"Is it safe to stand here?" I asked Nitzan Aviran as I watched from the houses of Merav directly towards the terror city of Jenin. He looked at me and replied: "A few days ago a government minister came here. At first, the personal security unit refused to let her come here, and then ordered her to be solely behind a jeep." He waved his finger to the right: "Do you see the houses here on the side? We instructed them not to sit on the balcony in the evening. It's a danger to lives."
It is difficult to describe in words the fear that the public currently has about the infiltration of terrorists and another murderous killing spree. In cities and towns, moshavim and kibbutzim are literally trembling with fear of a similar event. In Itamar and Tel Aviv, Kiryat Arba and Beersheba, civilians are demanding to arm themselves and defend themselves against an attack that would endanger their lives.
The entrances to settlements and moshavim, which were once open to all, have become fortified positions with armed fighters. When we stopped for a photo, they rushed to check who we were, and on one occasion they called the alert squad. "There is a feeling that we are left alone," they say here.
At an early hour we arrive in Gilboa to meet with the residents who are on an almost unfamiliar line of conflict. Hawks pass over our heads, and on the right side the Jezreel Valley is revealed to us in all its glory and beauty, and for a moment it feels like a walk. A moment later, this feeling passes abruptly, when a stand built of sandbags is revealed by the side of the road. Here, too, we are at war.
Al-Ayash Battalion: We fired a rocket at Gilboa // Archive photo
The entrance gate to the settlement of Merav is opened by Asael Horowitz. He has lived in the community for many years, and now protects it as part of the regional defense battalion, literally guarding his home, like many residents of the area these days. "We live in the new neighborhood right across from the village of Jilabun. We were fired at several times. There's a bullet here that penetrated the house two weeks ago, I heard the whistling of bullets above my head," he says. "I lived in Mount Hebron for many years. There you know it's more dangerous, but you feel like they're being given a fight. Here we are as if on the other side of the fence. Yesterday, two IEDs were thrown at the force protecting us. ISIS isn't just in Gaza, it's here too."
The gate at Kibbutz Meirav,
Nitzan is the head of the economy division of the religious kibbutz, and also serves as the spokesman for the community on behalf of the Yishuv (Emergency Settlement Team), and deals, among other things, with the rehabilitation of Kibbutz Sa'ad and Kibbutz Alumim near the Gaza Strip, after they were attacked by dozens of terrorists and mortar shells.
When I tell him that he is involved in two envelopes – the Gaza envelope and the Jenin envelope – he sighs and says that the residents are struggling against the branding of the area as the Jenin envelope, even though he understands why it is perceived that way. "On the one hand, it makes sense, but on the other hand, we have to convey to ourselves, to our children, that we trust the security forces and their ability to eradicate it."
Until October 7, the Jenin area was considered one of the most dangerous and volatile in Israel. Quite a few cases of shooting were carried out against communities in the area, and attempts were even made to fire rockets at them. The terrorists arrive near the communities, shoot or launch, which have so far failed, and then flee.
However, since the invasion of the Gaza envelope, there has been no attention paid to these communities, even though they are adjacent to the fence and the terror capital of Judea and Samaria. This does not mean that the situation has calmed down, but rather the opposite. Recently, a fighter jet killed a squad that had gathered in a mosque and was planning to carry out a raid on a community, checkpoint or post in the area. In another case, terrorists penetrated the perimeter fence in the area, threw two IEDs, fired at a military force and fled the scene.
"The IDF understands the risk. The army understands the threat and acts very well," says Nitzan. He points to the village of Jilabun, which stretches along the hill opposite the village, and says that in the past relations with the Palestinian residents were good, but deteriorated over the years due to a serious terrorist attack that took place there, as well as the impact of the Jenin governorate on the residents. In recent weeks, they have come under fire from the direction of the village, whether from terrorists who live there or from those who come from the refugee camp.
"Fortunately, there was no casualty, but the residents' fear is very great. Some of the balconies feel like you are inside the village. Our instruction is not to go out to the balconies in the evening, and if possible to flood the windows. This is not normal. You will see the windows that are directed to us. Anyone can have a sniper sitting who will put you and me in the viewfinder. We see that the dynamic is only escalating, so we have to prepare ourselves."
