In an interview with the Jerusalem Post, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz tells you why the Karni crossing remains closed. You will not see these reasons in any wire story. Instead, you will see the phrase “due to security concerns” used.
Why did you decide to open the Karni Crossing despite the terror alerts?
There are threats there, but they vary in category and degree. Due to the serious shortage in flour, we decided to partially open Karni for the transfer of flour and other basic goods like milk, but not to open it all the way. This was a risk we were able to take. But after we opened Karni [on Monday] someone started running to attack it, and the IDF commander there immediately closed it down. So every day now we are reassessing the security situation there.
Are you afraid the Palestinians will try to create an image of there being a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip?
We decided to open the Kerem Shalom Crossing [in the southern Gaza Strip] and told the Palestinians, “Whatever you want to send through Karni, send through Kerem Shalom.”
But there are people there who have an interest in not opening Kerem Shalom, since they get a cut of whatever goes through Karni. This is part of the Palestinian corruption.
Couldn’t you have told the Palestinians that Israel agreed to open Kerem Shalom but not Karni, due to security concerns, and that it is their problem that they are not getting supplies?
But the world doesn’t understand it that way. They [the Palestinians] say that the Israelis are trying to pressure them to use Kerem Shalom since in the future Israel wants to close Karni; and they say we want to create a humanitarian crisis and hurt the Palestinian people.
But if there are terror alerts, shouldn’t Israel’s priority be the safety of Israelis at the crossing?
We are looking after the safety of Israel, and if we feel that the alert demands a closure, we will close. Today [Tuesday] it is open, but if the threat cannot be removed, we will close it. In the past there have been attacks there and, we take the threat level there into consideration. Someone suggested that we keep helicopters in the air over Karni to deter attacks while Karni is open. I don’t think we need to transfer trucks under the cover of helicopters. We also won’t keep helicopters airborne all day long. We are therefore taking reasonable security measures that are logical, but we also don’t want to be blamed for creating a humanitarian or economic crisis in the Gaza Strip
Read it all, and see more of what the anti-Israel media won’t tell you.