Terrorism - Lessons from Israel & Russia [Part 3]

Israel has handled some of the most audacious operations in the history like no other nation has ever handled. Some of the operations are so audacious that they are unthinkable especially for some meek country like ours. The courage, the patriotism, the retribution exhibited is something unparalleled. Though there are many operations to quote like war of attrition, operation wrath of god, operation spring of youth, the Entebbe crisis, I would like to concentrate on operation wrath of god and the Entebbe hostage crises.

               

OPERATION WRATH OF GOD:

This was the name of the operation given to the operation carried out by the Israeli government in retaliation to the Munich Massacre. In 1972, Summer Olympics was scheduled in Munich, Germany. In that event the terrorist group Black September had kidnapped Israeli players and Israeli coaches and took them as hostages (6 coaches, 5 athletes). Ultimately all the hostages were killed. Five of the eight terrorists also died. The three terrorists were captured but were released because the group Black September had hijacked a plane of Lufthansa airlines. Israel responded to this with the operation of wrath and operation spring of youth and killed almost all who were suspected responsible for the planning of the kidnapping.

A photo of the terrorist in the Munich stadium

Golda Meir

              

                At that time the prime minister of Israel was Golda Meir. She was considered very tough in her decisions. The actions taken by her after the Munich massacre testified the fact. A decision was made to assassinate all the individuals responsible for the Munich attack and the operation was named ‘operation wrath of god’. The targets included the members of the organizations Black September and PLO. It is said that the operation might have gone for nearly 20 years. The Israeli commandos penetrated many countries like Lebanon and other countries to search and kill the targets. A few mistaken murders also did happen. Israel was criticized by a few countries.

                The aim was to take revenge of course but more than that was to make the Palestine militants frightened. The team to carry out the operation consisted of 15 people and was divided into 5 groups: two killers, two guards who would shadow the killers, two agents to rent rooms, apartments, six to eight agents who would form escape routes for the first two groups, the other two agents specialized in communications.

Several hours before each assassination, each man's family received flowers with a condolence card reading: "A reminder we do not forget or forgive.”!

The first attack was in the form of air bombing on the Palestine refugee camp. The second target was the leader of Black September in France. The execution was nothing short of a Hollywood flick. A bomb had been planted underneath the desk phone. When it was confirmed that the person had picked the phone, detonate signal was sent and the bomb was detonated. The next execution was of the representative of Fatah & happened in Cyprus. The next person was gunned down in France.  These executions cautioned the rest of the terrorists and they began to live in heavily guarded houses in Lebanon. Convinced of the fact that the previous methods of assassination would not work, Israel launched ‘Operation spring of youth’ as a sub-operation of operation wrath of god.

Ali Hassan Salameh, considered to be the mastermind behind the Munich attack

                Israeli commandos launched multiple raids into Beirut. There they assassinated many high level PLO officials. Israel believed the mastermind behind the Munich massacre was Ali Hassan Salameh. In 1973, due to mistaken identity, a waiter was murdered in Norway. International pressure mounted on Israeli government to call off the operation wrath of god. The operation was suspended for five years and resumed after that. After five unsuccessful attempts, finally Salameh was assassinated by Mossad in 1979 in Beirut. Besides these, Israel indulged in psychological warfare like running obits of still living militants and sending very personal details to others.

                The assassinations caused dismay in the Arab world. Especially the operation spring of youth lead to the belief in the Arab world that Israel was capable of striking anytime, anywhere. There were criticisms about some aspects of the operations like possible wrong targets, moral issues involved etc.  This campaign is believed to have stopped the PLO terrorism outside Israel but strategically, it is not considered completely successful.

OPERATION ENTEBBE:

                One more operation which is more audacious than any other known operations carried out by any country is the ‘Operation Entebbe’ carried out by Israel in Uganda. This happened in 1976.

                On June 27, 1976 Air France flight traveling from Israel to France via Athens was hijacked by Arab-German terrorists. It had 248 passengers. The plane was taken to Libya for refueling and was then taken to Entebbe airport, Uganda. The hijack was done by four terrorists. When the plane landed in the Entebbe airport, four more terrorists joined the original four. Their demand was to release 40 terrorists in Israel and 13 more from many other countries. They had given the deadline of July 1^st. If their demands were not met, they had warned that they would kill all the passengers on board.

Idi Amin

                Uganda at that point of time was ruled by the notorious dictator Idi Amin. He supported the pro-Palestine cause and hence supported the terrorists. This is a similar situation to that of the hijack of Indian airlines to Kandahar. The Afghan government was more or less in control of the Taliban. They being radical supported anything or anybody who were pro-Islamic. Reasons did not work, only religion did. But Israel did not succumb to the pressure like India did. It did something unthinkable.       

  Many non-Israelis were released by the terrorists. When there were questioned about the kind of the situation in Entebbe, Israel was shocked to know that the Ugandan army was with the terrorists. Israeli government tried diplomatic ways to end the crises before deciding on the operation. But nothing worked out. Somehow, the Israeli government made the terrorists to extend the deadline to July 4^th so that it could get more time to plan the assault. On July 1^st IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) planners came out with the rescue operation and it got the approval from the cabinet.

