Israel’s security cabinet decides not to decide on IDF plans to scotch Palestinian missile offensive and Hamas war buildup.

Olmert heeds orders from Washington

DEBKAfile Intelligence

14 May 2007

For 19 months since Israel evacuated the Gaza Strip, the Palestinians have used the wide open Philadelphi border route for massive smuggling of arms, explosives and missiles. Instead of finally putting a stop to the peril on the southwestern border, as demanded by security and military chiefs, the Olmert led a cabinet decision to launch an international information campaign calling on world action to curb the Palestinian threat.

Earlier, DEBKAfile’s Washington sources revealed:

Lt. Gen. Keith G. Dayton, US security coordinator, sought and obtained instructions from Washington forbidding Israel to launch a ground offensive or any other major military operation in Gaza.

To hold the Israeli government to this directive, the Bush administration will be sending a military delegation to Israel this week, to survey the damage caused by the Palestinian missiles and draw up guidelines for dealing with them.

Olmert’s assent to the US government determining what form the IDF’s response to the Palestinian missile blitz from Gaza should take has left Israel’s security and military establishments aghast and deeply troubled. They are furious at being summoned to a phony debate in the cabinet Sunday, purportedly for a hearing at long last of their plans to quell the threats building up from Gaza.

DEBKAfile’s military sources report their plans are based essentially on in-and-out incursions for the pursuit of terrorists and missile-launchers, the destruction of war materiel and infrastructure, and targeted assassinations of terrorist leaders.