Official: Kill The Political Leadership In Gaza

Jerusalem – The democratically elected leadership of the Palestinian population in Gaza, represented by Hamas, defined by the U.S. and the entire Western world as a terrorist organization, took credit for Monday’s attack in Dimona.

The same organization took credit for firing 15 missiles into Sderot yesterday, which resulted in tens of wounded people rushed to the hospital in Ashkelon and the destruction of at least one home.

One key member of Israel’s Knesset Parliament, Tzachi HaNegbi, the chairman of the Israel Knesset Security and Defense Committees, requested air time on the Voice of Israel Radio Newsreel yesterday morning, where he offered a military solution to end the attacks from Gaza. Mr. HaNegbi suggested an operative program to kill the democratically elected leadership of the Palestinian population in Gaza, all of whom are admitted active and senior members of the Hamas terror organization. Over the past two years, Israel has aimed to kill the rocket launchers, and has hesitated to kill the leaders who give the orders to fire the rockets.

Mr. HaNegbi noted that Israel paid no “public relations price” when Israel killed off the terror leaders of Hamas in Gaza in March 2004: Sheik Achmad Yassin and Dr. Abdul Rantissi.

The spokesman for Israel’s Minister of Defense, Ehud Barak, would not comment to The Bulletin concerning Mr. HaNegbi’s suggestion.

However, Mr. Barak’s spokesman made it clear that Mr. Barak did not rule out Mr. HaNegbi’s suggestion.

Mother Was Killed, Father Is Fighting For His Life

On Monday night, two brothers were torn between mourning and worry. They are mourning for their mother, who was killed in Monday’s terror attack in Dimona, but are also anxious about the condition of their father, who was critically wounded in the explosion and is fighting for his life.

The suicide bomber who struck Monday morning in the Dimona shopping center succeeded in destroying an entire family. The mother, Lyubov Razdolskaya, 73, was standing with her husband near the lottery stand at the entrance to the shopping center when the terrorist blew himself up nearby.

Lyubov was killed instantly. Her husband, who is also in his seventies, was critically wounded and was taken to Soroka Hospital. He was operated on and admitted to the intensive-care unit on life support. As of Monday night, his life was still in danger.

Until midnight, there was no positive identification of the woman who had been killed, a resident of Dimona. Police found the identity card of her wounded husband, in which her name also appears, at the site. After it became clear that Lyubov was missing, police believed that she was the victim. Police located the couple’s two sons, who live in Beer Sheva and Ashdod, and gave them the bad news.

Investigators at the Israel Institute of Forensic Medicine took DNA samples from the sons and compared them with the sample taken from their mother’s corpse in order to achieve positive identification.

Israel Bracing For Terrorist Offensive

Only late last night did the picture begin to become clear about what led to the terror attack in Dimona on Monday. Hamas took responsibility for the terror attack and, according to Reuters, a Hamas official even said that the terror attack originated from Hebron. Security officials are concerned that this was only the beginning of a large-scale wave of terror attacks: serious warnings indicate that there are additional terrorist cells that have left in the direction of Israel, and many efforts are being made in order to capture them before they execute their plans.

Israeli intelligence have had warnings about plans by terrorists to carry out terror attacks within Israel for a long time, but these intelligence warnings became more serious last month following the assassination offensive in the Gaza Strip. The assassinations were meant to serve as a commensurate Israel response to the endless Kassam rocket fire, but they also motivated senior officials in various Palestinian organizations to promise revenge terror attacks. Those threats constitute a declaration of intent to resume suicide bombing attacks, and security officials have taken that very seriously.

The terror attack in Dimona on Monday put an end to 13 months without suicide bombing attacks in Israel, the longest period for years. Last month, a number of attempts were made to carry out suicide bombing attacks, but the effective action taken by security forces, who today control almost every corner of Judea and Samaria, thwarted several terror attacks from this area. But one cannot remain immune forever.

