Iriohos 2017, What Does it Really Symbolize?

The Iriohos exercise is set to unite 5 countries

On March 29^th, 2017 Haaretz Correspondent, Gili Cohen published an article titled “IsraeliAir Force Holds Joint Exercise With United Arab Emirates, U.S. and Italy”. This article covered the story of the Israeli Air Force participating in Iniohos 2017, a joint military event between the Air Force divisions of Israel, UAE, U.S. and Italy. According to the U.S. Air Force website, the purpose of the Iniohos exercise is to increase relations between NATO countries, which is immensely important for Israel as it has very few allies in the Middle East. One aspect of the article that Cohen makes clear is that although the United Arab Emirates and Israel do not have official political ties, the two countries are said to have secret communications. The final point in the article that Cohen mentions is the close involvement between Israelis and Greek forces. It is stated in the article that the two countries share common interests both politically and economically, and that the Israelis use the mountains as practice for countries they may one day land in.

Throughout the article, there is a clear lack in credible sources to reaffirm the insinuations made by the author. The hook of the article mentions how the UAE and Israel do not have official diplomatic relations, yet does not explain the extent to which both countries were involved in Iniohos. Later in the article, the hook is mentioned again as Cohen claims that the Israeli government is working behind the scenes with the United Arab Emirates to establish relations, yet she provides no concrete evidence of these alleged relations. According to an article from the Huffington Post, “the UAE monarchy has officially refused to recognize Israel’s right to exist.” The credibility of Cohen’s claim seems to be nothing more than speculation, since she can’t provide quotes or sources for her claims.

In the article it also seems as though Cohen is in support of the alliances between Israel and the other NATO countries, especially Greece. Cohen writes about a senior officer in the Israeli Air Force that mentioned how Greece and Israel share similar economic and political agendas. However, Cohen does not include the name of the military official, or a link to the interview or public address with the quote in writing. Not only does Cohen quote an unnamed military official, she also quotes Brig. Gen. Erez Meisel as well as Lt. Col. Gilad from the Israeli Air Force. Similarly, both quotes from these military officers were unable to be traced back to a credible source, which may indicate that these quotes were just a form of hearsay. One of the few sources that seems to have similar information to Cohen about this topic is from author Yaakov Lapin at The Jerusalem Post who wrote an article titled “A New Mediterranean Friendship Amid Regional Instability”. Lapin echoes the claims made by Cohan about the relationship between Greece and Israel, but does not mention a military partnership.  

Although the article is written about the Iniohos exercise, it seems as though Cohen simply uses the event to transition into an underlying issue regarding the Israeli relationship between the UAE and Greece. It does seem that Cohen generalizes the events in the article, and failed to provide in depth detail about the Iniohos exercise or even the extent to which the Israelis are involved with the UAE and Greece. The author seems to simply provide very interesting topics that could have better served the reader had there been more statistics or factual evidence.

Much of what Cohen writes about seems to be a combination of speculative and predictive journalism, without concrete fact. It is clear that the author is in support of the alliances between Israel and its fellow NATO countries, but is more so in favor of the alliance between Greece and Israel. Cohen seems to be insinuating that Israel is not as isolated in the Middle East as the country has been portrayed. Israel has been making widespread efforts to increase relations with neighboring countries in the region, and according to Cohen, the practice of using aircraft in Greece could be an indication of things to come. There seem to be clear indications in this article that Israel is set to expand in the Middle East; however, at this time Cohen seems unclear as to whether that means politically or militarily.