How will Israel deal with the next flotilla, IDF use of attack dogs

Security and Defense: This time, the Navy has been preparing rigorously for the operation.

The Jerusalem Post- ...The teams will be supported by snipers – whose job will be to neutralize violent protesters before the commandos board the ships – with dogs from Oketz, the IDF’s canine unit, and operators from Yahalom, the elite unit from the Engineering Corps.

Beyond these personnel changes, the two major changes will be the way the commandos board the ships.

Last year, as seen in the video footage released after the operation – unfortunately too late – the navy commandos are seen fast-roping down from helicopters one by one. The objective this time will be to get as many commandos on the decks of the ships at once with more non-lethal capabilities than before in order to get control of the situation as quickly and with as few casualties as possible.

IN THE meantime, insiders argue, Israel should be doing more to undermine the legitimacy of the flotilla. Media briefings should become a daily routine for the IDF and the Foreign Ministry – not only showing reporters the military preparations, but also explaining the legal legitimacy of the blockade now, as opposed to waiting to explain the day after, when Israel may be on the defensive.

Comments from senior officials, for example, questioning why IHH even needs to send a flotilla to Gaza when the infant mortality rate in Turkey is higher – 23.94 deaths per 1,000 live births – than it is in Gaza – 17.12 deaths per 1,000 live births (stats can be found in the CIA’s official World Factbook) – should be all over the papers. Read more


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IDF confirms sets dogs on illegal Palestinian laborers

Several laborers have been injured by dog attacks; when laborers tried to file complaints with police, they were arrested on suspicion of tearing the fence.

Gideon Levy - Haaretz- Hundreds of Palestinian day-laborers who enter Israel without a permit have been facing a new threat recently - IDF soldiers at the separation fence are siccing dogs on them.

Since the beginning of last month, soldiers with dogs have been lying in ambush near a breach in the fence, between the Bedouin refugee village Ramadin and Kibbutz Shoval in the Negev.

Every night hundreds of West Bank Palestinians gather at this point to seek work the next day in the nearby Jewish and Bedouin communities.

Several laborers have been injured by dog attacks and some have been hospitalized for treatment. When the laborers tried to file complaints with the Kiryat Arba police, they were arrested on suspicion of tearing the fence and indictments have been filed against them. Read more