Israel Update for August 2011

The attacks began just before noon after four Palestinian-Egyptian armed squads comprised of 12 men (earlier reports that up to 20 were involved were later downscaled), infiltrated the border right under the noses of an Egyptian army outpost-leading many to immediately suspect collusion. The four terrorist cells then spread out over an eight mile area. One of the squads, wearing brown Egyptian army uniforms, opened fire on a passenger bus traveling from Beersheva to Eilat on Highway 12, the main road to Eilat which runs perilously close to the border. Like most Israeli public buses, the passengers included many civilians, along with male and female soldiers returning home for the weekend. As windows shattered from the impact of the hail of bullets, the driver wisely speeded up after spotting the attacking terrorists. Around a dozen passengers, including some children, were wounded as the bullets flew, mostly when glass shards struck them. Miraculously, no one was killed.

Had the same bus been attacked by another squad, the death toll would have undoubtedly been very high. That terrorist cell managed to position itself right next to the road, springing up as a second bus approached. One of the terrorists then rushed toward the transport vehicle and detonated suicide explosives hidden under his uniform, killing the bus driver along with himself. Unbeknownst to the Islamic terrorists, the public bus was empty of passengers, with the driver on his way to pick some up. He was later buried in Beersheva. Then a third squad opened fire at an Israeli passenger car, killing its female driver. The same attacker then fired a rocket-propelled grenade at an Israeli Air Force helicopter that sped to the area after news of the first attack reached nearby military units that had been reinforced in light of the intelligence reports of an impending attack. The grenade fell short of its target and the terrorist was killed.

The deadliest incident was perpetrated by the fourth squad several minutes later. Another private vehicle carrying two sisters in their fifties and their husbands to a planned vacation in Eilat was ambushed by a hail of bullets, leaving all four civilian passengers instantly dead. With mourning relatives and friends in attendance, the two slain couples were later laid to rest in their hometown not far from Tel Aviv. Like the other assaults, the vicious killings revealed that the terrorists were not just out to capture or kill Israeli soldiers, but to murder civilian women, children and men as well.

Two of the Israeli fatalities were members of the beefed-up security forces stationed in the area to prevent the attacks. One of them, Pascal Avrahami, was a 49 year old member of an elite police anti-terror unit known as YAMAM. He had been sent to the area from his native Jerusalem. He left behind a grieving wife and three children. The other victim, 22 year old Moshe Naftali, was a well-regarded IDF staff sergeant from Ofra, a Jewish community of over 3,000 residents located in the disputed territories north of Jerusalem. Sadly, it later emerged that he had been killed by 'friendly fire' in the midst of an intense gun battle with the terrorist squad. Still, both men perished in the line of duty while attempting to halt the spate of unprovoked terrorist attacks upon their civilian countrymen.

Showdown With Egypt

Based on their earlier intelligence reports, Israeli officials quickly announced that the so-called 'Popular Resistance Committees' based in the Gaza Strip was the group behind the coordinated terror attacks. It was founded in the early days of the first Palestinian uprising in 1988. The PRC combines Hamas representatives with other terror groups including the Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad, several smaller Islamic militant groups with links to Al Qaida, and elements of the PLO.

Within hours of the atrocious armed assaults, IDF jets were pounding known PRC positions in the Gaza Strip, killing the overall head of the group and other operatives, along with some of their non-combatant relatives. Hamas positions were struck later on since the group is involved with the PRC and is anyway in overall control of the Gaza Strip from where the deadly assault emanated. More than that, it was quickly determined that Hamas was allowing Islamic Jihad and other groups to fire powerful Iranian-supplied Grad rockets into Israel, striking the cities of Ashkelon, Ashdod, Beersheva and several other cities and towns and kibbutz communities.

