Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin told the Knesset Monday that the Israel Defense Force high command has issued strict orders to all units aimed at preventing a recurrence of the events on the night of Nov. 25, when a single glider-borne terrorist killed six soldiers and wounded seven at an IDF encampment near Kiryat Shemona in upper Galilee.
He assured the lawmakers that the matter would not be dropped “until the proper lessons of that unfortunate incident are fully learned.”
Chief of Staff Gen. Dan Shomron, meanwhile, assured settlers in northern Israel Sunday that the IDF is correcting the security failures that allowed the attack to succeed.
He said the IDF has the appropriate means to deal with future terrorist attempts to infiltrate Israel by air and that the military high command will take the proper disciplinary measures. He stressed however that the IDF will not act hastily to “make heads roll.”
The incident, which has severely shaken Israelis’ confidence in their northern defense system, was the subject of sometimes heated debate in the Cabinet at its regular weekly session Sunday.
SHARON BLAMES RABIN
The ministers were briefed by Rabin. But Rabin was attacked by Commerce and Industry Minister Ariel Sharon, a Likud hardliner, who maintained that the problem was not a lack of alertness at the encampment but the absence of “clear directives from the political echelon to the defense forces to wipe out terror.”
Deputy Premier David Levy, another Likud minister, defended the defense establishment. He said that because of one mistake it has been forgotten that the northern border has been sealed and secure since Israel withdrew its forces from Lebanon in 1984. Rabin himself pointed to the relative calm on the northern border for the past two-and-a half years. But he admitted it was achieved at a high cost — 21 soldiers killed, 103 wounded, two kidnapped and one air force navigator taken prisoner after his Phantom jet crashed, or was shot down. Rabin noted that some 10,000 terrorists belonging to dozens of different terrorist groups are presently active in Lebanon.
Premier Yitzhak Shamir told the Cabinet that the IDF would soon draw the appropriate conclusions from the attack. Addressing the annual luncheon meeting of newspaper editors Monday, Shamir was asked if he blamed Syria for the attack. He replied that Syria identified with “this kind of terrorism,” but would not elaborate.
Shamir complained, however, that “even in Egypt, voices are heard praising last Wednesday’s terror attack in Galilee.”
It was learned, meanwhile, that army units and settlements in the area of the attack had a 20- to 30-minute advance warning that an infiltrator was approaching by air.
The first report of a “moped overhead” in the dark, moonless sky, was verified by a second source. A moped is a motorized bicycle. The hang-glider used by the terrorist was powered by a bicycle motor.
The unit that suffered the casualties was part of Nahal, the IDF section that combines military training with agricultural work. Shomron said Nahal was a first-class fighting unit and the errors made at the upper Galilee encampment were not typical.
The sentry on duty at the gate reportedly fled when the terrorist threw a grenade at him. The soldier was from a family that had lost one son in combat.
It is IDF policy not to recruit members of bereaved families for front-line or forward-area duty in order to spare such families the risk of losing other members. In this case, apparently, that policy was not followed.
THIRD HANG-GLIDER CITED
Shomron disclosed that a third hang-glider may have been launched on last week’s assault but either crashed or turned back before it reached the Israeli-controlled security zone in southern Lebanon.
A second glider landed in the security zone about 1,500 feet short of the Israel-Lebanon border. Its pilot was killed by an IDF patrol.
Reports from Lebanon Monday indicated that Palestinian terrorists in southern Lebanon are girding for massive retaliation by Israel. Officers of the United Nations peace-keeping force in southern Lebanon were quoted by Haaretz Monday as reporting the flight of civilian residents of refugee camps in the area where the terrorists have their bases.
Hadashot reported that the terrorists them selves have fortified their bases and are on high alert for an IDF reprisal. Reports from the Sidon area said there was fear that “Israel is likely to undertake a joint military action by land and sea at any moment.”
A report from the Ein Hilwe refugee camp said the terrorists strengthened their coastal defenses after Israel navy patrol boats were sighted close offshore. They have also mobilized their anti-aircraft defenses, which consist primarily of Soviet-made SAM-7 ground-to-air missiles.
The Christian radio station “Voice of Lebanon” was quoted by Hadashot as saying that an IDF tank column was seen moving along the coastal highway north of Nakura in the direction of Tyre. The report was not confirmed.
(Tel Aviv correspondent Hugh Orgel also contributed to this story.)
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
