Nothing New For Israel

Terrorism is not a new idea for the nation of Israel and its people.  Our group visited the Israel Intelligence Heritage and Commemoration Center (I.I.C.C.) as part of our day two schedule.  Among the many rooms, tours, and lectures we attended, I was struck by one particular room.  It was a room dedicated to showing inert weapons and explosives, as well as showing various tactics and techniques that terrorists utilize those weapons and explosives in order to cause death and destruction around the world.  Through my previous U.S. military training and real-world experience from my military deployments, I have some knowledge of the tactics and techniques that the terrorists utilize.  What I also knew beforehand, but which was re-enforced as a result of going to the I.I.C.C., is that Israel has had extensive knowledge of the ways terrorists operate for a long time.  From hiding explosives in their shoes, to gluing nuts, bolts, and nails to explosive suicide vests worn by suicide bombers, and indoctrination of kids against the nation of Israel at a young age, Israel has had to deal with terrorist attacks against their nation and people farther back and more frequently than what has occurred to the United States. 

The United States military had to somewhat catch up to how terrorists operate after the 9-11-01 attacks, and Israel had a vast knowledge of how to combat terrorism even before the attacks on the United States.  I know that Israel provided the U.S. government with information on the tactics and techniques of terrorists that has helped the U.S. government with combating terrorism.  By seeing that Israel has a wealth of knowledge from which they have collected, stored, learned from, and applied counter-terrorist tactics as best they can, I believe that the Israeli intelligence community and Israeli military are staying on the cutting edge of counter-terrorism in order to keep their citizens as safe as possible, while allowing the people of Israel to live their lives as peacefully as possible.

T.P.