IDF Seeks NYC MTA Experience On Ways To Make Hamas Tunnel Digs Never Finish

Chief among the IDF’s list of MTA achievements they wish to study is the Second Avenue subway line.

Kibbutz Nir Am, August 11 – Israeli defense officials continue to seek innovative ways to neutralize or combat threats from Hamas and other Islamist militias in the Gaza Strip near this pastoral community, including those groups’ use of tunnels. But a recent report by the Ministry of Defense notes that efforts also include less innovative solutions as well, such as intensive discussions with New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority in an attempt to enlist the latter’s decades of experience in making sure that underground excavation projects seldom, if ever, near completion.

The report, portions of which were made available to reporters, attested to the departure of a team of IDF to MTA headquarters early this year, with ongoing communication between the two entities on the subject since then. Chief among the IDF’s list of MTA achievements they wish to study is the Second Avenue subway line, a project that was originally proposed in 1919 but has yet to be completed.

Experts believe the MTA possesses vast knowledge and experience in stymieing and ultimately rendering moot most digging initiatives that could benefit Israel in the country’s ongoing campaign to protect its communities near Gaza from infiltration and its soldiers in combat during operations in the Gaza Strip, should those become necessary.

“If Hamas starts firing rockets, the Iron Dome system will certainly neutralize a good number of them, but the best defense is a good offense,” explained Ron Ben-Yishai, who writes for the daily Yediot Aharonot. “You have to take the fight to the enemy and deter his aggression, and that means sending in troops to destroy the rockets and launchers, and to neutralize those who operate them. The tunnels are a complex tactical problem, and the IDF seeks wisdom where it can. In this case, no city is better-equipped with the technical and human know-how in frustrating ambitions for excavation projects than New York. It’s a smart move by a smart military, and it shows maturity – they’re not too proud to admit they have what to learn.”

Ben-Yishai also noted that this was not the first time that Israel was seeking guidance on combating tunnels from New York officials. While the current learning initiative focuses on preventing tunnels from becoming useful in the first place, an earlier effort enlisted the daily-proven expertise of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey – the body that runs the Holland, Lincoln, Brooklyn-Battery, and Queens-Midtown Tunnels – in preventing the efficient passage of men and materiel through tunnels that already exist.