"The violent riots at the 'Guardian of the Walls' events revealed significant deficiencies in the police's activities that caused serious damage to the most basic personal security to which the citizens of the country are entitled," so stated today (Wednesday) the State Comptroller in a special report on policing and law enforcement at the 'Guardian of the Walls' events.
State Comptroller Engelman: "Such incidents must not be repeated" // Photo: Office of the State Comptroller and Ombudsman
In an unusually harsh report on the preparedness of the police, the auditor states that "the findings of the audit and the set of circumstances in which the police operate will oblige the Prime Minister and the Minister of Internal Security and through them the Government of Israel, the police, the Shin Bet and the entire security establishment to consider a series of issues Central to the ability of the police to deal with a complex multi-scene operation, the strengthening of intelligence and the transfer of information, the strengthening of the reserve system of the Border Guard, the regulation of the Shin Bet police interfaces and the establishment of an operating model based on reinforcements.
According to the auditor, in the month of May 2021, during Operation Wall Guardian, violent incidents and serious disturbances occurred throughout Israel with high intensities and extensive scopes.
In the course of it, three civilians were killed and hundreds were injured, including about 306 police officers in about 520 documented incidents, at the peak of which, according to the assessment of qualified security officials, about 6,000 Israeli Arab residents participated.
About 3,200 were arrested, of which about 240 were Jews.
The audit findings revealed that in the years 2018 - 2020, police stations in mixed cities did not classify cases on a nationalistic basis, and as a result did not handle cases in their nationalistic context when the police are required to deal with cases of this nature.
Arrest during "Guardian of the Walls" (archive), photo: Oren Ben Hakon
In addition, it was found that police activity in mixed cities relies to a large extent on reinforcements due to a lack of police officers.
The auditor reveals in a sample report carried out in February 2021 of mobility at the police stations in Lod, Acre and Jaffa. The inspection revealed that the three stations have a shortage of full teams consisting of two permanent mobile police officers: the Lod station lacked 42 police officers (29%) and the Jaffa station 29 (11%) ) It also emerged that among the teams working at the stations, about 74% on average are "missing teams" consisting of a permanent police officer and a special police officer or a volunteer.
At the time of the audit, it was found that intelligence coordinators from the Lod station, Arba from the Jaffa station and the Acre station do not speak the Arabic language.
"This situation may directly affect their ability to perform their duties optimally...under these circumstances, not knowing the language can lead to deficiencies in the intelligence picture," states the auditor and adds that he found that in many cases, especially in the first days of the wall guard incidents, the police did not give the operational response The necessary in the face of the threat that she herself defined as responding to residents' inquiries to the hotline and that until the routine of life was returned to its course, hundreds of hotline events were recorded in which 3 civilians were killed, hundreds of people were injured and heavy property damage was caused.
According to the auditor, significant functional deficiencies in the police intelligence system were discovered during the wall guard events that harmed the police's preparedness and ability to deal with the events.
According to the auditor, "the police intelligence did not present a significant forecast regarding the events that broke out outside of Jerusalem in general and in mixed cities in particular" and even after the events broke out, there were still major deficiencies in the intelligence and an intelligence picture that was supposed to be presented to the decision makers was not compiled.
The report also states that with the outbreak of the events, the police's endless ability in the field of visible intelligence was based mainly on manual collection.
42 police officers (29%) were missing at the Lod station.
Demonstration in front of the station (archive), photo: Yossi Zeliger
It was also found that it was determined that, "due to budget gaps, the police did not have a central system for generating open intelligence. The auditor also states that although in July 2004 a cooperation and responsibility procedure was signed between the police and the Shin Bet, the relevant parties were not familiar with the procedures with an emphasis on the division of intelligence responsibility .
The audit also revealed that the police were not prepared to provide an adequate operational response to incidents of mass disorder and violence and injury to life and property, as occurred during the wall guard events, and that in the first days of the wall guard events, when the scope and intensity of the events were high, the police did not have the manpower required to deal with them.
