PALESTINE

Sun 04 Jun 2023 9:50 am - Jerusalem Time

New details.. the most prominent of what the Hebrew newspapers covered about the Egyptian border operation

The Hebrew newspapers, issued on Sunday, focused on the shooting attack that took place yesterday at the Egyptian border, which led to the death of 3 Israeli soldiers and the wounding of a fourth, at the hands of a conscript in the Egyptian Border Guard Force.


Official investigations, as well as media reports, indicate that there was a major failure by the Israeli army in dealing with the event, in addition to the fact that the operation was carefully and in advance planned and was not transient.


Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said in a report by its correspondent and military analyst, Yossi Yehoshua, that this event requires a very comprehensive investigation, including all officers, from the first moment of the event and reporting the infiltration incident to the district division commander, until seeking access to the port and liquidating it.


The newspaper indicates that the Egyptian borders are constantly inflamed in light of the almost non-stop smuggling operations, and therefore the operational tension there is higher than the other borders with Gaza and Lebanon because the infiltration operations there are less.


There are many Israeli military units on the Egyptian borders, along with tanks that are supposed to provide an operational response to the challenges on the borders, despite the permanent cooperation with the Egyptians, but the Israeli defense system completely collapsed yesterday, and this should not happen, and this is what should be mentioned. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who constantly talk about an attack on Iran, with other challenges, and to check in advance what might happen in a real confrontation on the ground.


According to the newspaper, the investigation into the incident shows that at 2:30 at night, a successful drug smuggling operation was thwarted, and the forces were deployed in pairs at military points early at nine in the evening, and it was found that the perpetrator of the operation did not enter by breaching the fence. He did not climb it, but entered through an emergency corridor designated for the passage of Israeli forces to the Egyptian side when needed.


The last contact was yesterday with the two soldiers who were at the site, at 4:15 in the morning, and after 5 hours, at around 9:00 in the morning, they found their dead bodies, and it turned out that the port killed them at about 6:30 in the morning, quickly and they did not have time to respond Accordingly, after extensive pursuit, a drone spotted the bomber when he was at a depth of one and a half kilometers inside "Israeli territory", was pursued and fired with him, killing a third soldier and wounding another before he was liquidated.


The Israeli army's assessments are reinforced that the perpetrator acted alone and was not linked to any organization.


The Hebrew newspaper confirms that there is a bad operational failure, in addition to the failure related to thwarting the infiltration process, noting that it was possible to kill the bomber before his infiltration by virtue of the capabilities related to the means of surveillance, or at least after the first event, such as liquidating him from the air.


The newspaper reveals that the commander of the Faran region brigade requested the help of the Air Force, but it turned out that the combat helicopters took a long time to arrive, so he decided to send a force to liquidate the port, and in the meantime the clash took place and the third soldier was killed, before he was liquidated.


The Israeli army spokesman said, there have been orders not to fly the planes since last Wednesday due to a defect, and despite that, the Air Force was on operational alert to respond to any emergency.


The IDF is currently investigating why the infiltration was not detected by the various monitoring tools, why contact with the soldiers was not checked hourly, whether the Air Force should have arrived faster, and whether the decision to confront the crossing before it reached was "for civilians". The Israelis were correct, or it was necessary to wait and isolate the port until the helicopters arrived.


The newspaper says: "This is a serious event that requires lessons to be learned in all units of the Israeli army, now, before it is too late, and before it is too late, and this has very bad results."


Yehoshua adds in his report to the Hebrew newspaper: "This is the second border infiltration that was discovered late in the past three months. The first was in March when a terrorist infiltrated from Lebanon arrived at the Megiddo junction, about 70 kilometers into Israel, detonated an explosive device, and almost to flee back to Lebanon, only to be eventually killed by the security forces. This was a serious failure, only this time it was not Radwan's skilled Hezbollah force that infiltrated, but an Egyptian policeman with a Kalashnikov assault rifle that embarrassed the entire Israeli army, despite all advanced capabilities.


In another report, Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper focused on the security measures in place and the long security fence, which was equipped with the latest monitoring and follow-up devices and cost billions of shekels. However, it did not completely prevent drug smuggling and attempts to infiltrate Africans, noting that all of these methods did not succeed yesterday. In preventing the Egyptian policeman from carrying out his operation.


