Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Benyamin Gibli, 1919-2008

Benyamin Gibli was one of the darker figures in the story of Israel's first decade, as two items in today's Haaretz briefly (well, hardly) explain. (One; two). It's probably inevitable for an army to have such figures, but they're not pleasant to have. Gibli, by playing a central role in the Lavon affair, contributed to the toppling of Ben Gurion himself, who in this, as in most things, was ahead of his time. True to character, Gibli apparently never felt he'd done anything wrong.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

FROM CAROL HERMAN

Oy. Gibli, bigger or smaller than Robert Maxwell?

These days, how secret are the Mossad's secret's, if you can read Victor Ostrovsky, and/or Gordon Thomas.

What abour ARi Ben-Menashe, that blew open with the Iran-Contra-Gate? You know. The arms sales to Iran and Irak, during the 1980's. When America showed the Mossad how real money falls into bank accounts.

Small potatoes?

Big Potaoes?

Wasn't there, recently, a Canadian who wrote a book about his 4 years IN the Mossad? Who can take this work? What family man?

By the way, the CIA is no better. And, the CIA stopped protecting Americans, as you can tell by what happened on 9/11.

Yes, Israel has enemies. Yes, it helps if the Shabback, the name previously on the doorway to the Mossad, could get a handle on what goes on underneath the levels and layers of diplomacy.

One of the things in the Mossad's credit, is that they actually function. And, then no one talks about it.

Heck, even the successful attacks in Syria, and there have been more than one. From a top agent of the PLO, "exiting," upon entering his own car. And, of course, the taking out of the syrian nuclear facility. In broad daylight.

Even if you go back to the Osarik adventure in Irak, you'd discover that Shimon Peres "threatened" Menachem Begin into aborting the run. Ah. But when it was reset for June 7, 1991, Begin "forgot" to tell Shimon Peres. So, SCORE TWO!

Unfortunately, you're stuck with the stinker, Shimon Peres as president. (Because he knows all of the phone numbers to the media centers.)

And, Olmert suffers at the hands of the media, "because his business deductions weren't signed properly." Excuse me. But no one uses business deductions more frequently than the media types.

But go ahead. Watch a country lie out loud. Why? They're looking for the messiah to be prime minister. (Which, on it's face, elminates Livni.)

Oh, and the IDF.

Because of this business with Barburg. The commander, in Ni'lin, who commanded one of his soldiers to shoot a blindfolded and handcuffed kid. (Yup. The kind of video, like cops beating up Rodney King). Gets played in repitition. Until the agency BECOMES MORE PROFESSIONAL.

How did the IDF become less professional?

Interesting story. Over time all the draftees going in get assigned to "work among the settlers." And, the settlers took over the carrier paths of those in the army "who want to get ahead."

That's why in the lunatic asylum called Israel,the leftist-legal-eagles are flexing their muscles against this embarrassment; "vur-den?" In the courthouse. Where a female judge diddles with the military paperwork. Each one proving it's got the "moxie." While the people get shafted.

Meanwhile, if Gilbi did anything wrong; which can happen in clandestine operations, he did less wrong that the thief Robert Maxwell.

Oh, the Canadian kid? He says he partook in a successful operation, where a ship would go down at sea; because the hookup to the ship's hull was made. Successfully. Not pulling the trigger, however, was Shamir. He said diplomatically, against Israel, the blowback would have been fierce.

All countries are involved in espionage!

But in Israel the success stories never get told.

And, old heads of the service, like Ephraim Halevy, tell that it was on Bibi's watch (as prime minister), that the Mashaal murder was "exercised" on Jordanian soil. So it blew up. And, then? To make the short king of Jordan happy, lucky for Israel, it had enough prisoners to release.

Too bad Israel keeps looking for "the messiah" to run the oountry.

You'd thibk by now you'd be onto all of the games.

Anonymous said...

Haaretz stinks. It wrote, "terrorist actions carried out in Egypt".

The Lavon Affair did not concern terrorist operations. it did not even concern a terrorist operation (singular).

It concerned one false flag campaign, placing incendiary devices (more or less, smoke bombs) at several locations (post office, American library, British movie theatre) after closing.

The purpose was to exacerbate Nasser's anti-western image.

As another example, France's bombing of a Greenpeace ship is rarely called terrorism. It was a botched clandestine operation just as the Lavon Affair was a botched false falg operation.

Terrorist operations aim to deliberately kill as many civilians as possible. Both the French and Israeli operations had no such objective.

Haaretz stinks.

Anonymous said...

I knew Colonel Gibli in 1957/58 living in Tshala and he certainly saw himself as a patriot (but not of the flag-waving look at me type)
He saw his role as furthering the cause of his country in the best way he could. Sadly he was an honorable man caught in the sometime viciousness of nation building.