The IDF will close the crossing battalions of the military police, Ta'oz and Erez, and in their place will establish a border protection battalion that will specialize in the protection of the seam area and will also expand the recruitment allocations for the MGB, Israel Hayom has learned.
Recruiting for the new Border Protection Battalion will begin as part of the current November recruitments.
It is estimated that initial operational capability will be as early as mid-2023. The IDF has been examining the issue of crossing battalions associated with the military police for several months. The crossing battalions serve men and women stationed at the crossings in Judea and Samaria that have not yet been transferred to civilian management. These battalions have been suffering for years from many problems, among them motivation Very low for the service. If that is not enough, the army understands that where there is contact with the civilian population, it is correct that police officers with appropriate powers should be stationed and not soldiers without police powers.
At the same time, since the beginning of Operation Breakwater and in light of the need to strengthen the defense of the Seam area, the IDF is mobilizing reserve battalions with the aim of reducing as much as possible the number of Shabaim entering Israel.
The cost of recruiting reserves is very high, and so far the IDF has spent hundreds of millions of shekels on recruiting reserves for the benefit of securing the Seam area. Not only that, but that reservists are less effective than a regular battalion, since a regular battalion is usually larger than a reserve battalion, and they also do not have to undergo training Renewed before he gets to the task.
The late Noa Lazar,
Therefore, the IDF decided in the first step to gradually close the "Taoz" battalion of the military police, and convert it into a border protection battalion. The battalion will be the fifth border protection battalion, and it will join the caracal, cheetahs, lions of the Jordan and the Bekaa lions. The new battalion will be permanently stationed in the seam area and will reduce the need to recruit reservists for the mission, which will also allow the regular battalions to return to a more reasonable training routine.
At the same time, as mentioned, these days the discussions on closing the Erez battalion of the military police have accelerated, and to compensate for this the number of recruits to the MGB will be increased.
This is, among other things, with the understanding that it is wrong to leave only one crossing battalion under the military police.
We would like to emphasize that the decision to increase the number of soldiers assigned to the Special Forces and the transfer of overall responsibility for the transitions to the Special Forces has not yet been definitively accepted, but the IDF admits that the discussions on the subject have gained momentum in recent days, and it is estimated that the final conclusion on the subject will be received in a very short time.
Despite the suspicious proximity to the death of the late Sergeant Noa Lazar at the Shuafat checkpoint, and the major omissions that were discovered in that event, which even led to the removal and reprimands of commanders and soldiers in the MGB, the army insists that this is a staff operation that began a few months ago, before the death of the late Lazar.
The army would prefer to transfer the rest of the crossings to the Ministry of Defense, but the cost may reach half a billion shekels per year.
At the same time, the army also understands that the soldiers who stand at the checkpoints are without appropriate powers, sometimes without appropriate training, and that there is a problem in the interface between the MGB and the IDF on the issue, as we saw in the unfortunate incident in which the late Lazar was killed.
Although the IDF does not explicitly admit this, there is no doubt that the dispute between the army and the police regarding responsibility for the crossings played a part in the decision to disband the battalions. Thus, despite the police's objection that the army no longer take part in manning the crossings, the army is simply establishing a fact on the ground.
The IDF spokesman said in response: "The issue is being worked on jointly with the MGB and the Israel Police, and will be concluded soon."
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