Two Israelis, dressed in the olive green uniforms similar to soldiers, peer around the side of a beige-colored building. They each hold rifles as they scan for enemies. Then they advance, enveloping the side the of the building until they reach the end of one wall and have to peer around to check their surroundings.
The two Israelis are members of Kibbutz Nir Oz’s security team known as an emergency standby squad (Kitat Konenut), the civilian volunteers who help protect Israeli communities. These readiness squads are trained to confront terrorist threats. However, on October 7, many of the communities on the Gaza border, such as Nir Oz, found themselves overrun by dozens of terrorists.
Of around 400 residents of Nir Oz present at the Kibbutz on October 7, 69 were killed either in the attack or after being taken hostage. A total of 76 people were taken hostage. Nir Oz has become a symbol of the tragedy of October 7. Today, the community is trying to recover and a key to recovery is making people feel safe and secure to return and live here.
Magen 48: Helping Israel’s emergency standby squads train and prepare
On May 4, the new security team was practicing as part of a training program run by a group called Magen 48. Ehud Dribben, co-founder of Magen 48 described how his organization is helping train security teams on the Gaza border and across Israel. He has done this for decades and Magen 48 is the result of his long background in security and war fighting.
“Magen was established to stop the next October 7,” Dribben says. “On October 7, I saw the communities that had volunteer security teams that were prepared survived. Those that didn’t were wiped out. My life mission is to train every city, every village, every town in Israel that when the next October 7 will come, they will be ready.”
Ari Briggs, also a co-founder of Magen 48, notes that “we learned on October 7 we can’t wait for help, we need to help ourselves.” He says Magen 48 is now building a national training center for volunteer security teams.
“We have trained 67 communities, 1,500 local security [personnel],” Briggs says.
The training program for communities near Gaza includes eight sessions of training in a year. Many of these communities suffered grievous losses. They were shocked by how long it took the IDF to reach many of the communities. For instance, at Nir Oz, the IDF didn’t come for more than six hours and by that time the hundreds of terrorists had left the community, dragging off dozens of hostages. The training today is designed to also help rebuild trust in the IDF and help bring people back to Nir Oz and other communities.
On May 4, the Nir Oz team was training for the second time as part of the Magen 48 program. This was the first time they were training inside the community that they might need to defend one day. This can seem jarring for some people, watching soldiers running around the community with rifles, repelling a mock attack. It can bring up traumatic memories. Most of the residents of Nir Oz have not returned. There are no children here, and no schools are functioning. As such, it will take time to rebuild the security needs of the community and show people they can feel safe here. The training on May 4 is a key part of rebuilding the community and the security needed on the border.
As the security team worked to secure a pathway near a building, they worked in pairs. One of the chief trainers of Magen 48, Hofni Danin, spoke to the security team about what they needed to improve. He asked them pointed questions about whether they had checked every corner, and kept in eyesight with their colleagues who were bounding up near them to practice securing the area. He spoke loudly and with the directness necessary to inculcate in people the understanding of the life and death and situation they were preparing for.
Source:
www.jpost.com
