Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert recently assured the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations that Israel will not experience continued rocket and mortar attacks following the exit from Gaza and northern Samaria. Olmert argued that the situation following the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon is the model that Israel would apply to Gaza and Samaria.
In his February 18th presentation to the annual Jerusalem meeting, Olmert stated that though the Hizbullah terrorists based in southern Lebanon have accumulated some 15,000 missiles and mortars, they have never used them against Israel since the withdrawal from Lebanon in May, 2000.
Investigative journalist David Bedein has published a declassified IDF situation report issued on June 8th, 2004 – and it tells a different story.
The document reads, in part:
"In the four years since the IDF unilaterally redeployed its troops from Lebanon, the following attacks on Israel took place from Lebanon:
- 34 attacks with mortar shells and anti-tank missiles into northern Israel.
- 7 shooting attacks with light arms fire.
- 8 roadside bombs planted.
- 127 [incidents of] anti-aircraft missiles.
- 5 Katyusha rocket attacks.
- 10 infiltrations into northern Israel.
- 11 soldiers killed in northern Israel and 3 IDF troops kidnapped and murdered, and 50 soldiers wounded.
- 14 civilians killed."
Bedein says that Israeli media often reported that these missiles were fired at Israeli Air Force aircraft, when in fact this was hardly ever the case. After one of the anti-aircraft missiles killed a sixteen-year-old boy in the northern town of Shlomi, Haaretz military correspondent Ze'ev Schiff explained that it was, in fact, an air-to-air missile, but that it was readjusted to make it a surface-to-surface missile.
“Ehud Olmert tries to say that there were no attacks from the north since May, 2000,” Bedein concludes. “Perhaps Olmert should make 28 belated shiva [condolence] calls to refresh his memory.”
In his February 18th presentation to the annual Jerusalem meeting, Olmert stated that though the Hizbullah terrorists based in southern Lebanon have accumulated some 15,000 missiles and mortars, they have never used them against Israel since the withdrawal from Lebanon in May, 2000.
Investigative journalist David Bedein has published a declassified IDF situation report issued on June 8th, 2004 – and it tells a different story.
The document reads, in part:
"In the four years since the IDF unilaterally redeployed its troops from Lebanon, the following attacks on Israel took place from Lebanon:
- 34 attacks with mortar shells and anti-tank missiles into northern Israel.
- 7 shooting attacks with light arms fire.
- 8 roadside bombs planted.
- 127 [incidents of] anti-aircraft missiles.
- 5 Katyusha rocket attacks.
- 10 infiltrations into northern Israel.
- 11 soldiers killed in northern Israel and 3 IDF troops kidnapped and murdered, and 50 soldiers wounded.
- 14 civilians killed."
Bedein says that Israeli media often reported that these missiles were fired at Israeli Air Force aircraft, when in fact this was hardly ever the case. After one of the anti-aircraft missiles killed a sixteen-year-old boy in the northern town of Shlomi, Haaretz military correspondent Ze'ev Schiff explained that it was, in fact, an air-to-air missile, but that it was readjusted to make it a surface-to-surface missile.
“Ehud Olmert tries to say that there were no attacks from the north since May, 2000,” Bedein concludes. “Perhaps Olmert should make 28 belated shiva [condolence] calls to refresh his memory.”