For its part, the Hebrew newspaper Haaretz said that the investigations indicate that the perpetrator of the operation entered through an emergency corridor closed with handcuffs, hundreds of meters away from the guard point where the female soldier and the soldier were killed, and it is still unclear whether the two dead were aware of that corridor that infiltrated. He did not know exactly when the Egyptian policeman infiltrated.


The newspaper indicates that, despite the hot weather, the soldiers are forced to remain on guard positions in shifts that last 12 hours, and at each point there are only two soldiers, in favorable conditions that allow them to be fully operational.


The newspaper published information similar to what Yedioth published about the details that led to the killing of the two soldiers, noting that the port infiltrated 2 kilometers from the place where drug smuggling was thwarted.


In another report by its correspondent and military analyst, Amos Harel, the newspaper described the event as difficult and dangerous, both in terms of its circumstances and results, especially since the number of attacks on those borders is relatively low, and in the past decade there has been no similar case of an Egyptian soldier shooting at Israeli soldiers.


Harel considered that this event requires a comprehensive military investigation, to determine the reasons that allowed the port to infiltrate, and to reconsider the concept of defense along the border, and that the relative peace that prevails in that region has placed it on the last priority of the Israeli army, which has invested a lot of resources there.


Harel asked about the reasons for the presence of only two soldiers at a guard site close to the border, and the nearest other point is hundreds of meters away from it, wondering whether this was due to a lack of manpower, and whether the shifts were long, which might harm the level of vigilance.


Harel indicated that there are extensive contacts taking place between the Israeli and Egyptian security establishments, to try to ensure that calm returns to the borders, and to find out whether the Egyptian policeman who infiltrated was helped by someone else, or if he knew of his intentions before.


And he says: In similar circumstances in many years when a similar event was taking place, the governments of Jordan and Egypt were talking about that the perpetrator was usually "crazy" and opened fire on his own, and this is a very easy explanation, but most likely we must assume that this person, including them, carried out an operation Yesterday, he underwent a process of "ideological extremism," whether it was under the influence of an "Islamic terrorist" organization, in light of the spread of ISIS in Sinai, or in agreement with the Palestinian struggle against Israel.


Harel believes that despite the close security coordination and clear friendship between Israeli army officers and their Egyptian counterparts in recent years, the incident reveals a painful and dangerous weakness in this sector, with the lack of forces and limited intelligence, which could enable any "terrorist" to plan actions. well that it succeeds in infiltrating and leaving its victims behind, and cooperation with Egypt has its limits, and while the American-led multinational force does not bring many benefits, and in the event that there is a beginning of change for the worse, the Israeli army should consider allocating more resources, and possibly augment forces with better-trained troops at least for a limited time.


For its part, the Hebrew Maariv newspaper reported that the port traveled 5 kilometers from its stationing point inside the Egyptian border until it reached the border despite the difficult terrain.


And the newspaper shows that the executor seemed to have known his path well, planned in advance for the operation, and knew how to reach the soldiers’ point and kill them without clashing with him. from that area.


For its part, the Hebrew newspaper Israel Hayom says that this event, despite the friendship with Egypt, indicates the extent to which there are dangerous and active "terrorist" organizations that can exploit the borders to carry out similar attacks, noting that the Egyptian policeman was familiar with the area and knew how to infiltrate. This is a hard and painful blow.


The right-wing Israeli newspaper considered that the Egyptian police stationed at the borders are at their lowest level in terms of their ability to protect and provide security, and that some of their members have cooperated with armed organizations, or turned a blind eye to attacks, all as a result of Israel's insistence on implementing the signed peace agreements.


The newspaper considered that it was necessary for Israel to ask Egypt to further verify the identity of its soldiers, their motives and the ideas they hold.


For its part, the Hebrew Channel 7 reported that the investigations showed that the perpetrator of the attack was carrying a copy of the Holy Qur’an, and that the Israeli army believed that the religious motive motivated him to carry out the attack. He also found a knife in his possession to cut any border obstacles that he might face, and six magazines of bullets. , which indicates that the operation was planned in advance and accurately.

Share your opinion

New details.. the most prominent of what the Hebrew newspapers covered about the Egyptian border operation