Brutus is an honorable man

Yitzhak Sivosh

He knows that PM Netanyahu has made a major shift in ideology and policy and embraced the 'Two States Two Peoples' concept, which has been praised by Secretary Hillary Clinton as a great step towards peace, yet, Friedman claims that Netanyahu is as dangerous to peace and the welfare of his own people as a drunk driver at the wheel. Demonizing leaders of Democratic states is a common practice in Iran or Somalia, but is something which is 'not done' in the western press, much less among allies.

But Thomas Friedman is an honorable man. He knows that the US assistance to the IL defense budget is fully paid to American Defense and Aerospace industry which is, as a result, testing & evaluating its products and then promoting them worldwide. He knows this money is spent inside the US as salaries to local employees, yet, he makes a linkage between this aid and US unemployment.

But Thomas Friedman is an honorable man.

He is aware of all proposals made by Israel ever since 1967 to the Palestinians, sometimes bold enough to raise eyebrows among American policy makers and a pistol by an Israeli assassin, all of which have been rejected, the end of the day, by Palestinian leaders. Now he feels deeply frustrated with the situation for the last 40 years, putting all the blame on Netanyahu.

And Thomas Friedman is an honorable man.

So, what went wrong? With the two times Pulitzer Prize winner, it's the addiction to power, the ability not only to report and analyze, but the ambition to affect and make news. Addiction to power, as any addiction, is mostly detached from realities, and therefore, the fact that nearly a million Jews must evaporate in order to comply with "Friedman's Solution" of restoring cease-fire border lines from the year 1949 doesn't bother him. Nor the fact that the withdraw of Jews from the Gaza strip "dead or alive" (cemeteries too) implemented by PM Sharon has only strengthened extremists and aggravated the non-stop shelling to the south of Israel.

In Michael Cimino's film 'Year of the Dragon' Capt. Stanley White, played by Mickey Rourke, says that 'it's not the booze, nor the drugs that will bring America down on its knees, it's the media..'. Many of the modern prophets of America came from Hollywood, and some of them were indeed, stoned / blacklisted / crucified. It seems that this time they might be right.

In one word the problem is addiction. Certainly, complicated situation are too intricate than to be described in one word, yet, system engineers (which is my line of business) try to classify problems and identify where they stem from, in order to be able to explain to managers (sometimes they listen..) what is "Yes, we can", what is "We can, but..", and what "No, we can't".

So, let's see. In the case of the Media, the answer is: No we can't. It's unrealistic that people who have been addicted to such power without any responsibility to results, will ever rehabilitate. On the bright side, the public is becoming more immune.

Militant Muslims, who have been addicted to Jihad and murder narratives, obsessed with oppressing the weak, whether women children or ethnic minorities may rehabilitate, but this process will take 100 years rather than two. The bright side is, however, Muslims have managed to develop over centuries of ups and downs in history 'Tahdiya' and 'Hudna' mechanisms to deal with superior adversaries and adapt to the realities, without losing face.

But there is problem of addiction on behalf of US Defense decision makers: to charts, presentations and paper shuffling, instead of a 'Maximum Effort' in order to make the necessary superiority happen, in a clear cut and swift fashion. As explained by Lara M. Dadkhah on Herald Tribune of Feb. 18th in 'Empty skies over Afghanistan', "Heart and minds" strategy will not work. She warns against folly ideas and strategies and claims that 'it's only a matter of time before the Taliban see flares and flyovers for what they are: empty threats'. This will not result in victory nor a will for 'Hudna'. Blaming Israel for that situation looks like another symptom of an addict.

The US as a whole is a sinking ship plagued by addiction to: drugs, short term vision, celebs culture, public relations & media. It's a magnificent ship, unprecedented in terms of beauty, modern culture & ideas, which has spread hope & aid around the globe. Sinking, but she has not gone down yet, and with the right will and command, it may (and hopefully will) recover, not tomorrow, though, and not in a painless rehabilitation process.

As for Israel, it has been addicted to the US, which has not come without a price; the American defense aid has distorted priorities, among commanders and politicians alike. It's enough to evaluate achievements during the first 20 years as an independent state, winning decisively three wars of survival, avoiding annihilation, despite American embargo on military exports. Then, a shift in American policy came, together with aid and the resulting "addiction", but not with a better performance, so to speak. This could be averted, and the sooner the better.

Yitzhak Sivosh

M.Sc., MBA

Tel-Aviv

PS: I wish to thank my friend Adv. Leslie Henan for his comments, for which I am grateful.

*Antony's cynical repetitive statement from Julius Caesar, by Shakespeare

Originally published in the Israeli Maraah Magazine www.maraahmagazine.co.il.

http://www.maraahmagazine.co.il/show_item.asp?levelId=64916&itemId=27&katavaId=1546&itemType=0

Guest Comment: Dear friends,

Unfortunately, like too many liberal left Jews in America (Martin Indyk springs to mind), Thomas Friedman is a Jewish Brutus.

He is smug enough and has the chutzpa to sit in NY and pontificate to Israelis for whom they should vote and what they should think and do. No, neither he nor his family live in Kfar Saba, some 3 miles from a proposed "Palestinian" state.

Thomas Friedman pushes two agendas, his own and that one of his master - President Obama.

An article by Yitzhak Sivosh about Thomas Friedman was published last week in the excellent Hebrew weekly Internet magazine Maraah (Mirror). See link above.

Luckily, a translation of the interesting article exists and here it is.

Your Truth Provider,

Yuval.