The Entebbe Airport

                Many people were released and they arrived in Paris. Only 105 were held as hostages by the terrorists. Mossad build accurate picture about the airport, the hostages from the information gathered form the released hostages. A clear picture of operation took shape: five C-130 Hercules aircraft which carried 200 personnel, two Boeing for medical and communications issues, a black Mercedes limo and some land rovers deliberately used to trick Ugandan guards. The IDF pilots practiced the landing and operating on July 2^nd.

The route taken by the Israeli commandos to reach Uganda

Rescue plane taking off

                

                Because the operation was a risky one as well as a secret one, the routes in which they are about to fly had to be chosen very carefully. The distance was very long (about 4000 km) from Israel to Uganda. The planes flew over red sea, sometimes of altitude no more than 100 ft to avoid being spotted by radars (of Egypt, Sudan, Saudi Arabia). On July 3^rd close to mid-night, the Israeli troops landed at Entebbe. A black Mercedes and the land rovers were used give an impression that the vehicles were escorts for returning Amin or other high ranking official.

Black Mercedes which was used in the operation

The Israeli force entered the airport and the hall in which the hostages were held. The terrorists and the Ugandan soldiers were taken by a huge surprise by the unexpected daring and impossible logistics of the IDF. During a 35-minute battle, 20 Ugandan soldiers and all eight hijackers died along with three hostages. The only Israeli commando to be dead was Lieutenant Colonel Yonatan Netanyahu, the leader of the operation. After the operation, the army began loading the hostages and the Ugandan soldiers attacked. The IDF counter-attacked.  The entire operation lasted for about 52 minutes. All 8 hijackers, around 40 Ugandan soldiers, 4 hostages were killed. All the rescued hostages were flown to Israel via Kenya.

Hostages returning after the operation

Yonatan Netanyahu's funeral

The prime minister of Israel commented: "This operation will certainly be inscribed in the annals of military history, in legend and in national tradition." He was absolutely right.  The government of Uganda urged the UN council to seek official condemnation of Israeli raid, which violated the sovereignty of Uganda. The council declined. Addressing the UN council, Israeli ambassador said “We come with a simple message to the Council: we are proud of what we have done because we have demonstrated to the world that a small country, in Israel's circumstances, with which the members of this Council are by now all too familiar, the dignity of man, human life and human freedom constitute the highest values. We are proud not only because we have saved the lives of over a hundred innocent people—men, women and children—but because of the significance of our act for the cause of human freedom”. Well, he was right.  It is high time that India takes up these ideas and start acting sternly against all the people who are posing threats to its security by innumerable means.

Terrorism - Lessons from Israel & Russia [Part 2]

Israel can be a great example in handling terror not only for India but for the entire world. Just ponder over this. Israel is the only country in the entire world which has Jews as the majority. It is surrounded by Islamic nations some of them which have considered Israel as their arch enemy. India, with one hostile nation is suffering so much. Think of Israel which has four hostile nations as its neighbors! Though the process of creating the nation of Israel in 1948 can’t be completely justified, still once a sovereign nation is created it is the duty of the sovereign nation to protect its sovereignty at any cost.

                The main organizations which are against Israel are Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad & Hezbollah. These groups are convinced that they can’t defeat the Israeli army (Israeli Defense Force) on the battle field; therefore they target the Israeli citizens to give a deathblow to the national will. We face a very similar situation here in India. Some of our neighboring nations are convinced that they can’t win the war against our army in the battlefield. So, they target the civilians to plummet the will of the nation. Because Israel and India both face threats from Islamic terrorists who are prepared to sacrifice their lives, many of the lessons learned by Israeli counter terrorism experts over the last five decades are very relevant to India.

Hamas

Hezbollah

Shinbet

 The role of intelligence can’t be emphasized enough in the war against terrorism because an effective intelligence can easily avert many possible terrorist attacks. Israel has rightly prioritized intelligence over defense and protection. It has two intelligence agencies like that of U.S: one is for domestic intelligence (Shin Bet) and the other for foreign intelligence (Mossad). They prepare closely to prepare the threat assessment and submit the report to the prime minister every year. Israel uses both humans and technology to gather intelligence but lays more emphasis on the former.

                Israeli counter terrorism operations are designed to dislocate the infrastructure of the terrorists. This includes various other operations like attacking bomb factories, gathering intelligence, arresting key terrorist leaders. Several organizations have specialized in these operations (Sayeret Matkal). Israel tries to prevent the suicide operations by disrupting the Palestine terrorists at organizational, training stages before they become martyrs.

Sayeret Matkal

Mossad

                Israel’s expertise in aviation security is top-class which is even much ahead of the U.S. El Al’s (Israeli national airline) passenger screening is unique which relies on psychological profiling techniques backed with hi-tech equipments. The profiling process relies on access to intelligence and careful observation of passengers. This method has been very successful .The last hijacking of El Al happened in 1968 and none have happened since then despite extreme threats is a testimony to the fact. Plastic explosives can now be disguised in almost every form, including shoe soles, toys, cell phones, and clothing. So, Israeli methods stand effective despite these things.

