Mark Okrent – What is the Difference between the Case of Zecharia Baumel and the Case of Naama Issachar?
Why would there be any parallel between these two cases?
Zecharia Baumel was an Israeli soldier, whose unit, during the Battle of Sultan Yacoub in the 1982 Lebanon War, was attacked and he and five other comrades were declared missing.
Naama Issachar is a 26-year-old backpacker who was detained in April of this year while in transit in Moscow to change flights between India and Israel, when she was found to be carrying 9 ½ grams of marijuana. She received a far out-of-proportion sentence of 7 ½ years in prison for this minor crime.
What binds these two cases together? … the answer is Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu.
Since Putin’s entry into Russian leadership at the beginning of the 21st Century, he has quietly worked to regain the geopolitical influence which had been lost to the Russians with the collapse of the Soviet Empire. He has used military means (e.g. Ukraine, Georgia, Syria) and cyber weapons (e.g. United-States, Europe) while in other cases, he is calling in favors.
Benjamin Netanyahu, under legal attack for the crimes for which he has been under investigation for the past three years and now indicted, is struggling for political survival to stay out of jail. He has already tortured the Israeli public through two expensive and painful elections and now dragged the same public into a third avoidable election. One of his tactics to convince the Israeli voter that only he can lead the nation, despite his crimes, is to constantly demonstrate that only he, through his amazing relations with world leaders can attain success for Israel on the world stage. His necessity for success fits perfectly into Putin’s goal of widening his sphere of international influence.
Zecharia Baumel’s remains suddenly appeared after 37 years, when on April 3, 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that the Russian army, in coordination with the Syrian military, had found Baumel’s remains. There was no explanation where the remains had been all these years and how they had been found. It is obvious that they were stored by Hezbollah as a bargaining asset during all these years. In recent years, Vladimir Putin and the Russian military have come to the aid of the crumbling Syrian government which is closely allied with Hezbollah.
During the approach to the first elections on April 9 of this year, Netanyahu needed a major success to prove that he was indispensable to the Israeli public. Trump had already provided diplomatic achievements with declarations on Jerusalem. Putin could now provide the emotional high note by arranging for Syria, whom they saved from oblivion, to obtain Zecharia Baumel’s remains from Hezbollah, the beneficiary of Syrian long-time support so that Netanyahu could return to Israel from Moscow with the casket on April 3 to stage a widely publicized funeral on Mt. Herzl only 5 days prior to the election!
Now, we have Naama Issachar, who has received a preposterously harsh sentence, somehow, conveniently timed to provide an opportunity to be exchanged for Aleksey Burkov, an IT specialist wanted in the United States on charges of hacking and credit card fraud. Burkov had been held in Israel since 2015 and Russia wanted him back. Exchanging Naama Issachar, a dual American and Israeli citizen would hopefully assure little resistance from either the American or Israeli governments as they both had a responsibility to protect their joint citizen. This Russian tactic was unexpectedly disrupted by the Israeli Supreme Court, the Adult in the room, ruling that the Israeli government was required to fulfill the extradition request and so Burkov was sent to the U.S. in November.
Now, the Russians had an asset on their hands, angry on the one hand that she did not bring them the benefit they anticipated, but on the other hand, providing a new opportunity to further win favor and spread influence.
Netanyahu, now indicted, under attack internally within his own party and with poll numbers constantly sliding, needs a boost, and what better than to be aided by his good friend Putin. It was strange that considering the pettiness of this “crime”, an Appeals Court would sit for some six hours to discuss 9 ½ grams of marijuana and then decide to reject the appeal within 20 minutes of deliberation. All news outlets declared that there is no further legal path to follow, with only the hope of a pardon from Putin and by chance, Putin is coming to visit Israel in January 2020, prior to the upcoming third crucial elections. Would it not be amazing if Vladimir Putin stepped off his aircraft at Ben Gurion International Airport bringing his gift to Benjamin Netanyahu in the form of his humanitarian release of this young victim of the Putin-Netanyahu deal.
If this is a bit too much to expect, alternatively during the January visit, Putin will inform Netanyahu that he has decided to pardon Naama, who has made a mistake and should not have her life destroyed by this one indiscretion. Then, in the upcoming period (as close to the elections as possible), Naama will return to her home with both Bibi and Sara waiting on the tarmac to greet her. Maybe, Yair will also attend and invite Naama out on a date. (how repulsive!)
Of course, Israeli citizens would be thrilled, her family would have only praise for Netanyahu’s efforts and again we would have a demonstration of how essential, Benjamin Netanyahu is to the efficient performance of Israel’s foreign affairs. Heidad King Bibi!
Naama Issachar should never have received such an extreme punishment. Marijuana is increasingly being legalized by nation after nation. The quantity she was carrying was very small. It was certainly not a quantity to consider her a dealer. She was in transit and had no intention of bringing drugs into Russia. Either a fine or a suspended sentence or an immediate pardon should have been the maximum penalty. After the original conviction, the Appeals Court should have had mercy on Naama and released her, having already spent over 8 months in jail.
Netanyahu should not use this case for personal glorification.
