A senior IDF source, responding to a recent screening of a film showing for the first time difficult images of the kidnapping of soldiers from Har Dov in 2000, said that "the most important conclusion is that we must not arrive at a situation of another kidnapping."
"The war we underwent, difficult as it was, changed the situation on the northern border completely, and if in two months we again see Hizbullah on the border, we'll have to act, with the price of another clash. Otherwise, a third kidnapping is only a matter of time," the source told Ynet on Tuesday.
The military source characterized each Hizbullah kidnapping as having "very deep planning and intelligence gathering. Every shepherd in southern Lebanon are part of their intelligence gathering system. This incident (in 2000) was a failure for them in terms of results, as was the incident in which Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwaser were kidnapped. At the time it doesn't matter how such incidents were thwarted. When the enemy succeeds once – it's our failure."
"Already now, there are those in Hizbullah plotting the next kidnap operations," the source warned. "They won't do it tomorrow or in two days, but on the day the order is given. The IDF must have the full freedom to act and not to let this situation return. This was an impossible situation, and we saw the results in 2000, and a few weeks ago," he said.