Some 2,000 Palestinians have been arrested and hundreds of bombing, shooting and car-ramming attacks have been thwarted.
By Pesach Benson, TPS
Israel will honor 300 security personnel in counter-terror units for their activities in Operation Breaking the Wave, the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s Special Forces Committee announced on Sunday.
Units to be honored are the Golani Brigade’s Reconnaissance Battalion, the Duvdevan unit of the IDF, the Border Police unit in Judea and Samaria, as well as the Border Police’s separate elite Yamam counter-terror unit.
The IDF launched Operation Wave Breaker following a series of Palestinian terror attacks in the spring that killed 19 people. The IDF doubled its presence in Judea and Samaria and has staged frequent raids on terror suspects.
The majority of the near-daily counter-terror operations have taken place in Jenin and Nablus (Shechem). Some 2,000 Palestinians have been arrested and hundreds of bombing, shooting and car-ramming attacks have been thwarted.
“We chose to award a commendation to the units that stood out in their activities in the ‘Breakwater’ operation to thwart terrorism in Judea and Samaria, prevented attacks on the home front and protected the citizens of the State of Israel,” said outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi in a statement.
“The IDF forces, alongside the security forces, operate every night And a day to thwart terrorism in Judea and Samaria, when most of these activities involve a high professional level and real danger to life. We will continue to protect and protect the citizens of the State of Israel, this is our supreme mission,” Kochavi added.
The top commander of the Border Police, Superintendent Amir Cohen responded by paying tribute to Noam Raz, a veteran Yamam commander who was killed in a shootout with Palestinian terrorists in May.
“We assign life-threatening tasks to the Yamam units and undercover Border Guards to save the lives of the country’s citizens, [and making them] safer when our long and strong arm works every day and night,” Cohen said.
“In one of the most complex missions during the year, the late Navy SEAL fighter Noam Raz fell, Noam was a partner in hundreds of complex operations deep in the terrain and is a symbol of the values of the unit and the corps.”
Raz’s killer, Farouk Salama, was himself killed on while trying to evade arrest by Israeli security forces in the Jenin refugee camp on Thursday. Salama, who was affiliated with Palestinian Islamic Jihad, was suspected of planning more terror attacks and conspiring with the Nablus-based Lion’s Den terror group.
Cohen stressed that the “Border Police, IDF and Shin Bet units will continue their significant activity in the territories of Judea and Samaria – and wherever they are needed – to reach those terrorists in their backyard, before they enter ‘our yard.’”