IMRA: Good news and bad news this week

Dr. Aaron Lerner
IMRA
Weekly Commentary
09 June '11

There was good news and bad news this week.

The good news is that when the IDF was finally presented with a clear primary objective regarding the invading Arabs the army delivered.

The good news is also that in the aftermath of the failed attempt to invade Israel, hundreds of participants in the attempted invasion where so angry at having been suckered into the operation that they even tried to storm the headquarters of the Syrian-backed Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) in the Yarmouk camp on the edges of Damascus

It is certainly encouraging when the Arab street so strongly rejects an attempt to play the “Israel card” in order to divert attention from pressing domestic concerns

There was, however, something troubling that played through this week in the IDF.

Weeks ago, photographic evidence documenting the presence of guns and automatic weapons on the Mavi Marmara was discovered among the thousands of hours of seized material.

But it wasn’t made public.

Around a week ago, someone in the IDF was so frustrated that the information had yet to be released, that the existence of the photographic evidence was leaked to Yediot Ahronot.

And yet still, the IDF declined to release the photos.

This week Yediot Ahronot finally published the leaked photos.

And yet still, the IDF continued to decline to release the photos themselves. Instead, the IDF Spokesperson’s Office issue a laconic statement that there was nothing new about the photos – since Israel had already complained that there were guns on the ship.

But there is a huge difference between mentioning guns in written statements and showing the weapons being brandished by people on the vessel.

That news of the discovery of the photographic evidence didn’t leap up the chain of command and reach the media the very same day that someone in the IDF came across it indicates that there is something wrong.

And the fact that the IDF didn’t see fit to release the photos even after Yediot Ahronot mentioned their existence indicates that something is very wrong.

This was not a matter of national security. After all, the IDF censor allowed Yediot Ahronot to publish the photos leaked to it.

The media “battlefield” may be just as important as the real one.

Just as it is critical to learn from mistakes on the battlefield, it is vital for Israel’s interests to learn from its PR mistakes. And this one was a whopper.

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