Israeli Calls Attack ‘Wake-Up Call’

An assault by jihadist gunmen in the Sinai Peninsula that left more than a dozen Egyptian soldiers dead should be a “wake-up call” for the country, Israel’s defense minister said Monday. Ehud Barak said that the cross-border attack by militants in the demilitarized Sinai Peninsula should spur the Egyptians “to take matters in hand on their side.” Eight bodies were found after Israeli forces repelled the gunmen’s attempt to pierce the Israeli side of the border. “Since the onset of the event we have been in touch with the Egyptians in an attempt to try and understand,” Barak said of relations between the two countries after the violence.