To provide greater exposure to primary Israeli news sources and opinions in order to become better informed on the issues, and to gain a better understanding of the wide range of perspectives that exist in Israeli society and politics. Issue 1003 • April 22, 2016 • Erev Pesach 5776

ISRAEL PUTS BILLIONS INTO MULTI-LAYER GAZA TUNNEL BARRIER The decision came following instructions with the government, as well as a ( Hayom 4/20/16) security evaluation, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said. The closure will be The defense establishment is expected to finish installing a state of the art lifted on April 24, "in line with a [security] evaluation," the IDF added. counter-tunnel barrier along the Israel- border within two years, Meanwhile, Israel's security establishment has raised its level of alert in Israel Hayom learned on Tuesday. preparation for a feared rise in terrorist attacks during the Passover holiday, The project, dubbed "Hourglass," is estimated at billions of shekels, and which starts on Friday evening. according to one defense official, its development enjoys unlimited funds. According to estimates, the various gatherings of crowds during the holiday The barrier's blueprints are the product of cross-platform development present targets that are more available and "valuable" for terrorists. involving top Military Intelligence, Engineering Corps, and Shin Bet security Therefore, IDF forces in the and police in will be agency officers, civilian engineering and infrastructure contractors, and bolstered during the period. tunnel construction experts. "We must make sure that the gatherings do not become targets for terror The project's premise follows a pessimistic security scenario, suggesting the attacks," 's sister publication Ma'ariv quoted a security recently discovered terror tunnel under the Gaza border was just one in an source as saying. "The weather is better, there are more people traveling, extensive grid of underground passageways. and more people outside." The planned barrier has been described as "multi-tiered" defenses, which "We are prepared for a significant escalation during the holiday period," the strive to meet a wide variety of threats above and underground. It security source added. "We have had a relative calm streak, but we are incorporates innovative measures, including sensor technology to detect preparing for an escalation to break out - and the timing is [during] the underground excavation, and unique engineering technology. The barrier will holiday period." also feature a state-of-the-art fence, complete with sensors, observation Security forces this year will be dispatched to warn travelers against balloons, see-shoot systems, and intelligence gathering measures, as well as accidental entrance into Area A of the West Bank. an underground wall. In addition, Route 10 which runs along Israel's border with Egypt, the The Sentry-Tech "see-shoot" system, produced by Rafael Advanced Defense northern Gaza Strip and the Sayerim junction in the South will remain closed Systems, is a remote controlled sensors and weapons system, already depending on the situation during Passover. deployed along the Israel-Egypt border. Meanwhile on Thursday, Channel 2 reported that Israel’s army chief told The military has also deployed a series of sophisticated detection systems, government ministers on Thursday that the Palestinian Authority has boosted some of which are experimental, along the volatile Gaza border. The systems its efforts to combat terrorism aimed at Israeli soldiers and civilians. join the heavy machinery used by combat engineering forces routinely IDF Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot briefed the security cabinet on Thursday, telling deployed in the area, who are tasked with clearing the border fence of ministers that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had ordered explosives planted by terrorists. his forces to clamp down on anti-Israel incitement on social media.

HAMAS MEMBERS ARRESTED IN JERUSALEM BUS BOMBING CASE Israel Report is a Student Publication of (YNet 4/21/16) The Jerusalem Police released a statement Thursday, saying, “Through Daniel Zolty, Editor-in-Chief Yonatan Kurz, Moshe Davis, Yosef Segal and Eli Levine, Editors intensive intelligence and field activity, the Shin Bet, the Israel Police, and the We are proud to be distributed by these institutions, though they do not necessarily support or condone IDF arrested a number of suspects about a day after the attack on the any of the material published: Jerusalem bus – suspects from the area – who are Anshei Chesed Cong., Boynton Beach, FL Hillel at California State University - Long Beach Bergen County High School of Jewish Studies Hillel at Columbia University suspected of being involved in planning the attack and executing it. Their Boca Raton Synagogue, FL Hillel at Johns Hopkins University questioning is in progress, and their identities are classified.” It was also Carmel School, Hong Kong Hillel at Yale University Chabad of Oak Park, CA Hillel High School, Deal NJ officially confirmed that the person who was killed in the attack, which also Cong. Agudath Achim, Bradley Beach, NJ Jewish Center of Teaneck, NJ wounded 