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Last Updated: Sep 27th, 2006 - 09:47:12 |
The emergency first-response team of the much-maligned Shomron community of Tapuach has received an award for excellence from the IDF Shomron Regional Command.
This marks the first time that a civilian security organization has received such recognition.
In a ceremony at the Shomron Command headquarters on Thursday, the members of the team received certificates and modest gifts for the Rosh HaShanah holiday.
Arutz-7 asked group commander Moshe Herzlich to provide some background and recount some of its achievements. "I'm not familiar with all the other groups of this nature," he said, "but I can say that we are among the most serious volunteer security cells. We train for a full day each month with top-level instructors, we use state-of-the-art equipment, and in many ways we are on the level of elite IDF units."
The 14-member group does not respond only to reported terror incidents in Tapuach, but to all the communities in the area. "For instance, we were on the scene when the two high-school girls were nearly kidnapped several weeks ago; many of us are volunteers in Magen David Adom, and we helped out both medically and even in the investigation itself... Just two weeks ago, there was an incident of a firebomb being thrown at the community of Rechelim, and we were all there."
One prominent "member" of the group is a specially-trained security dog, handled by one of the emergency team staffers. The dog was trained and supplied by the Tapuach-based Gedud Haivri (Jewish Legion), which has aided the IDF in preventing at least four terrorist attacks.
Tapuach has a reputation for extremism, as Herzlich himself acknowledges - it is often mocked by mainstream media as the prototype of right-wing militancy - but it does not affect the emergency team's activities. "It could be that there are differences between us and the army as to how to deal with terrorists in certain situations," he said. "We believe one way, the army operates differently. But this does not influence our daily operations. We work together in a professional manner, because after all, the goal is to protect the Jews here. The army works very well to this end, and we cooperate well together."
Located on the east-west highway leading from the Jordan Valley to Ariel in central Shomron, Tapuach has grown significantly over the past three years, and now has more than 140 families. "There are no longer any empty houses here," said Herzlich, who serves as an emergency team trainer in the reserves. "You, and everyone, are invited to come here for a visit and see for yourselves what we have here."
© Copyright 5764, 5765 by author and Tsel Harim
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