In the early hours of the morning of Sept. 6, 2021, five days after his appointment as head of the Border Police Counterterrorism Unit, known by its Hebrew acronym "YAMAM", Brig. Gen H.'s phone rang. "The unit's intelligence officer was calling to notify me that six security prisoners had escaped from the Gilboa Prison, among them the terrorist Zakaria Zubeidi, the head of the military wing of Fatah in Jenin," says H, recalling the drama.
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"Our initial working assumption was that somebody had assisted them, that they were armed and would try to carry out a mass terror attack. We called up all units, set up a command center with the Shin Bet, and worked around the clock almost without sleep. We searched and scoured whole areas without any intelligence."
Four days later, on a Friday night, the police caught two of the terrorists in an open field near Nazareth A few hours later, in the early hours of Saturday morning a farmer from the Tabor region called the police and said he had seen another two of the escaped prisoners.
"I came with a team of combatants to the village of Umm al-Ghanam at the foot of Mount Tabor," continues H. "Together with IDF trackers we combed the area and managed to find Zubeidi's tracks thanks to the footprint of his Nike shoes. We reached an area of forest and thicket at the foot of the mountain. Naturally, there it was a lot more difficult to find tracks than in open fields so we spread out and walked up the hill. It was two o'clock in the morning and there was complete darkness.
After almost an hour we stopped for a briefing at a parking lot for trucks on the slope of the hill. Some of the soldiers stopped to drink some water while others searched the area with torches. Suddenly one of the soldiers signaled that he could see something and he pointed his torch at a toolbox on the underside of a truck. We saw a pair of legs sticking out. We pulled the two terrorists outside and Zubeidi resisted with all his strength.
"He went mad, he kicked the soldiers and tried to run away up the hill. We caught him and he fell to the ground and was hit. The claims that we were violent toward him are not true. I looked at him blindfolded with cloth and remembered how two-and-a-half years ago we caught him near Ramallah after he tried to carry out a terrorist attack in Israel. This time the arrest was much simpler. He was right under our noses."
A week later, the Counterterrorism Unit (CTU) caught the last two of the escaped prisoners who were hiding in Jenin. Thanks to this operation and dozens of other classified arrests of ticking bombs, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett decided to give the CTU the title it has aspired to for almost five decades and declared that it would now become a national unit.
This is the first time in Israel's history that a security unit has received this status and the significance of the move is that the CTU will now receive a much larger budget than that it currently gets from the Israel Police. H. was also chosen to represent the Border Police at the Independence Day state ceremony. He will be one of the torchbearers in the name of the Border Police special forces who work to foil terror attacks.
Q: Are you excited?
"Very, and a little nervous," H. says laughing. "What will happen if everyone manages to light their torch and only I have a problem. Perhaps I should take a lighter in my pocket just to be on the safe side."
The Counterterrorism Unit was established 47 years ago and classified as a force specializing in hostage situations. Over the years, because of the security situation, the CTU has focused more on terrorist incidents and less so on the criminal side. Over time, the unit earned a reputation as one of the most professional and experienced counterterrorism forces in the world.
The CTU is made up of several companies: Two of them, Company A and Company B are composed mostly of uniform soldiers. Each company has four squadrons: A frontline squad that heads the force and includes dog handlers; a break in squad specializing in forcing open doors and use of explosives; a mechanized squad with drivers experienced in operating a variety of specialist vehicles and a "monkey" squad that specializes in climbing and abseiling. Three other companies provide constant backup: a sniper company; a company that operates special technological means and which also has an undercover force and a training company.
H., 51, is a father of three. No further biographical details can be provided so as not to expose his identity. We can say that he joined the unit in 1990, after spending four years in the IDF's Shimshon undercover unit that operated in Gaza until 1996.
"I never went on a post-army trip, I didn't dream about going to university, and during my furlough, before my release from the army I tried out for the CTU," H. says with a shy smile. "I've been here now for 30 years, with short spells in other Israel Police special forces. I served in the CTU as a combatant, as a squad leader, as commander of the training course, as commander of a combat company, as an intelligence officer, and as deputy commander of the unit.
