Initial reports of a shooting attack by Arab terrorists on the Israeli border with Sinai came in just before 2 p.m. on Wednesday.
According to the report, several terrorists opened fire on Israeli cars from Egyptian territory.The targeted region was in the area of Nitzana in the Negev desert, located right on the Egyptian border.
Israeli security and rescue forces have arrived on the scene.
Israel Radio is describing the situation as 'under control,' but the roads in the area are closed. One of the vehicles in question was a school bus transporting children.
Those of you in the American Southwest will appreciate this story. Over 10,000 immigrants entered Israel legally in 2012. Less than 100 entered in 2013. The difference is in the picture above - a fence along the Egyptian border, which was being used by illegals from Africa to cross into Israel.
There are currently some 53,636 African migrants in Israel, and only
some 36 were caught crossing into the country in 2013, according to
Population, Immigration, and Borders Authority (PIBA) statistics on
foreigners in Israel published on Tuesday.
The numbers are a
sharp contrast to the year before, when over the course of all of 2012,
before the Egypt border fence was built, some 10,440 African migrants
entered Israel illegally, according to PIBA figures from the beginning
of 2013. In addition to the 36, a further 59 illegal migrants were
caught by immigration officials elsewhere inside Israel, after having
crossed the border undetected.
In a report issued back in April,
the figure stood at 54,721, which would appear to indicate that 1,085
have either willingly left Israel or been reported over the past six
months or so. In figures from late June 2012, the number stood at
57,193, a difference of 3,557. That number is higher than official
estimates that have been given by government officials, which have
varied from 1,000-2,000.
The 53,336 figure for October 2013
includes 35,987 migrants from Eritrea (67%), 13,249 from Sudan (25%),
and 4,400 from other countries.
The figures also state that there
are some 69,449 legal foreign workers in Israel, as well as 14,847
illegal foreign workers, and 93,000 tourists on overstayed visas.
Prime Minister Netanyahu posted to his website the astounding success rate of Israel's newly completed border fence on its border with Egypt (Hat Tip: Ricky G).
"The fence that we built in the south is achieving the result for
which it was erected," Netanyahu said. "As opposed to the over 2,000
infiltrators who entered Israel exactly one year ago and dispersed to
various cities, in May 2013 exactly two infiltrators crossed the border
and were detained. Now we need to focus on repatriating the illegal
infiltrators who are here, and we will meet this task as well."
The main, 144-mile section of the fence was completed in early 2013, according to a January report by the Wall Street Journal.
It is sixteen feet high and includes "barbed wire, surveillance cameras
and radar." By comparison, the U.S.-Mexico border is roughly 2,000
miles long, and only about a third is fenced off. The Israeli fence's
construction was accelerated due to security concerns in the years since
Egyptian autocrat Hosni Mubarak left power, leaving a vacuum eventually
filled by a Muslim Brotherhood government.
If I were a drug dealer in Mexico, I'd be really happy that Obama is President of the United States and not Netanyahu....
Airport officials say Egypt is allowing Palestinians free entry into the country, ending part of a five-year blockade on the Gaza Strip.
The decision means Palestinians can freely leave Gaza. It also applies to Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
...
The officials said the decision was applied early Monday for the first time, when seven Palestinians waiting at Cairo International Airport were allowed into Egypt without the usual security clearances and visas. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.
No formal announcement was made.
Maybe some of the 'Palestinians' will decide to stay there. Heh.
In any event, they can no longer say that Gaza is 'under siege,' blockaded or anything else. And I'm a lot more concerned about what goes into Gaza than I am about what comes out, so long as it is coming out to Egypt and not to Israel.
Israel creating virtual electronic fence in Red Sea
Israel is setting up a virtual electronic fence beneath the surface of the Red Sea in order to protect itself from attacks from Egypt, according to a story in Friday's JPost.
On Thursday, The Jerusalem Post toured the border with officers from the IDF’s 80th Division and received an insider’s look at how the military plans to thwart terrorist attacks. In August, eight Israelis were killed in a coordinated terrorist assault along the border.
