The Israel Border Police () is the

gendarmerie A gendarmerie () is a paramilitary or military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to " men-at-arms" (). In France and so ...

and

border security Border control comprises measures taken by governments to monitor and regulate the movement of people, animals, and goods across land, air, and maritime borders. While border control is typically associated with international borders, it als ...

branch of the Israel National Police. It is also commonly known by its Hebrew abbreviation Magav (), meaning

border guard A border guard of a country is a national security agency that ensures border security. Some of the national border guard agencies also perform coast guard (as in Germany, Italy or Ukraine) and rescue service duties. Name and uniform In diff ...

; its members are colloquially known as ''magavnikim'' (; 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 The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

, and for

counter-terrorism Counterterrorism (alternatively spelled: counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, relates to the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, businesses, and intelligence agencies use to co ...

and

law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of the government or other social institutions who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by investigating, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms gove ...

operations in the Israeli-occupied

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

and in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. The Israeli Border Police is known to include many soldiers from minority backgrounds, being a particularly popular choice for

Druze The Druze ( ; , ' or ', , '), who Endonym and exonym, call themselves al-Muwaḥḥidūn (), are an Arabs, Arab Eastern esotericism, esoteric Religious denomination, religious group from West Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic ...

recruits, and also including many soldiers from Circassian, Arab Christian, and

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...

backgrounds.Arab-Israeli Military Forces in an Era of Asymmetric Wars, Anthony H. Cordesman, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1 January 2006, page 133

History

The Border Police was founded in 1949 as the Frontier Corps (, ''Heil HaSfar''), a

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 The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

and became the Border Police. During these years, it secured new settlements and countered infiltration of Palestinian

fedayeen Fedayeen ( ''fidāʻiyyūn'' "self-sacrificers") is an Arabic language, Arabic term used to refer to various military groups willing to sacrifice themselves for a larger campaign. Etymology "Fidayun" is the plural of "fidayi" ( ''fidāʻiyy'' ...

, especially from

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

. 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 The Arab citizens of Israel form the country's largest ethnic minority. Their community mainly consists of former Palestinian Citizenship Order 1925, Mandatory Palestine citizens (and their descendants) who continued to inhabit the territory ...

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 Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

, the Border Police fought alongside the IDF. After the war, it was deployed in the

and

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

and charged with maintaining law and order as part of the military administration of

Israeli-occupied territories Israel has occupied the Golan Heights of Syria and the Palestinian territories since the Six-Day War of 1967. It has previously occupied the Israeli occupation of the Sinai Peninsula, Sinai Peninsula of Egypt and southern Lebanon as well. Prio ...

. Since then, a significant portion of the Border Police's activity has been in these territories, especially during the years of the

First Intifada The First Intifada (), also known as the First Palestinian Intifada, was a sustained series of Nonviolent resistance, non-violent protests, acts of civil disobedience, Riot, riots, and Terrorism, terrorist attacks carried out by Palestinians ...

and the Second (al-Aqsa) Intifada. In 1974, the counter-terror unit Yamam was established. MAGAV TEL AVIV MERKAZ

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 In 2005, Israel disengaged from the Gaza Strip by dismantling all 21 Israeli settlements there. As part of this process, four Israeli settlements in the West Bank were dismantled as well. The disengagement was executed unilaterally: Israeli a ...

. 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 Jenin ( ; , ) is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, and is the capital of the Jenin Governorate. It is a hub for the surrounding towns. Jenin came under Israeli occupied territories, Israeli occupation in 1967, and was put under the administra ...

Nablus Nablus ( ; , ) is a State of Palestine, Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 156,906. Located between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a ...

Jericho Jericho ( ; , ) is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, and the capital of the Jericho Governorate. Jericho is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It had a population of 20,907 in 2017. F ...

Qalqilya Qalqilya or Qalqiliya () is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, which serves as the administrative center of the Qalqilya Governorate. The city had a population of 51,683 in 2017. Qalqilya is surrounded by the Israeli West Bank barrier, Israeli We ...

, Tulkarm,

Ramallah Ramallah ( , ; ) is a Palestinians, Palestinian city in the central West Bank, that serves as the administrative capital of the State of Palestine. It is situated on the Judaean Mountains, north of Jerusalem, at an average elevation of abov ...

, and

Hebron Hebron (; , or ; , ) is a Palestinian city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Hebron is capital of the Hebron Governorate, the largest Governorates of Palestine, governorate in the West Bank. With a population of 201,063 in ...

. In 2023, the National Guard of Israel was formed and attached to the Israel Border Police. The number of Border Guards is believed to be about 6,000 soldiers and officers.

Structure

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,

riot control Riot control is a form of public order policing used by law enforcement, military, paramilitary or security forces to social control, control, disperse, and arrest people who are involved in a riot, unlawful Demonstration (people), demonstration ...

, and police work. Outstanding officers can train as specialists, such as

sniper A sniper is a military or paramilitary marksman who engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with telescopic si ...

s, 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

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 Special forces or special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

units:

Yamam

The Yamam (, an acronym for ''Centralized Special Unit'' , ''Yeḥida Merkazit Meyuḥedet''), also called in Hebrew 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 A SWAT (''Special Weapons and Tactics'') team is a generic term for a police tactical unit within the United States, though the term has also been used by other nations. SWAT units are generally trained, equipped, and deployed to res ...