Meirav is also well guarded by the IDF, but the community does not take risks. "Two weeks ago, terrorists cut through the perimeter fence, fired at the community, and when a military force arrived, they threw an IED at it, shot and fled. And if it happened once, it is presumed that it may happen again. Optimists will say that things like in Gaza can't happen here, but on 6 October, no one believed that what happened a day later in the envelope would happen. These terrorists have no boundaries barbarically. Therefore, we and the army take into account all scenarios of terror, including preparations for a possible invasion, high-trajectory fire or an attack using an unmanned aerial vehicle of one kind or another."
Crack in the sense of security
The sense of security in all the towns and cities was severely undermined after the massacre near the Gaza Strip. The number of people seeking to acquire personal weapons crosses every border, and towns and cities whose residents never imagined the need to establish an alert squad are now crying out for help and assistance.
Some 600 new alert classrooms have been opened in the weeks since the deadly raid. Nearly 6,000 weapons were distributed by the Ministry of National Security and the police to existing and new alert squads. In Judea and Samaria, thousands of fighters were recruited to replace the members of the alert squads, who went on reserve duty, erected fortifications around threatened settlements, and even armed them with mag machine guns.
The IDF understands that a raid scenario is also possible in Judea and Samaria, and the communities are much more fortified and armed than before the war, although there are residents in various localities who point to gaps. We drive through Gilboa, a place that on the face of it is considered one of the quietest in the country, but there too we feel the war well and the threat posed by the extreme and dangerous Jenin governorate.
One moment we're in the forest, driving over cow crossings on a winding road, and the next we're looking at an Arab village from which terrorists are shooting at Israeli communities. One moment we're driving through one of the most beautiful places in Israel, and the next we're standing in front of a fortified gate, explaining who we are to an armed fighter who checks every single vehicle before entering the community.
Many councils are not satisfied with the equipment transferred by the state, partly because the huge demand creates a shortage in the number of weapons, not to mention additional equipment such as vests and bulletproof vests. Thus, Samaria Council head Yossi Dagan recruited donors and purchased no less than 3,000 weapons for his communities.
Other councils in Judea and Samaria assist, from their experience, inexperienced authorities to defend themselves and equip themselves accordingly. Binyamin Council Mayor Israel Gantz, for example, has participated in meetings in the south and north in recent weeks, providing information and advice to inexperienced communities on how to prepare for a threat that until now was considered only theoretical. There is an argument that less experienced mayors and councils fail to protect their communities well enough, which creates a particularly problematic gap.
Although no one believed that there would be such a significant invasion of Israel, it should be noted that part of the feeling that many residents of Israel are currently experiencing rests on a failure that began several years ago, both during the previous Netanyahu government and during the government of change. In both cases under Defense Minister Benny Gantz, most of the weapons in the hands of members of the alert squads were collected due to fear of theft or the thought that they were irrelevant. In some of the communities we visited, there were only a few weapons in the face of the threat, and even in Judea and Samaria, which are considered much more threatened, there were significant reductions in the number of weapons.
In many localities, processes were carried out to naturalize the defense systems, which for years were the responsibility of the IDF, despite the protests of the residents. Thus, in 11 communities near Jerusalem, some adjacent to Palestinian cities, alert squads were dismantled and the IDF demanded that residents return their weapons, claiming that responsibility should be transferred to the Israel Police. In a series of articles in Israel Hayom, residents protested that they were unable to defend themselves, but to no avail. Even now, when the army is in charge of the communities, an IDF source says that "the situation in some of these communities is very bad."
The alert squads we met with were partly armed with modern M-4 rifles, but others received M-16 rifles used in the Vietnam War. The vests they wore on their bodies are those they obtained from different and strange places and the appearance is accordingly. Blue, black and green vests, some sampled and upgraded, some loose and neglected.
The Elephant in the Room
In August 2022, CSOs from all over the country went on strike to protest their pay conditions. The defense minister at the time was Benny Gantz, and they demonstrated under his house holding scathing signs such as "CSOs are not politics, this is human life."
Gantz said at the time that he intended to act on the issue, but the government had already entered an election period. Nine full months have passed since then, a new government was formed, Gantz left the Defense Ministry and was replaced by Yoav Galant. The Ministry of Public Security became the Ministry of National Security under Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Still, one of the CSOs we met said he earns 4,000 shekels a month for his part-time job. "I don't have a day and I don't have a night on a starving paycheck."
Nur worker. Head of the Gilboa Regional Council,
Ben-Gvir told Israel Hayom that he is working to correct the failures in the alert classes and blames Gantz. "This is not the time for bills, but you can't ignore the elephant in the room. There was someone who stopped the alert squads and took the weapons, this man is not called Ben-Gvir, his name is Gantz. He, in an unfortunate decision in my opinion, cancelled the alert squads and collected the weapons. This is an unfortunate decision, which I am correcting today." So far, Gantz has not received a response.