"The schedule in which the police gathered and deployed the reserve forces in the field did not provide the necessary operational response," states the auditor, "thereby effectively denying the possibility of using the reserve forces to deal with disturbances in the period of time when they were most needed."
It was also found that at the height of the events of the wall guard in the city of Lod, thousands of calls from residents did not receive any police response and that the 100 hotline failed in its duty and in this state of affairs the auditor states "there is a considerable harm to the sense of personal security of the citizens. Against this background, among other things, local organizations of Residents and other factors to deal with the events.
It was also found that the police were not equipped for the attribution scenarios they defined for themselves to deal with events that may last 20 days, and as a result of this, the police showed up to the Wall Guard events with a significant lack of means to disperse demonstrations, and with significant gaps in the supply of communication means and personal protective equipment for the forces in the field, including helmets and vests and protection for mobility and patrol vehicles.
"These gaps harmed the availability of the forces, limited their abilities, harmed their functioning and the ability to control and command the events, they were intended to endanger the police officers, and they caused considerable damage to the operational response of the police to the incidents" stated in the report.
A significant lack of means to disperse demonstrations.
Policemen in Jerusalem (archive), photo: Oren Ben Hakon
It was also determined in the audit that the police's activity in emergency incidents in general, and in the event of multi-scene disturbances, in particular, relies to a large extent on the reserve units of the Mageb, when in practice, these forces were not provided with the necessary equipment and weapons to fulfill their mission.
The auditor also states that no uniformity was found in the police data regarding the number of detainees and that there is a gap of approximately 1,000 detainees between the figures of the Investigations Division (approximately 3,200) and the data of the Research and Statistics Section (approximately 2,200) and that the number of arrests carried out and the number of indictments filed against the Wall Guard incidents are few In proportion to the scope of the violence incidents, their severity, their characteristics and the number of participants in them.
State Comptroller Mateniho Engelman said: "The violent riots during the time of the Wall Guard revealed serious deficiencies in the police's activities and the interface between the police and the Shin Bet.
These deficiencies caused a serious injury to the most basic personal security to which the citizens of the country are entitled.
We found significant deficiencies in the field of force assessments, intelligence, the training of forces to deal with disturbances, the mobilization of the reserves and the interfaces between law enforcement agencies.
It is forbidden for such events to be repeated in mixed cities and in the entire territory of the State of Israel.
I call on the Prime Minister, the Minister of Internal Security and all law enforcement officials to act to correct the deficiencies that have arisen and to act for the personal security of the citizens of the State of Israel."
The response of the Shin Bet:
"The findings and conclusions of the State Comptroller's report are studied, and integrated into the activity of the service, which already took place during the events and even more so after them, as well as to investigate and draw lessons from the events.
From the beginning of 2022, the Shin Bet decided, within its mandate, to expand its activities in the Arab sector in general and in the involved cities in particular. Areas were determined in which the service's activity would be expanded and deepened, with an emphasis on issues in the field of nationalistic public order and the interface between criminal and security activities. These moves are made in accordance with the authority of the service according to law And in ongoing dialogue with the legal advisors to the government and the Israel Police.
As stated in the report, the Shin Bet pointed to basic phenomena in Arab society, as well as an escalation over time, which received a regular response in the police's assessments of protest events, even violent ones.
A police car that was set on fire in the "Guardian of the Walls", photo: Yossi Zeliger
Contrary to what was stated in the report, the Shin Bet recognized from the moment the events began, that it was an escalation on a nationalistic background and accordingly it was organized in the military and in the field to provide intelligence in real time and thwart in accordance with the warnings it passed.
The Shin Bet led to the filing of indictments against 133 perpetrators involved in the events and to the unraveling of 28 attacks. It should be noted that during this period the Shin Bet was simultaneously involved in an extensive attack activity in Gaza that helped the quick end of the campaign, as well as in activities to prevent an outbreak in the Yosh.
