[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA

How is this for grounds for indictment:

Vilnai said this was a major problem as far as Israel was concerned, but "it
cannot be said that we didn't know about it ahead of time."

In other words: the policy makers have no excuse.

They knew about this problem "ahead of time" and yet they opted to embark on
a farce instead of actually addressing it.]

Vilnai: Arms smuggling continues, despite Egypt
By Yuval Azoulay Last update - 05:16 02/07/2008
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/998033.html

Deputy defense minister Matan Vilnai on Tuesday accused Egypt of not doing
enough to halt weapons smuggling from Sinai to the Gaza Strip.

According to Vilnai, the flow of weapons via the Philadephi route into the
Gaza Strip is ongoing, despite the truce that Egypt mediated between Israel
and Hamas.

Speaking during a visit to the ground forces training center in Tze'elim in
the Negev, Vilnai said he had the impression that Egypt was making more
effort than it had in the past to stabilize the situation along its border
with the Strip, however he said the effort was "not really successful."

Vilnai said this was a major problem as far as Israel was concerned, but "it
cannot be said that we didn't know about it ahead of time."

In a conversation with reservists training to fight in built-up areas in the
West Bank or Gaza, Vilnai also said: "The Second Lebanon War was not the
last war."

He added that no one knew how long the truce would last, but "if the next
war breaks out, at least we'll know that we tried everything."

Vilnai also said that the truce had made it possible to renew negotiations
with Hamas for the release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit.

Meanwhile, the crossings between Israel and Gaza, which opened at the
beginning of the week to allow merchandise into the strip, were closed again
yesterday after Israel was fired on from Gaza Monday night.

"It was agreed with the Palestinians that if there was no fire the crossings
would remain open. As long as firing persists, we close them," Vilnai told
the reservists. The decision to close the crossings was made despite
uncertainty whether a mortar or rocket had been fired, and inability to
locate the landing spot.

A dusty reserve soldier listening to Vilnai with his comrades, exhausted
from Tze'elim's extreme heat, questioned Vilnai about their training: "We
are being told all the time that Iran is an existential threat to Israel,
and they're teaching us here how to search buildings."

Vilnai, who had been apprised earlier of media reports on a source in the
Pentagon who said that Israel might attack Iran's nuclear facilities before
the end of President George W. Bush's term, responded: "There's the axis of
evil that begins in Beirut and continues to Damascus and Teheran. If there
is a confrontation with Iran, other fronts could ignite."

Vinai declined to respond directly to the statements by the Pentagon source.