Egozi’s Fury
This post is also available in: 
עברית (Hebrew)
What else needs to happen, to make our so-called “heads of state” to officially declare that the third intifada has already begun?
Probably nothing can shake our politicians’ false fixation. Not even the recent terror attack in Bat Yam, whose perpetrators have been captured over the weekend thanks to another brilliant General Security Service operation.
Top defense analyst Ron Ben-Yishai asked a few questions on Friday, which remain unanswered. He asked how could the Bat Yam attackers not leave any intelligence signatures, even though two of them were imprisoned in Israel in the past. They belong to a dangerous terrorist organization and proved capable of manufacturing the explosives, transporting them into Israel and activating them. A bus passenger’s alertness prevented a disaster, but the trend is worrying, according to Ben Yishai. He’s more than right.
The lack of intelligence, the ease with which the terrorist bypassed the security barrier, all these questions and others remain unanswered. Intelligence might be a matter of chance, but the ease with which terrorists pass through the many holes in the security barrier has become a sad joke. Israel erected a security barrier, but can’t maintain its integrity.
This is a terrorist group belonging to a well known, dangerous terrorist organization, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. It carried out complex operations such as manufacturing home-made explosives, packing them, arranging for the transportation of the terrorist into Israel, and so on. Everything was done smoothly and professionally, without the IDF or the General Security Service noticing anything.
This time the operation was organized in Palestinian Authority territory. One of the central members was a Palestinian cop, an officer in training serving in the Palestinian security forces in Jericho. The Palestinian Authority security establishment should have noticed something, because at least some of the people were involved in dissident activities even before getting organized as a terrorist network. They may have noticed, but preferred to keep it under wraps.
We know who we’re dealing with. We know the peace talks are just for show. The Islamic Jihad is inspired by Iran, it operates with Iranian funding and logistic support. Israel should also find out whether this is the first operation in a series of attacks, or just an isolated event. If so, what was the motive behind the attack, why was it carried out while peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority are taking place?
The General Security Service, mainly its field agents, quickly located the perpetrators and deserve praise for professional and quick work, combining technology and human intelligence. The arrests were efficiently carried out by the IDF, but the affair itself is very worrying.
***
Hezbollah grows stronger right in front of our eyes. According to the Wall Street Journal Hezbollah smuggled anti-ship missile parts from Syria to Lebanon. According to the report the missile parts were smuggled during power outages intentionally caused by the terrorist organization.
According to top American officials interviewed by the newspaper the smuggled parts are Russian-made Yakhont missiles, although Hezbollah didn’t manage to smuggle some critical parts required for the operation of the systems.
IHLS – Israel Homeland Security
The officials also noted that the organization shut down power and communication grids at the Syria-Lebanon border areas, in order to hide from Israeli and U.S. intelligence.
Hezbollah maintains large weapon caches in Syria, including anti-aircraft missiles. According to assessments these caches also include 12 advanced guided anti-ship missiles. An Israeli attack on the caches last July was only partly successful.
In the attack, which took place July 5th, several weapon caches in Latakia were destroyed. Afterward Israeli and U.S. intelligence satellites picked up Syrian forces destroying military equipment in an attempt to fool foreign intelligence into thinking they managed to destroy the anti-ship missile launchers.
So Hezbollah grows stronger, and when Israel attacks its strongholds these are only so-called “surgical” strikes. Israel does everything it can not to annoy various “peace loving” elements in Europe and the U.S. That’s not how you stop Hezbollah from growing stronger, especially at a time when its power is already much greater than ever before. That’s not how you prevent the extensive damage of a Hezbollah first strike against Israel.
Next time Israel has an excuse to attack the strike has to be powerful, prolonged, and must continue until the Air Force and other Israeli elements take out every target. It can be done, as long as politicians in Jerusalem understand that no one else will do their work for them, Iran is the one behind the events in Lebanon and it’s time to stop playing games.
If that won’t happen the next surprise strike by Hezbollah will be extremely severe. And yet Jerusalem hesitates after every global comment. Hezbollah-Iran has tens of thousands of missiles stored in Lebanon. They have to be destroyed before someone in Nasrallah’s bunker decides it’s time to attack. Israel has to regain the initiative.
***
Never mind the politicians and the little ego games they play with each other, it doesn’t matter who exactly came up with the brilliant idea of giving parts of the Jordan Biq’ah to the Palestinian Authority. It doesn’t even matter if the person who came up with the idea is reading this – they either went crazy, detached from reality or started hallucinating. There’s no other option. You might as well just place a truck loaded with explosives in the center of Tel Aviv and light the very short fuse.
Only someone suffering from one of the conditions above could have come up with such an insane idea. So they’ll keep talking about a peace agreement with the Palestinians and transferring parts of the Biq’ah to a Palestinian state. It’s sad, watching some of our politician suffer the debilitating effects of the terrible hallucination virus.
***
If Assad falls extreme Islamic forces might turn their attention from him to Israel. Everybody knows this, the only question is how will Israel react. This can’t be a weak response like the response to the Gazan attacks on southern Israeli towns. We can’t have another war of attrition along the Syrian border.
In that case Israel has to act fast, and strike with all its power. Not with the power of the IDF Spokesman, but with real power that will cause Islamic Jihad operatives to think twice before they try anything. The Israeli government is afraid of its own shadow, and it proves it in almost any sector. This weakness must not lead to a war of attrition in the Golan Heights.
