Israel Border Police

Israel Border Police מִשְׁמַר הַגְּבוּל Mišmar Ha-Gvul
Emblem of Magav
Flag of Israel Border Police
Common name	Magav
Agency overview
Formed	1953
Preceding agency	Frontier Corps
Employees	≈8,000 soldiers and officers
Jurisdictional structure
National agency	Israel
Operations jurisdiction	Israel
Governing body	Israel Police
General nature	Gendarmerie Local civilian police
Specialist jurisdiction	National border patrol, security, and integrity.
Website
www.police.gov.il

The Israel Border Police (Hebrew: מִשְׁמַר הַגְּבוּל, romanized: Mišmar Ha-Gvul) is the gendarmerie and border security branch of the Israel National Police. It is also commonly known by its Hebrew abbreviation Magav (מג"ב‎), meaning border guard; its members are colloquially known as magavnikim (מג"בניקים‎; singular magavnik). "Border Guard" is often used as the official name of the Israel Border Police in English. While its main task is securing Israel's borders, it has also been deployed to assist the Israel Defense Forces, and for counter-terrorism and law enforcement operations in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and in Jerusalem.

The Israeli Border Police is known to include many soldiers from minority backgrounds, being a particularly popular choice for Druze recruits, and also including many soldiers from Circassian, Arab Christian, and Bedouin backgrounds.

History

Magavniks in Jerusalem

The Border Police was founded in 1949 as the Frontier Corps (חיל הספר‎, Heil HaSfar), a gendarmerie under the IDF with the task of providing security in rural areas and along the borders. Over the following years, it was gradually transferred to the command of the Police and became the Border Police. During these years, it secured new settlements and countered infiltration of Palestinian fedayeen, especially from Egypt and Jordan.

During the 1956 Suez War, the Border Police was involved in the Kafr Qasim massacre. On the second day of the war, a curfew was imposed on the Israeli Arab village. Villagers who had worked in the village fields and were apparently unaware of the curfew were shot as they returned to the village, resulting in 49 dead. This event was strongly protested by the Israeli public and resulted in a landmark Supreme Court ruling on the obligation of soldiers to disobey manifestly illegal orders.

During the 1967 Six-Day War, the Border Police fought alongside the IDF. After the war, it was deployed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and charged with maintaining law and order as part of the military administration of Israeli-occupied territories. Since then, a significant portion of the Border Police's activity has been in these territories, especially during the years of the First Intifada and the Second (al-Aqsa) Intifada.

In 1974, the counter-terror unit Yamam was established.

Magavnikim with an Israel Border Police Sufa jeep in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City.

In the 2000 October Riots, the Border Police was used as the main branch of the treatment in the events. During the Second Intifada, the Border Police took a large part in the security activity.

In 2005, the Border Police participated in the implementation of the Israeli disengagement from Gaza.

The Border Police's heaviest area of operation is Jerusalem. Virtually all "soldiers" seen patrolling Jerusalem's streets are Border Guard Police officers. Approximately 20% of all Border Guard personnel in the country are in Jerusalem. Jerusalem MAGAV also provides security and conducts military operations, raids, and arrests on Palestinians in cities like Jenin, Nablus, Jericho, Qalqilya, Tulkarm, Ramallah, and Hebron.

The number of Border Guards is believed to be about 6,000 soldiers and officers.

Structure

Magavnik in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City.

The Border Police is composed of professional officers on payroll and field policemen redirected from the IDF (at age 18, Israelis can choose to serve in the Border Police instead of the IDF). All border policemen are trained in combat, counter-terrorism, riot control, and police work. Outstanding officers can train as specialists, such as snipers, buggy-drivers, dog operators, or bomb squad members.

Because of their combat training, border police are employed in areas with greater risk of riots, violence and terror. They serve mainly in the countryside, in Arab villages and towns (along with the regular police), near the borders and in the West Bank.

Settlements security

The Border Police is also responsible for security of rural settlements inside Israel with its Rural Police (Hebrew: שיטור כפרי, shitur kafri) units and Community Security Coordinators (Hebrew: רב"ש, rabash). Rural policemen are full-time professional officers and security coordinators are a mixture of full-time and volunteer officers.

Special Operations Units

The Border Police has four Special forces units:

Yamam

Main article: Yamam

YAMAM operators

The Yamam (Hebrew: ימ"מ, an acronym for Centralized Special Unit יחידה מרכזית מיוחדת‎, Yeḥida Merkazit Meyuḥedet), also called in Hebrew היחידה המיוחדת ללוחמה בטרור‎ and Israel's National Counter Terror Unit (I.N.C.T.U.) in English, is Israel's national counter-terrorism unit. The Yamam is capable of both hostage-rescue operations and offensive takeover raids against terrorist targets in civilian areas. Besides military and counter-terrorism duties, it also performs SWAT duties and undercover police work. The unit operates snipers, police dog (K9) handlers, rappelling teams, EOD experts, paramedics, and undercover operators.