20, is the terrorist who committed it. Cong. Ahavas Achim, Highland Park, NJ Kehillas Bais Yehudah Tzvi, Cedarhurst, NY Cong. Ahavath Achim, Fairfield, CT Kemp Mill Synagogue, Silver Spring, MD The official statement also said that “it has been cleared for publication that Cong. Anshe Shalom, Jamaica Estates, NY Mizrachi Shul, Johannesburg, SA the critically wounded man from the attack, who died at the Shaare Zedek Cong. Beth Aaron, Teaneck, NJ North Shore Hebrew Academy HS, NY Cong. Beth Shalom, Monroe Twp, NJ Suburban Torah Center, Livingston, NJ hospital, is the terrorist who perpetrated the attack on the Egged line 12 bus.” Cong. Bnai Yeshurun, Teaneck, NJ The Learning Shul, Columbia, SC “The terrorist, Abd al-Hamid Abu Srur, (who was) about 19 years old, (was a) Cong. Ohr Torah, Edison, NJ Woodsburgh, NY Minyan resident of Beit Jala and affiliated with the Hamas movement, was, as stated, Cong. Rinat Yisrael, Teaneck, NJ Young Israel Bet Tefilah of Aberdeen, NJ Cong. Shomrei Torah, Fair Lawn, NJ Young Israel of Brookline, MA critically wounded during the perpetration of the attack and died of his Cong. Sons of Israel, Allentown, PA Young Israel of East Brunswick, NJ wounds (on Wednesday) at the hospital. The attack wounded 20 civilians, Cong. Zichron Mordechai, Teaneck, NJ Young Israel of Fort Lee, NJ Cong. Zichron R. M. Feinstein, Brooklyn, NY Young Israel of Hancock Park, CA one of them severely, seven moderately, and the others lightly.” Delray Orthodox Synagogue, Delray Beach, FL Young Israel of Holliswood, NY East Denver Orthodox Synagogue, CO Young Israel of Houston, TX Flatbush Park Jewish Center, Mill Basin, NY Young Israel of New Hyde Park, NY IDF IMPOSES GENERAL CLOSURE ON WEST BANK AHEAD OF Harvard University Library Young Israel of North Woodmere, NY PASSOVER (JPost 4/21/16) Hebrew Academy of Long Beach, NY Young Israel of New Rochelle, NY Hillel at Baruch College Young Israel of Sharon, MA The IDF imposed a general closure on the West Bank and shut down Gaza Hillel at Brandeis University YI Shomrai Emunah, Silver Spring, MD border crossings on Thursday night. The closure will continue throughout the We encourage our readers to subscribe to our sources on the internet. For more information or to Passover period, the military announced on Thursday. subscribe by e-mail, reach us at [email protected] 2 'ISRAEL GIVES JORDAN AND EGYPT INTEL AID IN ANTI-ISIS FIGHT' National Security Archive on Thursday, shedding light on Israel’s attempts to (Israel Hayom 4/21/16) hide one of its best-kept secrets to this day: details on its nuclear program. Israel provides Jordan and Egypt with intelligence assistance in their fight The Americans ultimately believed the Israelis were providing “untruthful against the Islamic State group, a senior Israeli military officer said on cover” about intentions to build a bomb. Wednesday. Egypt made peace with Israel in 1979, followed by Jordan in The documents include papers from the White House, the State Department, 1994. They are the only Arab countries to have peace treaties with Israel, a the Atomic Energy Commission and U.S. intelligence agencies. The editors matter unpopular with many Egyptians and Jordanians and which generally are Avner Cohen, a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International keeps their governments quiet about their ties with Israel. Studies at Monterey, and William Burr, the head of nuclear affairs Deputy IDF Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Yair Golan said in a press briefing on documentation at the National Security Archive, which is based at George Wednesday that the two countries were working with Israel as they try to beat Washington University in the capital. back Islamic State. One document provides the minutes of a meeting between U.S. President "Egypt fights the Islamic State in the Sinai Peninsula," Golan said. "Jordan is John F. Kennedy and Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion on May 30, 1961, at terrified by the presence of the Islamic State in Jordan's cities and towns. the Waldorf Astoria in New York. And we try to work with them in order to contribute to their security." Cohen and Burr call that meeting a “nuclear conference” – Israel’s nuclear The help, said Golan, came "mainly by providing our intelligence, and you do program greatly concerned Kennedy. When he met his predecessor Dwight know that while fighting all sorts of insurgency, intelligence is the most D. Eisenhower before the changeover of January 20, 1961, he was quick to important element in the whole system." ask which countries Ike believed were determined to obtain nuclear Despite deeming this military cooperation as unprecedented, Golan weapons. cautioned: "I wouldn't describe that as some sort of reconciliation between Secretary of State Christian Herter replied: “India and Israel,” before the people. But it is a good starting point and I'm quite optimistic." recommending that Kennedy pressure Israel into agreeing to have its nuclear Golan described Jordan as stable, though it has seen major refugee influxes facilities inspected. from Syria and Iraq even as it watches those frontiers for Islamist militant According to the details of that meeting, already published in the