Nov 13, 2013

A team from the Israeli Home Front Command’s Rescue Unit left for the Philippines less than 24 hours after the scope of the disaster there became known. Typhoon Haiyan, which struck the city of Tacloban, has been described as one of the most powerful storms that has occurred on Earth. It caused the deaths of thousands and left hundreds of thousands without a roof over their heads. Over the next few days, a large contingent from the Home Front Command will set out for the Philippines to help the survivors and to try to rescue people still buried beneath the ruins. Even stronger, better-established countries have a hard time dealing with disasters of this scope. Tragedies like this require foreign aid, and the help of international rescue units that have accumulated years of experience dealing with emergencies.

The IDF’s Home Front Command Rescue Unit was formed thirty years ago after two major attacks by Hezbollah against IDF staff units in Tyre, during the First Lebanon War [1982-1983]. Car bombs detonated with hundreds of kilograms of explosives, causing the collapse of Israel’s military government headquarters and a building used by the Border Police. Some 135 soldiers and civilians were killed, with most of the victims buried beneath the rubble. But at the time, Israeli rescue teams lacked the tools to extricate the many injured from the ruins. The first and second “Tyre disasters,” as the two attacks in Lebanon came to be known, and the attack against US forces in Beirut, which killed more than 200 Marines in October 1983, led to Israel’s decision to create a highly skilled unit that would train professionals to operate in disaster areas.

This new unit consisted of soldiers and volunteers, who are called in during emergencies. The latter included professionals whose services would be required, such as doctors, engineers, medics, crane operators, etc. Since then, the unit has acquired more than just considerable operational experience. It also has won international accolades. It went from being a unit designated to assist the victims of war and terrorism into a goodwill ambassador in those areas around the world struck by natural disasters and other calamities. Since it was founded, the unit has aided the victims of the earthquake in Turkey (1999), the earthquake in Haiti (2010), the Fukushima disaster in Japan (2011), the tsunami in Thailand (2012) and many others.

Over the years, as Israel’s status in international public opinion deteriorated and protests against it intensified, the unit’s global activities caused an entire public to feel a sense of pride. Israelis appreciated the opportunity to show the world another side of the IDF, so different from those images that came to represent the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, such as soldiers standing at checkpoints or dispersing Palestinian demonstrators. Support for the unit is more than just the consequence of its actions. It is also a direct response to the enormous frustration that Israelis feel about the country’s negative image around the world, which is only getting worse, particularly in Europe. In many cases, legitimate critics of Israel are joined by anti-Israel and anti-Zionist groups motivated by their own interests or by blind hatred. Various groups around the world have begun calling for a boycott of Israel and its products, and for economic or academic sanctions against the country.