Haaretz journalist, Ari Shavit, admits and apologizes for a mistake, a wrong one. Several years ago he wrote that Israel should retreat from Golan. Now, looking at what is happening in Syria, he believes he was wrong. His mistake,then and now, has not been his view, but in the fact that Haaretz is a sort of mini Stalinist Pravda, where everything is absolutely known, provided the journalist reads and rereads the Short History of the Bolshevik Party by Comrade Stalin. One cannot find the "apology" of Ari Shavit in the English edition of Haaretz, because it does not fit the Nakhba, or Palestinian disaster, narrative.
The future is a complex unknown state of affairs. Nobody can know with certainty what will happen tomorrow; greatest military leaders of the world, certainly their heads of intelligence could attest to that. Not only they. The wisest of men, King Salomon, was unable to predict the sectarianism of his kingdom and its division. Rabbi Akiva, one of the pillars of Judaism, did not estimate accurately the power of the Roman Empire. Pericles failed in defending Athens.
In June 1967 in a crucial meeting of Israel Cabinet of War, the vote on attack was 50/50. Levi Eshkol, the Prime Minister, voted for the attack. He had and additional casting vote but decided not to use it. "Perhaps I'm wrong. We can wait few more days." In the evening he spoke to the nation on the radio. He wanted to record his speech, but Haggai Pinsker, the broadcaster who accompanied him, said "Come on, you a professional. We will do it live." Even the wise could not resist flattery. Speaking on the radio Eshkol stuttered for a second, the public saw in it a weakness and was outraged. Eshkol had no choice but to appoint the former Chief of Staff, Moshe Dayan to the post of Minister of Defense. Israel won the war not because Dayan did anything spectacular during few days, but because Eshkol built and prepared the Army. However in the eyes of journalists and the public Dayan became a semi-God.
Years later in 1973 it became evident that Dayan was the worst Minister of Defense Israel ever had. He lost his head, wisdom and courage. Golda Meir the Jewish grandmother, became the military leader in the war room and saved the country. In spite of that after the victory, she had no choice but to resign.
Journalists lack the skill and the ability to analyze difficult decisions countries are faced with and cannot grasp their complexity. Claiming knowing everything, as they most of the time do, is a stupid lie. They would do better by reporting facts. Their "expert" opinions, or "ideology" in Mr. Shavit's words, should be modest and expressed with respect toward those who are making the real decisions, in addition, always they should provide ten opinions that are different from their "ideology."
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