Michael Freund
Michael Freund served as Deputy Communications Director in the Israeli Prime Minister's Office under Binyamin Netanyahu during his first term of office. He is the Founder and Chairman of Shavei Israel (www.shavei.org), a Jerusalem-based organization that searches for and assists the Lost Tribes of Israel and other "hidden Jews" seeking to return to the Jewish people. In addition, Freund is a correspondent and syndicated columnist for the Jerusalem Post, and authors a popular blog on Middle East affairs, Fundamentally Freund. A native New Yorker, Freund is a graduate of Princeton University and holds an MBA in Finance from Columbia. He has lived in Israel for the past 19 years and remains a loyal New York Mets fan....
Just in case you thought that Israel's leaders had learned their lesson from last summer's disastrous war in Lebanon – think again.
In today's YNet, an Israeli reserve soldier describes his recent experience after being called up to take part in a training exercise.
His article reads like a laundry list of failures – outmoded equipment, lousy planning, and complete and utter disorganization.
These are all precisely the same complaints that were hurled against the defense establishment over six months ago, at the war's end. And yet it seems that little has been done in the interim to correct them.
The reservist's conclusion, although based anecdotally on his own narrow experience, is nonetheless chilling: "If, G-d forbid, war breaks out tomorrow, the situation will be very bad. At this rate, we will not win it."
Is anyone in power paying attention?
In today's YNet, an Israeli reserve soldier describes his recent experience after being called up to take part in a training exercise.
His article reads like a laundry list of failures – outmoded equipment, lousy planning, and complete and utter disorganization.
These are all precisely the same complaints that were hurled against the defense establishment over six months ago, at the war's end. And yet it seems that little has been done in the interim to correct them.
The reservist's conclusion, although based anecdotally on his own narrow experience, is nonetheless chilling: "If, G-d forbid, war breaks out tomorrow, the situation will be very bad. At this rate, we will not win it."
Is anyone in power paying attention?