Shin Bet Chief: Lifting Gaza siege would have dangerous results

Yuval Diskin warns that ‘weapons are being smuggled into Gaza from Sinai right now.
By Jonathan Lis, HAARETZ

Shin Bet security service director Yuval Diskin warned on Tuesday that lifting the naval blockade on Gaza could have dangerous repercussions.

Speaking at the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting, Diskin said that lifting the blockade, put in place three years ago when Hamas wrestled power over the Gaza Strip in a bloody coup, would be a “dangerous development for Israel.” “It would be a huge security breach, even if ships are inspected along the way in international ports en route to Gaza,” he warned. A port in Cyprus was mentioned during the meeting, as it was the port where the ships of the Gaza-bound aid flotilla docked last month before Israeli navy commandos clashed with activists aboard one of the ships in international waters.

Diskin added that terror organizations in Gaza are continuing to arm themselves and gain strength, both by independent production of weapons and by smuggling.

“The Hamas and the Islamic Jihad are in possession of 5,000 rockets in the Gaza Strip, with a range of up to 40 kilometers,” Diskin explained. “Of those rockets, 4,000 belong to Hamas.”

“Hamas also possesses several rockets that can reach central Israel,” Diskin went on to say.

The director of the Shin Bet also addressed Israel’s willingness to ease the general blockade on Gaza, saying that “there is no humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. I don’t have any problem with easing the transfer of goods from Israel. But weapons are being smuggled right now from Sinai.” “

June 15, 2010 | 6 Comments »

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  1. The IHH thugs on the Ship were not terrorist or even criminal thugs. Israel let them all go, and even paid for their air fares.

    So how can we mount any sane defense of our position?

    I worry less about Terrorists and Iran than I worry because BB and Barak are running our show.

  2. Remember this every time you hear Obama and H. Clinton demanding a “viable, CONTIGUOUS” state of palestine, at the expense of a viable, contiguous, defensible Jewish Israel.

    Who is this Obama? I don’t know no Obama.

  4. ore Documentation on Gaza Flotilla Charity IHH
    By Evan Kohlmann

    The NEFA Foundation has released two new documents relating to the Turkish Muslim charitable group Insani Yardim Vakfi (IHH), sponsor of the Gaza freedom flotilla.

    1.) During court proceedings involving U.S. national Abdurahman Alamoudi, who was later sentenced to 23 years in prison after pleading guilty to 3 federal offenses including violating the IEPPA Act, ICE Special Agent Brent Gentrup provided information pertaining to links between IHH and the Alamoudi-linked Success Foundation. According to Gentrup, “I have reviewed several pieces of correspondence on the letterhead of Insan Hak ve Hurrhyetleri Insani Yardim Vakfi, aka The Foundation for Human Rights & Humanitarian Relief and commonly referred to by the initials on it logo ‘I.H.H.’ This correspondence was seized from the offices of Success Foundation at 3606B Forest Drive, Alexandria, VA in March 2002. The first letter, on IHH letterhead is dated August 1999 and states that IHH accounts have been closed by the Turkish government. It states that ‘we are only accepting cash/in-kind donations.’ For more, see the affidavit on the NEFA Foundation website.

    2.) The NEFA Foundation has also released a photo of representatives of the Turkish Islamic charity Insani Yardim Vakfi (IHH) speaking at an IHH-sponsored event celebrating the “martyrdom” of senior Hamas leader Mohammad Said Seyam. U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley previously told reporters that “we know that IHH representatives have met with senior Hamas officials in Turkey, Syria, and Gaza over the past three years. That is obviously of great concern to us.” IHH sponsored the flotilla of vessels that attempted to break the ongoing blockade on Gaza. The photo is available on the NEFA Foundation website.

  5. Different situations require different solutions:

    Three years ago, Bush was President, and was at least mildly supportive of Jewish Israel. Mubarak was firmly in charge of Egypt. He was afraid of Hamas as a threat to his rule, and happy to work with Jewish Israel to keep Hamas bottled up.

    Today, Bush is a distant memory. The muslim wannabe Obama is president. He despises Jewish Israel and wants to see it destroyed.

    Mubarak is old and in failing health. He will die sometime soon. It is unclear if his son can successfully succeed him. Egypt will then probably go islamist under the muslim brotherhood.

    Obama’s plan is to bolster Hamas to use against Jewish Israel. He wants to help Egypt keep Hamas out of Egypt, so that it will be forced to go through Jewish Israel. Obama wants to cut Jewish Israel in half by giving Hamas a road to cross Israel from Gaza to the West Bank. When Hamas takes over the west bank and has free passage across Jewish Israel to Gaza, then Israel is in real trouble.

    That’s why giving Gaza to the EU and to Egypt now is the best solution for a bad situation. It is crucially important for Jewish Israel to turn Gaza and the west bank into two permanently separate countries. If gazans want to visit the west bank, they can do it by going south through the Sinai and back north through Jordan, not by cutting across Jewish Israel.

    Remember this every time you hear Obama and H. Clinton demanding a “viable, CONTIGUOUS” state of palestine, at the expense of a viable, contiguous, defensible Jewish Israel.