Uzi Arad, who served as head of the National Security Council during the May
2010 Mavi Marmara incident, slammed Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his
government for carrying out “sloppy work” in preparation for the flotilla to
Gaza.
Speaking during a panel discussion in Tel Aviv on Friday, Arad made
the comments two days after State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss, in a report
on the incident, criticized the government’s decision-making in dealing with the
flotilla.
Lindenstrauss charged that the National Security Council Law of
2008 had not been properly implemented and, as a result, the NSC did not play
the central role it should have in planning Israel’s response to the
flotilla.
The law stipulates that the NSC should act as a staff forum for
the prime minister and his government for foreign and national security
matters.
Arad, who was forced to resign in March 2011 over allegations
that he leaked classified information to a journalist, has reiterated on several
occasions his claim that Netanyahu failed to empower the NSC. At a Knesset
committee meeting earlier this year, the deputy attorney-general made clear that
his office never attributed the leaks to Arad.
On Friday, Arad described
Netanyahu as having a careless attitude in the lead-up to the
flotilla.
“I would come to him claiming something had to be done in a
certain way,” Arad said, “and he would answer me: ‘Uzi, what is your obsession
with process?’”
Arad claimed he had pushed for a cabinet meeting to discuss the
issue in the three months prior to the flotilla, but was turned down. He
criticized Netanyahu’s military secretary, Yohanan Locker, for contributing to
the problem.
“All of a sudden, four days before the flotilla, the
military secretary organized some kind of meeting, with no preparation, with no
reference material, without looking at the full scope of the problem and without
the right ministers present,” Arad charged.
“In other words, what
happened was exponentially sloppy work.”
Arad added that when he pressed
Netanyahu to prepare, the prime minister would tell him to focus on “substance”
rather than the “process.”
“And I would tell him that process determines
the outcome of the substance,” Arad said.