EGYPT’S VENOM TOWARD ISRAEL
Rick Moran
FrontPage, August 22, 2011
The fallout from the terrorist attack near the border town of Eliat this past Thursday that killed eight Israelis, and the subsequent pursuit of the murderers by Israeli security forces into Egypt that resulted in a confrontation with Egyptian police, killing as many as five, continues to be felt across the region.
Hamas launched a deadly barrage of rockets that killed one civilian and wounded twenty over the weekend, while Israel launched a series of air strikes that Hamas claims killed fourteen Palestinians. As Israeli politicians call for stronger action against the terrorists, the UN and Egypt are working to broker a cease-fire with Hamas. The terrorists agreed late Sunday to restoring the peace, but, according to the Associated Press, more rocket fire targeting Israeli towns was launched after the cease-fire deadline, and Israeli planes continued their strikes deep into Gaza. Apparently, not all Hamas factions have accepted the cease-fire and the violence continues.
The incident has sparked the most serious diplomatic row between Israel and Egypt since Hosni Mubarak was forced out last February. It has also further isolated Israel at a time when the Palestinian Authority is preparing to ask the United Nations General Assembly to grant it statehood.
Further complicating matters is the growing insecurity along the Egyptian border as Palestinian infiltration into Gaza is now augmented by concerns about the Sinai crossing. The terrorists made their way from Gaza into the Negev Desert and then crossed into Israel. Also, there are concerns about the ability of the Egyptian army to keep weapons and explosives from making their way into Gaza since the Rafah border crossing was opened by the new Egyptian government. And there are concerns about how committed the Egyptian army is to securing the border as it seeks to respond to popular opinion that is rabidly anti-Israel.
Opposition leader Tzipi Livni said on Friday, “The border with Egypt is no longer a peaceful border and we need to change the way we treat it.” Egypt denies claims that the terrorists infiltrated into Israel from the Sinai, and also scoffs at the notion that the border security has weakened in the region since the fall of Mubarak. Israel thinks that the Egyptian army doesn’t see guarding the border with Israel as a top priority anymore. Indeed, attacks on the gas pipeline that supplies Israel and Jordan proves the Israeli’s point. No doubt, the government will be forced to address this additional threat to Israel by beefing up security along the 250 mile-long border.
The deaths of the Egyptian policemen who engaged Israeli forces in hot pursuit of the terrorists has angered the Egyptian people and government. The Egyptian government threatened to recall its ambassador to Israel if the Israelis didn’t apologize for the killings. Late Sunday, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak issued a formal statement saying, “Israel is sorry for the deaths of Egyptian policemen during the attack along the Egyptian-Israeli border,” while a foreign ministry spokesman said in another statement that “Israel expresses deep regret” over the incident. Barak also called for a joint investigation of the incident with the Egyptian military.
The Egyptian cabinet refused to acceptthe apologies because it was “not in keeping with the magnitude of the incident and the state of Egyptian anger toward Israeli actions.” But even though it appears Israel’s statements of regret was rejected, there are conflicting reports whether or not the Egyptian ambassador has been recalled. The Israelis claim they have received no information from the Egyptian government that any kind of rupture was imminent.
A statement issued after a second cabinet meeting on Saturday was much more provocative, saying in part, “Egyptian blood is not cheap and the government will not accept that Egyptian blood gets shed for nothing.”
The incident provided a ready pretext for venomous street demonstrations, as thousands of protesters gathered in front of the Israeli embassy. In an incident illustrative of the Egyptian military’s changed attitude toward Israel since the fall of Mubarak, a young man climbed to the roof of the Israeli embassy, tore down the Star of David flag and hoisted an Egyptian standard. The act electrified the crowd of demonstrators and, soon thereafter, the entire Arab world, as the news was spread via Twitter and other social media. The incident occurred despite hundreds of Egyptian soldiers and police watching the demonstrators and supposedly guarding the embassy.
As the crowd cheered the act and fireworks went off, the symbolism could not be ignored; the Egyptian people, having thrown off the despotic yoke of the Mubarak regime, felt free to give full voice to their anti-Semitic sentiments without fear of repercussions. The burning of Israeli flags, the protesting in front of the embassy, and outward shows of animosity to the Jewish state, were unheard of in Mubarak’s time.…
Egyptian Information Minister Osama Heikel…told state TV, “The assurance that Egypt is committed to the peace treaty with Israel…should be reciprocated by an equivalent commitment and an adjustment of Israeli statements and behavior regarding various issues between both countries.” Such statements should not give Israeli diplomats confidence that the peace treaty will survive if a government headed by the Muslim Brotherhood takes power after the elections later this year. One notable presidential candidate, former Arab League secretary Amr Moussa, tweeted, “Israel must be aware that the days when it kills our children without getting a strong, appropriate response are gone for ever.” Coming from a serious contender for the presidency, the statement borders on being a threat.
