Opposition party MK (Labor) Omer Bar-Lev, a retired commander of the elite IDF Sayeret Matkal unit, on Sunday evening 28 Iyar called on the IDF to address the Hamas tunnel network. In his address to an Israel Bar Association conference in Eilat Bar-Lev stated the IDF must address the growing Hamas tunnel network along the Gaza border. “We must not permit returning to the failures of the eve of Operation Protective Edge” he added. Bar-Lev stated Hamas has resumed operations, digging a new tunnel network and Israel cannot ignore this.
“The hesitant policies of the prime minister and defense minister who do not order the tunnels destroyed will result in a renewed tunnel threat which compromises the IDF’s power of deterrence and abandons the fate of the residents of Gaza border communities to the whims of a Hamas initiative”.
Bar-Lev added “This is a weak policy, hesitant and obsequious typical of Netanyahu and encourages Hamas and Hizbullah to taunt us. Israel under Netanyahu lost the initiative against terrorism.
“On the same matter but in a wider context I said that we have obvious moral justification and even an obligation to act proactively against all tunnels that cross the fence line to protect our citizens”.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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2 Responses
Mr. Bar-Lev is %100 percent right. Interesting that the Labor are sounding like hawks.
The problem is that Netanyahu & Co are petrified of Jen Psaki, Susan Rice, the great John Kerry, and of course the editorial board of the NY Times! They have learnt NOTHING from last summer! The security of Israeli citizens living in the south doesn’t concern the elitists living in the comfort of Tel Aviv.
I thought Labor’s policy is “Why strain them to tunnel into Jerusalem, let’s just give it to them”.