Women Play Major Role in Israel Homeland Defense

 "Thank you and please have a nice day," they said, returning the national identification cards of the individuals whose identities they had just checked. These Lochamot MaGav (women officers of the Israeli Border Police) had just completed one of the most dangerous tasks in Israel today. It is a task they perform literally dozens of times every day.
 

With utmost professionalism and courage, amid multiple "Hot Warnings," they had approached two potential suicide bombers and calmly checked the individuals for "Wants & Warrants." It is at this moment that most terrorists realize they are not going to get any further and detonate the vest of explosives they are wearing.
Women have been part of the Israeli security establishment since before the birth of the State.
"During the British Mandate I smuggled grenades on my person. The 'very proper' British soldiers were adverse to searching Anglo-Saxon women. During our War of Independence I manned observation positions on the border with Jordan-in downtown Jerusalem." So are the recollections of my Brooklyn born mother-in-law. Her spirit continues today in the women who wear the Green of the Border Guards of the Israeli Police.
There is universal national service for Israeli youth with exemptions freely given to religious women. After high school, women serve a 30-month period in either the Israeli Defense Forces, Police, Border Police or they may opt to perform community service while living at home. In the MaGav, the military-like armed and trained fighting force of the police, the watchword is real equality, much, much more so than in the IDF (military) where according to the Chief of Staff, women serve in "combat support roles."
What is the working definition of equality in the Border Police? Lochamot MaGav get as many of the dangerous and really nasty jobs as do the men, today more than ever with the "new" phenomenon of female suicide bombers!
No Limits
If there is something "off-limits" to MaGavniciot (Border Policewomen), I have not discovered it. While basic training is segregated, the program of instruction is the same for men and women, and equally demanding. It is 16 weeks during which all inductees must master both police and military skills. The curriculum includes police science and duties, internal security, anti-terrorism, civics, community policing and firearms training. Weeks and weeks are spent in training and target practice with small arms.

 Organizationally the basic training unit is the Company. It is composed of four platoons of 30 MaGavnics each. Generally one of the four platoons is comprised of Lochamot; but for being all female, it is indistinguishable from the all male platoons, right down to having a mortar and a machinegun team. Each platoon is responsible for pulling its share of guard duty and for the defense of their base. All four platoons will also share the "live operational training," i.e., being taken out of basic and put onto the street as sudden needs for MaGav power arise. Each platoon will provide 25% of what is needed.
No thought is given to the nature of the "operation." Your platoon's turn-you go, without anyone giving a first-let alone a second thought-to gender. It just does not happen!
After graduation from basic the new Border Police officers are permanently assigned to operational units where most become members of integrated squads of 10 MaGavics each. Some will be assigned to special units like the elite anti-terror Yamam and undercover Mistar'arveem. There is no limitation on what Lochamot become or the jobs they perform.
For example, if your shooting merits, and there is an open slot for your platoon and/or squad, you might be sent to the marksman course or even sniper school. There are many women sharpshooters and several snipers. All are "in the field" and work in their specialty. It is from their permanent operational assignment that individuals are selected and sent for specialized training, NCO and Officer courses. All courses are integrated. There is no such thing as "his and hers." There is a single standard to be met in order to graduate. For many Israeli young women their initial service in the MaGav has led to a career of public service in law enforcement or security. Others specifically cho0se to do their national service in the MaGav because they knew of the career opportunities open to them as Lochamot.
Lochamot At Work