The relationship between the Shin Bet and the Israel Police is strong, current and powerful beyond one process or another.
The network monitoring issue is being addressed while investing many inputs and resources and it is clear that these efforts are bearing fruit.
However, additional steps are required, including in the area of legislative amendments, and the service is advancing these steps in cooperation with the authorities.
It is important to note that the Shin Bet is subject to the limitations of the law and the restraint of force when it comes to the depth of coverage against Israeli citizens.
In conclusion, alongside the Shin Bet's responsibility for detecting and thwarting ahead of time, it would be right to reiterate that the possibility of predicting, and correspondingly also preventing, an event of a mass outbreak is challenging and limited by its very nature, it would be right to deal with the trends and deal with them. These issues are under the care of several authorities in Israel, And the service works to reduce the risk of a widespread outbreak.'
The Regavim movement said after the publication of the State Comptroller's report: "With the outbreak of the Wall Guard events, we recognized that this was an event of a national scale, we alerted the police, and when we realized that we could not abandon our brothers in the face of the threat of thousands of Arab rioters, we established together with the 'My Israel' movement In Lod, which operated 24 hours a day on the most complex and difficult days and employed hundreds of volunteers who rallied to help the heroic local residents. Today, a year after the disturbances, when everyone understands that there is a domestic threat, the police and the Shin Bet must conduct an investigation that has not been done to date and prepare for the next time, which we all know will happen."
The police: "A significant part of the comments in the report were examined and dealt with even before its publication"
The police spokeswoman said: "The Israel Police welcomes the State Comptroller's report and will work to implement the issues raised in it.
Moreover, a significant portion of the comments made in the auditor's report were examined and addressed by the police even before its publication, as part of the control and learning processes that the police carried out after the 'Wall Guard' operation. The report raises important and central issues, most of which are on the police's agenda and has received a lot of organizational attention for a long time.
With the beginning of the occurrence of the events and the formation of the situation, which included a large and unusual number of scenes of incidents of disorder and shooting from the Gaza Strip, the forces were increased and all the necessary actions were carried out in order to deal with the incidents in the places where incidents of violent disorder occurred.
Among other things, the diversions of the forces were carried out according to situation assessments and their availability, mission headquarters were established, the forces were reinforced and 20 MGB reserve companies were recruited, numbering about 2,000 fighters.
From the beginning of the events, an orderly procedure of forming a situation picture was carried out at a national level.
Due to the large number of events and their scope, the procedure for the accuracy of the situation picture continues continuously.
The deployment of forces at the beginning of the events was based on an assessment of the situation and the intelligence that existed.
As the picture of the situation was formed and additional operational forces were accumulated, these were directed to many focal points in the various cities.
As part of learning the lessons, a strengthening plan was built which provides a graded response to the various gaps in the field of equipment, training and manpower.
We emphasize that at all times, the Israel Police and the Shin Bet work in full cooperation for the sake of the security of the state, and this was also the case in this case. A cooperation that has since resulted in Operation 'Guardian of the Walls' to uncovering suspects of committing serious crimes, arresting them and removing them from society. As a lesson from the events of 'Guardian of the Walls', And in order to enable a rapid consolidation of forces, it was decided to establish 26 additional reserve companies in the MGB.
This move should provide a significant boost to the police's ability to deal with disturbances on a large scale in a short time.
In the Border Guard, three professional teams were established following the events.
In addition to this, at the end of the regular headquarters work, it was decided to allocate financial resources in order to renew and increase the stock of ammunition used to disperse demonstrations and the stock of protective equipment used by the forces in the field.
Policemen in Segev Shalom during the "Guardian of the Walls" (archive), photo: police spokespersons
During the first days of the operation, the 100 call center received many calls from citizens in an unusual volume compared to the operational routine of the police and the forces deployed in the field.
Also, an unusual number of calls referring to the same event were received.