Of course, military action alone can’t be a panacea for the epidemic of terrorism. Terrorism has many times deep roots. The problem may be political, religious or social. They have to be addressed. War against terror and treating the root causes for it should go in tandem. It is not a short term fix. As an expert in international policy of counter-terrorism observed “The fight against terrorism resembles a marathon race and not a sprint.”

In the next part of this, I will write about a few audacious operations that Israel carried out which might be unthinkable for many countries.

Terrorism - Lessons from Israel & Russia

What do Israel and Russia have to offer for us, the Indians? Indeed many things especially when it comes to dealing with terrorism. They have demonstrated to the entire world what they are capable of. We, the Indians have got to learn a lot from these two nations in dealing with terror and be able to project & protect a strong image of our nation for the terrorists and the rest of the people of the world. Not the present day image which is quite a squashy one. No wonder the terrorists are making us the soft targets.

                Both the countries have been the targets of most horrible terrorist acts from many notorious terrorist organizations. But the way in which they have handled the situations and the way in which they have avenged back make us adulate them. Adulation alone won’t serve any purpose unless lessons are learnt. It is a sad fact that even though Russia and Israel are the largest suppliers of arms to India, India has failed to tackle terrorism like these countries do. My wish is just that India instead of being just politically correct it better take all the measures necessary to guard & uphold its sovereignty.

                Here, I just want to discuss some of the bold measures that are taken by the two countries, their attitude towards terrorism with some examples

Russia

Though the Russian terrorist problem is not as diverse and as complicated as us, it is still a big threat to them.  Initially, the response of Russia was blamed and also the counter-terrorism strategy was much criticized. Because of changed & newly adopted counter-terrorism policy, Russia was able to shed its previous image and come back strongly. The main threat that Russians face is from Islamic militants in Chechnya and the broader North Caucasus region.

                They have shown their conviction to halt terrorism by taking severe measures. In 1998, they came up with federal law to combat terrorism. The law defined terrorist activities omitting political motivations for it. As we know, Russia’s intelligence agency (Federal Security Service, the successor of the world-famous KGB) is one of the world’s best. That, along with Ministry of interior is responsible for combating terror.

Russia, being a communist country has got much more freedom in acting fully against anything that is deterrent to the interests of the nation. Of course there have been cases of human rights violation. But they are not in a pitiable state our nation where there are many human rights activists who fight for the fair treatment of terrorists. This kind of phony people (in our country there is no dearth for these kinds) are more dangerous than terrorists. There are multiple factors which make us look weak. Whereas Russia guarantees its citizens “For the Russian, a strong state is not an anomaly, not something with which he has to struggle, but, on the contrary, a source and a guarantee of order, as well as the initiator and main moving force of any change”. This kind of a stance from the government is what any citizen can rejoice and the citizens would feel secure in living in such a country.

Zero- Tolerance policy for the terrorists, hostages: Russia has a hard policy when it comes to dealing with any kinds of terrorist activities. During Beslan crisis in 2005 where terrorists stormed a small school taking more than 1200 people as hostages, Vladimir Putin, the then president of Russia announced to the press “Russia does not tolerate terrorism. We deal with terrorists swiftly and completely. This is a warning to terrorists, hostages, rescue workers, bystanders...all those involved in terrorist activities: You will be shown no mercy.” Have we seen any such strong statement from our politicians ever? Even if we hear, have we seen those words translating into actions? The answer would be a resounding NO. In Moscow theater crises of 2002 or in the Beslan crisis of 2005, Russia has demonstrated its strong stance against terrorism.

Moscow theater hostage crises: In the year 2002 (October 23 to be precise) a crowded theater in Moscow was seized by Chechen separatists. They held 850 people as hostages and demanded the withdrawal of Russian forces from Chechnya. The terrorists gave the government a deadline of a week to withdraw the forces failing which they would start killing the hostages after the deadline.

The plot of the theater

 The government came to know that the terrorists had grenades, mines and many other explosive devices lashed to their bodies (a few of them which were later found to be dummies). Over the next three days, a few hostages were released but neither the government nor the terrorists budged and the deadlock continued. What happened after that is truly unbelievable.

The government, instead of negotiating with the terrorists, had decided to take them head on. They pumped a mysterious (poisonous) gas into the theater. After the effect had taken place, the assault on the building began. The encounter between the terrorists and the military lasted for a few hours. The theater was eventually freed but with a cost. The report said that there were 162 deaths (33 rebels, 129 hostages). The striking point here is that the government never tried to negotiate with the terrorists at all. It is their policy which is very clear.

 Just contrast this incidence with Kandahar hijack crisis that we faced in 1999. We negotiated with the terrorists and budged to their demands and released the notorious terrorists. All those released terrorists are coming back strongly on India with one attack after another. Did we err? We can’t say if we assume the hostages to be our close ones.
I am fond of saying this – Every country (i.e. people of the country), especially in a democracy gets a government that it deserves!

Next, I will write about Israel which is even more fascinating.