Lies and National Security

Maj. Gen. Meir Kalifi, Benjamin Netanyahu’s military secretary, was the fall guy this week in the fiasco surrounding the PM’s “secret visit” to Russia. When the affaire ended, Kalifi was quoted as saying that “for state security one may sometimes not tell the whole truth.”

Haaretz’s Amos Harel makes a good point regarding this issue:

Kalifi is the man whom the IDF sent to the front, during two sad incidents in the Gaza Strip: the death of seven members of the Ghalia family in 2006 from a blast on the Gaza beach, and the killing of 18 Palestinians by IDF artillery in Beit Hanoun. He is the man who investigated the incidents, and presented the conclusions to the media.

In both cases the IDF came out with minor damage. His willingness to deceive in the name of security this week has shed some doubt also on his statements in the past.

The question is will the Israeli media, who bases its reports almost solely on the IDF’s press releases, remembers this lesson in the future.