World

Sharing Tactics

State law enforcement officers benefit from Israeli expertise.

Bill Carroll
Special to the Jewish News

S

trong intelligence, then swift reac-
tion are the keys in attempts to
stop suicide bombers and prevent
terrorism in general, according to Israeli
police and military officials who enthralled
about 200 law enforcement officers from
80 jurisdictions throughout the state at
a two-day symposium in Livonia last
week arranged by the Jewish Institute for
National Security Affairs.
"Because Israel is so small, we often get
only 20 minutes or a half hour to react
and try to stop a bomber coming across a
border, heading for one of our cities," said
Simon Perry, a retired brigadier general,
who spent 30 years with the Israeli National
Police. "So keen intelligence at an early
stage from reliable sources is paramount
to early detection. We get about 50 to 80
immediate terrorist threats a day; we have
to prioritize to stay ahead of the game."
Perry, five other Israelis and a retired
FBI official gave the main presentations in
JINSM first-ever Detroit-area symposium.
Founded in 1976, JINSA is a non-profit
organization based in Washington, D.C.,
with 20,000 members worldwide concen-
trating on national security and defense
matters for the U.S. and Israel. Michigan
Attorney General Mike Cox hosted the
symposium, titled "Homeland Security in
a Changing World," as part of JINSAs Law
Enforcement Exchange Program.
Cox told the state police, sheriff's depu-
ties and local police and firefighters that
there's "a lot you can learn from the Israeli
police officials." He added he was surprised
to discover Israel's homicide rate is roughly
the same as in Oakland County. "What are
they doing right in terms of public safety,
given the challenges and occasional politi-
cal turmoil they have?" he asked rhetori-
cally."They
. must be doing something very,

U.S. Protests Eviction

Jerusalem/JTA — The United States pro-
tested the planned eviction of Arabs from
a Jerusalem dwelling slated for Jewish resi-
dence. U.S. diplomats in Israel also want
explanations of a flurry of recent reports
of settler harassment of Palestinians in the
West Bank, Ha'aretz reported Friday.

terrorism into their
very right."
government policy and
Major General David
ideology. Israel knows
Tsur, involved in hun-
best how to cope with the
dreds of counter-ter-
attackers; they possess
rorism battles and now
the intelligence and deal
commander of the Tel
with death every day"
Aviv District Police, drew
Pomerantz, pointing
a burst of applause from
out that terrorism in the
attendees by citing profil-
U.S. goes back to forma-
ing as an important step
tion of the Ku Klux Klan
in preventing terrorism.
after the Civil War, cited
U.S. police authorities
the Radical Christian
often are stymied in their
Identity movement as
investigations by profil-
Photo by Jeff Wiggins
current purveyors of hate
ing opponents.
against Jewish people.
"Terrorists come at us JINSA Director Steve
Pomerantz speaks at the law
He said terrorist sleeper
from the Sinai, the Gaza
enforcement seminar.
cells have existed in the
Strip, nearby countries
U.S. for many years, in
— from all over',' said
cities like St. Louis and
Tsur, "but we've intercept-
Madison, Wisc., where a man stabbed his
ed about 95 percent of them in the past.
daughter to death because she opposed his
Now, our new barbed-wire fence around
most of Israel [costing $2 billion] is helping terrorist tactics.
"Meanwhile, many Americans have
give us the upper hand."
[unwittingly] become 'cash cows' for the
Tsur pointed out "after any attack, it's
very important to return to normal as soon terrorist movement by donating funds
to phony causes under the guise that the
as possible by cleaning up the bombing
money is going to stop the 'Mideast threat:"
scene and trying to calm fears. We want
the people to have confidence in their law
enforcement officials."
Often interjecting humor into his pre-
Uneven Exchange?
sentation, Tsur mused: "In Israel, we search
Michigan law enforcement officers
people for bombs when they are coming
attending the JINSA symposium on
into a mall. In America, you search them
terrorism and security were puzzled
for stolen articles when they are leaving."
by last week's "uneven, lopsided"
Steve Pomerantz of New York, a Jewish,
exchange of prisoners between Israel
retired, 27-year FBI official who had held
and the militant Hezbollah group.
the third-highest position in the agency
They gathered around Israeli speak-
and now is a JINSA director, lamented
ers to ask why Israel swapped five
that the U.S. was "not aggressive enough
prisoners – including one who bashed
and did nothing to respond to many acts
in the head of a young girl with a
of anti-American terrorism" in the years
rifle butt – and the remains of 200
before the 9-11 attacks. He chided Iran,
Hezbollah adherents for the bodies of
Syria and Saudi Arabia as the "hotbeds"
two Israeli soldiers.
of radical Islamists, with "homegrown
"Why are they exchanging live pris-
Jihadists, and these countries incorporate

he said.
The JINSA director feels there will be
more attacks in the U.S. — "when, not if'
he adds — and the attacks, probably by Al
Qaida, will be mainly against synagogues
and Jewish centers, "any place where they
can create a spectacle. They attacked the
World Trade Center buildings because they
knew they were filled with Jewish business-
people
With many synagogues, assisted-living
residences and the Jewish Community
Center within the township of West
Bloomfield, Lt. Mike Turner of the West
Bloomfield Police said he was happy to
attend the conference because speakers
like Pomerantz were relaying "important
and valuable information" about terrorism
prevention.
Other Israeli speakers were Gideon
Avrami, CEO of the Jerusalem Mall;
Commander Yaakov Preger, a bomb
disposal expert; Yoram Hessel, retired
chief of Mossad Global Operations; and
Commander Shmuel Zoltak of the Israel
National Police, a psychologist who dis-
cussed the mindset of the suicide bomber.

ment showing that it belonged to a Jewish
society; the al-Kurd family had lived in the
dwelling since the early 1950s, after it had
fled western Jerusalem.
The protest by the Israel-based U.S.
diplomats comes as Israeli officials visit-
ing Washington find themselves pressed
by Bush administration officials on Israel's
perceived reluctance to ease conditions for
the Palestinians in the West Bank.

U.S. officials are particularly concerned
with Israeli raids on Palestinian financial
institutions, businesses and charities
alleged to have ties to Hamas terrorists.
The complaints also come as Israel's
Defense Ministry confirmed July 24 that it
would allow the building of 22 homes in
Maskiot, a barely populated settlement in
the Jordan Valley, on the West Bank.

The al-Kurd family is awaiting an Israeli
High Court ruling on an eviction that was
to have taken place on July 15; a settler's
group sought the ouster of the family from
their home in Sheik Jarrah, an eastern
Jerusalem neighborhood abutting the Old
City. A group that promotes Jewish popu-
lation of Arab neighborhoods of eastern
Jerusalem had obtained the deed for the
property based on an Ottoman-era docu-

oners for bodies, and shouldn't the
exchange always be just one for one?"
asked a western Michigan police offi-
cer.
"I'm personally against an unfair
exchange," answered Major General
David Tsur, Tel Aviv's police com-
mander, "but our Israeli government
feels we must get bodies of our
soldiers back for a proper Jewish
burial according to our religion. When
negotiations began, we had no way of
knowing whether our two men were
alive or dead – until they delivered a
pair of coffins to us."

- Bill Carroll

July 31 . 2008

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