Israel Matzav

Good news: 'Palestinians' improving at forging Israeli identity cards

One of things that takes some getting used to when you move to Israel is that you are constantly being asked to show your teudat zehut (identification card). The card looks like this:

All Israelis are required to have the card on them at all time once they reach the age of 18; most of the kids get them at around age 16 because they need them to take matriculation exams.

Police use the identification cards as a quick and easy way to verify that the person standing in front of them is an Israeli citizen (and not a 'Palestinian') and therefore there is a good chance that they are safe, and in most cases only a slight chance that they are planning to blow themselves up.

Unfortunately, the 'Palestinians' have apparently mastered the art of forging the identification cards.

The quality of counterfeit Israeli identity cards produced by Palestinians has increased in recent months, IDF officers warned on Thursday.

According to the officers, forged blue Israeli identity cards make it more difficult to identify a Palestinian who is trying to illegally cross into Israel, in most cases for work and in some cases to participate or assist in terrorism.

"We have found a lot of forged documents recently," said Maj.-Gen. Oz Arad, commander of the Syfan Military Police Company. "The quality of the forgery is a big problem, and places like the town of Kalandiya [north of Jerusalem] which is also Israeli and Palestinian makes it all the more difficult."

The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) issued a report last month warning that the involvement of Palestinians who illegally entered Israel for work in terrorist activity was increasing due to difficulties their groups were facing in establishing operational infrastructure inside Israeli cities.

Drivers of Palestinians illegally entering Israel have been used before to help infiltrate suicide bombers into the country. The most recent involvement was in the April 2006 suicide bombing in Tel Aviv's Neveh Sha'anan neighborhood, in which nine people were killed.

And you wonder why we develop all that fancy gadgetry you see in airports? Necessity is the father of invention. My guess is that within the next 1-3 years you will see handheld versions of that gadgetry all over the streets of Israel. There is simply no choice.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:15 PM