Israel’s PM implicitly endorses airstrike on Eastern Sudan
April 15, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has tacitly confirmed near-certain speculations that his country was behind an air-strike that killed two people in eastern Sudan earlier this month.
However, Sudanese officials failed to come to consensus on whether the operation was carried out by fighter jets or missiles fired from the Red Sea.
Speaking at an event organized by his Likud Party on Thursday, Netanyahu responded to a question on whether his country had carried out the air-strike or not, suggesting a preemptive approach by Isreal to potential security threats.
“We do a lot. Not everything is known, only some. We focus not only on reaction, but also on prevention, thwarting and keeping our enemies from arming themselves.”
The result of such policy, according to Netanyahu, “has been two years of almost unprecedented calm. We lost fewer lives in these two years. That’s not by chance, it is a clear result of our policy.”
Sudanese authorities denied initial reports that the strike killed two foreigners, identifying the victims as a Sudanese citizen named Eissa Ahmed Hadab from Al-Amrar tribe and his personal driver Ahmed Gibreel.
The attack harked back to a series of air-strikes that were reportedly carried out by Israel in eastern Sudan in January 2009 on a convoy of arms that was allegedly headed to the Gaza strip controlled by the Islamic Hamas movement.
Sudanese president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir and other officials in Khartoum at the time acknowledged that Israel was likely behind the air raids which state media reported to have killed 119 illegal immigrants who were trying to sneak into Europe.
Meanwhile, a privately owned Sudanese daily, Al-Tayyar, reported on Friday that security authorities in eastern Sudan had been actively engaged in efforts to identify people who might have provided information that facilitated the airstrike.
According to the paper, security agents had raided a car garage owned by a Turkish man at al Sha’abi Market in Port Sudan, but the owner was let off after he provided proof of ownership of the cars in his garage.
Last month, the Egyptian media quoting army sources said that it had shelled a convoy of vehicles laden with arms near the Sudanese border. No further details were given and Khartoum has reportedly asked for clarifications from Cairo.
In the past U.S. and Egypt have warned Khartoum that arms smuggling to Gaza has flourished through East Sudan and they need to step up efforts to stop it.
(ST)