In the aftermath of the bloodiest and most daring Arab guerrilla attack in years, stunned Israelis are asking themselves how a lone Palestinian managed to fly a motorized hang glider over sophisticated defenses into northern Israel last Wednesday, walk into a military base and kill or wound 14 soldiers before being killed himself.
As Israel pondered its response to the attack, which the nation blamed on Syria, the army began an investigation into how the impossible became reality. But some analysts and commentators have seized upon the raid to focus on a problem that may go to the root of the army`s unpreparedness. After all the probes are completed, they contend, investigators will find the real culprit is a growing sense of apathy and complacency among Israelis that inevitably has begun to infect the armed forces as well.
”All bases in northern Israel were alerted that an airborne terrorist was coming a half hour before he landed,” said a senior reserve military officer.
”And when he attacked the base, what were our soldiers doing? Searching the woods? Waiting with their weapons ready? No, they were playing cards and probably thinking, `Someone else will take care of it.` That`s much more than just a breach in discipline.”
Cabinet Minister Ezer Weizman warned: ”The public should remember that there was also apathy after the 1967 war. And what happened? The (1973) Yom Kippur war,” when the country was caught unprepared by an Egyptian-Syrian surprise attack.
”The ways of life and orders of priority we have adopted lately must now face a serious test” in the aftermath of the raid, the independent daily Yediot Aharonot warned.
Many Israelis trace the public`s present tendency to tune out the bad news in their lives to the country`s 1982-1985 involvement in Lebanon, where more than 650 Israeli soldiers died in a dirty, unpopular war that achieved none of its objectives.
Most analysts agree that Lebanon`s principal legacy has been a profound public disenchantment with national leaders, political parties and
institutions. Such feelings have intensified with the disclosure of a host of scandals, ranging from spying by a U.S. naval intelligence analyst, Jonathan Pollard, to arms sales to Iran, for which Israeli leaders have refused to assume any responsibility.
The public disenchantment has expressed itself in the growing number of Israelis seeking new lives abroad and the dwindling number of men and women signing on for careers in the army. Many warn that these factors have lowered the quality of the armed forces, once a magnet for Israel`s best and brightest.
According to Yoel Marcus, a senior commentator for the independent newspaper Haaretz, Israel`s descent into apathy and complacency also has been helped along by the country`s stable economic situation recently and-until last week`s raid-the calm security situation along its borders.
”It is no coincidence that today Finance Minister Moshe Nissim is our most popular politician because he has found the proper balance between continuing the economic recovery and assuring the individual`s well-being,”
Marcus wrote in a recent commentary.
”And as long as terrorism is under control, our sons are not being killed at the front, our planes return safely to base and all our hits are accurate, we can sleep soundly.”
The most striking display of the country`s indifference has been the public reaction to an eight-week-old strike by state radio and television workers. Instead of clamoring for the broadcasts to come back, the public has barely complained.
”It`s wonderful,” said Yossi Kucik, a senior official in the Absorption Ministry, reflecting sentiments shared by many Israelis. ”I`m sick of hearing bad things all the time. It`s good to be able to rest for once.”
For an exhausted, hyperaware country fed an unwavering diet of pessimistic government statements and apocalyptic news reporting, the media strike has had the effect of a huge national tranquilizer. For the first time in years, there has been a sharp drop in the number of traffic accidents.
There are no indications that the government of Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres is doing anything to restore public confidence or to attack the country`s indifference at its root, analysts note. Government and military leaders already are playing down the significance of last week`s guerrilla raid, calling it ”luck” and its military victims the unintentional targets of attack aimed at civilians.
Summing up the Israeli public`s attitude to diplomatic moves, domestic troubles and security scandals swirling over their heads, Marcus sarcastically noted:
”A senior American official says the peace process is in a deep freeze. Most newspapers didn`t even print the report. It could be worse. The country`s farmers are dying of hunger and their aid is late in coming. Who cares? What are we? Farmers? The doctors` strike should concern us, but let the sick worry about it. The General Security Service? Enough! We`re sick of it! So there was a bit of lying and little torture. It`s unpleasant but it could be worse.
”In short, nothing interests us beyond our pinky. Our nerves have never been so calm-and we`ve never been so apathetic.
There are indications that the television and radio strike may be coming to end. A possible resumption of news broadcasts this weekend is expected to dispel some of the public`s apathy, especially since the lead item will be the guerrilla attack in the north and the price of complacency.
With the public encased in a caccoon of economic stability and acceptable levels of Middle East violence, commentators say, Israel`s leaders have adapted themselves the country`s mood, avoiding any moves or statements that might upset the public`s mindset that views the country`s current situation as tolerable.
Discussing what Israel`s response to the guerrilla attack might be, a senior military policymaker, speaking on condition he was not named, ruled out a prolonged ground operation north of border. He said that after the controversial and costly war in Lebanon, ”the Israeli people have no stomach for such an operation.”
”Great leadership is needed to break this apathy, but unfortunately, here we`re looking in the classifieds,” Marcus observers. ”The country is taking giant strides toward nothingness. It`s unpleasant, but it could be worse. You don`t believe it? Just ask the people.”
