חשיפה: המידע שהוביל לגילוי המנהרה בגבול עזה הגיע ממקור אנושי
حصري: اكتشاف النفق شرق خانيونس تم بفضل مصدر بشري
Israel has trumpeted its discovery and destruction of a tunnel leading from Khan Yunis into Israeli territory. It is part of a massive network that Gaza militants have built underneath Gaza to defend it in the event of Israeli invasion. In a few instances, the tunnel-builders have also excavated into Israel proper either for the purpose of capturing IDF soldiers or, in the event of war, of attacking IDF positions inside Israel.
The overwhelming number of such tunnel projects are under Gaza proper and defensive in nature. Which makes the one just discovered highly unusual. In fact, Islamic Jihad (IJ) was responsible for the project and its central Gaza commander was killed when Israel destroyed it. Israel also claims two Hamas militants were killed along with him. Palestinian sources say the Hamas members were killed trying to rescue the others who were trapped.
Israel also claims it discovered the tunnel through “advanced technology:”
Military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said thanks to groundbreaking technology this “active tunnel,” which was still being dug, was discovered…
This implies it developed some sort of sophisticated acoustic listening device to detect the project. Netanyahu himself explained the “success” with the same claim. But I’ve learned from a well-informed Israeli security source that this explanation is a deliberate lie meant to conceal the real method: the Shabak “turned” an inside Palestinian source; perhaps a member of the tunneling crew, who ratted on his fellow workers. In the process, Israel was not only able to destroy the tunnel, but to kill the leader of the entire project and seven of his co-workers.
When asked whether the informant had arranged for the senior commander to be present and Israel deliberately detonated the tunnel intending to kill him, the source would only say “the timing of the bombing wasn’t coincidental.”
The Palestinian turncoat who caused the death of his comrades has been spirited out of harm’s way (presumably extracted from Gaza and moved either to Israel or some other safe haven). This is why Israeli developed the false cover story…to throw IJ off the tracks of its betrayer. But while Shabak wanted to protect its asset and spirit him to safety, it must be annoyed that it can’t take credit for this intelligence coup. As a result of this lie offered the public, the IDF comes out smelling like a rose for both detecting the tunnel and destroying it, while all Shabak gets is nothing but a lousy t-shirt.
Some readers may recall that Shabak performed a similar trick back in 2016, when it used the same HUMINT, a Palestinian double agent, to identify a tunnel which it destroyed. Then too Israel falsely claimed the project was discovered through magnificent ‘Start-up nation’ technology, when a spy was the cause.
This interdiction is a coup both for the IDF and Bibi Netanyahu, who has faced an incessant onslaught of bad news in the form of three separate corruption investigations, any one of which could end his prime ministership. Nothing helps burnish an Israeli pol’s reputation than murdering “terrorists” trying to kill Israelis. And nothing helps the IDF in its efforts to secure ever larger chunks of the Israeli budget than such an achievement. Undoubtedly, the pictures of the tunnel exploding will be played on Israeli TVs for days on end (unless the IDF prefers to keep this aspect of the operation secret as part of its “work product“).
Further, the Palestinian reconciliation talks between Hamas and the PA have unnerved Netanyahu and his U.S. ally. Both counted on continuing dysfunction on the part of Palestinian leaders which would permit Trump and Bibi to outmaneuver them and maintain the Occupation status quo. When Egypt brokered a seeming success in devising a formula for a new unity government, this set Bibi back on his heels. He resorted to trying to impose ridiculous conditions on the new unity agreement as if he was a direct party to it.
Now that Israel has discovered a Gaza “terror plot” it can trumpet this to show that Hamas cannot be a fit partner for any legitimate Palestinian government. It doesn’t matter that IJ was responsible for the tunnel, since Israel blames everything happening in Gaza on Hamas. The irony of this is that while Israel blames Hamas as the reigning power in Gaza for all hostile acts that emanate from the enclave, the former refuses to recognize Hamas as a legitimate Palestinian political entity for the purposes of negotiation. And you can’t have it both ways: if Hamas rules Gaza and is responsible for what happens there, then it’s also a worthy interlocutor as a legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.