YAMAM was formed in 1974 as a response to a wave of Palestinian terrorism. The unit has since carried out thousands of operations, killed hundreds of terrorists, and foiled countless terror attacks. It was awarded five citations of recommendation (Hebrew: צל"ש) from the Police Commissioner and one from the IDF Chief of general staff (Hebrew: צל"ש הרמטכ"ל).

Yamas

Main article: Yamas (Israel Border Police unit)

YAMAS in training

The Yamas is the undercover counter-terror unit.

The Yamas is often expected to carry out complex missions with little or no preparation, often involving daylight raids in volatile areas. It does not follow regular military or police command structure and answers directly to the Shabak. The IDF long denied its existence.

Others

• Samag (Tactical Counter-Crime and Counter-Terror Rapid Deployment Unit)
• Matilan (Intelligence Gathering and Infiltrations Interception Unit)

Volunteer Border Guard

The Border Guard also deploys many volunteers. These members serve in regular Border Guard units. The Border Guard relies on volunteer soldiers to reinforce its manpower and help maintain Israel's security needs. The volunteer Border Guard are given special attention in sensitive places like Jerusalem where security threats are highest and sometimes double or even triple the manpower of full-time security forces in a given area.

Many of these special Border Guard volunteers are Jewish immigrants who immigrated to Israel from places like the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Italy, France, Germany, South Africa, South America, and the former Soviet Union.

Volunteer Border Guard members leave behind jobs and families on a regular basis to serve in this combat unit. Some come from cities like Beit Shemesh, Ofrah, Ashkelon, Ra'anana and Haifa. They are not paid for serving in the Border Guard and serve in their spare time.

Commanders

Below is a list of current and former Border Police commanders.

• Pinchas Kopel (1953-1964) He later served as the third police commissioner.
• Shimon Eshed (1964-1972) Later he served as commander of the Northern District.
• Chaim Levi (1972-1976) Later he served as the Prison Service Commissioner.
• Zvi Bar (1976-1983) Later he served as the head of the Police Operations Branch and served as mayor of Ramat Gan.
• Pinchas Shahar (1983-1989) With a masterpiece.
• Meshulam Amit (1989-1993) He served briefly as deputy mayor of Jerusalem and was a candidate for the Knesset on behalf of the Moledet party.
• Yitzhak Aharonovitch (1993-1995) Later on, Cohen served as commander of the SJ District, commander of the Southern District and the commissioner of police. He also served as Minister of Public Security on behalf of the Yisrael Beiteinu party.
• Israel Sadan (1998-1995) Later he served as mayor of Hadera.
• Yitzhak Dadon (1998-2001) The service decoration.
• Yaakov Ganot (2001-2002) Later he served as the Commissioner of Prisons. He currently serves as CEO of the Airports Authority.
• David Tzur (2002-2004) Later he served as commander of the Tel Aviv District. He also served as a member of the Knesset on behalf of the Movement Party.
• Hossein Fares (2004-2007) The first Druze head of the Israel Police.
• Israel Isaac (2007-2011) Later he served as the Israel Police commissioner.
• Yoram Halevy (2011 - 2012) Later he served as commander of the Southern District, currently serving as commander of the Jerusalem District.
• Amos Jacob (2012-2016) Currently serves as the commander of the Hof District.
• Yaakov Shabtai (current from February 2016)

Ranks

Border Police ranks are the same as those of the Israel Police and are similarly sworn in: the ranks of police officers and junior officers on the shirt collar, ranks of officers and senior officers on the cover. But in field uniforms, Border Police officers wear rank insignia on a green background worn on epaulets on top of both shoulders or on green epaulets. Border Police branch insignia is worn on the cap or beret. Enlisted grades wear rank insignia on the sleeve, halfway between the shoulder and the elbow. The Border Police British Army style insignia are white with blue interwoven threads backed with the appropriate corps color.

