Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Tuesday with the soldiers of the IDF’s acclaimed Duvdevan undercover unit to give them some much needed moral support in the face of rising challenges.
Netanyahu was joined by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in holding an assessment of the activity of IDF Central Command units and of the intelligence picture in the sector.
The prime minister and defense minister both underscored the main challenges facing the Command in general and the unit in particular, and the constantly changing conditions Central Command is called upon to deal with in facing them.
But along with the positive reinforcement, Netanyahu also warned the fighters about the “explosive” security situation in Judea and Samaria and discussed the complex intelligence picture framed therein.
Duvdevan commander Lt.Col. D also briefed the prime minister and defense minister in a review of the unit’s operation activity.
Netanyahu and Gallant were joined by the IDF Chief-of-Staff, the head of Central Command and the unit commander at the meeting.
Duvdevan Fighters ‘Take Considerable Risks’
“This is not my first visit here to the unit,” Netanyahu commented. “From visit to visit, I see the advancement, the resourcefulness and the creativity, and I see the results. One cannot argue with results.”
He noted that the members of the unit, who pose as local Arabs in the Palestinian Authority, “take considerable risks upon yourselves,’ but added that the results have been “very good.”
Those results were seen most recently in a number of counter-terrorist operations the unit succeeded in carrying out, and “the number of losses that you succeeded in preventing, among Israeli civilians as well as among yourselves,” he noted. “I would only like to commend you and hope that this continues.”
‘There Are Forces That Want to Strangle Us’
Netanyahu told the fighters that Israel is in a confrontation in a region in which there is a continual struggle between “those who want to move forward with us and radical Islamist forces that want to take us back to medieval times. It is a major struggle,” he said.
“Externally, it is – of course – run by Iran, which is our greatest enemy, and we are confronting it. Locally, there are forces that also want to strangle us in various places.
“Relatively, we are succeeding at the moment in holding them and in deterring them, whether in Gaza or in Lebanon, Netanyahu said.
He added that Israel “would be pleased” if the Palestinian Authority would do its share but noted that “we see it is not. In most cases, it is not confronting those who need to be confronted. It is unclear how long this will continue but we certainly cannot rely on it.”
‘Continue Sharpening the Spear Point’
The bottom line, he said, is that in any future scenario “there is no alternative to our security control on the ground.
“When we talk about security control on the ground, we mean going into the area. When we talk about going into the area, we mean a range of operations — however, first of all, this capability is yours. You are the vanguard of the security capability of the State of Israel in Judea and Samaria, and not only there,” he said.
The prime minister commended the fighters and urged them to “continue sharpening the spear point. Watch over the country and watch yourselves, each other.”
