Israel Matzav

Hypocrisy, thy name is...

I had a little trouble getting out of bed this morning and I spent too long listening to the 5:00 am news. Mrs. Carl hates when I leave the clock radio going for too long - she doesn't get up that early and hates being woken by it when I get up (some of you may be able to relate to that). The news was going through a list of MK's reactions to Thursday's disclosures about IDF troops allegedly shooting at civilians during Operation Cast Lead. For some reason, they were all Labor MK's. There's Ehud Barak telling us that the army will investigate and Comrade Yuli (Tamir) telling us that we have to improve the country's education. But what snapped me out of bed was hearing from this man:

"The IDF has neither the tools nor the culture to carry out inquiries into ethical dilemmas. In fact, no army in the world has such a thing," said Maj. Gen. (res.) Ami Ayalon, the former head of the navy and Shin Bet security service.

"We shouldn't be surprised that such stories come to light. Whoever has lived in this country for the last 20 years, unless he has closed his eyes and ears, should not be surprised. The IDF never knew how to investigate such things, and in recent years, the problem has become more difficult because there are more such incidents."

Ayalon said Operation Cast Lead had compromised the IDF's "ethos, which was once built on ethics and sacrifice, and today, after the Gaza offensive, is based on force alone."

Who the hell is Ami Ayalon to lecture ANYONE about ethics?

Last night, at a campaign rally for his candidacy for the Labor party leadership, Ami Ayalon, who was appointed chief of the General Security Service after Rabin was assassinated, made what would be a shocking admission in any other Western country: He admitted that Margalit Har Shefi was falsely charged and falsely convicted. And that the GSS knew it all along:

Former chief of intelligence (Shabak) Ami Ayalon, now a Knesset Member, revealed Thursday night that Margalit Har-Shefi did not realize that Yigal Amir intended to assassinate Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin. She was convicted in 1998 of failing to prevent the murder. In 2001, she began a serving a nine-month prison term, which was terminated by President Moshe Katzav after six months.

Ayalon made the disclosure at a meeting with Labor party supporters in Ashkelon, but he did not explain why he kept silent until now. "Har-Shefi did not know that Yigal Amir wanted to murder the Prime Minister," MK Ayalon said. "I know this from intelligence and was head of the intelligence agency.

"She was part of the crazy reality [at that time]."

How's that for an excuse? 'Part of the crazy reality.'

I have no idea where Margalit Har Shefi is today (I suspect that there will be people in the comment section who will know). I hope that she is happily married and has at least 2-3 children by now. But if I were her - or her father - I would file a lawsuit against every one of these scumbags who knew or should have known that she was falsely accused and sent her to jail anyway. I would sue them for every last cent they have to their name and then some. I would stand up and do everything I could to ruin their political careers starting with the faker Ami Ayalon himself. Because they deserve no better.

'Scumbag' seems too kind in retrospect.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:11 AM