The forces in the field acted simultaneously with the activity at the scenes of missile drops in every incident or request received at Moked 100, where the priority given is first to life-threatening incidents and damage to government symbols.
As for police services among Arab society, we note that in recent years we have been working to deepen police services in Arab society.
As part of this activity, the Administration for the Improvement of Police Services for the Arab Society was closed and a CF Division was established to coordinate operational activity in Arab and mixed cities, as well as to increase the partnership with the Arab society, in order to respond to the unique needs of the residents to reduce crime and strengthen the norms of compliance with the law and increase the sense of security among the public the normative.
We are also working to recruit police officers from among Arab society as patrols, detectives and investigators in order to increase cooperation and service to Arab society.
In the CF wing, a mechanism was established to detect conflicts in order to provide an operational response while planning and coordinating.
The Israel Police will continue to act resolutely to prevent riots, arrest disorderly persons and enforce the law and maintain public peace and security, deal with immediate emergencies and save human lives."
Ministry of Internal Security: "We will take significant steps following the events"
The Ministry of Internal Security stated: "During the past year, the ministry and the police carried out an in-depth and thorough process of drawing lessons from the 'Guardian of the Walls' events, which manifested itself in a long series of steps, actions and processes to increase national preparedness for widespread disorderly events, and while giving special emphasis to increasing personal security in the cities involved, In Arab society, in the Negev and Jerusalem.
When Minister Omar Bar-Lev took office after the operation, a series of headquarters works, investigations, learning processes, practice and improvement were carried out under his direction in order to draw the lessons from the 'Guardian of the Walls' events and distill from them detailed plans for immediate implementation.
The subject of preparedness for incidents of disorder at the national level and potential points of friction within Israeli society were defined within the policy goals of the minister, and from this, implementation processes were dictated in the Ministry of Internal Security, the police, and other internal security systems.
Among the main steps taken by the ministry: a national attribution scenario for incidents of disorder and civil conflagration was built with the police, which was approved by the political-security cabinet;
About 1,380 positions were added to the police, more than 500 of which are permanent positions for the MGB, dozens of police officers were assigned to the cities involved, to Jerusalem and the Negev region; adaptation and organization processes were carried out in the MGB's operational structure, among other things by establishing four operational areas that are dedicated to providing a response My mission to the challenges of illegal activities, disorder and combating the phenomena of crime.
Minister Bar-Lev (archive), photo: Gideon Markovich
Additional steps taken: in the field of the reserves - a strengthening plan was launched for the significant expansion of the MGB companies in the reserves, which includes the establishment of 26 additional companies; in the field of equipment and inventory - shortages of inventory and essential operational equipment were mapped and identified, including protective measures, ammunition and various means to deal with incidents of disorder manifested in the context of the events of the operation, and a broad procurement program was launched with budgetary backing; in the field of volunteers, the "Israeli Guard" program was formulated and approved, which enables the expansion of the volunteering model in the police as well as the regulation of unique volunteering routes in the MGB called 'edge companies'.
As for individual treatment in the cities involved, the ministry formulated, within the framework of Government Resolution 549, a unique model called Safe City in Acre and Lod, based on a combination of advanced technological systems and a tactical-operational response, the purpose of which is to increase personal security in these cities, while locating and early identification of incidents and increasing the speed of response to them ;
And in the field of responding to aspects of consciousness, communication and public mediation, headquarters work was completed to reorganize the spokeswoman division in the police.
In conclusion - the Ministry of Internal Security, under the leadership of Minister Amr Bar-Lev, carried out large-scale infrastructural operations during the past year, which directly relate to the audit findings presented in the State Comptroller's report. "The Guardian of the Walls" is a central goal that the Ministry has set and worked toward during the past year. The Ministry intends to continue and persevere in the processes of applying the various lessons, to assimilate them on an ongoing basis and to ensure a fundamental change in the national preparedness for similar events in the future."
Participated in the preparation of the news: Lilach Shuval, Hanan Greenwood
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