Where are the soldiers? Locals say army has done nothing to boost security
Photo: AP
Southern residents charged Saturday that IDF announcements regarding a heightened state of alert on the Egyptian border were bogus and were not backed up by any measures on the ground. Locals and visiting hikers alike said they have not seen any extra presence of soldiers along the border.
Local tourism industry members said the army's announcement hurt tourism numbers in the area and added they were not informed about the supposed closure of tourist sites and hiking trails before an IDF statement to that effect was published in the media.
Residents of the Ramat Hanegev regional council also said they are furious over the IDF's announcement regarding the closure of tourist sites near the Israel-Egypt border.
Border Security
Defense officials decide to seal off tourist sites near Egyptian border due to Palestinian breach of Egypt border; on Thursday, the army closed down borderline highway
Southern resident Yakov Moscowitz told Ynet that he drove along Highway 10 with his community's security chief for about two hours uninterrupted and without being stopped by soldiers. The army announced Thursday it was sealing off the highway.
"We wanted to see whether forces along the border were indeed reinforced," Moscowitz said. "When we drove along Highway 10 we saw no new roadblocks were set up."
"The existing army posts are unmanned, and we discovered flares lying around near one of the outposts," he said. "We fired one flare and even then no soldiers arrived. The entire border is breached. There is a large gap between the media statements issued by the army and what is happening on the ground."
'All they did was scare visitors'
Shmulik Rifman, who heads the Ramat Hanegev regional council, told Ynet local officials received no notification from the army regarding the closure of tourist sites.
"I was not briefed and neither was the regional council's security chief, and the army has not reinforced the forces on the ground," Rifman told Ynet. "The IDF does not decide on opening or closing tourist sites. They haven't done so in the north, and there is no reason for them to do it in the south."
"Such announcements cause great damage to the regional council particularly when they the not backed up by steps on the ground and when the army fails to post roadblocks and really seal the area off; all they did was scare visitors who arrive from the center of the country."
Ofer Hartov, who runs a tourist site in the area, told Ynet: "My place is open as usual. We do not feel any difference compared to last week. If we didn't hear the news, we wouldn't know the IDF closed us down or reinforced its forces in the area. If the situation is so grave, why don't they bring more soldiers here?"
"There is a decline in the number of people who arrived this morning, yet we still had many tourists who came to hiking trails in the area, had a good time, and returned home safely," Hartov said. "I don’t understand why they create panic among hikers; overall it's very quiet here."
Vered Grossman from Tel Aviv said she hiked in the region with a group of 15 people, including eight children.
"I don't know what they're talking about," she told Ynet. "We entered the areas that were supposedly sealed off, but we felt no fear or some sort of an army presence. We didn't encounter even one military vehicle or roadblock, and we didn't see helicopters in the area. We simply enjoyed the desert."