Tunnel Vision – writes Michael Kuttner

http://www.jwire.com.au/featured-articles/tunnel-vision-writes-michael-kuttner/44526#more-44526

For quite some years now a vast network of tunnels has been constructed from Gaza to the Israel side of the border as well as from Gaza to Egyptian territory.

These underground facilities are not amateur efforts but sophisticated engineering consisting of massive amounts of concrete, electricity and water, air conditioning and even railway tracks for ease of transport. Naturally none of this is part of some metro system but rather an endeavor to bypass border controls and facilitate the transfer of items which would normally be prohibited.

A large industry has grown up around this project involving smugglers, terrorists and criminals, all of them paying tolls to the Hamas authorities in Gaza and thus providing lucrative income for all concerned.

The tunnels have however another and far more sinister purpose than the smuggling of illicit goods. They are the means whereby weapons, particularly deadly rockets, are brought into Gaza. That is only the tip of an immense iceberg. These tunnels have now become places where rockets are manufactured and fired from towards Israel and where command centers are operating for the planning and carrying out of terrorist attacks. There is more bad news. These underground bunkers also serve to enable terrorists to gather, hide and then ultimately emerge in order to kidnap and murder Israelis. The final destination of these tunnels is near Kibbutzim adjacent to Gaza. They emerge on the Israeli side of the border and are covered up until needed for a terrorist operation.

Israel has destroyed many of them over the years but they continue to be constructed anew and their discovery is very difficult. Where did the Gaza authorities obtain the material, primarily concrete from in order to build these facilities? Amazing as it may seem, concrete and other building supplies were transferred via Israel through the various crossing points. The UN plus the other usual suspects such as the EU and the USA pressured Israel to allow this material to be delivered in the name of humanitarian assistance. Israel was assured that the products would be utilized for the construction of clinics, schools and housing. Well we all know now what in fact it was used for. The building of tunnels for terror use. When Israel decided to restrict the flow, furious accusations descended from those who remain deaf and sightless to reality. No amount of proof would suffice that kidnappings and murder were enabled by the construction of such tunnels. Even the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit some years ago failed to convince the international community that these tunnels must be destroyed. So much for any faith that Israel can ever have in agreeing to international guarantees of security.

This current outbreak of terror from Gaza which includes indiscriminate rocket barrages and attempted infiltration of terrorists intent on murder has finally brought the situation to a head and as usual Israel has been left to clean up the mess created and facilitated by hypocritical politicians.

Since 2012 there has been a steady stream of rockets directed at Israel and tunnel construction proceeded apace. Did by any remote chance anyone hear those who are now demonstrating and screaming about Israel’s disproportionate attempts to eliminate the source of this murderous barrage, utter a peep of protest while the terrorists in Gaza carried out their well known attacks? Most of the usual suspects were conspicuously silent no doubt because it was only Israelis being targeted and after all we know that Jews are not supposed to fight back.

Lo and behold when Israel decided that the time had come to do something about this unbearable situation, after tunnel infiltrations designed to kidnap and murder Israeli civilians and turning normal life in southern Israel into a living hell, then as if by magic the hitherto silent politicians, foreign ministries, academics, enlightened liberals and other groups whose silence in the face of Islamic genocide elsewhere is notable, suddenly burst into frenzied life. The hypocrisy is so stark as to make one want to throw up. No mention of Hamas using women and children as human shields, storage of rockets and munitions in hospitals, clinics, UNRWA facilities and dwellings. All one hears is condemnation of Israel’s attempts to eliminate this scourge. By the way it is reported that the 20 rockets found in an UNRWA school were handed over to Hamas by this organization. That is indicative of the real situation on the ground and not the cloud cuckoo land that infects the mind of those who demonstrate against Israel.

Someone asked what New Zealand would do if Australia lobbed rockets on a regular basis at its civilian population. Quite frankly given the current state of New Zealand’s armed forces there would be nothing it could do other than run to the United Nations for protection and we all can guess how effective that would be. This raises the question as to which country is prepared to expose its citizens to a continuous rain of terror without doing something practical to deal with it.

There is another aspect which is ignored by all those currently condemning Israel. Hamas which lest you have forgotten (those protesting certainly have) is part of the PA unity Authority which aims to take over Judea, Samaria and half of Jerusalem. It does not take much to predict the result if that ever took place. Another very important fact overlooked (intentionally) is that the charter of Hamas calls for the elimination of Israel and the murder of Jews. None of those currently accusing Israel of over reaction ever mention this inconvenient truth. Instead the litany of lies rolls forth via the media.

Look closely at the banners and screaming curses which accompany every demonstration and you will get a clue as to what their real agenda is. It has nothing to do with justice for Palestinian Arabs and everything to so with Israel and Judeo phobia. The use of Nazi symbols and imagery combined with hate and invective as exemplified by the Turkish model and endemic throughout most Islamic countries as well as Europe and the UK where home grown terrorists are incubating are all indicative of a spreading sickness and plague which unless dealt with will infect large swathes of the world’s population and ultimately result in the same sort of disaster which engulfed us not so many years ago.

The tunnel vision, willful blindness and incredible inability to recognize facts when they hit one in the face, which moreover infects many Jews as effectively as others needs to be exposed at every opportunity.

If it is not, this tunnel vision will be just as disastrous as the tunnels now being exposed and destroyed in Gaza.

Michael Kuttner is a Jewish New Zealander who for many years was actively involved with various communal organisations connected to Judaism and Israel. He now lives in Israel and is J-Wire’s correspondent in the region.

Michael Kuttner added:

“We have friends on Kibbutz Alumim and they are under constant attack. Speaking to the wife this morning she told us that it is impossible to sleep because of the constant explosions and sirens. Tunnels dug into Israel and intended to kidnap and murder Kibbutz members near the border are being exposed but it is a most dangerous campaign and unfortunately soldiers are bearing the brunt of the casualties. However there is no other way to make us safe and eliminate as much as possible the terrorist threats.”