By Ze'ev Orenstein
July 20, 2006
A mere couple of days before Hezbollah's deadly attack on the Jewish State, which led to Israel finding itself fighting a two-front war, Aluf Benn of Ha'aretz, in an article entitled, "We need a Nasrallah", had nothing but praise for Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
"His behavior is rational and reasonably predictable. Under the present conditions, that's the best there is. Hezbollah is preserving quiet in the Galilee better than did the pro-Israeli South Lebanese Army."
Today, Aluf Benn owned up to his mistake.
The mistake in my assessment stemmed, as always, from the idee fixe that what was is what will be. I believed that if Israel and Hezbollah had learned to live according to the "rules of the game" that had developed along their common border, they would be interested in maintaining the balance of power rather than violating it.
Now, before I get to the crux of this post, I recognize that it must have taken a lot for Aluf Benn to come out and publicly admit that he made a mistake -- an unfortunate rarity within the world of media and politics. However, as admirable as Benn's mea culpa might appear, frankly, it's not good enough, and the reason it's not good enough can be found in Benn's attempt to put his mistake in perspective.
"...the responsibility for the mistake is entirely mine... But Nasrallah made a bigger mistake, and his mistakes are lethal."
From this comment it is clear that Benn has failed to internalize that his mistakes, just like Nasrallah's, are, in fact, very lethal, indeed.
Journalists such as Aluf Benn, working for media outlets such as Ha'aretz, used their enormous influence to help shape public opinion to support (which ultimately led to the political support -- or vice versa) of the following policies:
* Support for the Oslo Accords
* Support for providing the "Palestinians" with weapons
* Support for releasing terrorists from Israeli prisons - either as a good will gesture, or in negotiation with terrorists.
* Support for the IDF exercising a policy of restraint against the enemies of the Jewish State who actively seek her destruction
* Support for the unilateral withdrawal from the buffer zone in Southern Lebanon - from where Hezbollah is currently firing rockets
* Support for the expulsion of 10,000+ Jews from Gaza and the northern Shomron and the handing over of those areas to the enemies of the Jewish State who have used them to build terror bases and to fire thousands of rockets into Israel -- not to mention the destruction of the lives of the 10,000+ Jews that were expelled
* Support for Ehud Olmert's "Convergence" Plan, that will bring the rockets presently raining down in the north and south of Israel to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv
Each of these policies, individually, is responsible for attacks against the Jewish State and People. Collectively, they are responsible for the murder of over 1,000 Jews and Israelis, with thousands more wounded and scarred for life, as well as for the precarious situation that the Jewish State presently finds itself in.
Until Aluf Benn, and his counterparts throughout the Israeli mainstream media, are able to internalize the fact that their mistakes are, in fact, deadly, and take the necessary steps to correct their mistakes, their apologies will carry little weight with me.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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