Indeed, the trouble with Egypt has isolated Israel more than ever. Statements of condemnation regarding the confrontation with Egyptian police were heard from the usual sources, including the Arab League and Iran. But strong statements condemning the incident also came from Jordan and Morocco—two countries who could usually be counted on to temper their expressions of disapproval when criticizing Israel. The increased isolation does Israel no good as it is expected that what is being called a “diplomatic intifada” will take place at the UN next month when the Palestinians ask the UN to recognize them as an independent state. While the US is expected to veto any resolution that makes it to the Security Council, it is expected that the non-binding vote in the General Assembly will be overwhelmingly in favor of the Palestinian motion.…
Israelis are coming to the realization that more than ever, they must depend on their own resources and people to achieve an elusive security that is continuously threatened by those who seek to exterminate them.
HAMAS-RUN GAZA NOW THREATENS ISRAELI-EGYPTIAN PEACE
Evelyn Gordon
Jerusalem Magazine, August 22, 2011
The diplomatic imbroglio with Egypt sparked by Thursday’s terror attack near Eilat makes one thing crystal clear: The price of Israel’s decision to tolerate a terrorist quasi-state on its southern border has just gotten a lot higher. Before, terror from Gaza merely threatened the lives and peace of residents of the south. Now, it also threatens Israel’s peace with Egypt—and devastating though Palestinian rocket attacks are, war with Egypt would be a whole lot worse.
Since the fall of Hosni Mubarak’s regime, terrorists have enjoyed free rein in Sinai. As former ambassador to Egypt Zvi Mazel noted, even retired Egyptian generals have begun raising the alarm about this situation. But you don’t have to be a general to see that the problem exists; it’s patently obvious.
Over the last six months, for instance, five separate attacks on the Egyptian-Israeli natural gas pipeline have kept it almost permanently shut, thereby depriving Israel of gas and Egypt of badly needed foreign currency. This compares to zero successful attacks in the three years between the pipeline’s 2008 opening and the start of Egypt’s revolution in January 2011. Even worse, Thursday’s cross-border attack took place in broad daylight, right in front of an Egyptian army outpost, without the soldiers lifting a finger to stop it. The Egyptian border policemen on patrol whom Israeli troops allegedly killed in their effort to repulse the terrorists were also clearly at the scene; otherwise, they wouldn’t have been in the line of fire. Yet they, too, did nothing to stop it from happening.…
Unlike the pipeline attacks, to which Israel can and should respond merely by finding a new gas supplier, terror attacks on its own territory and citizens necessitate military action to repel them. Hence every such attack could potentially spark clashes with Egyptian troops along the border, just as last Thursday’s did: Distinguishing terrorists from Egyptian soldiers will always be difficult in the heat of battle, even if the terrorists don’t complicate matters by wearing what eyewitnesses described as Egyptian army uniforms.
And this is where Gaza comes in—because it’s only the Palestinian terror organizations in Gaza that actually have an interest in such cross-border attacks. The Sinai Bedouin who perpetrated most of the other attacks of the last six months may not love Israel, but their primary target is the regime in Cairo. That’s precisely why all their attacks targeted symbols of Egypt’s central government, such as the pipeline (which also supplies Jordan) and the El-Arish police station, rather than targets inside Israel.
Thursday’s attack, in contrast, was perpetrated by Palestinians who crossed into Sinai from Hamas-run Gaza via the smuggling tunnels. And they have every incentive to keep perpetrating such attacks, because this one succeeded beyond their wildest dreams: It killed and wounded many Israelis; it created a diplomatic crisis between Israel and Egypt; and it doesn’t appear to have endangered Hamas’s own relationship with Egypt in the slightest.
That last is critical, because Hamas is highly dependent on Cairo: Not only is Egypt Gaza’s gateway to the world, but Hamas’s current patron, the Assad regime in Syria, may not survive, and Cairo has been demonstrating interest in taking over the job (see, for instance, its lifting of the Egyptian blockade on Gaza, or the rampant increase it has allowed in arms smuggling from Sinai into Gaza). Hence had Egypt objected to the Palestinians staging a cross-border attack on Israel from its territory, Hamas might well think twice about permitting another one.
