India & Israel -Shake off the Shackles to fight terrorism together

Yamam- an Israeli Counter Terrorist Unit.
Picture- Wikimedia

During Prime Minister Modi’s ongoing visit to Israel, both countries vowed to oppose the evil of terrorism. It is an apt time to look counter terrorism as a field of cooperation between India and Israel.

Cooperating on Training and Tactics

On 27 July 2015, three heavily armed Pakistani terrorists stormed a Police Station near Gurdaspur in Punjab. A grim stand-off ensued. Security pundits were of the view that it would be only a matter of time before the elite National Security Guard would be deployed to eliminate them. However, everybody was in for a surprise. It was not the NSG, but the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team of the Punjab Police which carried out the intervention. All the terrorists were killed without so much as a scratch on the face of a SWAT team member. It later emerged that this SWAT team was trained by Israeli experts.

The Punjab Police is not the only beneficiary of Israel’s extensive experience in counter terrorism. The Times of India reported in December 2014 that the SWAT team of the Delhi Police had received training from Israeli counter terrorism specialists. Both these SWAT teams are also trained in Krav Maga, a martial art developed by the Israeli Army.  In addition, Indian Police Service trainees have also visited Israel to learn best practices.

Similar Threats

India faces the menace of a host of Pakistan backed terrorist organizations. The threat of attacks in Jammu and Kashmir as well as in other states is always present. Israel has its own enemies, Hezbollah and Hamas. The former is backed by Iran. Improvised Explosive devices and suicide bombings are a constant threat in Israel. Though suicide bombings have not yet happened in India, growing radicalisation among certain sections of the population leaves that distressing possibility open.

On ground in Jammu and Kashmir

India today faces a situation in Jammu and Kashmir, where the number of active terrorists is far fewer than in the past two decades. However, the support for them among the local population takes the form of disrupting anti-terrorist operations.

This calls for intelligence based operations by small teams operating unobtrusively and incognito to eliminate the terrorists. Israel has effectively deployed undercover teams to track and eliminate terrorists who seek shelter with a sympathetic local population. India has important lessons to learn from Israel in this regard.

Effective Structures- The Israeli way

Merely adopting tactics from Israel will not be enough. The emphasis needs to be on emulating the systems and structures Israel has in place to deal with terror.

Israel has long been a victim of terrorist attacks. This has led to the Israeli security agencies gaining tremendous experience in combating, preventing and investigating terrorist attacks. Israel itself has followed a learning curve, which India in turn can learn from.

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A few decades ago, Israel was powerless to prevent the massacre of eleven of its olympic athletes at the Munich Olympics of 1972. A nation seethed with impotent rage as its sporting heroes were killed in cold blood by terrorists from the Black September organization. But the aftermath of this attack provided a lesson to the world in the investigation of terrorist attacks. Israel’s spy agency, Mossad, launched an operation to track down and eliminate the planners of the massacre. It did this with great success. The operation later came to be called Mivtza Za'am Ha'El or Operation Wrath of God.

The State of Israel was almost brought to its knees a second time. On 27 June 1976 terrorists hijacked an Air France air craft flying from Tel Aviv to Paris, and took it to Entebbe in Uganda. Nearly a hundred of the two hundred and forty-eight passengers were Israelis. The terrorists demanded the release of fifty-three of their jailed comrades. It looked like Israel would have to give in to the terrorists’ demands. This had political ramifications because some of the jailed terrorists were in countries other than Israel. However, the tiny state of Israel astounded the rest of the world on the 4th of July 1976. In a daring operation, Israel sent a hundred commandos to Entebbe, nearly 4000 kilometres from Israel. In a late night operation, the commandos rescued the hostages and flew back to Israel. Seven of the hijackers and scores of Ugandan troops were killed while they tried to prevent the rescue. The sole Israeli fatality of the operation was Lt. Col. Yonatan Netanyahu, whose brother, Benjamin is the Prime Minister of Israel today.

These operations are instructive to Indian counter terror planners and operatives today. The main lesson is the high degree of cooperation and flexibility shown by various Israeli agencies to execute these operations. The system worked like a well-oiled machine and is still being perfected. Not just the Army and Air Force, but also the intelligence and diplomatic services now work in close cooperation in Israel.

As the IC-814 hijack of 1999 highlighted, India’s own capability to launch operations far beyond its borders in the overhang of a terrorist situation is severely hamstrung. To make the best use of modern weaponry and aircraft, the mechanisms to employ them have to be developed, practiced and constantly reworked. The institutional structures must facilitate, rather than restrict cooperation among agencies in fighting terror.

Looking ahead - Joint military exercises

India-Israel joint counter terrorism exercises have been a sensitive issue. Almost none have happened. This can be attributed to political compulsions in India. Engagement at a military level has long been seen as taboo, as it may have been objected to by the domestic and international lobbies sympathetic to the Palestinian cause. In March 2017, The Economic times reported that the Indian Air Force was set to send aircraft to Israel to take part in a joint drill with the Israeli Air Force.

At the domestic level, the government has the political mandate to engage with Israel in furtherance of India’s national interests. The Modi government appears set to shake off the shackles of the past.

On the international front, the government appears to have realised that India’s restricting military exercises with Israel has not paid dividends. The Arab countries and even the Palestinian Authority have not seen fit to condemn Pakistan for backing terrorists in Kashmir. They have also not backed the Indian position on J&K.

It is the right time to break free of the constraints that have prevented India from deepening military to military ties with Israel. To counter terror, India can have no better friend than Israel.