Israel Matzav

Netanyahu's former closest confidant blasts him

Recall the following from a post on Friday discussing the lack of a role for the National Security Council in planning the Mavi Marmara raid:

This morning, there was a commentary on Israel Radio that explained that more than anyone else in Israel, Prime Minister Netanyahu aims to please Defense Minister Ehud Barak, even though Barak seemingly has no political base and may not even be a part of the next Knesset. The example they cited was Netanyahu's killing a bill to increase the power of the National Security Council, which had been promoted by National Security Adviser Uzi Arad, who has been a Netanyahu confidant for many years. The bill was killed because Barak didn't like it - he didn't want to take away more power from his ministry or from the IDF. The context was that as a result of the bill being killed, the National Security Council played no significant role in planning what became the Mavi Marmara fiasco.

In light of that paragraph, you should not be too surprised to see Uzi Arad blasting Netanyahu over the Mavi Marmara. Or should you be surprised? After all, Arad was Netanyahu's closest confidant....

Arad, who was forced to resign as national security adviser in March 2011 because he inadvertently leaked classified information to a journalist, has reiterated on several occasions his claim that Netanyahu has failed to empower the NSC.

On Friday, Arad described Netanyahu as having a careless attitude in the lead up to the May 2010 flotilla. "I would come to him claiming something had to be done in a certain way, and he would answer me: 'Uzi, what is your obsession with process.'"

Arad claimed that he had been pushing for a cabinet meeting to discuss the issue for three months prior to the flotilla, but was denied. He criticized Netanyahu's former military secretary Yochanan Locker for contributing to the problem.

"All of a sudden, four days before the flotilla, the military secretary organized some kind of meeting. With no preparation, with no reference material, without looking at the full scope of the problem and without the right ministers present. In other words, what happened was exponentially sloppy work," Arad charged.

Arad said that when he pressed Netanyahu to prepare, the prime minister would tell him to focus on "substance," rather than "process."

"And I would tell him that process determines the outcome of the substance," Arad said.

There is a law that is supposed to give the National Security Council a role - Netanyahu has never implemented it. And Netanyahu has never implemented that law because he worships Ehud Barak, his former commanding officer in Sayeret Matkal. Uzi Arad blasting Netanyahu just shows how far off its path this government has gone.

Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, Ehud Barak, Israeli national security, Mavi Marmara, Uzi Arad

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:41 PM