Every time that I left for a broader role outside of the CTU, I learned something new. It's important to see how the criminal investigation department works, how interrogations are carried out, and how intelligence works. I stress to the CTU combatants just how important this is. This way they will be exposed to different ways of work and management and will return to the CTU with a broader vision about how to make decisions."
In the years in which H. served as a combatant in the unit, the CTU kept a low media profile and only major events were publicized.
Everything began after the Ma'alot Disaster in 1974. Sayeret Matkal [The IDF General Staff Reconnaissance Unit] tried to free the 105 pupils and dozens of teachers who had been locked up by the terrorists inside a school in Ma'alot. They managed to eliminate the terrorists, but only after 22 pupils were killed by the terrorists. In the wake of the disaster, the defense establishment came to the understanding that there is a difference between rescuing hostages and special operations conducted in enemy territory and decided to establish the CTU as a counterterrorism unit to develop unique combat methods for break-ins and freeing hostages with as few casualties as possible.
But not everything went smoothly. In 1984, when terrorists took over a bus on the way to Ashkelon, the CTU was supposed to storm the bus and eliminate the terrorists, but Moshe Levi, the IDF Chief of Staff at the time, decided to hand the mission to Sayeret Matkal.
When IDF soldier Nachshon Wachsman was kidnapped in 1994, the scenario repeated itself. Both the rival units arrived at the scene, but Shaul Mofaz, then commander of Judea and Samaria, and IDF Chief of Staff Ehud Barak decided to give the task to Sayeret Matkal rather than to the CTU. Wachsman was killed by the terrorists during the break-in and Captain Nir Poraz, a squad leader in Sayeret Matkal was killed in the operation.
At the time, H. was a newly appointed squad leader in the CTU. "We arrived at a point near Camp Ofer, about 10 minutes drive from the place where Wachsman was being held," he recalls. "A day earlier, we worked with the Shin Bet and conducted arrests, thanks to which the location of the hideout where the kidnappers were was revealed. The CTU prepared an operational plan, but it wasn't accepted. It was a disappointment. I didn't think that the command didn't trust us, but that they simply had more confidence in another unit. In those days, the public and decision-makers weren't really conscious of the CTU.
"We returned to the unit and some of the combatants were down. The veterans found it more difficult because they had experienced the insult of Bus 300. Assaf Hefetz, the Police Commissioner at the time, came to the unit to give a pep talk to the combatants. Fortunately, the people here are strong and the following day we just lifted ourselves and got on with work.
"There was no time for feeling aggrieved. It only spurred us on to succeed. At the time, events were taking place one after the other. As the CTU got more operations to carry out, it gained more recognition for its abilities and professionalism. Even the competition with Sayeret Matkal had mellowed."
For years the CTU has been stretched to the limit. Even though companies A and B are supposed to alternate among themselves so that one of them can always be in training, both spend most of their time on risky operations and as happened last week when the CTU caught the killers of a security guard in Ariel, laying siege and exchanging fire with terrorists classified as "ticking bombs".
The events of recent months remind H. of the Second Intifada at the beginning of the 2000s. Recently, the Israeli public has once again been the victim of a wave of terror which has already claimed the lives of 16 people. battle against the terrorists reached a peak in the morning. The laborious battle against the terrorists peaked in the early hours of Saturday morning, April 2, the second day of Ramadan.
Intelligence information obtained by the Shin Bet showed that three terrorists from Tulkarem armed with rifles and grenades were planning a terrorist attack in Israel. Among the possible scenarios were breaking into a Jewish community and murdering a family or random fire in a central town in a large town, as happened recently in Bnei Brak.
"On Friday evening, some four hours before the arrest operation, the unit's intelligence officer called me to report that one of the members of the cell had already left on foot in the direction of an IDF position. He shot around 50 rounds but didn't manage to hit anyone," says H. recalling the dramatic events of that traumatic night at the end of which four CTU fighters were injured, among them, the company commander, Chief Superintendent S.
