Deadly Border Crossings

"If the attackers came from the Gaza Strip, that would be very embarrassing for the Brotherhood.  Rather than allow that to grow in people's minds, they thought they could say this was an Israeli false flag."  Western diplomat

That's the Muslim Brotherhood.  Egypt's internal security apparatus, however, has stated publicly that they have information pointing to the fact that the deadly intrusion was a joint exercise of terrorists from the Sinai and from Gaza.  The Gazan terrorists entered the tunnels used for smuggling men and arms and goods from Egypt into Gaza, and obviously in reverse, men and arms from Gaza into Egypt.

Israeli intelligence warned them weeks in advance of this attack that killed sixteen Egyptian soldiers that there was an attack planned and due diligence should be observed to foil the plans.  That information was passed on to the military by the Egyptian internal security, and it appears the military failed to take it seriously enough to believe it and to do anything to prevent the massacre.

It's not that there weren't previous serious incidents.  Since the overthrow of former President Hosni Mubarak there have been a number of attacks by insurgents, by terrorists, by armed groups, however they are to be named, against Egyptian military posts and police stations in the Sinai.  There have also been pipeline explosions to interrupt gas being shipped to Jordan and Israel from Egypt, said to have been caused by Bedouin militants.

Israel informed the Egyptians that Palestinian jihadi groups have been exploiting the security vacuum in the Sinai, crossing from Gaza into Egypt, teaming up with local militants.  Their real purpose, to cross into Israel to create havoc there, hoping to abduct Israeli soldiers, to murder Israelis living in border villages.  Those aims would be of little interest to the Egyptian military.

But when their own are struck, and in such a violently successful manner, with the teaming of jihadis from both Gaza and Sinai to conduct a lightning raid to which the surprised soldiers were unable to react to save themselves, then Egypt is outraged.  For the first time in decades the Egyptian airforce was put into action, bombing areas in the Sinai where the militants are said to be located.

And despite the friendly relations that seemed to be ripening between the new Muslim Brotherhood elite in government and Hamas leader Ismail Haniya, pledging to warmer ties and open borders - since, after all, Hamas is an offshoot of the Brotherhood - Egypt has begun to close up smuggling tunnels into the Gaza Strip to seal off entry to further Palestinian Islamists' entry.

The Muslim Brotherhood issued an interesting statement, that it was their informed opinion that the deadly Sunday raid that succeeded in killing the 16 Egyptian soldiers had been planned and executed by Mossad.  Hamas leaders, for their part, have condemned the killings, and were sealing the tunnels from their side, vowing to aid Egypt in identifying who was behind the attack.

"We proposed aid to them, also to investigate, and we also handed over the bodies of the six terrorists.  At the moment we are waiting", said Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's foreign minister.

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has taken his own action.  He has dismissed the intelligence chief whom Israeli intelligence had first warned of an impending attack.  "General Mohamed Murad Mowafi is given retirement starting from today", stated presidential spokesman Yasser Ali.  General Mowafi had admitted being in receipt of intelligence warning of Sunday's attack.

But he also stated that the job of the intelligence service was simply to collect information.  And he had passed that information on.  Whereupon it makes sense that President Morsi then dismissed the commander of the presidential guard, along with a number of other top security officials, none of whom appeared to have taken their jobs as seriously as might be expected.

Responding, no doubt to the criticism that has come his way that he was tardy in taking decisive action in the wake of the brazen and deadly attack against Egypt's troops in the Sinai region.