Israel Matzav

Olmert refused to let IDF use 3 copters to keep Hamas terrorists and arms from Gaza

This should surprise no one: Hamas used the breach in the apartheid wall between Egypt and Gaza to smuggle terrorists and arms into Gaza. But what will surprise you is that the IDF could have stopped it with three helicopters and the Olmert-Barak-Livni junta wouldn't let them.

Hamas's breach of the security fence along the Egypt-Gaza border has resulted in the smuggling of a large amount of advanced weaponry, including long-range rockets, anti-tank missiles, and anti-aircraft missiles, Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) head Yuval Diskin [pictured, top left. CiJ] said in his briefing to ministers during Sunday's cabinet meeting.

In a sobering assessment of the situation, Diskin said that the breach also allowed dozens of operatives from all of the different terror organizations in Syria, Iran, and Egypt to infiltrate into Gaza. He said that these operatives were likely trained in Iran, and crossed the border with the aim of upgrading terror attacks against Israel.

Diskin also noted that the breach in the wall caused Hamas' popularity in Judea and Samaria to rise, while Fatah's fell and that the drop in Kassam attacks this week was because of all the activity surrounding the breach in the wall and not because of any decline in Hamas activity. But here's where the astounding part comes in. DEBKA adds:

Hundreds of Palestinian terrorists have headed south into Sinai. According to Western intelligence sources, they are spread out along the 220-km Israeli border.

DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources disclose the figure omitted from the cabinet’s official communiqué to avoid alarming the public: The number of armed terrorists at large in Sinai is estimated in the region of a thousand. Hamas prepared at least 30 tracks for them to use when it bulldozed the Gaza-Sinai border ten days ago.

Defense minister Ehud Barak therefore told the cabinet that a border barrier must be constructed urgently at two sections of the unfenced Israel-Egyptian border – Nitzana and Eilat.

However, he is too late. Insistent demands by senior IDF officers to fence the border were neglected for too long by the Olmert government. Now, the Egyptian-Israel border is wide open to terrorists and they have been presented with a safe haven in Sinai for hit-and-run attacks.

When Egyptian border police failed to stem the Palestinian surge out of Gaza last week, senior Israeli officers applied for permission to send up three combat helicopters, which they said would have been enough to stem the mass exit and the smuggling in of long-range rockets. But permission was withheld. It was denied in the same was as the high command was held back from embarking on an effective military operation to cut Hamas and its war machine down to size, when it was still readily feasible.

The Olmert government’s blunders over Gaza, military experts estimate, are potentially more ruinous to Israel security than even the mismanagement of the Lebanon War.

But then, you knew that already.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:32 PM