Last night, in light of the Reuters report, it seemed that the terror attack in Dimona was carried out by Hamas from the Hebron area, which had snuck right under the noses of the security forces and took advantage of the breach in the separation fence in the area between the southern Hebron hills and the northern Negev.

Why Dimona?

Dr. Mordechai Keidar, a Middle East expert at Bar Ilan University gave his analysis as to why he thinks Dimona was chosen as a target for an act of terrorism

One: Arab rhetoric identifies Dimona with the nuclear reactor, and an attack there is considered a success in having penetrated to the very heart of Israel, the inner sanctum of the Zionist sense of security.

The fact that the terror attack in the city is no different from any other does not change the rhetorical accomplishment.

The second point is that Fatah’s Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades announced that the terrorists had entered the Negev from Gaza via Sinai. If this is true, their arrival in far-off Dimona constitutes an important operational achievement, since it requires extended movement inside Israeli territory.

If the terrorists succeeded in moving inside Israeli territory that way, this hints at the organization’s success in recruiting collaborators within Israel and moving the investigation away from the area of Judea and Samaria, which may have been the terrorists’ actual point of departure.

Third, the announcement that the terrorists had left from Gaza was intended to embarrass Hamas’ government in Gaza, which is in the midst of making two-way traffic arrangements of Palestinians to and from Gaza with the Egyptians, while ignoring President Mahmoud Abbas’ PA, Israel and the international Quartet and the agreements between them. There is also a message to Egypt here, that they must not ignore Fatah and deal only with Hamas.

Palestinians Celebrate Dimona Bombing

The response on the Palestinian street in Gaza to the terror attack in Dimona might best be described as celebratory. Candies were distributed and celebratory shots were fired into the air as word of the attack began to spread.

As soon as news of the attack was received, the broadcaster on Hamas’ Al-Aksa Radio broke into the regular broadcasting to announce with alacrity the terror attack.

“Our happiness today is not only because of the attack itself and the number of killed in it. Our happiness is about our ability to penetrate the security means as part of our ongoing struggle against the thieving Zionists,” said the broadcaster.

“In Dimona lies the Israeli nuclear reactor and the security means there are intensified. Therefore, the resistance’s success in penetrating it with God’s help is a unique turning point in our battle of wits against the occupation,” said the broadcaster.

Olmert Humiliated

It is a scene that will haunt Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for the rest of his life. The prime minister stood at the Knesset plenum’s podium.

Above him, in the visitors gallery, rose Elifaz Baeloah, wearing jeans and sandals, very different from the Knesset dress code, who lost his son Nadav in the last war in Lebanon.

Mr. Baeloah made accusations that the prime minister had killed his son and almost threw his ID card at him.

And there were also voices. Mainly voices. “I sent two sons to the war. One came back, the other is under the earth. Where are your sons?” called Nireta Sheinbrom, who lost her son Yaniv in the war, at Mr. Olmert.

(Mr. Olmert’s high-profile sons do not live in Israel. His older son, Shaul, lives in New York where he works for MTV. Shaul has signed petitions that encourage Israeli troops to desert their units if they are deployed in Judea, Samaria or the Golan, while the Prime Minister’s younger son, Ariel, somehow evaded mandatory military service and is a university student in Paris.)

The Knesset was in shock. Never has such a harsh, but moving and painful spectacle been seen here. Mr. Olmert did not look at the parents but at Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik, as if he were looking for her help.

The parents were removed at the order of Ms. Itzik.

Mossad Director: Iran’s Reactor Will Be Ready In Three Years

According to the intelligence assessment for 2008 that was presented on Monday by Mossad Director Meir Dagan to the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Israel is expected to face increased threat against it on all fronts.

According to the Mossad assessment, Iran will reach nuclear military capability within three years, and today constitutes the principal threat against Israel, not only because of its determination to have nuclear weapons, but also because of its influence on threatening elements close to Israel, such as Hezbollah, Syria and Hamas.

David Bedein can be reached at Media@actcom.co.il. His Web site is www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com

©The Bulletin 2008