Haditha, Olmert, and Jenin

Olmert was in Egypt on Sunday and apparently upset some people because he acted like...Olmert:

"On behalf of the State of Israel," Olmert said, "I would like to express my deepest regret over the incident that occurred over the weekend in which two Egyptian security personnel were killed. We have initiated a joint committee to investigate the incident; we will consider its findings. Similarly, we have instructed our security and intelligence forces to cooperate on the issue and to make every effort to prevent a recurrence of such incidents in the future."

This after the IDF confirmed that:
o 3 men infiltrated 150 meters withing the Negev-Sinai border
o The 3 men fired first
o They wore the uniforms of a foreign country
o They were armed with radios and Kalachnikov rifles and 9 magazines of bullets

True to form, Olmert also said:

"I see you, Mr. President [Mubarak], as a true partner in the effort to bring peace to our region... Your contribution is as vital as it was during the successful implementation of the Disengagement Plan.

"I am very pleased by the cooperation between our countries in the struggle against global terrorism... We have agreed to enhance cooperation and coordination between us and between our countries on this issue.

This despite the fact that--according to Dr. Aaron Lerner of IMRA:

o Mubarak continues to refuse to visit Israel
o He continues to ensure that radical forces in Gaza remain armed
o He continues to spend billions of American aid dollars on sophisticated weaponry in apparent preparation for a future war against Israel
o Also, according to MK Yuval Shteinitz (Likud), who chaired the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee from 2003-2006, 90% of all arms and explosives used in Judea, Samaria and Gaza for terrorism against Israel comes from Egypt

So why is Olmert bending over backwards--even more than usual--in apologizing to Mubarak, all things considered?

Maybe with the media coverage of Haditha and the issue once again in the news that the best of armies are capable of terrible errors of judgement, Olmert decided to be very, very cautious--even though the investigation is not finished and all the facts are not yet in.

Of course such 'caution' in Israel is not new nor specific to Olmert. Back when the second Intifada started:

Following months of increased violence and extremism in the Arab-Israeli sector incited directly by the Palestinian Authority, the Israeli Islamic Movement and the Arab members of Knesset, violent riots seized the Arab sector of Israel in October 2000. During the week of riots, Arab Israelis threw rocks and Molotov cocktails at Israeli civilian cars throughout the country. Israeli motorists were dragged out of their cars on Highway 65 along Wadi Ara and beaten. An Israeli motorist was murdered when Arabs from Jasser a-Zarka threw a rock at his windshield as he drove down the coastal highway.

...In the wake of the riots, the government of then-prime minister Ehud Barak went into a state of panic, concerned that the Labor Party would lose its support base among Arab Israelis. And so, rather than arresting the Arab leaders who incited the riots, banning the Islamic Movement and ending PA infiltration into the Arab sector, Barak sought to appease the very leaders who had fomented the violence. This he did by offering to establish an independent commission led by a retired judge that would investigate the police behavior towards the rioters. That commission, led by retired justice Theodore Or, was given the perverse job of investigating only the police, as if the officers had simply been firing at ducks in a shooting gallery rather than trying to contend with a violent, heavily incited mob that was paralyzing and terrorizing the country.

The Astute Blogger also draws a parallel between Haditha and Israel. He sees the media story of the Jenin Massacre as an example of the kinds of myths that the MSM is capable of creating and propagating.

But whatever the Haditha investigation comes up with in the end, there is something to what Time Magazine quotes in the name of a senior Marine officer, that a the media is ready to condemn without all the facts--calling it cold-blooded and easily comparing it to My Lai--while ready to look into the background and social circumstances of a common murderer:

"Isn't it a strange turn of events that Marines are expected to be perfect under the stresses and brutality of a guerrilla war, but society says we need to uncover every mitigating circumstance that would possibly explain why street criminals kill?"

In Israel's case, seeing that terrorist infiltration is not uncommon, and in the absence of any stated indication that there was any error in judgement by the IDF, Olmert's offer of an investigation in the context of the absurd praise for Mubarak does more to call his judgement into question than that of the IDF.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Olmert and Haditha and Mubarak and Egypt.