How IDF's Duvdevan unit prevented a hostage situation
There is much we still don't know about the IDF's Operation Protective Edge, but here's one story that's come out involving the elite Duvdevan (Cherry) Unit (a unit that dresses as Arabs to be able to move among the terrorists) and a
potential hostage situation.
A company of the unit headed by a captain, identified only by the
initial S, had infiltrated into a 12-building compound of the Islamic
Jihad terrorist organization where it was searching for rocket-launch
sites, weapons and terror tunnels. The company quickly realized the
compound was full of active terrorists, travelling though underground
tunnels.
Suddenly through the sporadic gunfire in the background a loud
explosion was heard, and members of the unit reported that an army
bulldozer had run over a planted explosive, with terrorists firing on
the trapped driver from several directions and pinning him down.
Fearing an abduction of the driver, captain S and reserves
communications combat soldier A broke off from the tunnel-finding
mission to race towards the bulldozer, reports Walla!.
...
Climbing on the vehicle despite the incoming gunfire, S told
the Hebrew-language news source that he saw the driver was severely
wounded. At that point, S says "in parallel I get
information on an anti-tank rocket terror cell in the surroundings. We
identify the cell; it opens fire on us, and suddenly I hear a shout:
'grenade.'"
After taking cover, S notes he and A opened fire at the terrorist who
lobbed the grenade at them, while still struggling to free the trapped
and heavily wounded driver. "I was afraid he would be abducted by
the cell. It was very important to me to get him home. I didn't think
about anything else, I worked like a machine," stated the special ops
commander.
After finally getting the driver out, deputy commander Y of the
company arrived on the scene with a stretcher. Unfortunately the driver,
first Sgt. Moshe Davinu hy''d of Jerusalem, did not survive the
critical wounds inflicted on him by the explosive.
Y told Walla! of events from his perspective: "I stood in a
doorway, looked out and saw a terrorist 15 meters (50 feet) away from me
pull out a Kalashnikov. He threw a grenade and fired at S. I placed my
sights on him and fired."
Once Davinu was on the stretcher, Y relates "while they were firing
on us we ran between houses almost 200 meters (650 feet) in swampy sea
sand. We made a sprint, it was really difficult."
After their breakneck sprint through soggy sand, the Duvdevan
fighters evacuated the wounded and were taken back to Israeli territory
in an APC. However the reprieve was brief; quickly they were back in the
heart of the fighting, infiltrating a terrorist hideout and engaging in
a fierce firefight with a terror cell. When the smoke cleared eight
terrorists were dead and ten Duvdevan troops wounded.
Read the whole thing.
For those who have forgotten, the IDF will do
just about anything to avoid another Gilad Shalit-style hostage situation.
Labels: Duvdevan, Gaza, IDF, Operation Protective Edge, Palestinian Islamic Jihad
US Senator wants to cut aid to elite IDF units operating in Judea, Samaria and Gaza
US Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt) wants to cut US assistance to elite IDF units operating in Judea, Samaria and Gaza on the grounds that they
violate the 'human rights' of the 'Palestinians.'
U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy is promoting a bill to suspend U.S. assistance to three elite Israel Defense Forces units, alleging they are involved in human rights violations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Leahy, a Democrat and senior member of the U.S. Senate, wants assistance withheld from the Israel Navy's Shayetet 13 unit, the undercover Duvdevan unit and the Israel Air Force's Shaldag unit.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak, a long-time friend of Leahy's, met with him in Washington two weeks ago to try to persuade him to withdraw the initiative.
According to a senior Israeli official in Jerusalem, Leahy began promoting the legislation in recent months after he was approached by voters in his home state of Vermont.
A few months ago, a group of pro-Palestinian protesters staged a rally across from Leahy's office, demanding that he denounce the killing by Shayetet 13 commandos of nine Turkish activists who were part of the flotilla to Gaza last May.
Leahy, who heads the Senate Appropriations Committee's sub-committee on foreign operations, was the principle sponsor of a 1997 bill prohibiting the United States from providing military assistance or funding to foreign military units suspected of human rights abuses or war crimes. The law also stipulates that the U.S. Defense Department screen foreign officers and soldiers who come to the United States for training for this purpose.
Leahy wants the new clause to become a part of the U.S. foreign assistance legislation for 2012, placing restrictions on military assistance to Israel, particularly to those three units.
Leahy says these units are responsible for harming innocent Palestinian civilians and that no system of investigation is in place to ensure that their members are not committing human rights violations. According to Leahy's proposal, U.S. military assistance to Israel would be subject to the same restrictions that apply to countries such as Egypt, Pakistan and Jordan.
Only in the Age of Obama could Israel be lumped into the same category as Egypt, Pakistan and Jordan - true democracies all.
Barak, who met with Leahy privately, was quoted by the senior Israeli official as telling the senator: "The difference between Israel and terror groups or other countries in the Middle East is that we give an accounting and there is monitoring."
Barak also said the IDF had a strict judiciary with broader powers than the judiciary in the United States armed forces.
Barak was also quoted as telling Leahy that the IDF military advocate general is not subservient to the military command, but rather to the attorney general, and has complete autonomy.
"If a Palestinian is injured, he can approach the High Court of Justice," Barak said. "The investigations undergo judicial review that is independent of commanders. There are dozens of hearings every year that are based on Palestinians' complaints against soldiers. They reach the highest and most independent authorities," he said.
Leahy listened to Barak, but he did not say whether he would withdraw his initiative. According to the senior Israeli official, Israel does know whether Leahy has done so.
However, the official said Barak felt Leahy had understood his message, and that the Israeli Embassy in Washington was following the matter. If necessary, Barak and Leahy would hold another talk, the official added.
Leahy's spokesman, David Carle, said the senator did not comment on his private conversations.
Of course, that would never pass the House; it would just make us look bad.
Shmuel Rosner points out that this is not the first time that Leahy - friend of Yitzchak Rabin and Ehud Barak - has attempted to restrict aid to Israel. In fact,
Leahy has done so at least
twice.
What could go wrong?
Labels: Duvdevan, Ehud Barak, Patrick Leahy, Shaldag, Shayetet 13
