US embassy cable - 04TELAVIV6489

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 006489 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/06/2009 
TAGS: PREL, ASEC, KPAL, KWBG, IS, ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS, GOI EXTERNAL, COUNTERTERRORISM 
SUBJECT: ISRAELI SECURITY SERVICES TELL CODEL TALENT THAT 
INTERAGENCY CONNECTIVITY IS KEY IN THE FIGHT AGAINST TERROR 
 
Classified By: Pol/C Norm Olsen for reasons 1.4(b) and (d). 
 
1.  (C) Summary: Israeli Police BG David Lutsky and the Head 
of Shin Bet's Protection and Security Division, Doron 
Bergerbest, told CODEL Talent December 5-6 that cooperation 
and real-time information sharing is the key to Israeli 
success in thwarting suicide attacks.  Once intelligence on 
an actual suicide attack is developed by Shin Bet, that 
information is passed immediately to the police, who have 
overall control of the coordinated efforts to apprehend the 
bomber and the authority to requisition and direct resources 
and manpower as necessary.  Both officials said that the 
separation barrier plays a vital role, in conjunction with 
sound intelligence work and enhanced inter-service 
cooperation in defeating suicide bombers.  Bergerbest said 
that Iran, through its proxy Hizballah and down through 
Palestinian militant factions, is a chief orchestrator of 
terror attacks against Israel, operating what he claimed are 
38 cells in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that have carried 
out between them 66 attacks.  He claimed that, in recent 
months, Shin Bet has detected a notable increase in weapons 
smuggled into the West Bank from Egypt via Sinai (Note: and 
thus through Israel.  End Note) and Hebron, including as many 
as five anti-aircraft missiles.  End Summary. 
 
2.  (SBU) Senator James Talent, accompanied by Military 
Legislative Assistant Lindsey Neas, Legislative Fellow Lore 
Aguayo, and Navy Senate Liaison Deputy Director Cpt. James 
Stein, met with Israeli Police Brigadier General David 
Lutsky, Commander of the Counter-Terrorism Training Division, 
and Doron Bergerbest, head of the Protection and Security 
Division at Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet), December 5-6 
to explore Israeli methods of interagency cooperation in the 
fight against terrorist attacks.  A/RSO and Poloff 
(notetaker) accompanied. 
 
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Police Have the Lead in an Emergency 
------------------------------------ 
 
3.  (C) BG David Lutsky, Commander of the Counter-Terrorism 
Training Division told CODEL Talent December 6 that, in the 
aftermath of the 2002 Park Hotel bombing in Netanya, the GOI 
had decided it was time to "start dealing with the swamp and 
not the mosquitoes," and began a process by which 
counter-terrorism efforts became more cooperative and hence 
more effective.  A GOI decision putting the police in charge 
of homeland security had been required to establish the 
pecking order, Lutsky said, as fist fights between emergency 
service staff jockeying for preeminence at the scene of an 
attack were not unheard of in the past.  Now, when Shin Bet 
supplies a tip-off that a terrorist is en route to a target, 
the information is fed directly to the police commander of 
the affected sector, who then mobilizes all of the resources 
he deems necessary to meet the threat, bringing in IDF 
helicopter support to track the terrorists' movements, for 
example, and alerting ambulance and fire brigades. 
 
4.  (C) Following many drills and joint training exercises, 
the various emergency and security services are now well 
practiced in coordinating their activity.  The commanders are 
personally known to each other and make efforts to keep in 
touch.  The transmission of intelligence information in "real 
time" is essential, and Lutsky praised Shin Bet efforts. 
Calling specialized counter-terrorism units very important, 
Lutsky stressed that, as important as these units are, they 
cannot substitute for overall readiness.  He cited several 
examples of local police responding immediately to shooting 
attacks and thus saving additional lives by their quick 
action. 
 
