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As Israel announces, belatedly, the start of establishing a major barrier to protect the southern parts of the state [“Israel starts construction on 20-foot-high fence surrounding Gaza“, Times of Israel, February 3, 2019], we’re seeing a spate of news reports reminding Israelis why security of that sort is indispensable.
Two Jordanians cross into Israel, are arrested by army | Unarmed pair taken for questioning to determine why they crossed border, military says
Times of Israel | 3 February 2019, 2:01 pm | Two Jordanian nationals were arrested early Sunday after they crossed illegally into the country, the Israel Defense Forces said. According to a statement from the military, IDF soldiers identified the two suspects overnight, after they crossed the border fence. The troops stopped and arrested the pair near the border, the statement said, adding that they were carrying no weapons. They have been taken for questioning to determine why they crossed the border. The statement did not specify where along the border the incident took place.
Then this
Palestinian with knife nabbed among Hebron tourists | Armed suspect tries to enter Tomb of the Patriarchs shrine, is separated by police from group of visitors
Times of Israel | 3 February 2019, 2:09 pm
A young Palestinian man trying to gain access to a West Bank holy site on Sunday aroused the attention of police when they spotted him in the middle of a group of tourists entering the Tomb of the Patriarchs, police said. Border Police officers arrested the suspect, a man in his twenties, after noticing he didn’t belong with the group and was acting suspiciously in an apparent bid to gain entry to the site, in the West Bank city of Hebron, police said. Police officers called him aside for a more thorough inspection before realizing he was carrying the blade. “When the suspicion grew stronger, the soldiers aimed their weapons and at that point the suspect drew the knife that had been concealed in his clothes, threw it to the ground and raised his hands,” a police statement said. Police said the suspect, a resident of Hebron, admitted during his initial questioning that he intended to carry out a stabbing attack.
And these
Palestinian crosses into Israel from Gaza, is arrested | Incident follows previous day’s 3 attempts to jump border fence on 3 borders — from Gaza, Lebanon and Jordan — and day after Israel begins final stage of barrier construction
Times of Israel | February 4, 2019, 9:04 am | IDF troops on the Gaza border apprehended a Palestinian man who crossed the border fence into Israel from the southern Strip, the military said in a statement Monday morning. The man was searched by soldiers and taken into custody. The IDF said that a knife was found near the point where the man crossed the fence, and “apparently belonged to the suspect.” […] Monday’s incident is the fourth in a 24-hour period in which individuals were caught attempting to cross into Israel on various borders. Five youths who crossed from northern Gaza into Israel on Sunday night remain in custody and are being questioned. On Sunday, IDF troops arrested two Lebanese men who crossed the border into Israel near the divided border village of Ghajar and were discovered to be carrying 11 kilograms (25 pounds) of hashish. Earlier Sunday, two Jordanian nationals were arrested after they crossed illegally from Jordan, the army said. They were carrying no weapons. Their reasons for attempting to jump over the border fence are not known.
Israelis tend to be cautious about how effective defensive security measures are. The latest sabre-rattling from Iran reminds us of why:
Iran said to put ‘guided warheads’ on missiles that can reach Israel | State media says the new Khoramshahr 2 is highly accurate and can carry two-ton payloads up to 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles)
Times of Israel | February 4, 2019
Iran has equipped its most advanced, longest-range missiles, which can hit Israel and US bases in the Gulf, with new precision guided warheads, state media reported Sunday. According to the unsourced report in the Fars news agency, the new home-made guided warheads have now been attached to the Khoramshahr, a missile with a range of 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles.) “The new generation of missiles with guided warheads has been named Khoramshahr 2 and they can be controlled until hitting the target and are able to carry warheads weighing nearly 2 tons,” the report said. It said that the new warheads had previously been mounted on the shorter range Emad, Qadr and Qiam missiles. The first generation of Khoramshahr was unveiled in 2017. Iran says all of its missiles are designed to carry conventional warheads only and has limited their range to a maximum of 2,000 kilometers, although commanders say they have the technology to go further. That makes them only medium-range but still sufficient to reach Israel or US bases in the Gulf. The report comes a day after Iran said it had successful fired a new long-range cruise missile, amid events marking 40 years since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The missile, dubbed Hoveyzeh, was described as a high-precision weapon capable of flying at low altitudes and able to carry a significant payload up to a distance of 1,200 kilometers (840 miles.)
These news reports tend to get somewhat overlooked outside Israel.
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