Officers

Rank group	General / flag officers										Senior officers						Junior officers
Israel Border Police
							ניצב Nitzav		תת ניצב Tat nitzav		ניצב משנה Nitzav mishneh		סגן ניצב Sgan nitzav		רב פקד Rav pakad		פקד Pakad		מפקח Mefake'ah			מפקח משנה Mefake'ah mishneh			צוער Tzoar
English							Deputy commissioner		Assistant commissioner		Commander		Chief superintendent		Superintendent		Chief inspector		Inspector			Sub-inspector			Officer cadet

Others

Rank group	Senior NCOs																						Junior NCOs						Enlisted
Israel Border Police
	רב נגד Rav nagad			רב סמל בכיר Rav samal bakhir			רב סמל מתקדם Rav samal mitkadem	רב סמל ראשון Rav samal rishon	רב סמל Rav samal		סמל ראשון Samal rishon						סמל שני Samal sheni						רב שוטר Rav shoter						שוטר Shoter
English	Station sergeant major			Sergeant major			First sergeant	Master sergeant	Sergeant first class		Staff sergeant						Sergeant						Corporal						Constable

Uniforms

The Border has several types of uniforms:

• Service dress (מדי אלף Madei Alef – Uniform "A") – the everyday uniform which is a grey variant of the khaki Navy and Air Corps uniform. A green lanyard is worn on the left shoulder with the Class A uniform
• Field dress ( מדי ב Madei Bet – Uniform "B") – worn into combat, training, work on base.

The first two resemble each other but the Madei Alef is made of higher quality materials in grey while the madei bet is in grey drab.

• Officers / Ceremonial dress (מדי שרד madei srad) – worn by officers, or during special events/ceremonies. Consists of a light yellow shirt and brown-gray trousers.

The service uniform for all Border Police personnel is grey. The uniforms consist of a two-pocket shirt, plain or combat trousers, sweater, jacket or blouse, and shoes or boots. The grey fatigues are the same for winter and summer and heavy winter gear is issued as needed. Women's dress parallels the men's but may substitute a skirt for the trousers.

Headgear included a service cap for dress and semi-dress and a field cap or bush hat worn with fatigues. Border Police personnel generally wear green berets in lieu of the service cap.

Some units have small variations in their uniforms such as certain Security and Tactical units in Jerusalem who wear the standard IDF olive fatigues.

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  A Border Policeman in a tear gas mask.
• 
  A Border Policeman in the Old City of Jerusalem.
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  Israeli Police Honor Guard, Israel's Memorial Day 2015. The Border Police wear the madei srad.
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  Israel Border policemen wearing IDF Madei Bet in Nabi Salih, May 2011.
• 
  Border Guard in grey IDF style fatigues

Weapons and equipment

An Israeli Border Guard with a Federal M201-Z riot gas gun

The primary Border Police weapons are the CAR-15 and M-16 rifles, some of which are attached to the M-203 grenade launcher. The Border Police also use standard IDF equipment such as vests and helmets. Special units of Border Police use Glock 17, Glock 19, Jericho, or FN HP pistols. Some units, such as the Jerusalem Patrol Unit, carry the Beretta M9-22LR .22LR pistol. Special units use a variety of other weapons, Ruger S22s, sniper rifles, submachine guns, and shotguns.

The Border Police extensively use riot dispersal means such as batons and shields, tear gas canisters, stun grenades, rubber bullets, and water cannons.

Transportation

The Border Police use Sufa, Carkal, Dawid wheeled armored personnel carriers and a variety of patrol cars and vehicles. Several units use motorcycles and ATVs.

Memorial

The Border Police Memorial and Heritage Center is in the western Carmel mountains near Zomet Iron at road 65.

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  Israeli Border Police Memorial and Heritage Center
• 
  Israel Border Police monument.

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  AIL Storm
• 
  MDT Davids
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  AIL Abir Rhino APC
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  Border Police Isuzu D-Max pickup

Criticism

In 2001, the Israeli NGO B'tselem reported that violence against Palestinians in the occupied territories was widespread among Border Police units. Several cases of abuse, including the breaking of the hand of a three-year-old child, were documented over a short period of months. It added that prosecution of officers who perpetrate such acts was difficult, since Border Police, in contravention of the law, do not carry tags allowing them to be identified, and registering complaints against them was hindered by numerous bureaucratic obstacles, such as making travel permits to Israeli courts difficult to obtain.

See also

• Mishmeret Yesha
• Administration of Border Crossings, Population and Immigration

Bibliography

• Bregman, Ahron (2002). Israel's Wars: A History Since 1947. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-28716-2
• Arno Klarsfeld, Yves Derai, Israël transit: Entretiens avec Yves Derai, L' Archipel, ISBN 2-84187-465-6
• Moshe Givati, Abir 21 - The Story of Eli Avram, Commander of the Undercover Unit, Reut Publishing, 2003.
• Yosef Argaman, The Border - Cases in the History of the Border Police, Israel: The Border Police, the "Green Berets" Association and the Ministry of Defense Publication, 1996.

External links

• Border Police page at Israel Police site (Hebrew)
• Israeli Police official website