Hanan Ginat, head of the Eilot Regional Council, said on Monday that recent warnings from senior security officials about the southern Jordan border do not surprise residents of the area. He said the comments by Shin Bet chief David Zini, and by the Defense Ministry director general last week, echo alarms that local leaders have been raising since October 7.
Ginat was responding to Zini’s reported closed-door warnings that Eilat could be a target for a serious attack, and that the city should be placed at the top of the security agenda because of concerns about infiltration from Jordan. He said the eastern frontier is already “the most sensitive border in the country” and that the southern Arava section is now used for nonstop smuggling of weapons, drugs, and undocumented workers.
His central warning is that the criminal route could become a terror route. “Our fear is that the criminal axis will become a route through which terror cells will try to infiltrate Israel and harm our communities,” he said. He also noted that the concern fits recent attempts by hostile intelligence and terror actors to recruit Israeli citizens.
Ginat said the council works in close coordination with the local security forces and thanked the soldiers and female soldiers protecting the area. At the same time, he called on the state to shift resources to the eastern border in the southern Arava, strengthen community defense units, and recognize the scale of the security challenge ahead.
