We've been intending to write about the Hamas attack tunnels that reach deep inside Israeli territory for several weeks now, but there are many stories being told with details that needed verification.
Rabbi Arie Deri (MK-Shas) is a member of the Knesset Defense and Foreign Affairs commitee. He verified that the story of the planned Hamas attack for Rosh Hashana, as follows:
For years now, Hamas has been searching for a game-changer against Israel. As such, they have been digging assault tunnels that reach deep inside Israeli territory, as far as the Gaza-border communities. Hamas created a sinister master assault plan for an operation that would make 9-11 look like Sesame Street. They planned to send at least 200 of their best fighters through a number of the tunnels, simultaneously to at least six communities this coming Rosh Hashana, when everyone would be home and when surveillance and defensive alertness would be minimal. Their objective was to kill and kidnap as many people as possible, especially children, and to bring the south of Israel to its knees. This was supposed to be a terrorist attack like nothing history has ever known. To make matters worse, all the terrorists would be wearing regulation IDF fatigues.
With the above in mind, Hamas didn't want the current war at this time. It prematurely ruined their plans. So, when Hamas said that they were not responsible for the kidnapping and murders of our three holy martyrs Eyal Yifrach, Naftali Frankel and Gilad Shaer, may Hashem avenge their holy blood, they were not lying. Our martyrs were killed by the Hevron-area Hamasniks, who are still at large. One source told me that the killers were operating on the initiative of their local Hevron cell without coordination with Gaza HQ and that Gaza Hamas HQ was in fact taken by surprise. Another source told me that they weren't taken by surprise, but that they were surprised by Israel's no-nonsense reaction in rounding up and re-incarcerating many of the terrorists that had been released in the Shalit deal. In either case, Hamas did not plan on a war at this time, which explains the inexplicable and eerie quiet that we had from them in the south of Israel during the six months that preceded the "Operation Protective Edge", the current war .
Don't forget that the Hamas assault tunnels were used to kidnap and capture Gilead Shalit eight years ago in June of 2006. Yet, since then, Israeli intel - both military and civilain - has grossly underrated the potential threat of the Hamas tunnels and were caught by surprise, doing virtually nothing to prepare for and counter the threat. Remember, Hamas terrorists, although foiled in several infiltration attempts like the one near Sufa, nonetheless entered Israel through a terror tunnel and opened fire on IDF forces who were patrolling the area, killing Sgt. Adar Barsano, 20, and Maj. Amotz Greenberg, 45, may Hashem avenge their martyred blood.
Hashem, who never slumbers, was not caught by surprise; He foiled the Hamas plans and saved us from a tragedy of catastrophic proportions.
Imagine thousands of Hamas terrorists infiltrating the south of Israel wearing IDF uniforms! Who knows the damage that could have been done, and on Rosh Hashana as well! Hashem didn't want that to happen, so He chose three pure souls - Eyal Yifrach, Naftali Frankel and Gilad Shaer - as pure sacrifices to be martyred as an atonement for the Jewish People. Although our intel did not see either the quantitative or qualitative dangers of the Hamas assault tunnels, but Hashem saw both - He sees what we don't.
Eyal Yifrach, Naftali Frankel and Gilad Shaer of sacred and martyred memory truly sacrificed themselves for the welfare of all of Israel. We must never forget them, for their deaths triggered the war and the discovery of the Hamas assault tunnels and the magnitude of their threat.
We thank the "Forum Dati" of Bat Yam for the following clip, which drives the point of the tunnel-threat home; imagine that the tunnel exits into your backyard:
