MIDEAST UPDATE: 6.17.16 - Intelligence minister warns 'megalomanic' Hezbollah chief -

Intelligence minister warns 'megalomanic' Hezbollah chief - By Stuart Winer - http://www.timesofisrael.com/intelligence-minister-warns-megalomanic-hezbollah-chief/

 

Yisrael Katz cautions that an attack on Israel's home front would spell 'ruin for Lebanon'

 

Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz launched a scathing attack on the Hezbollah terror group's leader, calling Hassan Nasrallah a "megalomaniac" with no concept of reality and warning that Lebanon would be "ruined" in a future conflict between the IDF and Hezbollah.

 

"Hezbollah continues to be the primary non-state threat, not only to Israel but also to Lebanon," he told the Herzliya Conference, an annual seminar reviewing Israel's security. 

 

He added that a conflict with the Lebanon-based Shiite group could be triggered by a minor incident due to "the megalomaniac character of the organization's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, a fanatical personality who lacks any conception of reality except, perhaps, anything to do with protecting his personal security."

 

His words came a day after IDF Military Intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Herzi Halevy, speaking at the same conference, put particular emphasis on the threat from Hezbollah in Lebanon, as Israel prepares to mark 10 years since the Second Lebanon War next month.

 

Hezbollah is believed to have an arsenal of more than 100,000 missiles and rockets, along with weapons systems "that they never had before," Halevy said.

 

But Katz said that it is Israel's northern neighbor and the Hezbollah leader who had the most to lose in a conflict with Israel.

 

"A war in Lebanon and an attack on the Israeli home front will bring about the ousting of Nasrallah and will bring ruin to Lebanon," he predicted.

 

Katz, who is also transportation minister, presented his vision for Israel to become a trade bridge between the Mediterranean Sea and countries to its east by revving up the historic Jezreel Valley Railway line, part of an train network in the region active during the first half of the twentieth century, under Ottoman and British rule. He revealed that Turkish trucks are already making use of Israel's strategic position, which offers a detour around war-torn Syria.

 

"Turkish trucks are already bringing goods to the east via Haifa port. They are using the Israeli route as an alternative to the Syrian route, which can't be used due to the situation there," he said.

 

Katz also took the opportunity to raise the subject of creating an international island in the sea opposite the Gaza Strip to act as a port with a bridge to the land for the transfer of people and goods.

 

"This plan could contribute much to easing the pressure on the residents of the Strip, while further advancing the separation from Israel," he explained, and noted that Israel's security leadership is very interested in the idea.

 

"I hope that the highest political leadership will have the courage and determination to make a decision," he said.

 

In February the Hebrew-language Haaretz daily reported that senior IDF officials support the idea of easing the pressure on Hamas, the de facto ruler of Gaza, amid a worsening economic situation in Gaza that could lead to new conflict, by giving the territory access to a seaport. It said a range of possible port arrangements - including an artificial offshore island - are being discussed at senior military and political levels.

 

Israel Plans to Build Underground Wall Around Gaza Strip - By Ariella Mendlowitz - http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/69944/israel-building-massive-underground-wall-stop-tunnels/#g3lMcX5HdCWyv1uW.97

 

"Because, even because they have led My people astray, saying: Peace, and there is no peace; and when it buildeth up a slight wall, behold, they daub it with whited plaster." Ezekiel 13:10 (The Israel Bible�)

 

Israel's defense establishment is developing plans to construct a concrete wall tens of meters under and above ground along the border that divides the Israel and the Gaza Strip, Ynet reported on Thursday.

 

Similar to the "West Bank barrier" or security fence that Israel began building in 2002 to separate Israelis from violent Palestinians in Judea and Samaria, this newest wall is intended to protect Israelis living along or near the border from infiltration via terror tunnels as well as defend against cross-border fire.

 

The costs to build the wall are estimated at approximately NIS 2.2 billion ($570 million USD). The wall will cover 60 miles of land around Gaza's southern border. Exact measurements of how high the wall will reach above ground and how deep it will run below ground have not yet been revealed.

 

According to Ynet, this wall will be the third defense system of its kind that Israel has built along the border. In 1994, after the Oslo accords were struck, Israel constructed the first 60-kilometer barrier. The second system was implemented after former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced the decision to remove all Jewish presence from Gaza in 2005. Neither of these efforts would ever be capable of combating the severe threat posed by Hamas's attack tunnels.

 

While efforts against Israel's enemies in the south continue, the IDF is simultaneously erecting a similar wall around some sections of the Israeli-Lebanon border in close proximity to several Israeli towns. The decision to build came after Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's leader, publicly threatened attacks against civilians in the nearby villages.

 

Earlier this year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized his support for building walls, saying that doing so will "protect Israel against beasts," referring to Palestinians who seek to carry out attacks against Jews. Netanyahu's statement came while touring a new security fence near the southern Israeli city of Eilat which was being built along Israel's border with Jordan.

 

Though many human rights activists have protested Israel's construction of such walls, claiming they inhibit Palestinians' ability to easily commute, security forces hold fast to them saying the walls have no doubt contributed to the significant decrease in suicide bombings and other attacks in areas where the wall has been completed.