Avner decided this was the time to make the counter-point. “Which means that there is no way the Americans could claim that they accidently attacked our aircraft. They will be tracking our aircraft from the moment they take off. So if that man doesn’t want to give us the codes, the hell with him. We will attack Persia regardless. We will do it on our timetable, not his.” The defense minister was an infantry man by experience and training.
The prime minister started to respond as he usually was forced to do when Avner’s emotions were driving his talking points, but Schechter spoke first. “You make a good point, General Avner. No doubt that the Americans will track us all the way from take-off to our targets over Iran and back. I completely agree that the reality is that they would not have an excuse to claim mistaken identity. However, I will simply point out two facts that I must consider as the air force commander responsible for this operation. First, just because they know who we are doesn’t leave me sleeping any better. A political decision to interrupt the attack could be made in Washington.
“Second, I worry less about an attack by American fighters, which, in my opinion, would only come about as a result of intentional orders from Washington, than I do about being attacked by surface to air missiles. These systems are often on a hair trigger, and when a mass of targets comes onto a radar screen that has the profile of a large coordinated attack, and none of the planes in that mass are squawking a friendly code, bad things can happen. Either one of these is a risk that I will not accept without direct orders, given the political implications to Israel.”
Minister of Defense Avner weighed in. “There is just no way that the U.S. will intentionally attack us.”
“I have to agree with that,” added Mort Yaguda.
“Gentlemen, I am responsible for this operation,” responded Schechter. “The impact of this issue, if you are — with all due respect — wrong, is catastrophic. The lack of IFF codes opens the door to a political decision to attack us and claim it was a mistake after the fact. I will remind everyone in this room that it was Israel that intentionally attacked the USS Liberty for political reasons in 1967 and then claimed afterward that it was mistaken identity.”
Avner erupted. “How can you say that, David? That is bullshit. That was absolutely not an intentional attack.” Avner’s volume was uncontrolled, as was his temper.
Prime Minister Cohen raised his left hand in a signal for his minister of defense to calm down, but he was looking at General Schechter, his eyes furious. When he spoke, however, his tone was that of a statesman. “General, I am not quite sure how you came to this assumption, but I can assure you that you are wrong. The attack on that American ship was a case of mistaken identity. The evidence behind this conclusion is comprehensive.”
At the other end of the table, Natan Fishel sat quietly. A smirk appeared on his face. He guessed at the tactics being used by the younger air force officer standing across the table from him.
David Schechter smiled broadly. He had engineered the response he was seeking. “Forgive me General Avner.” He looked at Cohen. “Mister Prime Minister.” He bowed his head slightly to his commander-in-chief. “I was making a point. Even forty-five years later, after thorough review by commissions in both Israel and the United States, it is still a source of contention as to whether or not we attacked the Liberty accidentally or intentionally. Israelis are, of course, completely accepting of the fact that the attack was an accident. But many Americans to this day, including many of the survivors of the crew, believe that the attack was intentional.” Schechter paused. Both Avner and Cohen slowly sank back into their chairs, their thoughts racing. The fact that Schechter actually believed the attack on the Liberty had been deliberate was an opinion that every Israeli officer who shared it had learned to keep buried. Any public airing of such a thought was career ending.
“My point,” Schechter continued, “is that without the IFF codes, much can happen, be it accidental or otherwise. The Liberty incident is a footnote in history. Block G will be the front page of history. If the worst occurs, the conspiracy theorists in both countries will spend the next century debating what happened and why, and the damage done between us and our most important ally will be irreparable and lasting. That is not to mention that any attack by the Americans on our strike force, regardless of the reason or cause, could destroy our chances of success.”
Prime Minister Cohen clapped slowly three times. “You are damn good, General. Damn good.” Cohen looked to Avner, who was rapidly calming.
Chief of Staff Fishel’s smirk turned into a smile. He was proud of the man who was under his command. “I think you have made your point, David. Now let’s move on.”
“Yes, sir.” Schechter turned to look at the TV.
Rueben Herzog interrupted. “Before we leave the topic of radar, I don’t recall Jordan being discussed. You reviewed the plans for Syria and Iraq, but did you mention Jordan? Don’t they have long-range radar?”
Yavi Aitan beat Schechter to the response. “Allow me to address that, General.” Aitan glanced at Schechter who nodded his head in consent. “You are correct, Mister Herzog, there was no mention of Jordan. They do have a handful of early warning radar sets, including an American L-band radar and a refurbished Russian VHF Spoon Rest radar. Both units are located around Amman. We are not concerned about these units.”
“Why not?” asked Herzog.
Aitan remained silent and offered only a forced smile in return. “I think it is enough to tell you that neither General Schechter nor General Fishel are concerned.”
“Okay, okay.” Herzog was annoyed that, despite being elevated to the Kitchen Cabinet, he was still not to be privy to the most sensitive secrets. But he knew that pushing his desire to gain knowledge too far would result in his demotion back to the Security Cabinet, a position he held as a matter of Israeli law.
In this case, Aitan was not willing to discuss the back door access that Israel maintained into the central command and control computers that received the data picked up by these two radar sets. This gave them the ability, if used wisely and very rarely, to make their planes invisible on the Jordanian radar, or to make a large flight of planes look like a single aircraft on a routine mission. It was a state of affairs that the Jordanians knew existed and had long decided — a decision made by the king himself — to ignore. It made their life much easier.
Schechter decided to move on. He had finished up the last slide, but was not yet finished with the issues to be discussed. He spoke to all the members of the Kitchen Cabinet. “The last issue for the Olympus team is simple. We need to finalize the strike targets. The ones in question require the approval of this body.” Schechter paused and looked at Margolis, who handed over a folder with a number of handouts. The general took the folder and handed out a single page print out to each man.
“The target package I am handing out is almost complete. We have planned for and are prepared to attack every target on the list. However, we need the final decision from this group regarding the targets highlighted in blue. There is a political element to each of these targets.”
Schechter waited for everyone to look at the handout they had just received. The next few minutes were spent discussing the issue of striking the political leaders of Iran. The debate was lively and the opinions divergent. Finally, the prime minister turned to Amit Margolis. “Mister Margolis, I am interested in your analysis.”