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 () from the Police Commissioner and one from the IDF Chief of general staff ().

Yamas

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 The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

, and the former

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. 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 was the third police commissioner. * Shimon Eshed (1964-1972) Later he was commander of the Northern District. * Chaim Levi (1972-1976) Later he was the Prison Service Commissioner. * Zvi Bar (1976-1983) Later he was 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 was briefly deputy mayor of Jerusalem and was a candidate for the Knesset on behalf of the Moledet party. * Yitzhak Aharonovitch (1993-1995) Later on, Cohen was commander of the SJ District, commander of the Southern District and the commissioner of police. He also was Minister of Public Security on behalf of the Yisrael Beiteinu party. * Israel Sadan (1998-1995) Later he was mayor of Hadera. * Yitzhak Dadon (1998-2001) The service decoration. * Yaakov Ganot (2001-2002) Later he was the Commissioner of Prisons. He is CEO of the Airports Authority. * David Tzur (2002-2004) Later he was commander of the Tel Aviv District. He also was 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 was the Israel Police commissioner. * Yoram Halevy (2011 - 2012) Later he was commander of the Southern District, now commander of the Jerusalem District. * Amos Jacob (2012-2016) Commander of the Hof District. * Yaakov Shabtai (current from February 2016)

Ranks

Border Police ranks are the same as those of the

Israel Police The Israel Police (; ) is the civilian police force of Israel. As with most other police forces in the world, its duties include crime fighting, traffic control, maintaining public safety, and counter-terrorism. It is under the jurisdiction o ...

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 The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

style insignia are white with blue interwoven threads backed with the appropriate corps color. ;Officers ;Officer cadets ;Others

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.Israeli Defense Forces since 1973 (p62) and by Sam Katz, Osprey Elite Series #8, Copyright 1986 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. File:Border Police of Israel.jpg, A border police officer with a

tear gas Tear gas, also known as a lachrymatory agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the Mace (spray), early commercial self-defense spray, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the ey ...

mask. File:Female Israeli border guards on patrol in Jerusalem.jpg, Border police officers on patrol in

. File:Graduate day 2022-02-23-Noam.jpg, Border policewoman wears the Madei Srad. File:Border Police Madei Bet (מדי ב).jpg, Border police officers wearing Madei Bet. File:Border Police Blue Work suit.jpg, Border police officers in blue jumpsuit.

Weapons and equipment

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 (; stylized as GLOCK) is a brand of polymer- framed, short-recoil-operated, striker-fired, locked-breech semi-automatic pistols designed and produced by Austrian manufacturer Glock Ges.m.b.H. The firearm entered Austrian military an ...

Glock 19 Glock (; stylized as GLOCK) is a brand of polymer-Receiver (firearms), framed, Recoil operation#Short recoil operation, short-recoil-operated, striker-fired, locked-breech semi-automatic pistols designed and produced by Austrian manufacturer G ...

, 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 grenade A stun grenade, also known as a flash grenade, flashbang, thunderflash, or sound bomb, is a Non-lethal weapon, non-lethal explosive device used to temporarily disorient an enemy's senses. Upon detonation, a stun grenade produces Flash blindness, ...

rubber bullet Rubber bullets (also called rubber baton rounds) are a type of baton round. Despite the name, rubber bullets typically have either a metal core with a rubber coating, or are a homogeneous admixture with rubber being a minority component. Altho ...

s, and

water cannon A water cannon is a device that shoots a high-velocity stream of water. Typically, a water cannon can deliver a large volume of water, often over dozens of meters. They are used in firefighting, large vehicle washing, riot control, and mining. ...

Transportation

The Border Police use Toyota Hilux, 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. File:Israeli_Border_Police_Memorial_and_Heritage_Center.JPG, Israeli Border Police Memorial and Heritage Center. File:Israel Border Police monument02.jpg, Israel Border Police monument. File:ג'יפ ממוגן של משטרת ישראל.jpg, Carkal in the colors of the blue Police. File:BTS_Hebron_Tour_280215_13.jpg, MDT Davids File:Armored Toyota HiLux, Plasan Sasa company.jpg, Plasan IBEX File:Magav merkaz.jpg, Toyota Hilux pickup File:Isuzu D-Max Border Police car in Israel 06.jpg, Border Police

Isuzu D-Max The Isuzu D-Max is a pickup truck manufactured since 2002 by Isuzu. A successor of the Isuzu Faster/KB, the first and second-generation model shares its platform with the Chevrolet Colorado. The third-generation model shares its platform wi ...

pickup File:Police_israel_9216.jpg, AIL Storm, no longer in use.

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. Norman G. Finkelstein
''Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History,''

University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...

2008 pp.166-167

Notes

References

Bibliography

* Bregman, Ahron (2002). ''Israel's Wars: A History Since 1947''. London: Routledge. * Arno Klarsfeld, Yves Derai, ''Israël transit: Entretiens avec Yves Derai'', L' Archipel, * 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
{{Israel topics Israeli–Palestinian conflict West Bank Military of Israel Police units of Israel