Hamas War

Sunday, April 19, 2009

There Are Plans, And There Are Plans

Just because Israel's Defense Forces have prepared to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities doesn't mean that the plans are truly operational.


Every single country has its military prepared for operations it may never order. In Hebrew, the term is "b'megurot," in the "drawer," or "closet."

Sometimes, to "shut up" military officers and keep them from nagging their superiors, they're given a unit or platoon of soldiers for their "pet" battle plans. This doesn't mean that the plans are taken seriously. It's just good management to let the overly dreaming officer play soldiers so he'll stop driving everyone nuts.

A classic case was in post Six Days War Israel, 1967. During the summer of 1973, my husband attended an unforgettable World Betar Convention. He told me that some of the older Israelis there were bragging about their IDF positions and history. Somebody got the late Gidon Shiponi to reveal his army reserves job:


"Arik Sharon and I are training men to cross the Suez Canal."

That sounded ridiculously far-fetched, even to Betarim, but that's the army, and that was Arik Sharon, and that was Gidon Shiponi. And that's probably why Arik was passed over for Ramat Kal, Chief of Staff.


Well, I don't know how many of you remember who had the last laugh.

Yom Kippur, October, 1973, Israel was shocked by coordinated attacks by Egypt and Syria, on our northern and southern fronts, the northern and southern June, 1967, cease-fire lines. Our army and politicians were in a frenzy of panic. All of our military experts had declared us invincible. We had been reassured over and over that the Arabs would never attack us again.


There was only one spot of calm, and that was Arik Sharon. He and his officers, including Shiponi of course, were fully prepared. They shocked Egypt by efficiently crossing the canal.


But I have no doubt, that most surprised were Sharon's superiors, including the politicians in the know, who had never expected those plans to go any further than some "reserve duty exercise."

The IDF file cabinets are full of "what if" plans, long past their possible usefulness. Every army has them. You have to be prepared for all possibilities. They're supposed to be kept top secret, since their effectiveness is severely reduced when the element of surprise is deleted.

It was once much easier for Israel to keep its secret plans secret. No foreign army was privileged to know anything. Israeli army officers didn't consult with foreign countries. Israel didn't ask permission. We were much stronger then.

Our security is endangered by the close contact, the close connections we now have with the United States. It's to our detriment and possible, G-d forbid, destruction. We should reject all American aid and advice. I don't want to be killed by kindness and Trojan Horses. I fear our "friends" more than our enemies.

G-d willing a Shavua Tov, A Good Week to us all.

4 comments:

Shiloh said...

The war with Persia must take place for the geulah to precede. The geulah will not come if Jews do t'shuvah to religion, as the rabbi's proclaim. We hope it will be breif though, but a necessary event.

Hadassa DeYoung said...

Shalom!
Haven't the Sages told us that the negative prophecies will not be realized if we merit it?

That ol' Arik sure has always been a bulldozer - in various directions.

It's an extremely dangerous situation when large numbers of Israelis consider Israel to be the 51st state.

Hadassa

Mark Walker said...

Dear Batya, If Peres is boasting about attacking Iran, then it appears that it will never happen. Best idea is to do it, not preach about it. On anothe rmatter, the Department of Homeland Security (Gestapo?) issed a memo listing a number of groups as enemnies of the state, not by deeds, but by philosophies. Soldiers returning from Iraq, those who are against abortion, those who hate the President's economic disaster, and so on, are on the list. It does not matter WHO is on the list, but THAT the list exists. There is now a lawsuit against the Department on this point. The Tea Parties also used the memo as one more reason to oppose Obama.
I remember that Sharon effectively marginalized the settlers in Gush Katif by demonizing them in the press, and by this way, prepared for dragging them out. We seem to realize that we must fight this NOW, or it will be too late.
I did not see Jews on the list, but I assume that they are automatic. We have crazy people here. Alarmed, I have yet to hear of Jews here loudly protesting the DHS list. Indeed, I have heard of none protestng the giving of almost a billion dollars to Hamas. Where are they?

Batya said...

Shiloh, Hadassa, Mark,
Thanks, you've all added important points.

Shiloh, Interesting that you used the term "Persia." We suffered two wars under Olmert, and they didn't do the job. With Barak still running defense, it's the "wrong army."

Hadassa, true, we always have the chance to do tshuva.

Mark, my main point has been that secrecy is of the utmost. All this posturing is dangerous, very Ehud Barak.