Israel Matzav: Shin Bet: 2009 was a very good year

Shin Bet: 2009 was a very good year

According to the Shin Bet General Security Service (equivalent to the FBI and the Secret Service rolled into one), 2009 was a very good year for Israel.

According to the Shin Bet's 2009 annual summary, this was the first year in which no suicide attacks were executed in Israel.

The number of casualties in battles and rocket attacks also declined, according to the summary. Most occurred during Israel's Cast Lead military operation in the Gaza Strip in December 2008 and January 2009.

Israel registered 15 casualties in 2009 - 9 of them during the Gaza operation - as opposed to 36 in 2008. The Shin Bet said 234 injuries occurred, of which 185 were during Cast Lead, as opposed to 679 in 2008.

Rockets launched against Israel declined to 566 in 2009 from 2,048 in 2008. Of these, 406 were launched during the military operation.

The number of suicide attacks has been low in recent years compared to the 53 committed in 2002 and 35 in 2001.

Why was 2009 such a good year? On the Gaza front, it was because of Operation Cast Lead, which left Hamas reeling.

And in Judea and Samaria it was because of yet another year of the IDF arresting terrorists and getting in the way of their plans. And yes, because of the 'security fence.'

But the Obama administration wants to change all that. What could go wrong?

Israel Matzav: Shin Bet: 2009 was a very good year