from right wing radicals. Two senior Israeli reporters, Raviv Drucker of Israel's Channel Ten TV and Ofer Shelach of Yediot Aharonot - hardly right wingers - teamed together to investigate what was really behind Sharon's retreat plan. And their startling conclusion after speaking with people on the inside: Sharon's desperate desire to avoid indictment for various illegal transactions.

The irony? As Channel Two correspondent Amnon Abromovitz put it, Mr. Sharon enjoys the protection of retreat supporters - protected "like an Etrog", the citrus fruit used in ceremonies during Succoth. The Etrog is very valuable through the holiday, but the phrase "like an Etrog after Succoth" aptly describes Mr. Sharon's status after the retreat from the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria is completed and retreat supporters reach the conclusion that he won't retreat any more in the foreseeable future.

Simply put: Mr. Sharon is retreating from the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria - uprooting many thousands of Jews from their homes - to only temporarily postpone his being hit with criminal charges.

Prime Minister Sharon isn't alone. Almost everywhere you turn on the Israeli scene there are individuals and grouping aiding and abetting this madness:

There were enough ministers and MKs to stop the plan every step along the way if they were willing to vote their consciences instead of for their own narrow short term interests.

There were enough security officials at the top echelons convinced that the retreat plan is a terrible mistake, but it is almost unheard of in Israel to resign a post in order to warn the nation of disastrous policy. Instead of warning the nation we are witness to some security people taking the all too familiar "yihyeh b'seder" (it will be ok) approach as they curry favor with the Sharon team. Consider some of the recently published assertions by some security people that retreat isn't a problem because Israel will always have a free hand to act in the Gaza Strip - an assertion that recklessly ignores the many highly likely post-retreat scenarios under which Israel's ability to act effectively against a war of attrition launched from Gaza would be seriously restricted.

The Foreign Ministry has also fallen into lock-step with the program, sacrificing Israel's interests in the name of expedience. Consider the ongoing praise for Egypt's so-called "constructive role" - this when in truth Egypt has been the primary source for destabilizing weapons for the terrorists and has consistently pursued the goal of keeping the various illegal Palestinian militias armed and intact.

Attorney General Mazuz has also made an important contribution to Mr. Sharon's "symphony", both in the way that he has handled the cases against the beleaguered prime minister and in the way that he allowed the police to try and shackle the retreat protest movement by declining to come up with clear, intuitive and reasonable guidelines regarding limits on protest.

Mr. Sharon's "symphony" would not be complete without the Israeli media's support for retreat. The biggest story of this generation with barely a column inch or a broadcast minute with any depth to expose the thin veneer of logic ostensibly behind the plan.

It is far from clear if the retreat plan has reached the point on no return. But one thing is certain: either way this insanity will cost Israel dearly.

Source: IMRA – Independent Media Review and Analysis