And on the other hand...

There is something common between the brouhaha around the restoration work on the Mugrabi bridge in Jerusalem and the minor spot of bother between IDF and Lebanese army on the northern border. If you think about it just for a jiffy.

The common denominator between the two is simple: there is a good chance both could have been avoided, provided the government employees in charge could carry out their jobs properly and communicated our perfectly legitimate intentions to the other side. To the Islamic Waqf, the trust that oversees the complex on the Temple Mount in the first case and to the UNIFIL in the second case.

Granted, advance communication in both cases is not a guarantee that the other side will behave civilly. Both of them have some PR brownie points to score, not matter what the truth is. But there was a chance that the unpleasantness could have been avoided, and nothing was done to communicate the plans and to save the bother.

Avi Dichter, the minister of internal security, in a radio interview:

Israel does not require a permission from anyone to carry out work in its sovereign territory. We didn't ask for Waqf permission, since it [the area in question] is outside their authority.

This kind of behavior is just another bothersome indication of how dysfunctional our government is, its members too busy trying to save their political backsides or to keep out of jail for this or another transgression.

Ehehe... Another reason for a cleanup, it looks like...

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