It looks like a secret base, the entrance to which is hidden somewhere in an anonymous street: thick concrete walls, painted immaculate white, large meeting rooms with giant screens, offices full of computers. This is the crisis center built by the municipality of Kfar Saba, a prosperous city, among the twenty most populous in Israel, in the center of the country. Opened during the Covid-19 pandemic, designed to deal with any type of disaster, from earthquakes to missile salvos, it now happens to be the nerve center of the city to respond to the new reality that Israel has been experiencing since the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7.
“It’s very serious what happened to us. Israel will take a long time to recover. The State has not been firm enough in recent years. Lesson number one is that in the event of an attack, the first response comes from rapid reaction citizen militias. And if they’re not strong enough, everything falls apart.”, analyzes the mayor of Kfar Saba, Rafi Saar, Tuesday November 7. These self-defense cells, called “kitot konenut” in Hebrew, harken back to the early days of Zionism, when the Jewish communities established in Palestine provided their own protection. Since the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 and the establishment of an army with centralized command, they have gradually become obsolete, except in the occupied West Bank. The few units remaining in the kibbutzim near Gaza were mostly swept away by the Hamas offensive, apart from a few, such as in the locality of Nir Am, where a dozen volunteers held off the Hamas attackers.
Also, when, after the attack, some 1,600 people showed up to defend Kfar Saba, the councilor did not hesitate. He decides to create a rapid reaction militia, coordinated from the crisis center. This is the first in the history of the city, which was nevertheless hit hard by the waves of suicide attacks during the second Intifada (2000-2005). The city is located just opposite Qalqiliya, a town in the West Bank, surrounded by the separation barrier and whose economy has collapsed. “People want to regain a feeling of security. We have to prepare for everything, from an attack to a massive attack”estimates Rafi Saar.
“People are reassured to see us”
Some 1,200 volunteers are chosen, including 400 equipped with personal weapons, for a population of 115,000 inhabitants. The mayor instructs Niv Granot, head of volunteers in the municipality’s security department, to put in place an effective system: “The idea is to give an initial response and save time, while waiting for the arrival of professional forces. We have teams in all neighborhoods. Everyone has their mission. Each member of the cell has an application on their phone to mobilize when something happens. »
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