But so far, Cairo hasn’t uttered a peep about the Palestinians’ use of its territory to attack Israel. Instead, it has directed all its ire at Israel—not only for erroneously killing its soldiers, but for daring to shoot back at terrorists who were firing over the border from Sinai, for launching retaliatory airstrikes on the terrorists’ leaders in Gaza (further evidence that it’s auditioning for the role of Hamas’s new patron), and even for stating the obvious out loud: It was furious over Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s statement that Egypt is “losing its grip” on Sinai.…
Hence Israel now faces a stark choice: Either it gets rid of the terrorist enclave in Gaza, or it will suffer more and more cross-border attacks from Sinai that will cause more and more inadvertent Egyptian casualties, with devastating consequences for Israeli-Egyptian peace…
While Egypt might sever relations over Gaza, it won’t go to war over it. In contrast, continued cross-border fighting between Israel and Egypt, with a growing body count on both sides, really could spark an Israeli-Egyptian war. And if Israel must fight, war with Hamas is far better than war with Egypt. Not only would the latter be far more devastating, but Israel has nothing to gain from fighting Egypt. War with Hamas, in contrast, at least offers the prospect of a strategic benefit to offset its costs: finally abolishing the terrorist enclave on Israel’s border.
TOUGH DECISIONS ON TERROR
Isi leibler
Jerusalem Post, August 21, 2011
The latest terrorist attack in southern Israel was no random outburst.
The Hamas leadership is unquestionably responsible, and at least authorized the attack. It was a highly sophisticated, well-planned military operation involving at least 20 highly skilled terrorists using advanced armaments. It may easily have resulted in a far greater number of casualties, but the ongoing barrage of missiles threatens to broaden into a much wider conflict.
Emboldened by the overthrow of Mubarak and empowered by the flow of arms across the Egyptian borders, the jihadists are testing our mettle. Hamas also succeeded in intensifying hostility between us and the new Egyptian regime.
In the days and weeks ahead, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will be facing some difficult decisions. While his initial response to the attacks—the deadliest since he assumed office—cannot be faulted, his boast that terrorism would always be contained under his watch will now be put to the test.
Israel’s will to react firmly to this provocation will signal whether we retain the ability to deter Hamas from future attacks. The Sinai Peninsula is rapidly becoming a scorpion’s den for radical Islamists, including Al Qaida-inspired factions. The border with Egypt, which had been relatively stable, is now clearly porous, and represents a new entry point for terrorists who now move freely from Gaza to Sinai. The extent of the disastrous decision of the Sharon government to cede control of the Philadelphi Corridor can only now be understood. The IDF is therefore investing major additional resources to beef up the IDF presence and construct a 200-km security fence on the Egyptian border.…
Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon (a rotating member of the UN Security Council) prevented a condemnation of the most recent terrorist attacks, the UN Security Council even dispensed with condemning the outrage. More significantly, we are also likely to find ourselves at total loggerheads with the Obama Administration. The enormous—but fortunately unsuccessful—efforts exerted by the Americans to force us to make a groveling apology to Turkey over the flotilla reflects the extent the current Administration is willing to humiliate its closest allies to appease the Islamists. Now we may soon encounter threats to withhold the US veto on Palestinian statehood at the UN unless we display “restraint”—a code word for not exercising genuine deterrence.…
Defense minister Ehud Barak, with his consistent record of making empty threats in the wake of terrorist incidents, will undoubtedly seek to persuade the Prime Minister to act with “restraint.” Our delusionary Left will also urge us not to “force Hamas into a corner.”
Should Prime Minister Netanyahu succumb to these pressures, we will undoubtedly again undergo a cycle of lethal attacks met by hollow threats, which would inevitably be followed by increased terror, until our lives become unbearable, and we are once more obliged to launch a war to defend our citizens.
Tough and immediate military responses are thus required to deter future attacks.…
Israel should have no inhibitions in depicting our murderous enemies as barbarians, and drawing attention to the spontaneous public celebrations in areas under PA and Hamas jurisdiction every time there’s news of an Israeli being murdered. And when spokesmen for our “peace partner,” like senior PA official Nabil Shaath, issue press releases condemning us for committing “war crimes” by responding to the murders, Israel should demand that the US condemn such statements and extract an apology.
We must make the American people and Congress understand that deterrence is defense, not revenge, and that irrespective of the negative political repercussions, our government must protect its citizens. This should also be an opportune time to draw the attention of the American people to the implications for Israel of the “Arab Spring,” and the consequences if we give in to President Obama’s pressure, accept the 1949 armistice lines with swaps, and subsequently find ourselves surrounded by Hamastan and jihadists.
