Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel participated today (Tuesday) in a ceremony to mark the laying of a fiber-optic network in Moshav Yesha in the Eshkol Regional Council, with the participation of Council Chairman Gadi Yarkoni and Bezeq CEO Dudu Mizrahi.
Minister Hendel referred to the death of Border Police fofficer Barel Hadarya Shmueli, who died yesterday one week after being shot at close range on the Gaza border. "Yesterday, unfortunately, Barel Shmueli, an outstanding soldier in Yamas who was killed in defense of the homeland, passed away. We have many operational lessons to learn from the mistakes in this event and I am convinced we will do so, but one thing I can tell you very clearly. If Hamas gets confused and thinks that in the name of sanctifying our lives we will simply contain events and not respond, then it is making a bitter mistake."
"Whoever shot him to death, we will respond and we will know how to charge a price and we will continue to stand our ground and make sure that the other side understands that the sovereignty of the State of Israel is not violated." Hendel added: ''I say this because we are in a long-running war of attrition with Hamas. Deterrence has eroded for many, many years and we must bring it back at all costs."
According to Handel, "There is nothing like initiating the fiber-optic network in Moshav Yesha to sanctify life. Fiber-optics is a tremendous economic growth engine. While we produce growth engines, employment opportunities, progress and technological power, on the other hand there are people who have difficulty with electricity and water and have to say it out loud, that means The war has been forced on its people by Hamas. We will be happy to see a quiet, demilitarized Gaza Strip and that our prisoners and missing persons and fallen return home."
''We will continue to develop this place, grow it, and do everything possible so that life here will not be equal to those in the center but better than life in the center," the communications minister added.