Terror in southern Israel
Terror in southern IsraelArutz Sheva photo: Flash 90

Brig.-Gen. (res.) Amatzia Chen (‘Patzi’), who has a long and highly esteemed history as a commander of commando units and larger-scale forces, said Thursday that the combined terror attack in southern Israel is an incident that was predictable.

“The Egyptian army has long ago lost control of the area of El Arish,” Chen told Arutz Sheva. “The southern border is also breached and is used daily by infiltrators disguised as refugees who enter through the Sinai Peninsula to Eilat. So when 300 infiltrators enter Israel every day, what’s there to be surprised about?

“This is an event that even a kindergarten teacher could have predicted,” he added. “In the sixties we were able to seal the western border with Egypt such that even a mouse would have thought twice before going too far; it is hard to believe what is happening today.”

Chen placed the blame on Israeli leaders who he said do not take responsibility and make do with the establishment of inquiry commissions.

“This is the biggest problem, the lack of personal responsibility,” he said. “People take personal responsibility only after an inquiry commission blames them, but then no personal responsibility is taken until the next disaster.”

Chen argued that Israel’s defense system behaves as if it is Switzerland.

“Even if you talk about peace, you must first be prepared warn your enemies against violation of agreements. Unfortunately, according to the Oslo framework, once the late Rabin signed the agreements they served as a pretext for the IDF’s senior command to act as if it was a peaceful time, and that has failed time after time. That’s why what happened in Eilat does not surprise me.

“Instead of responding after the attack, the military system had to act beforehand, against the intentions to attack, which unfortunately are stated day and night by the terror leaders in the region,” Chen concluded.