Indeed, with the impending Egyptian elections in which the genocidal Muslim Brotherhood—creators of Hamas—will emerge as a highly influential force, prospects for border stability will become even shakier. Israel’s fraying relationship with Egypt, and the explosive atmosphere over the terrorist attack reflect the rising influence of the Muslim Brotherhood. The Egyptian army will of course seek to maintain the immense subsidies it receives from the US. But unless the Administration threatens to suspend payments, the Egyptian army is likely to simply stand aside and give the Jihadists a free hand.…
There is a genuine risk that tough responses by us may lead to greater regional turbulence. But the alternative—not exercising deterrence—will most certainly erode our security if the Jihadists are able to continue their terror attacks and launch missiles against our citizens with impunity. Our lives would become unbearable and we would once again be forced into a full-blown conflict.
A FORGOTTEN ANNIVERSARY
Charles Bybelezer
Last week in Israel began with a forgotten anniversary and ended in bloodshed, the indiscriminate murder of at least 8 civilians in a three-pronged terrorist attack near Eilat, followed by an escalation of rocket fire into Israeli population centers emanating from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, which killed one and injured many more,.
Amdist the chaos the anniversary in question has understandably been relegated to the status of afterthought: exactly six years ago last week, Israel’s disengagement from Gaza began.
On the eve of the Disengagement Plan’s implementation, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon addressed the nation: “Citizens of Israel, the day has arrived. We are beginning the most difficult and painful step of all—evacuating our communities from the Gaza Strip and Northern Samaria.”
The next morning, some 14,000 IDF soldiers and police officers began the task of forcibly evicting the approximately 4,500 “settlers” and 4,000 activists remaining Gaza, where clashes broke out between civilians and security forces in what can aptly be described as one of the most traumatic events in modern Jewish history.
The story of Hamas’ coming-of-age is well-known. Following Israel’s withdrawal, and largely at the behest of Washington, elections were held in Gaza in 2006. Despite warnings from Israel that elections could empower the then-floundering Hamas, the White House ignored Israel’s allegations. The consequence was the “democratic” election of a terrorist group dedicated to liberating “Palestine” from the “Mediterranean to the Jordan River.”
Following Hamas’ political empowerment, came its 2007 civil war waged against another terrorist faction, the Palestinian Authority, leading to the PA’s banishment to the West Bank.
If the PA’s terrorist sympathies was ever in doubt, consider its response to last Thrsuday’s attack on Israel: in the words of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s spokesman Mark Regev, the Palestinian silence was “deafening.”
Once Israel began its retaliatory campaign, however, Palestinian representatives regained their powers of speech: First, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat warned Israel against “any irresponsible action” in the Gaza Strip (it is already well-known that the PA considers as irresponsible the dismantling or elimination of terrorist infrastructure, as it has still not satisfied this fundamental criterion of the Oslo accords); Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, ignoring the slaughter of Israeli civilians, called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss “halting Israeli aggression” on the Gaza Strip; and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad issued a statement asserting that Israel’s “rogue behavior must end.” Nimer Hammad, a senior adviser to Abbas, accused Israel of perpetrating “war crimes” against the Palestinians; Mohammed Subh, the PA envoy to the Arab League, alleged that “Israel is preparing for war to distract attention from the Palestinian Authority’s plan for September.”
Terrorism comprises the indiscriminate use of violence, whether direct or indirect, for political aims, and the Palestinian Authority is doing just that by claiming that Israel’s legitimate retaliation to the massacre of its civilians is an attempt to stifle the PA’s September bid for statehood at the UN, and by equating Israeli self-defense with Palestinian terrorism. That these claims are patently false was confirmed by the London-based Arabic-language newspaper Al-Hayat, which reported that Egyptian delegates delivered a message from Jerusalem to Hamas saying that Israel was only targeting in Gaza the elements responsible for the terror attack, and would immediately halt its strikes if rocket fire into Israel stopped.
To fully conceptualize the ongoing violence in Israel, it is essential to view the events in the framework of Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from Gaza.
Following the withdrawal and subsequent Hamas domination, Gaza has effectively become an Iranian-sponsored military base whose lone ambition is the annihilation of Israel. The terrorists who perpetrated the attacks in Southern Israel gained access to the Sinai via the Philadelphi Corridor, situated along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, which had been monitored and patrolled by Israeli forces prior to the 2005 Disengagement.
One can only hope that policymakers in Israel will now realize the dangers associated with the “land for ‘peace’ formula,” and that those in power will forego future Israeli territorial withdrawals, in particular to the 1967 borders, as is presently being promoted by US president Barack Obama.
The security of millions of Israelis depends on it, and the memory of those who perished this week deserves nothing less. For forgotten memories may well produce repeated anniversaries.
(Charles Bybelezer is Publications Chairman at the Canadian Institute for Jewish Research.)
