Back

The Boat: Everybody Knows Nothing

- Monday, January 7, 2002 |

Baby-boomers remember fat, cheery Sgt. Schultz rolling his eyes and intoning, “I know nothing. Nothiiiinnnnngggg,” when Col. Hogan and the guys pulled the wool over their captors’ eyes yet again. Yasser is no Sgt. Schultz. Or maybe the point is that Gen. Zinni is no Sgt. Schultz. Either way, too many people claim to know nothing about that boat.

The weapons came from Iran and sailed up the Red Sea. The American government tells you they were for Hizballah in Lebanon, but logic tells you that if that was the case: a) They wouldn’t be on a PA registered ship with a Palestinian Naval Officer commanding. b) They wouldn’t be using the long and dangerous route. Iranian weapons have flown into Damascus and gone overland to Hizballah in Lebanon for years under the complete control of friendly Arab forces – Iran doesn’t need the PA, the Red Sea and the Suez Canal desert to supply Hizballah.

But the weapons went that way. Which tells you: 1) The Palestinian Authority is planning for a very large war 2) The Iranians are helping, perhaps hoping to create a Lebanon-like situation on Israel’s western border as they did on Israel’s northern border 3) The Egyptians were either in on the deal, or they weren’t. a) If they were, they are no friends of ours. Which is, in fact, the case – the PA has been smuggling weapons through tunnels from Egypt into Gaza for years, no doubt paying kickbacks to Egyptian officers. b) If they weren’t then they aren’t able to secure the Red Sea, which should give the U.S. some pause about selling them Harpoon Block II missiles on the pretext that they are allies of ours in securing vital sea lanes.

Sgt. Schultz “knew nothing” because he openly sympathized with his allied friends. Yasser “knows nothing” because he believes he can promise to “investigate” and stall until the Americans forget about it (who remembers the Santorini?*). The real question is why does General Zinni “know nothing” and proceed as if there is some chance that Israel will be induced to make further security concessions to people who are arming for a serious escalation in the war they began after rejecting a better offer than the Mitchell Report the General has in his pocket right now?

The issue isn’t any number of days of quiet. Violence, like money is fungible; if you don’t spend it here today, you can spend it there tomorrow. Ultimately, General Zinni’s mission is doomed to failure because the Palestinians have just demonstrated once again that they still believe that they will destroy Israel by arming themselves and by sanctioning violence, terror and hatred.

They won’t.

But the U.S. cannot pretend to know nothing. And we cannot pretend that negotiations with Yasser will provide the security to which Israel is entitled.

* The Santorini is the PLO weapons boat captured by the IDF last May.