The establishment of the alert squads and the distribution of thousands of weapons was entrusted to the Commissioner of Police, Major General Avshalom Peled. "Since the beginning of the fighting, we have been running – working night and day to provide weapons and build as many alert squads as possible." Peled says that he understands the residents' grave fear, but mentions that those who saved many civilians near the Gaza Strip were police officers who defended them fiercely, while sacrificing their lives. "The defense system collapsed, or didn't exist. If the police hadn't stopped the terrorists in the fighting, they would have moved on. At the same time, I understand, both as a security guard for years and from the voices in my own home, the severe damage to the sense of security of the citizens."
The police clarify that every weapon that arrives in Israel or leaves a factory reaches the alert classes directly, with a massive shortening of bureaucratic procedures. "We sent people to the United States to locate weapons factories and with American approval to bring them to Israel. We don't distribute weapons in the streets like phalanges, but unite everyone in regular alert squads or under the Civil Guard and Border Police," Peled says.
However, all the security sources say, this is a procedure that takes time. In the first stage, the police focus on obtaining weapons rather than related equipment, with the understanding that this is the most urgent thing, but this creates the feeling that the authorities are not providing equipment. Peled says that protective equipment has been purchased, some of which has arrived but has not yet been transferred to the forces, and some of which is still on the way. In addition, while high-risk communities are a higher priority, they say they can't be provided with all the weapons they want or even feel they need. "True, there are communities that need 18 weapons and there are 15, but there are large cities that received only slightly more weapons than them," says a security source.
In Judea and Samaria there is another phenomenon that is no less challenging. In contrast to the religious and secular communities, where it is possible to quickly organize weapons carriers who served in the army, in the ultra-Orthodox cities there are not enough people who served in the IDF and therefore cannot be recruited. The Central Command is examining the possibility of quickly training Haredim without a military record in order to serve as weapons carriers in order to overcome the shortages. It should be noted that in these cases it is not usually an immediate critical need, since at the moment there are reserve armored personnel fighters in these cities.
"Our intention is that all communities in Israel will have regulated alert classes," Peled says. "We have greatly reinforced forces, both army and police, in communities and on the roads, and regardless we continue to intensify the alert squads. The basis is that in every rural settlement there will be at least eight members of an alert squad equipped with weapons. At the moment, within two weeks, we have set up 508 new alert classes in the rural area alone. Our goal is also to expand the number of ongoing security coordinators, so that there will be a responsible police element in the communities. I understand the public pressure, the demand for weapons, and we are working on it. People have to know that they can trust us, that we're running amok to fix what needs to be fixed."
Until the next default
Oved Nur waits with the alert squad at the top of the highest hill in Gan Ner, armed with an M-16 rifle. This is not a classic sight for the head of a large regional council, but these are by no means ordinary days. Three of the communities under his responsibility are adjacent to a fence, and others are a few kilometers away. Jenin is clearly visible to us, the Palestinian houses in front of the red roofs with flags in the Israeli community. Only a fence and IDF forces separate the city of murderers from the homes of the residents. Gan Ner has come under quite a bit of shooting recently, and an employee fears that this is only the beginning.
"In the communities adjacent to the fence there are reserve forces at the moment, but all the other communities along the seam line are under police and Border Police control," he explains of the division of forces on the ground. "The state treats me as two arenas and tells me, 'Get along.' About seven years ago, the state took all my weapons from me and dismantled the alert forces, leaving us naked. There are hundreds of terrorists here who want to carry out a similar event. There are hot warnings, and just this week an aircraft eliminated a squad that wanted to carry out a similar attack near the Gaza Strip – a car bomb that would explode on the fence and dozens of armed men who would disperse between the communities."
The goal: on-call classes in all communities,
"We don't have on-call squads capable of dealing with something like this. We began to rebuild the alert squads and fortified the communities, including mechanical engineering equipment for building batteries. We are preparing for war in the sense that there is no state. We no longer trust the state, but rely on our forces, working day and night.
"The distance from the moment someone drives their van to our communities is a three-minute drive. The perimeter fence here is only a warning fence that can be pushed with your hand. They burn it every night. With a push, she falls. If someone runs with motorcycles, 15 terrorists, each of whom gets the name of a community and gallops forward, the army has no strength to deal with such a thing," he said.
