Netanyahu’s ‘age of hypocrisy’ fails to convince in Eilat

The rockets were set at an elegant 45-degree angle, the mortars organized in four neat rows, the armor-piercing bullets arranged in gleaming mounds. The afternoon light brushed the port side of the INS Hanit’s pewter hull, and the Israeli flags, posted in a loose circle, played cooperatively in the breeze. Only the message, delivered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, seemed to fall on largely impassive ears.

And yet incredulity ruled the day. Why now? some reporters wondered among themselves? And why Syria? What reason could the regime in Tehran possibly have to ship arms out of Damascus and then to Sudan? Also, why was the ship not intercepted closer to Sudan? And how are they to know that the weapons were bound for Gaza and not Sinai?

The army had answers for some of those questions. The timing of the Israeli interception, IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said, was dictated solely by operational concerns. The rockets were sent from Syria because the Iranian regime “did all in its power to cover its tracks and disguise the true nature of the mission.” Lerner insisted that the IDF was certain that the arms were headed for Gaza and added, revealingly, that the mortar rounds were produced in Iran.

And yet, as the crowd waited for Netanyahu, I heard one reporter remark that “this reminds me of the ‘Mission Accomplished’ scene” – a made-for-TV event in which US president George Bush, in May 2003, woefully prematurely declared victory in Iraq.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahus-age-of-hypocrisy-in-eilat/