past, Ben- infiltration. Gurion told Kennedy that Israel's Dimona project was peaceful. The Egypt's large population and economic struggles during recent political chaos American transcript says: “Our main – and for the time being only – purpose present a greater challenge, Golan said. "I am quite optimistic about the is [cheap energy]. We do not know what will happen in the future.” future of Egypt, but I think that we are going to experience, or they are going In the newly released minutes, the Americans said “Ben-Gurion spoke rapidly to experience, you know, a crisis along the way," he said. and in a low voice so that some words were missed.” Kennedy had a hard time asking concrete questions. IRON DOME INTERCEPTS DRONE ON US SOIL (YNet 4/21/16) “Ben-Gurion mumbled and spoke very softly. It was hard to hear him and The Iron Dome anti-missile defense system successfully shot down an understand what he was saying, partly due to his accent,” Cohen, author of American drone in a first test of its kind conducted by the US Army last week. “Israel and the Bomb," told Haaretz. Special adjustments were made to the Iron Dome interceptor missile Tamir “It seemed he was leaving in certain ambiguities, consciously or otherwise, prior to the test so that it would be compatible with the US launcher. so it couldn’t be said he totally lied to the president. As a result, the president This was the first time that a test of the Iron Dome interceptor against a drone couldn’t ask for clarifications, as noted in the minutes. We only discovered target was held on US soil. this now, with the declassification of the minutes.” In Rafael's announcement, Lt. Col. Michael Fitzgerald, head of the project in The minutes also reveal that the person taking notes, Assistant Secretary of the US Army, was quoted as saying that the launch and interception from a State Phillips Talbot, thought he heard Ben-Gurion mention a “pilot plant for multi-purpose launcher were highly successful, and that this was part of an plutonium separation, which is needed for atomic power.” Talbot also heard examination of a number of air defense alternatives being conducted by the Ben-Gurion say this might happen “three or four years later.” He understood US Army. The US Army is considering buying the Israeli system from Rafael, the prime minister as saying Israel had no intention to develop nuclear which has so far not been acquired by foreign armies, and the test was part weapons for the time being. of this review. “Ben-Gurion, in what he said and in what he didn’t, was hinting that the In recent years, Iron Dome has been upgraded to intercept not only rockets, nuclear reactor in Dimona could have military potential in the distant future, missiles and UAVs, but also manned aircraft, artillery, helicopters and glide or at least that is what Talbot believed he heard,” write Cohen and Burr in bombs, although it was first designed to intercept short-distance Qassam their explanatory notes to the documents. rockets. Earlier this month, the Air Force celebrated the fifth anniversary of Ten days before that meeting, another key meeting took place. This was the Iron Dome's first interception. first visit by American inspectors (as the Americans called them – Israel Pini Jungman , head of missile defense systems at Rafael, pointed out that called them visitors) at the Dimona reactor. The Israelis considered the visit the next step will consist of performing a full match of the US missile productive. The inspectors believed the facility was consistent with the program's requirements and a series of additional tests. The Iron Dome Israelis’ description: a research reactor for peaceful purposes. system has shot down more than 1,500 rockets since 2011, at a success rate The complete report on the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission’s visit is part of of around 90 percent. the new batch of declassified documents. According to the report, people at The test was carried out in cooperation with the American defense contractor Dimona told the Americans that the reactor’s output would probably be Raytheon, which specializes in the development of military defense systems doubled in the near future. in the field of cyber warfare. Raytheon and Rafael have collaborated on “This could have served as a warning signal and a worrying indicator that the several occasions, most notably on the David's Sling air defense system, as reactor was capable of producing much more plutonium than was known at well as joint manufacturing of Iron Dome components in the United States. the time,” Cohen and Burr say in the explanatory notes. In fact, the visitors returned home satisfied, and their positive report paved the way for the DECLASSIFIED: HOW ISRAEL MISLED THE U.S. ABOUT ITS NUCLEAR Kennedy-Ben-Gurion meeting. PROGRAM (Ha’aretz 4/21/16) Another interesting document is the CIA’s National Intelligence Estimate on Fifty U.S. documents from the early 1960s were declassified by the U.S. Israel crafted in October 1961, a few months after the Kennedy-Ben-Gurion 3 meeting. This is the only declassified document published without deletions. information on Dimona and the history of Israel’s nuclear program – one of It was released a year ago but