"At that moment the fighters were getting ready at the unit; they didn't even have time for a cup of coffee. On the way, we already received precise intelligence the terrorists were heading in the direction of Jenin. We decided to wait for them until they left. Undercover cars with our fighters, some of them in civilian clothes, waited for them by the side of the road, near the town of Arabeh.
"At around 01:30 in the morning, a white Mazda approached us. We knew there were armed terrorists in the car. We blocked them with our car and planned to arrest them. They opened fire from about three meters away. There was a massive burst of fire from both sides. Thanks to special technological means and the body cameras carried by the fighters, I watched the exchange of fire from the command center not far away. I saw one of the fighters get hit and fall to the ground. At the same time, I heard over the radio that there was a man down. I knew immediately who it was. In the CTU, the company commanders are always at the head of the force.
Q. How did you react at that moment?
"As a commander, you conduct simulations and prepare yourself for moments like this. I worked on autopilot. The terrorists had already been eliminated and what concerned me now was getting medical care to S.
Q: Did the thought cross your mind that he perhaps wouldn't make it?
"No, not at any stage. I knew he would be fine."
The initial debriefing conducted by the CTU showed that S. wasn't hit by terrorist fire but by a bullet fired by one of the CTU fighters at the Mazda, which then ricocheted back in S.'s direction. In what was an extremely rare occurrence, shrapnel came through the millimeters wide gap between his bulletproof vest and his torso and hit him in his chest and lungs.
Q: Were you worried for a moment that it was friendly fire?
"No even before the debriefing. I told Border Police Commissioner Amir Cohen that it wasn't friendly fire. The picture was clear to me as soon as we saw the footage documenting the clash.
Q: What conclusions did you draw from the incident?
"That the terrorists are a lot more daring than in the past. They didn't surrender, they didn't hide their weapons, and one of them managed to fire 20 bullets before he was eliminated. The trend is changing. This is not the lone-wolf terror of eight years ago, and these are not people turning up with a knife. These are terrorists armed with weapons just like in the Second Intifada. We are making every effort to arrest them in Judea and Samaria before they reach Israel."
Despite the enormous efforts, the huge resources, and precise intelligence, one terrorist managed to slip under the radar of the security forces -- Raad Hazem, an illegal worker from the Jenin refugee camp who on April 7 carried out a terrorist attack on the Ilka Bar on Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv.
Police forces, CTU, Shin Bet, and soldiers from IDF special forces units were sent to Tel Aviv to try and hunt down the terrorist who was hiding in the alleyways. He was found early the following morning nearby the Jaffa clocktower and was killed in an exchange of fire with fighters from the Shin Bet's operational unit.
Brig. Gen. H. was supposed to have managed his men from the command center but he left the site after a few minutes and joined the search for Hazem. Among other things, he was concerned about the large number of journalists on the ground, mingling with the security forces.
"I didn't like the fact that cameras were being pointed at my officers, even though they had their faces covered.
"I got even more worried when I saw citizens coming to the area to be in the thick of things and taking advantage of the fact that police were busy trying to locate the terrorist. I was afraid that we would have a friendly fire incident between civilians and soldiers or police officers. The CTU isn't used to working in an arena full of media and I hope that in the future it won't happen again.
Coming full circle
While Hazem managed to enter Israel, H. says that his fighters and the Shin Bet have managed to prevent dozens of other attempts to conduct terrorist attacks in Israel. "There isn't a week in which we don't go out at least two or three times to conduct arrest operations and foil ticking bombs. In a lot of cases, we catch the terrorists inside Israel ready to conduct an attack."
Q: Why aren't these operations made public?
"It's better that way. It isn't right to make the public panic when the Shin Bet has intelligence and everything is under control. The recent attacks had a detrimental effect on the public's morale and there is no need to add to this. We prefer to operate out of the spotlight and that's no different from how we operated in the past. Recently there has been a greater focus on our operations and the fighters are not comfortable with this. Immediately after the Independence Day state ceremony, we will return to the shadows."