A number of Israelis were injured as the rockets crashed down despite the fact that many were intercepted by the Iron Dome laser system (which costs lots of money to operate due to its high electricity usage). Many buildings and cars were damaged or destroyed and fields and trees were set on fire. A Jewish yeshiva seminary in Ashdod suffered a direct hit with 12 wounded, several seriously. Three illegal Palestinian workers from Samaria were later wounded in the strategic port city, one severely, when more rockets struck two days after the terrorist infiltration. Everyone in the region was ordered to remain close to bomb shelters as sirens were periodically sounded to warn of incoming rockets. An outdoor late August festival held annually on the Ashkelon beach was cancelled.

As the initial Air Force bombing runs were being launched, IDF ground forces were clashing directly with Egyptian soldiers for the first time in many years. According to an Egyptian government report released several days later, the serious clashes began when IDF soldiers pursued some of the terrorist attackers into Egyptian territory. Egyptian border police patrols then opened fire on the Israelis who shot back at them. An IDF helicopter then fired two rockets at the fleeing terrorists, prompting more Egyptian police and army fire at the Israelis. Three Egyptians were killed in the exchange, including Ahmad Jalal, an Egyptian officer. Two other Egyptians who may have been members of the infiltrating terror squads were killed in subsequent clashes.

News that five Egyptians had been shot dead by IDF fire sparked large anti-Israel demonstrations on the streets of Cairo. An Israeli flag flying atop the Israeli embassy was torn down by an intruder who replaced it with an Egyptian flag as hundreds cheered from the street below. The Israeli flag was later burned by the mob. The intruder later received a local government reward for his action. Egged on by the Muslim Brotherhood, anti-Israel demonstrations continued for over one week. All this came despite the fact that the Egyptian government report admitted some Egyptians had participated in the Palestinian terrorist assaults; and that border security personnel had at least looked the other way as the squads illegally crossed the international border into Israel.

Fearing a complete breakdown in relations with Cairo, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak issued a statement of regret that Egyptian soldiers and policemen had been killed in the clashes, while also pointing out the action came after armed Arab infiltrators entered Israel from Egyptian territory. With reported American diplomatic encouragement, the statement seemed to pacify interim government leaders, with Foreign Minister Mohammad Kamel Amr denying Arab press reports that his government was preparing to recall its ambassador to Israel from his posting in Tel Aviv to protest the Egyptian deaths.

Test Run For A Hizbullah Attack?

Regional media reports claimed the Netanyahu government was prepared to launch a major ground operation into the Gaza Strip to clear out rocket launching sites and destroy weapons caches, as occurred in the Cast Lead operation that began in late December 2008. However Egyptian military government leaders allegedly told their Israeli counterparts this would spark off massive anti-Israel riots throughout their tense country, which would only serve to strengthen the Muslim Brotherhood's already growing chances of taking over the Arab world's largest country in elections now scheduled for November. Whatever the case, it was clear that the armed Islamic infiltrations and terrorist assaults had brought the region closer to full-scale warfare than at any time since the 2006 Hizbullah missile blitz upon cities and towns in northern Israel.

Many Israeli security commentators wondered aloud if the well planned PRC-led terrorist operation, which left 10 of the 12 Muslim infiltrators dead, two of them by their own homicidal hands, was not a 'dry run' test sponsored by Iran. According to this suspicion, the Shiite Islamic regime is nearing the point where it will have to actively intervene if it is to save its main Arab ally, Syria's brutal dictator Basher Assad, from suffering the same fate as Hosni Mubarak and Muammar Gaddafi. Analysts warn that the Iranian mullahs simply cannot allow Assad and his Alawite cronies to be driven from power, period. If he were toppled, Hizbullah's hold over Lebanon would be severely weakened due to its reliance on weapons and other support from the Assad family regime. Understanding this reality, many say Hizbullah leaders are probably more than willing to obey any Iranian order to lash out at Israel with a massive missile barrage targeting Tel Aviv and all other Israeli population centres. While this would obviously provoke a powerful IDF response, it would also divert the world's attention from the expanding crisis in Syria and unify the Arab street against the common enemy, Israel.