Barak was the quintessential Israeli soldier. Sayeret Matkal, with its daring secret missions, has captured the imagination of the public, and both men tried to capitalize on this. For three to five years, the men of the unit serve together, bound by a code of secrecy and a rigid ethos of courage. Sayeret Matkal is responsible for dozens of secret missions, many of which have never been publicized. Some will probably never be made public.
Secrecy is crucial.
So everyone who isn't part of the mission is a potential enemy. And everyone else is the enemy. The men in the unit who aren't part of that mission, the secretaries, the cooks, your parents, your friends who aren't part of the unit - they are all potential enemies, because they can unintentionally mess things up. But it elects former military brass to public office in numbers unparalleled in the Western world. Nearly 12 percent of the current Knesset and cabinet is comprised of men who have built their political careers, at least in part, on the foundations of their military past.