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Essential Elements 
----------------- 
 
5.  (C) In closing, Lutsky elaborated what he called 
essential elements that a commander must take into 
consideration in any emergency situation.  First is 
engendering and utilizing public cooperation.  Lutsky said 
that a large number of Israeli Arabs receive basic emergency 
response training by the police (Note: Israeli Arabs do not 
serve in the military, which is where most Jewish Israelis 
receive their primary emergency response training.  End Note) 
so that they can be ready to assist in a crisis.  Second, 
keeping up a flow of information to the public, even if it is 
only to say that the police are investigating reports, is 
essential to maintaining public confidence that the situation 
is under control, Lutsky said.  Third, Lutsky stressed that 
police in the United States needed to realize that a response 
to, for example, a shooting attack should not fundamentally 
different regardless of whether that attack was criminally or 
terror motivated.  Fourth, taking care of the responders 
themselves, both their mental health in the aftermath of the 
horrific events to which they must respond without flinching, 
as well as backing them up in the aftermath of an event, 
given that they must make split-second decisions, often based 
on incomplete information.  Lutsky claimed that his most 
significant victory has been that Israelis still ride buses 
and go to shopping malls and theaters. 
 
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Shin Bet -- No Room for "Entity Ego" 
------------------------------------ 
 
6.  (C) Doron Bergerbest, head of the Protection and Security 
Division at Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet), told CODEL 
Talent in a separate meeting December 5 that necessity had 
driven the GOI to develop the integrated terror prevention 
and response procedures currently in place.  After an overall 
decline in suicide bombings in the 1990's -- down to zero 
attacks in 1999 -- the number of suicide attacks carried out 
inside Israel again began to climb with the outbreak of the 
al-Aqsa Intifada in 2001, spiking at 60 terrorist attacks in 
2002.  In calendar 2004 to date, Bergerbest said, that there 
have been 15 terrorist attacks in Israel. 
 
7.  (C) Bergerbest said that Israel had not been ready for 
the second Intifada, a sentiment shared independently by 
other interlocutors (Police BG Lutsky said that Israel had 
been "caught with its pants down"), as most Israelis then 
believed that the trend was towards peace.  Since the current 
cycle of violence began, 70 percent of those killed and 81 
percent of those injured have been civilians, Bergerbest 
said.  The change in Israeli tactics came in 2002, when the 
GOI launched Operation Defensive Shield in the wake of the 
suicide attack at the Park Hotel in Netanya that killed 31 
Israelis.  This operation, Bergerbest said, bought Israel 
some time to reorganize its inter-service response to the 
vastly increased threat of terrorist attacks inside Israel. 
In response to Senator Talent's question, Bergerbest 
concurred "absolutely" that the separation barrier dividing 
the West Bank from Israel is playing a key role in defeating 
suicide bombers.  The relative inexperience of the current 
crop of militant leaders -- third or even fourth tier, 
following the deaths or arrests of more senior commanders -- 
is also important, he said. 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
Despite Progress, the Threat Remains Very Real 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
8.  (C) Bergerbest claimed that in recent months there had a 
been a notable increase in weapons smuggled into the West 
Bank from Egypt via Sinai and Hebron (Note: This routing 
means that the items must also pass through Israel.  End 
Note).  Of the information about which Shin Bet was certain 
(either through what he said were confirmed intelligence 
reports or confiscated shipments), Bergerbest said that some 
2,000 kilos of explosives, 1,021 anti-tank missiles, 7,833 
Kalashnikovs, 477, pistols, 33 mortars, and five 
anti-aircraft missiles were known to have been en route at 
one time or another to Palestinian militants in the West Bank 
and Gaza (Note: Bergerbest did not explain how such volumes 
of weapons and munitions could transit Israeli-controlled 
borders and Israel proper, or how security personnel could be 
so certain of shipment details while not intercepting the 
shipments.  End Note).  In particular, he said, if the 
anti-aircraft missiles ever reached the West Bank, civil 
aviation would be seriously jeopardized.  Bergerbest said 
that Iran, through its proxy Hizballah, is a chief 
orchestrator of terror attacks against Israel, operating what 
he said are 38 cells in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that 
have carried out between them 66 attacks, killing 27 Israelis 
and wounding another 54. 
 
9.  (U) CODEL Talent cleared this cable. 
 
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