Livni calls for �action� in response to terror attacks

The Jerusalem Post (Link) - Lahav Harkov (August 18, 2011)

Opposition leader Tzipi Livni (Kadima) called on the government to retaliate following Thursday�s terrorist attacks near Eilat.

�The terrorist attack requires Israeli action, which Kadima will support,� she said at a meeting of Kadima mayors.

�The attack in the South completely changes the equation,� Livni added. �We need a new way of thinking about closing the border between Israel and Egypt.�

National Union MKs also called for border security to be tightened.

�This government failed at sealing the southern border before tens of thousands of illegal immigrants, signaling to all the terrorist organizations in the area that there is no problem penetrating the Israeli border,� MK Arye Eldad (National Union) said.

He added: �Only a dramatic change in instructions to open fire and targeted killings of the heads of Beduin gangs in the Sinai and the Negev will successfully close our border.�

MK Uri Ariel (National Union) said Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu �should retaliate without delay.�

He warned that �the Arabs are bringing us back to the days of the fedayeen,� referring to Palestinian terrorists between 1948 and about 1980, and said Thursday�s attack �is the price of ongoing neglect of our sovereignty in the Negev and the southern border.�

MK Ayoub Kara (Likud) called for the tent protests to end in the wake of the attacks. �Security matters are once again the most pressing issue,� he said.

�We are far from being like Finland or Holland where social issues are most important.�

Kara called the attack �another example of Palestinian-Islamic terrorists harming citizens just for being Jews and Israelis,� warning that in the coming months �difficult events are sure to happen,� and said Israel�s priority should be defense.

He added: �If I were one of the architects of the housing protest, I would announce that all demonstrations are canceled until the Trajtenberg Committee announces its findings, out of identification with those injured in the South.�

The Likud MK singled out those who pitched their tents on Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv.

�Those protesters are all in the middle class � they�re not in a crisis situation like the demonstrators in Beersheba or Kiryat Shmona,� Kara explained.

�When the country faces difficult situations, the middle class can put its protest on hold.�

Earlier this week, MK Dov Henin (Hadash) warned of �media spins on security and outside threats to distract the Israeli public.�

He said, �I hope people will not forget their demand for social justice.�

Organizers of the protest movement�s j14.org.il website said the events in the South would not lead them to pack up the tent cities, but that they have canceled all musical performances and celebrations for the coming days. �