The long-term benefits to Bibi from this incident will be nil. Like almost everything he does, it offers exceedingly short-term gains with no long-term upside.
On a related subject, Jared Kushner and his mini-me, Jason Greenblatt, secretly traveled to Saudi Arabia to plot with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on behalf of a so-called Palestinian peace plan. From the Saudi kingdom they traveled to Ramallah, where they midwived a meeting between Israel’s treasury minister, Moshe Kahlon and the Palestinian prime minister. This confirms that what the U.S and Saudis are cooking up is not a political agreement that will empower Palestinians, but an economic deal that will offer a few breadcrumbs to the Palestinians in return for their reneging on anything that would offer real national sovereignty:
Greenblatt…reported “important progress” was made in the meeting and that there were “meaningful steps forward on key economic issues — revenues, customs, and investment — that help support the search for peace.”
For years, Bibi has been offering this snake oil to anyone pressuring him for real concessions to the Palestinians. He claims that Palestinians don’t really need or want political power. They want a better life…and Israel can give them that. It’s a cheap, tawdry way to avoid the real issues. And it condescends to the Palestinians, turning them into children who can be pacified with a lollipop, rather than a full meal.
IJ was responsible for the tunnel,
Islamic Jihad is an Iranian proxy. What were Hamasniks doing in an Iranian proxy tunnel?
Saving the people Israel attacked
@ zio-nauts:
Trying to save the lives of their countrymen. You forget that the instincts of a Jew to save their own are the same as those of a Palestinian. You’re a shameful representative of the human race.
As for being an “Iranian proxy,” that’s rich. For the past five years Iran has entirely shut off the spigot to Gaza, Islamic Jihad as well as Hamas. Only in the past two months have relations resumed. Yet you mouth moronic hasbara memes like a drunken sailor. And if IJ is an Iranian proxy, Israel is a U.S. proxy. If IJ’s tunnels are Iranian proxy tunnels then all those brand spanking new flying Holocaust F-35s are U.S. proxy war planes.
Or perhaps it’s the other way around and Israel isn’t a U.S. proxy. Instead, it’s the Israeli tail wagging the U.S. dog.
“You’re a shameful representative of the human race.”
You believe Hamas at face value. I seriously doubt their claim, which beggars belief. Why do my reasonable doubts make me “shameful”?
Richard said:
“The overwhelming number of such tunnel projects are under Gaza proper and defensive in nature.”
Well. Not this one.
“Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant reveals that terror tunnel IDF blew up Monday meant to ‘free (PIJ) prisoners,”
https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5036668,00.html
@ Zionaut: That’s precisely what I wrote in the post. I said this tunnel was possibly meant to capture an IDF soldier. Don’t you bother reading the entire post before you comment? Or perhaps you’re a machine learning algorithm and not human at all. Cardinal rule of commenting here: read the entire post. And don’t repeat what I’ve already written (which you did here).
And further, HAMAS tunnels are almost entirely defensive in nature. IJ is not Hamas, though you & your jackass Likudnik friends don’t distinguish between them.
“And further, HAMAS tunnels are almost entirely defensive in nature”
This statement is a total joke. They are meant to capture and/or kill civilians, women and children.
And why would they have the end of the tunnel 1.25 from a civilian outpost?
I don’t think you ever took what is says in the Torah seriously.
@ marty:
Afraid the joke’s on you. And once again, like all good hasbaraniks, you don’t bother to read the post on which you’re commenting. This tunnel was not built by Hamas. It was built by Islamic Jihad. They are not the same. Nor has any Israeli civilian been killed or captured via the use of any Gaza tunnel. Other than that, you’re golden.
Nor do I have a clue what the Torah has to do with anything other than that you’re showing your Orthodox nationalist political-Zionist colors.
