It’s time to tighten our security

The three-front attack on Israel on Saturday by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, has left about 1,500 dead on both sides. Since its foundation in 1948, Israel has invested heavily in securing cutting-edge defense systems — such as the Iron Dome and the smart fencing system along the border — to defend itself from hostile neighbors and terrorist forces. But even such high-tech defense systems proved to be vulnerable to the surprise attack by the Hamas by land, sea and air.

Watching Israel’s failed response in the initial stages, we cannot but worry about the current status of our security systems in confronting North Korea’s conventional weapons like the long-range rocket launchers, not to mention the nuclear threats. Thousands of rockets Hamas fired at Israel on the first day of the attack caused hundreds of casualties in Israel. But North Korea’s long-range rocket launchers are more powerful than Hamas’ as they can fire up to 16,000 rockets to South Korea per hour.

In the legislature’s regular audit of the Ministry of National Defense on Tuesday, new Defense Minister Shin Won-shik vowed to invalidate the Sept. 19, 2018 military agreement with North Korea as soon as possible, citing a security threat from our limited surveillance on signs of military provocation from the North. The military agreement the dovish Moon Jae-in administration struck with North Korea to facilitate dialogue shows many loopholes, including our exposure to the North’s drone attacks.

As a result of the agreement, our Army’s field exercises of regiments and artillery firing drills stopped entirely. The dismantling of 11 guard posts in the southern section of the demilitarized zone also made it difficult to detect any signs of aggression from the North. That’s not all. After a flight ban was enforced over certain areas of the Military Demarcation Line, South Korea and the United States’ capabilities to surveil North Korea were critically restricted. Such security holes must be fixed quickly.

We must learn lessons from the Mossad’s failure to detect any signs of aggression by Hamas due to Israel’s domestic political conflict. After former President Moon and his Democratic Party revised the National Intelligence Service Act to deprive the spy agency of its authority to investigate pro-North activities in the South, a serious security vacuum appeared.

Israelis demonstrate strong patriotism in times of crisis. While pilgrims and tourists to sacred places in Israel are hurriedly fleeing the country, Jews are flocking to their homeland to defend against enemies. The time has come to tighten our security after the South was deceived by the North’s feigned peace offensives.