Yoel Marcus Admits That Disengagement Was A Mistake

Check this out! Unilateral disengagement cheerleader Yoel Marcus wakes up (sort of) and smells the coffee (hat tip to Batya):

Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement turned out to be a serious mistake. It gave terror a boost, allowed the Iranians to call the shots in Gaza instead of the Egyptians, fueled anarchy in the Palestinian street and pushed the chances for an agreement even further away.

Dr. Aaron Lerner also noticed Marcus' article and he had this to say:

Yoel Marcus played an important role as key supporter and advocate of retreat from Gaza. He suggested on the pages of Haaretz that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would be able to avoid his legal problems if he launched a withdrawal initiative and, viola!, soon thereafter Marcus was Sharon's confidant, enjoying scoops about Sharon's decision to launch - what a coincidence - a retreat plan. Marcus transformed into Sharon's biggest fan and leading cheerleader for retreat.

This column by Marcus sounds more like someone shooting his mouth off at a local pub than a serious piece (the idea that Israel could get away with destroying blocks of buildings as a form of collective punishment certainly sounds more logical after a couple of pints) but he made his way back to his "Oslo religion" with a traditional re-hash in paragraph 15 and a dangerous bout of wishful thinking in paragraph 16.

Here are the aforementioned paragraphs 15 and 16:

15. So what are we going to do with Gaza? Occupy it? We have already done that. What have we achieved by that, apart from occupation? Haven't we learned that occupation is like riding on a tiger's back? All the fleas go along for the ride. There are no overnight solutions. What we need are leaders endowed with both brains and brawn - courageous leaders prepared to talk to Syria, Saudi Arabia and all the Sunni Islamic countries in order to reach a comprehensive agreement. Only that will put an end to Hamas.

16. The time has come to stop going into a panic every time Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad threatens to destroy Israel. He is just a show-off with a very big mouth. The ayatollahs are the ones who say what's what and make the decisions in Iran. They will cut off his hands before he ever reaches the red button.

I am glad that Marcus is a journalist and not a minister in the government. On the hand, he is one of Israel's most influential journalists, if not the most influential. And that my friends tells us a lot about the Israeli MSM.