The same thing either way. Hamas lets IJ build tunnel for purposes of war therefore Hamas=IJ idealistically.
The new military head of Hamas, Anwar. has explicitly stated he wants to drive every Jew/Israeli out of Israel. That is basically a declaration of war and intent to commit genocide.
You have a redundant error calling anyone who writes something pro-Israel a ‘hasbarist’ which can only be true in the sense of the Hebrew word to ‘explain’ which implies no professional status but only an individual’s attempt to explain his/her point if view.
But if you wish to ‘name’ everybody this then the logical inference is that you are also an ‘hasbarist’ contra Israel/Zionism.
@marty: Lord protect us from the hasbara crowd determined to”teach” us about things-Zion.
When Begin brought the Altalena filled with weapons to create an Irgun army to compete with the Palmach did Ben Gurion “let” Begin do it? No more did Hamas “let” IJ build the tunnel.
As for the so called “intent to commit genocide,” I may “intend” to corner the market in widgets. That doesn’t mean I’m going to do it. Israel has already murdered tens of thousands of Palestinians since 1948. That is mass murder. What have Palestinians done in actuality by comparison? It’s like the difference between an atom bomb and a hand grenade. How is Hamas going to exterminate 7 million Israelis whp posses 200 nuclear weapons? With sling shots?
And as for the Hebrew vocabulary lesson, spare me. “Hasbara” is hasbara. Everyone knows that, in both English & Hebrew, regardless. I don’t need any schooling from you in Hebrew. In a different context, l’hazbir may mean “to explain.” But in others it means “pro Israel propaganda.” And it means this whether you say it in
Israel or in this blog. And you, haboob, are a hasbarist.
Do you actually know the history of Altalena????
Your comment suggests you don’t otherwise you just st handed it to him
@ Eli: Do you actually know that your snarky attitude marks you as a hasbarist???? I don’t write about things I don’t know. Since I wrote about the Altalena, there’s your answer.
[comment deleted: read the comment rules. Comments must be substantive (not cross-talk) & deal directly with the topic of the post.]
It exhausts the patience, doesn’t it? So many Israeli’s sound as uninformed as if they were under Nazi occupation, with only the occasional smuggled in resistance newspaper, or blurry radio transmission from London to inform them. There is no excuse for their ignorance. “Wir haben es nicht gewusst” was ten times more believable than this present-day show of ignorance.
Wrong again, Richard.
https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5036556,00.html
@ Ed Fortis: No, there is no contradiction whatsoever. A Shabak spy told them about the existence of the tunnel. Then this gear was used to pinpoint its specific location on the Israeli side. The spy knew where the tunnel began, but not where it ended.
“A Shabak spy told them about the existence of the tunnel”
Proof? {or heresay?}
@ marty: a source is proof, not hearsay. And my source has proven his reliability over scores of different reports which proved demonstrably true when later confirmed by Israeli news reports.
I could say the same about the Ynet story. Based on an anonymous source the reporter doesn’t even allude to. At least I told you my source is an Israeli Security figure. Ynet told you nothing about its source. It could be the reporter’s bubbeh as far as you know.
If there is no contradiction , why do you insist the IDF lies?
Finding the tunnel inside Israel isn’t an easy task and new technology was used.
@ Eli: Because they claimed technilogy was the sole cause for duscivering the tunnel. They would not have discovered it without the Palestinian spy. Hence they are lying.
You are done In this thread.
@Marty…”genocide” by Hamas ??? Meantime Israel is the one who commits real genocide against the true original population of Palestine in the westbank. It’s mostly done under a cover of night, in darkness. This is how israel feels more comfortable, and less chance of a foreign reporters to be there during their violent assaults on people who live in fear for 50 years.
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@ ironbutterfy: I don’t think “genocide is a term justified in use by either party. Though the level of violence by Israelis against Palestinians is far greater than the reverse.