overlooked by researchers. the most studied projects in studies on nuclear programs,” Cohen says. “The Israelis intend at least to put themselves in the position of being able to produce nuclear weapons fairly soon after a decision to do so,” the AID ORGANIZATIONS RALLY TO HELP THE NEEDY ON PASSOVER Americans said. They expected the Israelis to have enough nuclear material (JPost 4/21/16) for two bombs by 1965 or 1966. As at every Passover, Israel’s leading charitable organizations work together “The significance of this is that the Americans knew that Ben-Gurion was to assist hundreds of thousands of needy families for the holiday. misleading them,” Cohen says. “They couldn’t or wouldn’t directly accuse him Latet, the humanitarian aid organization, released a survey ahead of the of lying. Maybe they didn’t want to disclose what they knew. It’s clear the festival which found an increase in the demand for food among the needy. intelligence community knew that what Ben-Gurion said and what the According to the findings, some 86 percent of charitable organizations said inspectors saw in Dimona were far from being the whole truth.” they had registered an increase in demand for food – a 14% increase from According to the explanatory notes: “The bottom line is that in 1961 the CIA last Passover. already knew or understood that the way Israel referred to Dimona, whether The survey questioned the heads of the nonprofit organizations throughout through Ben-Gurion or through its scientists, was an untruthful cover.” the country in order to shed light on the situation on the ground. Along with Ben-Gurion’s silences and fuzzy details, the documents show that The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, led by Rabbi Yechiel the Americans wondered if the Israelis were deliberately trying to deceive Eckstein, granted NIS 17 million ($4.5m.) in assistance to some 60,000 them; for example, during a second visit to the reactor in September 1962. needy Israelis including families, children, elderly, immigrants and soldiers. One document, dated December 27, 1962, wonders about Israel’s The IFCJ annual Passover grants come in the form of gift cards with which unconventional hospitality. Inspectors arrived at the Nahal Soreq reactor for a recipients can buy food and clothing according to their needs and personal routine visit in September. The director there was Yuval Ne’eman, later taste, anonymously and without fear of stigma. president of Tel Aviv University and science minister for . The IFCJ took the opportunity to blast the government for failing to wage an The Americans had pressured Israel to allow a second visit to Dimona, effective war on poverty. Nearly two years ago the government- appointed Cohen says. The documents show that Ne’eman decided to take his guests Committee to Fight Poverty, headed by MK Eli Alalouf, issued proposals to to the Dead Sea. On the way back, as they were passing the Dimona facility, close Israel’s deepening economic and social gaps, with some 1.7 million he suggested an unplanned visit. citizens falling below the poverty line. Rabbi Eckstein said the government is According to the documents, Ne’eman said he could organize a talk with the not only stalling on implementation of this plan, it has cut back on social facility’s director, and the two inspectors agreed. But it turned out the director welfare spending, forcing nonprofit organizations like IFCJ to step in. wasn’t there, so senior engineers organized a 40-minute tour, much shorter “Poverty in Israel, the ‘Start- Up Nation,’ is not an Egyptian plague or destiny. than what was called for by protocol. Poverty is the result of government policies that drastically decrease social Following the tour, the Israelis suggested that the Americans return the welfare payments and neglect the weaker populations within society that are following day, but the Americans wondered whether this was a diversion. left to the care of the nonprofit organizations,” Eckstein said. After all, the Israelis knew the Americans were due to fly home the next day. “This cycle can be stopped if the government of Israel would finance and The next available flight was four days later. implement the Alalouf Welfare Committee recommendations – a committee The documents show that the inspectors were puzzled, not knowing whether the government appointed but whose recommendations are now collecting their visit was part of the inspection or whether they were only day trippers. dust. The government must finance a program to diminish poverty,” he said. Either way, the visit was incomplete and did not include visits to all buildings According to Latet’s Alternative Poverty Report, released in December, there and inspections of all installations. are 2,624,000 people – accounting for 31.9% of the population – living in Ultimately, Israel got what it wanted. The inspectors were duly impressed and poverty in Israel, of whom nearly one million, 35.2%, are children. their report described Dimona as a reactor for research purposes, not for The report also found that 37% of children were forced to skip a meal or eat plutonium production. Still, CIA officials who later discussed the visit cast very little due to their family’s financial