The IDF is currently searching for nine armed IDF deserters in the wake of Thursday’s terror attack in Shfaram, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told the Knesset Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee Monday.
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The defense minister was addressing efforts undertaken by the army to prevent a repeated terror attack against Arabs. Mofaz noted there are currently hundreds of IDF deserters on the loose, but only nine of them are believed to be armed.
However, Mofaz was unable to say whether the nine deserters match the profile of Eden Natan Zada, the radical rightist who murdered four Israelis aboard a Shfaram bus. Security officials are apparently concerned that the nine deserters may match the Zada profile.
Earlier, committee members heard that Israel will be finalizing an agreement with Egypt to hand over control of the Philadephi route, on the Gaza-Egypt border, to Egyptian forces in the next two weeks.
The Philadelphi agreement was delayed due to a number of key questions the Egyptians were expecting to be answered, the committee was told.
'Agreement is terrible'
Some committee members demanded a separate clause in the agreement that would forbid the transfer of Egyptian weapons to Palestinians, citing fears that weapons smuggling would take place openly following the pullout.
The committee’s Chairman, Yuval Shteinitz (Likud,) said that the agreement with the Egyptians “in its current form seriously undermines the most important feature of the peace accord with Egypt, that being the demilitarization of Sinai. When the Egyptians now return to the area with weapons, there is concern that they may openly hand over equipment to the Palestinian Authority, which is why I’m calling for the government to add a clause which will forbid this."
Knesset Member Ehud Yatom (Likud) said that “the agreement with the Egyptians to hand over the Philadephi route is terrible."
"It’s a decision taken by politicians who has no input from the security community. If they are smuggling weapons today, tomorrow they will move weapons without caring (who is watching).” said Yatom.
According to the agreement, Egypt would place 750 police officers along the route, and the Palestinians would not be involved in the deployment.
-Attila Somfalvi, Hanan Greenberg, Ilan Marciano, and Moran Zelikovich contributed to the report
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