Dealing with the tunnel threat
The verbal war over the tunnels under the Israel-Gaza Strip border is continuing. A number of Israeli politicians -- including Zionist Union MK Omer Bar-Lev, Habayit Heyehudi leader Naftali Bennett, Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman and Yesh Atid MK Ofer Shelah -- cannot stop themselves from stirring things up.
The issue is certainly an important one and public officials have the duty to make sure the government is properly handling it. But much of the current discourse is problematic.
There are two options when it comes to the threat posed by the tunnels, which have become a strategic weapon for Hamas and a source of anxiety for Israelis. The first option is to develop an underground Iron Dome system. The Israel Defense Forces is currently working on this, with the help of American funding. We are not there yet, but we will get there.
The second option is to conduct a military operation to destroy the tunnels. Israel's top political and military leaders do not favor such a move. Such an operation would be too reminiscent of July 2006, when Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz mistakenly led us into an unnecessary war with Hezbollah.
We must make the necessary preparations to deal with the tunnel threat, but there is no need to heed populist demands and launch a military operation at this time.
Our hearts are with the people of Nahal Oz, Sderot and Netiv Haasara. It is in their interests, as well as the interests of all Israelis, that military operations in Gaza become less frequent and more decisive. But no military operation will solve the Gaza problem permanently.
The past three military operations in Gaza all bought significant periods of subsequent quiet, and that is how it should be. It is not in Israel's interest to fight a war in Gaza every year.
Speaking at a cultural event on Saturday, Likud minister Yuval Steinitz got dragged into the overheated debate about the tunnels. Steinitz revealed that Egypt flooded tunnels under its border with Gaza at Israel's request. What good came from this revelation? Steinitz embarrassed the Egyptian government, making it look as if it was doing Israel's bidding. And Steinitz also brought Israel into the ongoing dispute over whether the flooding of tunnels is legitimate under international law. Steinitz's needless blabber was only bad for Israel.
The tunnel discourse must be kept in the right proportion. Let us leave demagoguery and populism out of it.
טעינו? נתקן! אם מצאתם טעות בכתבה, נשמח שתשתפו אותנו