PM insists minutes show he warned of tunnel threat
Addressing claims made earlier by Minister of Education Naftali Bennett regarding the decision-making process of the security cabinet during Operation Protective Edge, PM Netanyahu quotes minutes from cabinet meetings in which the seriousness of the tunnel threat is well stated.
In his speech before the Federation of Local Authorities in Israel Tuesday night, Netanyahu said, "There are cabinet ministers who said that in the two years prior to the operation cabinet members were not informed that there were tunnels dug into Israel or that the subject was not brought into cabinet discussions.
"We started discussing this in 2013, but on January 12, 2014, six months before the operation, I brought up the IDF's annual intelligence assessment and specifically mentioned tunnels and missiles," said Netanyahu while directly quoting the minutes from the cabinet meetings in question.
Netanyahu continued quoting the minutes, saying, "Kidnappings or infiltration into Israeli settlements would be a serious blow to national morale. The tunnels present serious problems."
The prime minister also presented minutes from February 16, 2014. "The prime minister agrees that a threat is posed to the State of Israel that is worsening. The prime minister assesses that the next operation in Gaza will include firing rockets at the center of terrorist organizations," Netanyahu quoted before continuing to more minutes from March 13: "They are developing two new tools which have equality-breaking significance: long-range rockets and underground routes."
Netanyahu concluded, "This is the tip of the iceberg of what I said month after month, and there's much more. Not only I, but also the IDF and the Shin Bet, and everything was said in cabinet. I want to ask you: How can you say that this threat in all its seriousness was not presented to the cabinet when I reviewed it as one of the four strategic threats to the State of Israel?
"The IDF and security agencies did everything they could to protect the State of Israel. Our commanders risked their lives, and they deserve support from all of us. Leaks that try to falsely present the IDF are wrong and unwanted."
The minutes of the cabinet meeting published in Yedioth Ahronoth demonstrate a general lack of preparedness for the tunnel threat, squabbling among the military echelons and serious feuds between ministers.
