The Israeli media's hypocritical about-face on Ya'alon

Let me say up front that the following piece is not an indictment of former Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, nor is it meant to discredit him or belittle his great contribution to Israel and its security. This piece focuses on Israeli media pundits whose treatment of Ya'alon, to put it mildly, was rather inconsistent.

In recent days, since it became apparent that Ya'alon would leave the Defense Ministry, he has been showered with praise by the very pundits who, not so long ago, had a very different view of him. The media and the political world have been consumed by Ya'alon's Friday resignation, with accolades pouring in from all over. Ya'alon has been described as "the last of the Mohicans," a defender of the values and sanity in Israeli society in general and in the IDF in particular.

But a look at the archives from 2008 and 2009 tells a completely different story, devoid of accolades and solidarity. In fact, the opposite is true.

Take, for example, Yedioth Ahronoth's Sima Kadmon, who heaped praise on Ya'alon over the past week. She has probably forgotten what she wrote after he had called the left-wing group Peace Now a "virus." On Aug. 20, 2009, just after Ya'alon generated controversy with those comments, she wrote a column titled, "Where is the head-" Here is an excerpt: "It is saddening to think that he was the supreme commander of our military -- but having him serve as the vice prime minister is just a tragedy." She then continues: "Someone once told me that if you are born stupid, you remain stupid for the rest of your life."

A day later, on Aug. 21, 2009, she wrote: "What's clear is that Ya'alon stalled his march to the Defense Ministry. He was Netanyahu's natural contender for the job, but now he has an albatross hanging over his neck. Appointing such a degeneral [a play on the words 'general' and 'degenerate'] as defense minister is like appointing [extreme rightist] Moshe Feiglin as education minister.

After Netanyahu was elected to a second term in 2009, when it appeared that then-Labor leader Ehud Barak would stay out of the coalition and Ya'alon would be appointed defense minister, the press was not happy.

Haaretz's most senior pundit, Yossi Verter, wrote the following on August 21, 2009: "Ya'alon has come to the conclusion that he knows better than others who have already forgotten what he has yet to learn; and considering his slow learning curve, it is highly doubtful that he will ever learn anything." Verter later wrote the following on Ya'alon: "When he is not part of the action, he starts acting weird, something takes over and his conduct falls somewhere on a spectrum between [then-MK] Michael Ben-Ari, whose views are those of assassinated right-wing extremist MK Meir Kahane, and settler activist Daniella Weiss, who has definitely lost it."

Former Haaretz pundit Akiva Eldar wrote the following on March 16, 2009: "Even [then-Likud MK] Silvan Shalom would be a better defense minister" than Ya'alon. He also praised -- I kid you not --- Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman, who is now about to become defense minister: "Do we really want Lt. Gen. (res.) Ya'alon serve as the responsible adult who sits next to the prime minister in this critical period? Will he really be the person who adds good judgment and provides a wider perspective? Judging from what Ya'alon recently said about Iran, perhaps [then-Foreign Minister] Lieberman will be the moderate in this triangle."

Hypocrisy has many fathers, but apparently journalist are not the only hypocrites when it comes to Ya'alon.

Labor leader Isaac Herzog has recently called on Ya'alon to join Labor, saying he would be welcomed with open hands. But let's revisit what Labor said about Ya'alon in 2008, when he decided to join Likud. On Nov. 27 of that year, Labor MK and Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai said the following to Haaretz: "He is really no superstar. ... He was responsible for the Second Lebanon War fiasco." Vilnai later questioned Ya'alon's qualifications, using Ya'alon's nickname. "Bogie as defense minister? Forget about it. The last war and the state of the military in that war prove that Bogie is unfit," Vilnai declared.

In 2008, then-Yisrael Beytenu MK Israel Hasson rendered a similar verdict: "Bogie is dangerous for Israel. ... If there is one person who frightens me today, it's Bogie." (Yedioth Ahronoth, Nov. 26, 2008). Hasson would ultimately defect to the centrist Kadima just before the 2009 election.

This was just a sample taken from a period when Ya'alon was cast as irresponsible. But now the pendulum has swung to the other end. He is now the pundits' darling; he was the responsible person at the helm who provided sound judgement. Some would argue that Ya'alon has changed over the years. Perhaps. But the pundits? They were wrong then, and they are very likely to err again.

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