Israel stops producing Mirkava tanks after weak performance

After their weak performance in the battle against the Palestinian and Lebanese resistances in Gaza Strip and south Lebanon, the Israeli occupation government decided to halt producing more Mirkava tanks.

Commander of the ground troops in the Israeli occupation army was quoted as saying, “Next battles will need less use of those tanks that prompt us to halt manufacturing more of them”.

Israel was bragging about power of those tanks that was once considered the most sophisticated tank in the world; yet the latest Israeli war on Lebanon and Gaza Strip turned those tanks into “paper tigers”.

A number of those tanks were knocked out of action with the home-made Qassam bombs during the IOF troops’ incursions into the Gaza Strip; yet, the lethal blow against those tanks came from the Hizbullah anti-tank missiles that crippled them one after another.

For his part, Yuval Diskin, the head of the Israeli domestic intelligence apparatus (Shabak), opined that Palestinian resistance fighters have greatly learned and were encouraged by the victory achieved by Hizbullah against Israel in south Lebanon.

Diskin’s remarks that he uttered before the Knesset (Israeli parliament) committee on security and foreign affairs would increase the pressure further on Israeli premier Ehud Olmert and the IOF top brass for losing the war.

“The terrorist organizations wanted to adopt the Lebanese resistance style and started to rapidly upgrade their deterrence capabilities against our troops. They have established fortifications and anti-tank capabilities similar to that we experienced in south Lebanon”, he asserted.

He added that Palestinian “terrorist organizations” (a term used by Israel in describing the Palestinian resistance factions) were actively smuggling missiles through tunnels in the Rafah terminal that will boost their “arsenal”.

Meanwhile, Palestinian resistance factions refused to unveil their military plans; but acknowledged that they have learned a lot from the Lebanese resistance styles.

IOF troops received a humiliating defeat at the hands of Hizbullah fighters in the 34-day-war Israel waged against Lebanon last month.

Results of the war put Olmert and his government on the brink of collapse as his popularity sharply decreased in the Israeli street. He was reportedly striving to make up but to no avail.

Prior to the war on Lebanon, Israel waged and still is waging a war on the tiny Gaza Strip in which it killed more than 200 Palestinian citizens so far and wounded around 2,000.

A report published Wednesday by the Hebrew Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper revealed that funds spent on the Israeli military operations in Lebanon exceeded 1.7 billion dollars that badly affected the Israeli economy and strangulated other quasi-important sectors like the health and education sectors.

The report that was prepared by the Macro center for political economy revealed that 42,000 Israeli settlers are expected to slide below the poverty line.