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Are Terrorists Infiltrating the Jordanian Border?

February 23, 2015

A serious security mishap occurred on Saturday morning, as two people succeeded in breaching the Israeli border from Jordan despite IDF preparations, in an incident raising fears about the possibility of foreign terrorists freely infiltrating into the Jewish state.

IDF trackers were dispatched as soon as the breach was identified, reports Walla!, and at the scene they found footprints leading to Highway 90 between Grofit and Yotvata in the Arava region of the Negev to the north of Eilat, in an area just to the east of Ovda Airport.

The trackers discovered that the two infiltrators got into a car that apparently was waiting for them and slipped deeper into Israeli territory with nothing to stop them, in what seems to have been a slickly plotted breach of Israeli sovereign territory.

In response, Otzevet Adom Commander Brig. Gen. Roi Elkabetz ordered an in-depth investigation to clarify the particulars of the incident in which the breach was not identified in real time by the forces in the field, but rather after the fact.

The IDF Spokesperson Unit also responded to the incident, saying it was familiar with the case and that it is currently under investigation, and pledging to implement the needed lessons learned from the case after the investigation concludes.

An IDF source in the southern command defined the incident as a “severe mishap” in speaking with the Hebrew-language site, noting that in recent years large resources have been invested in the Jordanian border in addition to increased man power so as to prevent infiltration.

At the border, it is presumed that due to the recently built fence securing the Egyptian border on the Sinai, there will be greater attempts to breach into Israel from Jordan.

Apparently the IDF has been relying on Jordan to a certain extent to keep the border closed, with the source noting “the Jordanians secure the border and it’s their interest that the border be quiet.” He noted that a year ago two infiltrators from Turkey who were apparently seeking work in Israel were shot by the Jordanian army, with one being killed.

But it goes without saying that not all infiltrators are looking for work, and the prospect of Islamist terrorists breaching into Israel has become a very real fear.

The defense ministry has begun planning for a new fence on the Jordanian border similar to the one placed on the Sinai border and the border with Syria.

However, sources involved in the plan reveal that the fence is only in the planning stages, and despite Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s orders to advance the plan, the budget required to start the work has yet to be transferred.

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