hardships, while 14% did not eat for an doubt on the genuineness of the rapid-fire visit. “They were very entire day because their parents were unable to provide food. uncomfortable with it. It seemed like a trick to them,” Cohen said. In addition, 24% of children were sent to school without a sandwich or food, “The documents show that a senior CIA officer said basic intelligence while 4% said this was an ongoing occurrence. requirements had not been fulfilled and there were inconsistencies between Some 14% of children were forced to beg in the street as well as sift through the results of the first and second visits in terms of the use attributed to some garbage cans for food. of the equipment.” The documents also show that Washington wanted to impose security THROUGH THE FLAMES OF THE JERUSALEM BUS, A GLIMPSE AT surveillance on Prof. Israel Dostrovsky, a guest researcher in the United ISRAEL'S FUTURE (Ari Shavit, Ha’aretz 4/21/16) States at the time. Dostrovsky was a founder of Israel’s nuclear program and Many buses exploded here in a dark 10-year period. Between the suicide later the first head of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission, as well as the attack on Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Street in October 1994 and the double suicide president of the Weizmann Institute and a 1995 Israel Prize winner. attack in Be’er Sheva in August 2004, more than 20 buses went up in flames. In 1961, the State Department asked the relevant agencies to keep an eye The repeated terror attacks in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Afula, Yagur, on Dostrovsky while he was working at the Brookhaven National Laboratory Megiddo, Meron, Karkur, Wadi Ara and the Galilee rocked Israel violently. on Long Island. This was seen as a preventive measure designed to protect Each horrific event made clear the barbaric enemy we faced. Each war crime U.S. nuclear expertise. Dostrovsky died in 2010. proved what would happen to us if for a moment the sword dropped from our The U.S. National Security Archive’s website contains other U.S. documents hand. on Israel’s nuclear program. One can learn there about the background for Each was another nail in the coffin of the old peace process, the 1969 meeting between President Richard Nixon and Prime Minister which instead of bringing calm brought the post-Oslo terror wave, the post- , where the ambiguity doctrine was born as a binational policy. Camp David terror surge and the loss of hope. The way to the two-state “Despite the official ambiguity policy of Israeli governments, meaning that no solution was blocked by around 25 burned-out, shattered buses in which factual information about Dimona is ever divulged, there’s abundant historical more than 300 Israelis were killed. 4 The attack this week on the No. 12 bus in Jerusalem appeared less harsh Attacking Israeli towns is a tertiary priority for it, but it exists nonetheless, and than the attacks of the ‘90s and the next decade. This time the bomb was the very idea of Hamas tunneling into our territory hurts the Gaza border improvised and the explosives weren’t standard issue, so there was no mass residents' sense of security. A routine cannot exist without the feeling of killing. But the message in the two buses that burned Monday evening on safety, and neither can a decent quality of life, which makes it necessary to Moshe Baram Street was clear: The future is now. handle the underground threat. Are you afraid of Hamas, Al-Qaida and the Islamic State? Israel knows how The tunnel discovery systems were developed by several groups of to strike malicious organizations outside its borders, but it will be exposed scientists, engineers, and technicians at the request of the defense and vulnerable when Hamas, Al-Qaida or the Islamic State take root in the establishment, but have yet to fully mature. The tunnel threat is still here. The West Bank and start setting fire to Israel from within. level of protection provided by the new systems is not yet the equivalent to Want power? A state without borders that dominates a nation that objects to that of the Iron Dome missile defense system, but you can compare the the state’s very existence is a state getting dangerously weaker. Want achievements they’ve had so far to the first trial runs of Iron Dome. security? Ruling over millions of oppressed, frustrated who hate There's only one place in the world that currently has an active and functional us is destined to destroy our national security and undermine our personal tunnel-discovery system. The South Koreans discovered several tunnels, security. There’s no way the one-state situation will be one of peace and which crossed the border, dug by the North Koreans. A whole infantry calm. The one-state situation harbors disaster. division could fit through them in short order. Those were very large tunnels, In the short term, there’s no problem. The army is strong, the Shin Bet dug for years through rocky terrain, and that makes a big difference as far as security service is ingenious and the sophisticated mechanisms we’ve their location is concerned. Digging an underground tunnel through solid rock created to normalize an abnormal reality still work well. creates a lot