The military is well aware that this is a particularly hot sector and does not allow such infiltrations. In the sector, IDF officer Bar Falah was killed in the past when he prevented an infiltration attempt. Since the outbreak of the war, there has even been a floppy change in the IDF, which conducts a very aggressive policy against terrorist acts. Thus, a drone killed militants during operations in Jenin just two days ago, something that would not have happened before.
But the residents, who saw how the concept caused the collapse of the defense systems, are hard to please. "This is an intolerable situation, and the state has not yet provided us with the means to prevent it. As far as I'm concerned, Be'eri is Gan Ner, Yizreel or Ein Harod. The Gaza envelope is the envelope of Israel. It's exactly the same. They are right next to us. The forces in the south are a thousand times the forces here, because Israel doesn't treat this place as an arena at all. The IDF has a thousand missions here, including deep in the field.
"No one is preparing for this here. They dismantled our alert squads and took our weapons. I go through a community with Lutar trainers and remind people what weapons are. Until this moment, no ministry has sent me a shekel or told me it's okay what I'm doing. No country. I've already spent four million shekels of the council's money on fortifications and fortifications. They left me alone.
"Reservists came here with jeeps from home, because the army doesn't have tools. They ask me for help with gasoline and I said sure, but I'll just check with the Interior Ministry first, so they won't accuse me later of corruption and tell me I'm a thief. Once someone told me that I was the head of the council and that I would do what was right, and then she called again and said, 'But remember, only things that are within your authority.' I told her that I had taken the authority into my own hands a long time ago because there is no state and I would do what was necessary. If they want to prosecute me later, let them do it. But my responsibility is to the residents, and there's no one else to do it."
Yaniv Ben Shimol, the chief of staff of Gan Ner, says that the situation in the area is problematic. "You feel the warming. There is no night without shooting. If they decide to cut through the fence, they will find themselves a hundred meters away from the community with nothing but us to stop them. There is an army, of course, but it doesn't come close to what there is in the Gaza envelope. We're not sleeping anymore, we're on the fence, but we need more equipment and weapons. I never imagined there would be such an invasion, even though infiltration is a constant threat here. In 2019, Benny Gantz closed our entire alert squad and left me with two weapons. I begged for two more weapons. I received an addition to Sukkot and was supposed to return them after Simchat Torah, after October 7. All the equipment we have snorted is from friends at a security company. A little at a time."
A group of fighters is waiting for us in Magen Shaul, also in the Gilboa Regional Council. This is a community located only a few hundred meters from the Jalameh crossing, the most significant crossing from Jenin, and one that has suffered quite a few attacks in recent months. A few days after the raid near the Gaza Strip, terrorists arrived at the crossing in a vehicle loaded with IEDs and weapons, tried to carry out a serious attack, and were eliminated. All the fighters are members of the alert squad and local residents, who are currently serving in Order 8 as part of a regional defense battalion.
The feeling in the Magen Shaul area is disturbingly reminiscent of the Gaza envelope before the war. Tractors work in fields, beautiful greenhouses bathed in the green and yellow of autumn, and a Palestinian city with hundreds of dangerous extremist terrorists is within spitting distance. Only a simple metal fence separates the threat from the pastoral beyond.
"We are surrounded by two Arab-Israeli villages, Sandala and Muqbala, and very close to the Jalameh crossing. At Guardian of the Walls, we were under a real curfew because of riots by Israeli Arabs. In recent weeks, bullets from Jalameh have arrived here several times. The shooting, IEDs and warnings are getting worse. They gather 2,000 people and approach the fence, and no one can control it. Let's tell the truth," says Ben Shmueli, the chief of staff. "What separates them from me? Just the transition. If they move, we will be the only thing separating them from the residents. We didn't learn anything. Give us the means, we will know how to defend ourselves."
"I don't understand where the country is until now. At Magen Shaul they had to land 30 weapons and 30 ceramic bulletproof vests. At the moment, we have received all the weapons from the army, nothing from the police or the Border Police," said Ido Shino and Nati Muallem, two of the fighters.
"If we don't have weapons, a thousand fortifications are not worth. We get the vests from combines with friends. We tried to get broken ceramic plates, so be it. We are thrown on the fence and trying to do our best," clarifies Assi Yitzhaki. "No one has slept at night since October 7. People here go down to the fence regardless of their guard hours and help guard them. We see the pressure from the families and are doing more than necessary to keep it calm."
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