Since then, the navy has boosted the number of electronic sensors along the coast. It can now detect and track targets the size of soda cans floating in the sea, said Lt.-Cmdr. Ronen, commander of the patrol ships in the Red Sea.
“The border between Israel and Sinai continues into the sea, and when one part is closed there might be someone on the other side who thinks that they can try to come into Israel a different way, maybe via the sea,” he told the Post. “We understand that our operations have significant and strategic consequences.”
10-man terror cell planning to attack Israel from Sinai
Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai says that a 10-man terror cell is planning to attack Israel from Sinai during Id el-Fitr, the three day holiday that follows Ramadamadan starting today.
“Islamic Jihad is trying for a long time to perpetrate the attacks from the Sinai and the of Id al-Fitr is a good time for attacks,” Vilnai said during a visit to an Elbit Systems factory in Sderot in reference to the Muslim holiday which begins on Tuesday. “The defense establishment has concrete intelligence regarding plans by a terror cell from the Sinai consisting of more than 10 people.”
Vilnai said that the IDF and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) were working in close cooperation to thwart the attack and that Israel was also coordinating with Egypt.
On Monday, the IDF went on high alert along Israel’s southern border with Egypt on Monday and significantly bolstered its forces there amid concrete intelligence that Islamic Jihad terrorists were planning to infiltrate into Israel and carry out a similar attack to the one near Eilat 10 days ago.
Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz made the decision to beef up forces along the border late Sunday night and instructed OC Planning Directorate Maj.-Gen. Amir Eshel to update the Egyptian military of the decision.
IDF sources said that intelligence indicated that the Islamic Jihad cell had crossed into the Sinai Peninsula from the Gaza Strip and was planning to carry out an attack along one of the roads that runs alongside the border in the coming days. As a result, both Roads 12 and 10 remained closed on Tuesday.
A senior defense official said on Tuesday that Israel was restraining itself and not taking action against the Islamic Jihad in order to not undermine the Egyptian regime.
So how long are we going to continue this way with one of the two main roads to and from Eilat closed at the height of tourist season (most schools start on Thursday) in order to keep Egypt happy? At what point does the IDF finally go clean up the vipers' nest in Gaza?
In a segment to be broadcast at 9:00am on Thursday, the United States' taxpayer-funded National Public Radio will blast Israel for attempting to stop illegal immigration from African countries.
Israel, however, is far from laying down the welcome mat.
Sigal Rosen is an organizer at the Hotline for Migrant Workers, an advocacy group for refugees, in Tel Aviv. She says that though Israel signed the Geneva Convention relating to refugees, it regularly violates it.
"During the last years, Israel is sending a very clear message to all asylum seekers: Beware. We are not interested in your presence here. We will do whatever is in our power to prevent you from being here, even if the price is violating our legal commitments," Rosen says.
...
On Nov. 22, the same day that work began on the fence along the Egyptian border, Yishai presented his four-part plan to make Israel a less desirable locale for refugees.
In addition to the fence, Israel is building a detention center that will operate as a yet undefined "open facility" for any would-be refugee who decides to remain in Israel.
The third step in Yishai's plan is to punish any employer who hires African migrants or supports their employment.
The last step is the repatriation of refugees who are already in Israel. Israel took that step for the first time — last week — when it removed 150 southern Sudanese who agreed to leave voluntarily in exchange for some pocket money and a flight home in time to vote in the upcoming referendum on the region's independence.
Olivier, however, questions just how voluntary their removal was.
"They've been pushed in the corner. They've been put in the situation where that one was the only solution for them," he says.
At the Hotline for Migrant Workers, Rosen says she knows many more who would consider leaving Israel if they were given a similar deal. Most of them, she says, have become fed up.
Every Western country faces the issue of what to do about illegal immigration. Israel is no different than any other country in this respect - including the United States. We have every right to control who enters our country and how long they stay. Of course, given that the Obama administration backs Mexico challenging Arizona's immigration law, that position is not likely to get a whole lot of sympathy in Washington or on NPR. But that shouldn't stop us from doing what needs to be done to protect the Jewish majority in the World's only Jewish country. In fact, I would be in favor of making the same offer to the 'Palestinians' that was made to those illegal immigrants.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
