Israel Matzav

Ehud K. Olmert rejects calls to expand Gaza Strip operation

Ehud K. Olmert thinks that his government is doing such a good job of protecting southern Israel that there is no need to expand the IDF's operations. That will come as news to the long-suffering residents of Sderot.

"Even after Operation Defensive Shield, terror attacks from Judea and Samaria continued," Olmert told reporters on his way back from Washington, adding that in the war against Kassam rockets there would not be a "quick fix." [There have been relatively few terror attacks from Judea and Samaria since 2004. In the immediate aftermath of Defensive Shield, there was a significant drop in the number of terror attacks from Judea and Samaria. If anything, there has been an increase in attacks from Gaza in the last year. And if the 'Palestinians' have missiles in Judea and Samaria, they are not shooting them into 'Israel proper' - yet. The fact that Olmert says that there will be no 'quick fix' means that to him, it is acceptable that Kassams continue to fall on Sderot. As the Post points out in its editorial this morning (which did a decent job of pinpointing problems but was weak on solutions), if it were Tel Aviv or even Jerusalem, the reaction would not be so complacent. CiJ].

Regarding the possibility that the IDF would retake the Philadelphi Corridor, Olmert said: "There is no plan to change the course of action, only to increase its efficiency." [What efficiency? Unless the IDF is stationed along the Philadelphi Corridor, the only thing there that is efficient is the passage of weapons from Egypt into Gaza. CiJ]

Concerning Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) chief Yuval Diskin's comments that Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip were arming themselves with large amounts of weapons, the prime minister stressed that the IDF was doing its utmost against weapons smuggling, albeit not always successfully, adding that the Egyptians were "trying," but were "not always efficient." [In other words, he is ignoring the advice of a man who has more experience with security in his pinkie than Olmert will ever have in his lifetime. That's what's wrong with this government. They ignore any reality that doesn't match their worldview. CiJ]

So Olmert, Peretz and Livni continue to fiddle as Israel burns....

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:44 PM