The Detail

Marla Daniels:

But you can't lose if you don't play.

Cedric Daniels:

I always heard it

that you can't win if you don't play.

Marla Daniels:

The department puts you on a case

it doesn't want.

You're given people

that are useless or untrustworthy.

Cedric Daniels:

Correct.

Marla Daniels:

If you push too hard,

and any shit hits the fan...

you'll be blamed for it.

Cedric Daniels:

Correct.

Marla Daniels:

If you don't push hard enough, and there's

no arrest, you'll be blamed for that, too.

Cedric Daniels:

Correct.

Marla Daniels:

.The game is rigged

But you cannot lose if you do not play.

Ehud Barak had made the impossible happened. He got the Labour party convention's approval for the coalitional agreement and kept his position as minister of defence. The interests of those who sided with Barak are plain to see. The ministers to be, Ben Eliezer, Simhon, Noked and Herztog draw their power from bringing the interests of the power groups in that convention to the government table. this is why the Labour party was in every coalition in the last 10 years. In the case of Ofer Einy, the Histadrut chairman, it was even more obvious. Einy helped the coalitional deal pass by preserving and sealing most of the big workers unions privileges as part of the agreement.

Their excuse for joining the government was that it's a choise between two evils. That while Kadima is the biggest party in the opposition, the labour party will have to play second violin and wont be able to draw votes in the next elections from representing an alternative to Likud. This Theory has a few holes in it. 25 to be exact. Beside Hanegbi, Hasson and Plesner none of Kadima's Knesset members will find their arms and legs in the opposition's seats. This week Ehud Barak convinced himself that he has to chose between two evils. that either way he will be that history will blame for turning the Labour party from the party of the founders to a small and irrelevant party. He chose to keep playing.

All this week the media had to deal with more and more testimonies of war crimes committed by the IDF in the last was in Gaza. What the spinners called "Operation Cast Led". in Hebrew is even sound like a sale. The IDF still denies. During the war itself, the evidence for war crimes was plain to see even in the Israeli media. not to mention CNN and Al Jazeera English. We saw phosphorus bombs being used daily in dense civilian neighbourhoods, carpeting wide areas in smoke and starting numerous fires. We saw the embedded Israeli journalist Or Heller from "channel 10" filming (why should a journalist start a conversation with people he doesn't know) a Palestinian family being held at the ground floor of their own house as human shields, while the second floor is being used as a platoon headquarters. But nobody from the media or the Israeli viewers wanted to call those things in their proper names. If a discussion about the war in Gaza will find itself room in the Israeli discourse it shouldn't stay in the boundaries of "Cast led". IDF is occupying the Palestinians territories for 42 years. This is the true culture of the Israeli society as a whole after 42 years of occupation.

While in the first episode we saw Herc and Carver talking about busting heads. this episode the trash talk materialised itself. Carver, Herc and Prez visited the towers in 2 AM drunk and frustrated. things get out of hand and a 14 year old teen loses an eye. Daniels takes it very emotionally but backs up Prez, and officer he would love to get rid off, and even give him tips of how make it go away with the internal affairs unit.

Are there any IDF commanders who are feeling sorry for what happened in Gaza ? I don't believe so. But it is obvious that the cover up mechanism culture that shows in Daniels' actions it thriving in the IDF. Today the IDF changed the numbers of "Hamas members" being killed in the operation from 300-400 in the days of the fighting to around 800. The IDF spokesmen counts on the military correspondents and the Israeli collective denial to let that dyscalculia pass.

Season one Episode Two @HBO