Not surfer-wear, but terror-wear. Wetsuit seized by Israeli border security. Photo courtesy of Defense Ministry Land Crossings Authority
Potential terror at sea was prevented on Monday, thanks to Israeli border inspectors and the Israel Security Agency (ISA). That border duo apprehended a shipment of dozens of professional wetsuits at the Gaza border, according to a Monday press release from the Israeli Defense Ministry. The report said the wetsuits were being smuggled in what appeared to be a “seemingly innocent shipment of sportswear that had been imported from abroad into the Palestinian Authority areas and reshipped to the Gaza Strip.”
The smuggled nature of the naval gear implies it wasn’t aimed at the Gaza surfer community. The Israeli Defense Ministry suspects the wetsuits “being destined for terrorist elements in the Gaza Strip, including Hamas’s naval commando unit.”
The press release said that an investigation has been launched into the incident.
Islamic terror at sea is nothing new for Israel. Decades ago a team of Lebanese terrorists, including the infamous Samir Kuntar, murdered an Israeli child and multiple other Israelis on the Israeli coast after sneaking ashore via boat.
Hamas terrorists have been building tunnels into Israel for years, seeking to burrow their way under security fences and strike at the Jewish homefront. Striking from sea is just another way to sidestep the security in place on the ground.
Israel has been taking steps to prevent them under ground, and they’re stopping the bad guys at sea too—sometimes before they can even get the wetsuits to the ocean.
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, June 20, 2016)