IDF officer visits Hartford: Hamas getting stronger, she reports

WEST  HARTFORD --One morning seven months ago, at approximately 6:40 a.m., three terrorists began shooting at Israeli soldiers near the Gaza border. When the Israelis fired back, the team of terrorists, wearing explosive vests and sheparding six horses laden with explosives, quickly fled.  

It was an old ploy intended to lure the soldiers across the border and kidnap them.  But the Israelis did not bite.  Instead, they counter-attacked with fighter planes.  By the time the clash was over, several terrorists were dead. In addition to the bomb-laden horses, the soldiers found 36 land mines that the terrorists had buried in the ground.
Though it happened last June, Second Lieutenant Watemberg, an operations room officer with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Gaza division, discussed the incident before an audience of close to 50 people gathered to hear the young IDF officer at The Emanuel Synagogue in West Hartford one recent evening. 
The significance of the skirmish, explained Watemberg, whose first name is withheld for security purposes, is that it represents the first attempt of a new terrorist organization now operating in the Gaza Strip.  The organization, known as "Jund Ansar Allah"  is connected to Al Qaeda  and is not a part of the Hamas movement, which controls Gaza.  It is believed that the terrorists come from Yemen, Syria and Iran, and were smuggled into Gaza by way of the Egyptian border, though Israel considers Egypt an ally in the fight against Hamas, she said.
In response to a question about the current situation on the Gaza border, Watemberg cautioned against complacency.
"The Gaza border is never quiet. Compared to a year ago, yes, there are less rockets launched [from Gaza onto southern Israeli towns].  But every day there are still about four or five.  We know that Hamas is not getting weaker - only stronger."
On the subject of Gilad Shalit, the IDF soldier who has been held captive by Hamas for nearly four years, Watemberg noted that the current attempt to negotiate his release has failed.

Watemberg's appearance in West Hartford was sponsored by the Jewish Federation Association of Connecticut (JFACT), and The Emanuel Synagogue and organized by the Westchester and Connecticut chapter of Friends of the IDF.
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