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2015-12-20 Israel-Palestine-Jordan
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Hamas trying to smuggle contraband through Israel
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| Very long article -- here are the first 1300 words explaining why Hamas is currently forced to work through knife stabbers and car rammers instead of erupting through cross border tunnels while rockets rain down on Tel Aviv. |
[Ynet] As Egypt cracks down on smuggling into Gazoo, a single checkpoint in Israel is a bottleneck for goods flowing to Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,'s military industry, with a special intelligence team tasked with foiling increasingly creative ways to transport forbidden materials.
| In the last two months, 25 serious indictments have been filed on charges of attempted smuggling, the sale of merchandise to terror groups in Gaza, and money laundering. And there are several dozen other cases in the pipeline that deal with smuggling to Gaza. |
Israel's experienced intelligence officers treat this group as an enemy that must not be underestimated. It is a serious close-knit group of 40-something year olds who have been together for over 20 years. They all have experience with underground and military activities, they've all been wanted by Israel since the mid-90s, and they have all survived liquidation attempts. They share a common language, which is a significant advantage in the secret war they are waging. The most senior among them, Mohammed Deif, has been wanted by Israel since 1992.
They don't care about the misgivings the political ranks of Hamas have had since Operation Protective Edge. While Khaled Mashal confronts the politicianship in Gazoo on questions like whether to join forces with the Paleostinian Authority; whether the formation of an Islamic state in the Gazoo Strip is the end of the process or just a stop on the way to a bigger goal; and whether to join forces with the Shi'ite, meaning Iran, and give up on Saudi support - the heads of Hamas' military wing are only focusing on one clear objective: Preparing for the next war against Israel. To them, anyone who can help them reach that objective is an ally. They have no problem with receiving money from Iran while at the same time having ties with ISIS in the Sinai.
Continued from Page 2
With the exception of Mohammed Deif, the names of the members of these groups are known mostly just to intelligence officials: Muhammad Sinwar, Ahmed Ghandour, Rawahi Mushta, Ayman Noufal, Raed Saad and Marwan Issa. They all made their way up the ranks of Hamas' military wing until they reached the top. Their strategy is very transparent. The main logical lesson they learned from Operation Protective Edge is that without the element of surprise, they won't be able to claim any achievements. And if there's something they blame Hamas' political ranks of - and that is why they won't listen to them in the next round of fighting - is the fact they were prevented of making that surprise move inside Israel, that should have wreaked destruction and death and left the Israeli public in shock.
Smuggling through Israel
Since Operation Protective Edge, Hamas has been continuing the training its Special Forces and naval commandos. In light of Hamas' operations during Protective Edge, it is safe to assume it will once again try to launch a simultaneous attack on several targets inside Israel, similar to their failed attempt
Curses! Foiled again!
s during the 2014 war. At the same time, Hamas is also working on building up its stockpiles to allow for continued rocket fire over a period of many weeks.
In light of these preparations, there two sides are fighting a daily war of the minds. As far as Israel is concerned, this is a cruel and sophisticated game of chess meant to prevent Hamas from being able to infiltrate its territory through dozens of spots. This means sabotaging Hamas' tunnel-digging abilities, and stopping rocket production as much as possible. Every day on which Hamas can't dig due to the lack of equipment and materials, is seen as net profit.
| Some ten tons of iron oxide, enough to manufacture some 20,000 rockets, have been seized at the Kerem Shalom crossing so far, thanks to intelligence or security checks. Most of the iron oxide came from the Sinai through the Nitzana border crossing and from there made its way to Kerem Shalom. |
On the Paleostinian side of this game of chess, merchants and other professionals in the fields of economy and finance are working alongside the heads of Hamas' military wing. This entire mechanism is dedicated to smuggling materials for the local military industry into the Gazoo Strip. Most of the weapons Hamas uses are being manufactured inside the Strip: Starting with rockets and including anti-tank RPG 29 launchers. Hamas' military industry demands raw materials, and the smuggling mechanism is supposed to find the solutions. It is also responsible for the importing of tools and materials to construct the attack tunnels.
The Egyptians bombed most of the smuggling tunnels from the Sinai and are flooding others with water. There are only a few dozen left that the Egyptians have yet to reach. From the moment Egypt started destroying the tunnels, Israel has turned into the elixir of life for Hamas' military wing. In other words: Merchandise and raw materials coming from the Ashdod port, the West Bank, and Israel itself, are all serving the military industry in the Gazoo Strip. And this entire effort flows into a very narrow bottleneck: The Kerem Shalom border crossing. The sea does not, at the moment, constitute a worthwhile alternative to smuggling through the Sinai, because of Israel and Egypt's military activities there. Attempts to get equipment into the Strip through the sea are met with fire and the confiscation of fishing vessels.
Facing this smuggling mechanism is a special intelligence team led by the Shin Bet, which also includes representatives from the Israel Airports Authority, the Tax Authority, the Israel Police, COGAT and the Counter-Terrorism Bureau. The special intelligence team gathers the information coming from all of these authorities and agencies - with an emphasis on intelligence provided by the Shin Bet on the military and economic activity in Gazoo - and thwarts the smuggling attempts with the help of the police or the Airports Authority.
And so, while the wave of terror attacks in the West Bank is making headlines, at the southern corner of the Gazoo Strip, on roads leading to the Kerem Shalom border crossing, a Sisyphean war is being waged in an effort to prevent the next round of fighting or at the very least delay it.
| Hamas was able to smuggle fabrics used to make military uniforms from Israel to Gaza. These fabrics were later smuggled to ISIS in the Sinai. So it's safe to assume that if fabrics were smuggled in that manner, other materials were too. |
The special intelligence team has been instructed to stop Hamas from recovering the capabilities it had on the eve of Operation Protective Edge. The results of the next round of fighting are being determined right now at the Kerem Shalom crossing. This is a war of intelligence for all intents and purposes, which includes intelligence gathering, investigative tricks, deception, disinformation, concealment and betrayal. Since the special team began its work at the end of last year, the Shin Bet has questioned 50 suspects. Thirty-five of them - Israeli Jews and Arabs, as well as Paleostinians from the West Bank - have been incarcerated
Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages!
by the Shin Bet.
In the last two months, 25 serious indictments have been filed on charges of attempted smuggling, the sale of merchandise to terror groups in Gazoo, and money laundering. One case that received attention was that of Michael Peretz from Mivtahim. He was indicted in September for allegedly providing Hamas with equipment to dig tunnels and manufacture rockets. His trial has just begun. And there are several dozen other cases in the pipeline that deal with smuggling to Gazoo. At least one Israeli company that deals with metals has been shut down after committing security and economic offenses.
Hamas' woes, and its desire to continue operating its rocket production lines and revive its attack tunnels, has led its smuggling mechanism to become particularly creative, which often amazes the Israelis. In 2014, even before the special intelligence team was formed, security at Kerem Shalom discovered a small tractor, dismantled, hidden inside a truck transporting generators into the Strip. The tractor was meant to be used in the digging of the tunnels. The thing that drew their attention was that one of the generators had an unusually large gas tank that could hold 3,000 liters of gas. When they opened the generator, they found the parts of the dismantled tractor inside. All they had left to do was find the tractor's engine, which they did - disguised as another generator. 
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Posted by trailing wife 2015-12-20 00:00||
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