Etti Rehavi is a typical Border Policewoman. At age 19 she is permanently assigned to one of the MaGav Companies posted to Jerusalem. She works as a member of a 10-person squad of male and female MaGavnics. One day her squad might be manning security checkpoints at the entrances to Jerusalem's open-air market, Mahaneh Yehuda. The next the squad could be part of a force hunting for "Wanted" terrorists known to be hiding in a nearby Arab village.
Working in Israel's capital is anything but routine and boring. This past November 4th, Rehavi and another member of her squad, Eliad, were providing security for the bus stop at northern Jerusalem's French Hill intersection. Routine duty, except no duty is routine since Palestinian Chairman Arafat's September 2000 "Green Light," endorsement of and support for terrorist attacks. Shielded from the two MaGavnics' view by a passenger bus in the intersection, a terrorist stepped from the sidewalk into the street, uncovered an M16 he was carrying and began strafing the bus filled mainly with junior high school students. He killed two, including a 16-year-old American girl and wounded dozens.
Hearing the automatic gunfire Rehavi began yelling to the passengers on the bus to "Get down." She ran around the front of the bus, her partner around the back, chambering rounds in their M16s on the move. The two MaGavnics confronted the terrorist as he continued to fire wildly at the bus. They fired, ending the murderous attack. Then they immediately began administering first aid and helping the wounded. The following day Rehavi was presented with a Certificate of Merit by Jerusalem's Police Chief. He credited her fast response with preventing an even more deadly attack.

Lt. Sapozhlik doesn't consider anything short of being shot at, personally or the members of the unit under her command, as combat. She joined the MaGav to see "Action." She has seen plenty, but does not consider it anything other than routine. She rates being the recipient of a Molotov cocktail as, "nothing serious." Her platoon is part of the MaGav's
National Headquarters' reserve resource company. "We go where needed," she explained. They do, often.
The Company is under the command of Major (Police Superintendent) Uri Buta. I asked him if he considers the "composition" of his platoons before deciding upon operational assignments. He was driving when I asked the question. He stopped the vehicle and turned around looking me eye-to-eye over the back of his seat. "I don't have the luxury. I send whatever platoon or squad I have most available."
Maj. Buta was not simply pretending to be politically correct. I know from personal experience, having worked often with the MaGav. Just recently I was assigned an observation/sniper position on the roof of a Yeshiva, an all male ultra-Orthodox educational institution of Torah study and prayer. A Lochemet (the singular form of the Hebrew word) came down from the roof to escort me up the six flights of stairs to our position, one of two critical to the protection that afternoon of Israel's prime minister, president, chief of staff and police inspector general. We were working under a Condition "D" Alert, heretofore reserved exclusively to times of declared war. "Up top" I met the other member of the MaGav team, another Lochemet, detailed like myself, to work with a member of the Shabak's Close Protection Unit.
Typical of Lochamot, especially those trained and under the command of Lt. Sapozhlik, is Karen Blint. Born in Glasgow, her Scottish/Swiss parents moved to the southern Israeli port city of Eilat when she was young.
"I fought hard to get into the MaGav. I think women should be more than secretaries. I want more; more equality, more courses and more action. I want to be part of a special operations unit, working undercover or as a detective. As a Lochemet MaGav I have the opportunity. I'm happy," she said.
The danger that MaGav and Police Lochamot face daily is real. Police First Sergeant Galit Arviv had completed her period of national service as an outstanding Lochemet MaGav. She chose to continue working in law enforcement and swapped her MaGav green for Police blue. She was the outstanding graduate of her class at the Police Academy. Her career held enormous promise.
This past February 26th a terrorist armed with an M16 walked across the 75 yards of open field separating Arab Beit Hanina from Jerusalem's northern most neighborhood, Neve Yakov. He opened fire the moment he saw Israelis. They were waiting at a bus stop a mere 200 yards up the street from the local police station at which First Sergeant Arviv was working. At the sound of the gunfire she and two fellow officers jumped into their police van and raced to the sight of the on-going attack. The terrorist strafed the van, hitting it 17 times as it was coming to a stop. All three officers were hit suffering serious wounds, but nevertheless returned fire wounding the terrorist and taking the fight out of him, to the extent that unarmed local youth were then able to subdue him.
First Sergeant Galit Arviv, 21, Lochemet MaGav just two weeks out of the Police Academy, died the following morning of the wounds she received protecting and defending those of us living in northern Jerusalem.

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