In publishing its reasons for the choice of torchbearers, the public committee described the head of the CTU as a daring officer with many achievements, who has led countless operations in which he put his life at risk for the safety of the country. H. is embarrassed by the description and his face turns red. "I was very surprised he says moving uncomfortably on his chair. I guess it's because we have been declared a national unit and because of the recent series of security incidents.
"I received the notification from Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai. He made the choice together with the Public Security Minister. At first, I wasn't excited about it because I didn't digest it. It took me a few minutes for the penny to drop. How do I turn up? How do I avoid being recognized? I said to myself immediately that I'm not wearing a wig and glasses. I don't intend to make a fool of myself. I will be there in uniform and with my face covered."
Q: All the other torchbearers will present themselves and states their parents' names. What will you say?
"That is an issue that we deliberated over at first. I will present myself as Brig. Gen. H. and I won't say my parents' names. Without a doubt, I will be very excited at that moment.
You look more embarrassed than excited.
"That's true. Luckily for me, I will light the torch without anybody seeing me. The audience won't recognize me and will see only my eyes."
H.'s offices are opposite the entrance to the unit's base, somewhere in the center of the country, not far from the parking spot for the unit's Karakal armored vehicles and its vans with break-in ladders. He sits in a spartan building clad with Jerusalem stone. The flags of the State of Israel and the Border Police fly on his large wooden desk. On the wall behind him hangs the CTU's Declaration of Principles. Next to his office is a modest conference room where he met with the prime minister on Dec. 1.
"The process of recognition of the CTU as Israel's national counter-terror unit began in 2009 when I was the unit's intelligence officer," he says. "The unit commanders spoke with police commissioners and public security ministers and we knew that at the end of the day it would be a government decision. The issue was passed from government to government and it seems that they were afraid that the IDF would be annoyed, but the IDF supported this all along the way. The Border Police and Police commissioners didn't give up. Finally, it was a prime minister who served as a soldier in Sayeret Matkal and a public security minister who was a commander of Sayeret Matkal who recognized the CTU as a national unit.
Q: How did you receive the notification?
"That day, we were preparing for a graduation ceremony for fighters in the unit when the police commissioner called to say he was on the way. He told me that the prime minister would attend the ceremony where he would announce our new status. I was very happy, but I didn't lose my breath. I was even a little skeptical. From my experience, until it's signed, it's not sealed. When the prime minister sat here in the conference room, I asked him what the significance of the announcement would be. He said we would receive increased budgets and tenures. It was then that I knew it was real. We had come full circle. The unit will get stronger and stronger. When the prime minister made the announcement at the ceremony, the fighters couldn't hold back and whistled and clapped during his speech.
Q: How will this increase in budgets be felt on the ground?
"We will expand our existing companies and each squad will have more fighters. Based on the threat scenarios and the threats from the northern border and Gaza, the unit could find itself operating on several fronts at the same time."
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"The second aspect is technological: the special capabilities of the undercover fighters in the unit and our research and development. With the new budget, we can develop means such as new robots and drones, and upgrade our existing weaponry. Recently we purchased new Arad assault rifles supplied by Israel Weapons Industries.
"Another thing is that today we rely only on intelligence from the Shin Bet which is the best in the country, but I want to create independent tactical and strategic intelligence gathering capabilities here as well. We are a unique force in the world. We know how to thwart terrorist attacks and hit the planners, and at the same time fight criminals. Now I can plan how the unit will look five or 10 years into the future.
Q: Is it reasonable to assume that there will be no more debates about which unit will play the lead role in terror incidents where there is a hostage situation?
"That is a reasonable assumption," H. says with a smile. "Each one of the units that exist today in Israel knows what its role is. There are a lot of collaborations between us. For example, if a soldier is kidnapped and taken to Gaza, that would be an operation for Sayeret Matkal; if a similar event occurs in Judea and Samaria, then we will conduct the operation
Q: What do you dream of achieving in the rest of your term?
"Being number one in the world in intelligence and technology."