of noise, which aids in discovering and locating the digging sites The medium term isn’t clear. The peace process’ collapse and the via sensitive sensors that can detect both vibrations and sound. Palestinian Authority’s decline are bound to change the West Bank in a way In contrast, the land around the Gaza border is soft, comprised of a mixture we can’t predict. But the long term could be seen clearly in the fire that of sand and red soil that can be dug through fairly easily and silently. The engulfed the bus and in the terror attack’s 20 casualties. implementation of the partially-operational South Korean technology here And what could be seen was Kosovo – a war of community against was not really possible, which is why so much time and money were required community, village against village, neighborhood against neighborhood. A before a promising first step could be taken. war of the oppressed against the scared and the despairing against the Similar to the Iron Dome system, it is now necessary to implement scientific petrified. An all-out war of neighbors who hate each other that sooner or later solutions and develop systems that will augment our vast combat experience. will turn both the Israelis’ and Palestinians’ lives into hell. Faced with rocket fire, our capabilities have improved by dozens or even To this day the left hasn’t found a convincing way to prevent the recurrence hundreds of percentage points. This is what must happen now. Rather than of the exploding buses of 1994 to 2004. That’s why the left has evaporated. pat ourselves on the back for our successes, it is essential that we utilize that There will be no return to the path of peace until we recognize the trauma of which we already have and continue to develop. those buses and the justified fears they raised. There are two lessons to be leaned here: But now , , and the whole right wing The first: When the defense establishment and the State of Israel know how face a similar problem. The nationalist right has ruled here for seven years. to define the problem and are prepared to invest scientific, engineering and The nationalist right has turned the Jewish state into a bleeding, binational intelligence efforts into solving it - they create groundbreaking successes. pulp. So the nationalist right bears responsibility. The problem is always recognizing a specific danger in a given phenomenon The next election will be a choice between the right wing and security – and recognizing the threat it poses, not only to people's physical security, but between West Bank settlements and Zionism, between the Greater Land of also to their sense of safety. Israel of blood, fire and smoke and a strong, sovereign Israeli state. The second: We need to invest in education, especially encouraging excellence in exact sciences. It can save just as many lives as medicine can. AN UNDERGROUND BREAKTHROUGH (Ron Ben Yishai, YNet 4/18/16) In conclusion, it is important to highlight once again that we are not quite This is not the first time the IDF exposed a Hamas attack tunnel burrowing there yet, but we are quite close. We can only hope that those capable of into Israel. This is, however, the first time it was done with the unique new developing groundbreaking technology will double their efforts and that the technology that was developed and implemented here. The tunnel the IDF government will provide them with all the financial resources and necessary recently discovered was apparently dug after Operation Protective Edge's conditions to expedite technological development and implement it in facilities conclusion, and penetrated a few dozen meters into Israel, at a depth of and in the field. about 30 meters. It seems that Hamas is digging its new tunnels in a zigzag By doing so, the defense establishment will be free to deal with more pattern, with many divergent paths, in order to confuse Israeli forces. That pressing issues such as the firing of mortars from the Gaza Strip and from way, when the IDF demolishes a tunnel, it's not entirely destroyed. Lebanon towards Israeli towns on their respective borders. It is believed that once Hamas realizes the IDF discovered one of its tunnels, This is the it will stop using it. Still, one of the concerns is that just as the Brussels next terrorists feared an imminent discovery and attacked the Belgian capital - objective. even though their original targets were in Paris - Hamas will try and use the Intercepting tunnels it has now to preempt the possibility of losing these resources. mortars is This likely wasn't the only tunnel, but so far there's no proof of a tunnel no less penetrating into the ground beneath an Israeli town. On the contrary – every important case of digging noises has been investigated and dismissed. Keeping in mind than that we shouldn't take this lightly, there's also no point in panicking. intercepting The tunnels that were discovered shortly before and after Protective Edge tunnels. In were not an existential threat to any town. They were mostly aimed at my opinion, harming IDF forces on the home front. Hamas wants to abduct soldiers and it is even use the tunnels to replicate its success from the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit. more so.