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Inside Israel's Police Anti-Terrorist Unit

(Vanity Fair) Adam Ciralsky - The motto of Israel's Yamam police anti-terrorist unit is from Psalm 18:37: "I pursued my enemies and overtook them; I did not turn back until they were destroyed." Yamam is the world's busiest force of its kind, averaging 300 missions a year, and its expertise is in high demand. Israel's minister for public security, Gilad Erdan, said during his first month on the job, "I got requests from 10 countries to train together." Yamam's primary focus involves foiling terror plots, engaging militants during attacks, combating crime syndicates, and blunting border incursions. According to the unit's commander, "N," 44, his unit has stopped at least 50 "ticking time bombs" (suicide bombers en route to their targets) and hundreds of attacks at earlier stages. John Miller, the New York Police Department's deputy commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism, pointed out that for every terrorist attack in Israel that makes the news, there are 10 that are prevented by Yamam. While units in the U.S. that respond to terror attacks have tended to arrive on the scene, gauge the situation, secure a perimeter, and then call in specialists or reinforcements, Yamam goes in heavy, dispatching self-contained squadrons of breachers, snipers, rappellers, bomb techs, dog handlers, and hostage negotiators. N said, "We don't have the privilege of time. You must come inside very fast because there are terrorists that are killing hostages every minute."
2018-10-12 00:00:00
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