IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz admitted today, "The 'Blue Skies' Operation does not protect Sderot from Kassam rockets, but is designed mainly to protect Ashkelon." Halutz made the remarks at the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
The Red Dawn early-warning alarm in Sderot sounded several times during the night, giving the residents a half-minute or less to take shelter.
Local residents were incensed at the press reports that the missiles landed in "open areas." One woman, Rina, a mother of four, said, "If they landed in open areas, then why are the soldiers outside my house, looking for the rockets? They haven't yet found the rockets, but the press rushes to announce that they landed in open areas, as if everything is OK."
Operation Blue Skies is a new policy according to which Arabs who enter an IDF-specified zone in northern Gaza from which Kassams are fired may be fired upon by IDF aircraft.
Arutz-7's Haggai Huberman reported last week, the day after Blue Skies went into effect, that the newly-created security zone protects only Ashkelon, but not Sderot and the western Negev. The zone consists of the destroyed communities of Elei Sinai, Dugit and Nissanit - those that oversee Ashkelon. The Arab-populated area of Beit Hanoun, however, is not touched by Blue Skies, even though it is the source of the majority of Kassam fire. "While Ashkelon is being protected, the lives of those living in Beit Hanoun are still being valued above those of the Jews living in Sderot," Huberman said.
Committee members indicated their displeasure with the IDF's response to the Kassam rockets. Committee Chairman Yuval Shteinitz (Likud) said, "Israel's deterrence against the Palestinian shooting is at a low point."
Likud MK Ehud Yatom, a former General Security Service (Shabak) deputy chief, said, "The IDF's response in Gaza is low-key and worrisome. We must take the initiative, and display deterrent power and military strength."
MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union) said that the number of rockets fired at pre-1967 Israel has doubled since the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza.
The Red Dawn early-warning alarm in Sderot sounded several times during the night, giving the residents a half-minute or less to take shelter.
Local residents were incensed at the press reports that the missiles landed in "open areas." One woman, Rina, a mother of four, said, "If they landed in open areas, then why are the soldiers outside my house, looking for the rockets? They haven't yet found the rockets, but the press rushes to announce that they landed in open areas, as if everything is OK."
Operation Blue Skies is a new policy according to which Arabs who enter an IDF-specified zone in northern Gaza from which Kassams are fired may be fired upon by IDF aircraft.
Arutz-7's Haggai Huberman reported last week, the day after Blue Skies went into effect, that the newly-created security zone protects only Ashkelon, but not Sderot and the western Negev. The zone consists of the destroyed communities of Elei Sinai, Dugit and Nissanit - those that oversee Ashkelon. The Arab-populated area of Beit Hanoun, however, is not touched by Blue Skies, even though it is the source of the majority of Kassam fire. "While Ashkelon is being protected, the lives of those living in Beit Hanoun are still being valued above those of the Jews living in Sderot," Huberman said.
Committee members indicated their displeasure with the IDF's response to the Kassam rockets. Committee Chairman Yuval Shteinitz (Likud) said, "Israel's deterrence against the Palestinian shooting is at a low point."
Likud MK Ehud Yatom, a former General Security Service (Shabak) deputy chief, said, "The IDF's response in Gaza is low-key and worrisome. We must take the initiative, and display deterrent power and military strength."
MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union) said that the number of rockets fired at pre-1967 Israel has doubled since the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza.