Olmert decides no Israeli response needed to Monday’s Eilat bombing which killed three Israelis

After listening to military and security leaders Tuesday, he rejected all their proposals for military action against the perpetrators.
Olmert and defense minister Amir Peretz, like Ariel Sharon before them, declare that suicide attacks against Israel will not go unpunished. They then proceed to do nothing. The issue of the wide-open Israel-Egypt border fence now being raised is a distraction. The cost of an electronic fence the length of this 200-km border would be prohibitive. But that argument is also irrelevant. The source of the evil is the Gaza-Egyptian border, through which Palestinian terrorists have made their way into Egyptian Sinai unhindered since Israel’s September 2006 pull-out. That stretch of border – from Kerem Shalom to Rafah – is no more than 20 km long; fencing it would run to less than $20 m. By failing to seal this small line on the map, Israel grants free rein to arms smugglers, missile launchers against Sderot and suicide bombers to reach Eilat. Not a finger is being raised to interfere with the Gaza Strip’s evolution into a world-class depot for terrorists and their armaments.
The bomber, Mohamed Faisal al-Siksik, 21, from Gaza, blew himself up in a bakery in the Red Sea resort of Eilat Monday, Jan. 29, killing the two proprietors, Michael Ben Sadon, 27, and Emil Almaliach, 32, and Israel Samoliya, 26. This was the first such attack the holiday paradise has ever experienced. debkafile‘s counter-terror sources report that a new anti-Israel terror offensive is expected to be mounted from Gaza and Sinai by the Palestinian Jihad Islami in conjunction with local al Qaeda cells with funding from Tehran and Damascus.
A senior Israeli officer familiar with the Israeli-Egyptian Sinai border region told debkafile after the Eilat attack: “Olmert and Peretz have missed the train. Their policy of military restraint in the face of Qassam missile attacks and a terrorist build-up has given the most violent elements free rein to get set for a fresh, well-organized assault.” Some attacks may also come from the sea.
He stressed: “It’s no use expecting the Egyptians to secure the Sinai border. Since Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip 15 months ago, the Egyptian-Gazan-Israeli borders are a highway for smugglers of terrorists, missiles, explosives and traffickers of every kind. The IDF is the only force capable of putting a stop to this traffic and suppressing the collaboration between Hamas, Jihad Islami, Fatah-al Aqsa Brigades and al Qaeda. Unfortunately, its hands are tied by the government.”