Tel Aviv's Tent City, Lebanon and Gaza
Tel Aviv's Tent City, Lebanon and Gaza

Amidst the current violent eruption in the South of Israel, the media has been quick to report the concerns of the protestors that once again security concerns will dwarf the need for social reform and quell the momentum they have accumulated; particularly in the headlines.

This fear is further fueled by the impending declaration of a Palestinian state in the coming weeks.

The feared result: the political echelons will have to direct their focus from the "State of Tel-Aviv" to the “Palestinian State.”

The questions the public should be asking should be systemic and  pointed, and be directly related to the withdrawals from Gaza and Lebanon.

Questions such as: Did these decisions stem from proper analysis and strategic decision making? Were all the risks and outcomes considered? Were the outcomes of this unilateral withdrawal, from Gaza and Lebanon, fully investigated?

It is clear that after these withdrawals, Israel was impelled to wage the Second Lebanon war and Operation Cast Lead in order to provide the citizens of Israel with the security and quiet they deserve.

Despite these noble intentions, Israel was unable – or not allowed -  to completely cleanse these areas of dangerous ammunition during the campaigns and shortly following the end of each of these operations, the munitions stockpile in enemy hands exceeded pre-operation totals, both in quantity and deadliness.

The results of all this are that 156 citizens paid with their lives  (another 3200 were physically injured), while 9,000 citizens of Gush Katif were uprooted from their homes. Most of them still have not been provided with permanent housing solutions.

Today it is clear that soldiers and citizens were and are being injured in subsequent and necessary security operations after the withdrawal from Gaza.

This outcome proves that we have the responsibility to examine the government decision making process.

The elected government in Israel, and the IDF as its element of implementation, has the responsibility to ensure the security of its citizens.

That means that elected officials and their policies must be proactive and not only reactive to a given reality that unfolds.

The withdrawal from Lebanon has been credited to some extent to another popular protest campaign called the "Four Mothers Organization," which eventually
led to unilateral withdrawal with no conditions or security arrangements. These four mothers, whose names are long forgotten, of soldiers serving in Lebanon, became media darlings overnight.

The unilateral withdrawal from Gaza created both a security blunder as well as a social disaster as this involved the uprooting of families from Gush Katif. The event quickly turned into a huge media feeding frenzy that conveniently directed the public eye from the criminal allegations against the Prime Minister at the time.

Despite our pessimistic expectations, as a nation, we prayed that these decisions would allow for change and not breed more of the same violence, causing us to once again enter these territories inflicting further loss of life.

The reality is that in both cases: Gaza and Lebanon- we have already re- entered and suffered great losses with no real security accomplishment.

Once again, as of the rocket and terror escalation we are witnessing, Israel is faced with the necessity yet again to re-enter Gaza in order to attempt to provide citizens with the security they deserve.

It could be argued that the success of government is measured by public opinion, but government policy decisions should not be formulated as a reaction to populist trends.

In the current media driven culture, a government should not resort to the use of slogans implying that only they take the long view. have a broad perspective in mind and know better. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would always say that 'things that you see from here [his office] cannot be seen from out there'.

It is important that the government makes clear to the public why certain decisions have been made, even if it does not seem logical to the populace at the given time.

If policy decisions are made as a result of popular (and media induced) sentiment,  reality will quickly show us the price we will pay.