The weapons of the Israeli special unit Mista’aravim also include kefiye and hijab. The undercover force operates and lives among the Palestinians. Its history dates back to before the founding of the state of Israel.
In the summer of 1941, during World War II, there was an offensive led by British troops against the French-controlled territory of Syria and Lebanon – the France administering that territory being the German-allied Vichy regime. The so-called Syrian-Lebanese campaign aimed to prevent Germany from using the region for attacks on the desert war raging in North Africa. This operation also involved numerous fighters from the Palmach, an elite unit of the Haganah militia that later became the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
“In order to harm the enemy, we carried out various acts of sabotage,” says 92-year-old Nissim Mizrahi during a lecture at the Palmach Museum in Tel Aviv. “We gathered information, blew up bridges and ammunition depots.” The Arabist emeritus comes from a Jewish family in Damascus and emigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine in 1945. At 16 he joined the Palmach and became a member of their Arab section. “Due to my oriental appearance and because I could speak the language, I was involved in various undercover operations. The experiences of our troops were also important later in the Israeli War of Independence.”
After the IDF was formed after the founding of Israel in 1948, its Arabic department was professionalized over the years by various units – including the Mista’aravim, which became internationally known through the Netflix series “Fauda”. The Hebrew term comes from the Arabic “musta’arabi,” a word for Jews living among Arabs in the Middle East and North Africa. The IDF’s special operations force, also known as “Duvdevan” (“Cherry”), is used in counter-terrorism and intelligence reconnaissance in hostile environments.
“They look like us, wear the same clothes, use the same accents and expressions and use the same body language,” says Palestinian Mohammad Sabbagh, head of the People’s Services Committee at the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank. “The men’s faces can be covered with checkered kefijes and – for the women – with a hijab.” Sabbagh was arrested by the undercover force in the late 1980s after stabbing an Israeli soldier to death. For this he spent 23 years in an Israeli prison. He has renounced violence, but polls show that more than 50 percent of Palestinians support armed attacks on Israelis.
Jenin has once again become a hotbed of terror in this conflict. Thousands of young people have now joined militant groups. “We fear that Mista’aravim are among them,” says Sabbagh. “They incite violence against Israel and throw stones at the IDF soldiers. But the scene can change in a flash when they conjure up weapons out of nowhere, suddenly point them at the rest of the Palestinian demonstrators and the person they are looking for turns into an approaching drag car.”
Not much is known about the unit as it works in secret. Once a group has performed an operation, it is disbanded and a new one takes its place. Only the best soldiers may serve as mista’aravim. The 16-month anti-terror training consists not only of hard physical training, such as learning Krav Maga, handling different weapons and behavior in a Palestinian environment. Warfare and perfecting the Arabic language including dialects as well as Islam studies are also part of it. During their operations, they work together with the Israeli domestic secret service Schabak. Thus, the Mista’aravim have been involved in numerous operations and wars over the past four decades. Their covert work is also being relied on in the recent outbreaks of violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
“Most Palestinians who dream of murdering Jews at night find themselves investigating Shabak in the morning,” says A., a Mista’aravim captain. “During operations in the West Bank, we have recently eliminated numerous terrorist cells and arrested suspects.” This is Israel’s response to a deadly series of terrorist attacks earlier this year, after which Operation Breakwater was launched.
But the Mista’arivim are not always armed. Often only information is collected. Squad isn’t just about combat capability or stealth. It is important to remain calm under pressure in order to surprise the enemy in the next second. “We had a situation like this recently in Jenin,” says Captain A. “The operation only lasted ten minutes, but militant groups rained down bullets on the IDF and set up booby traps. When the main suspect fled, our group disguised as Hamas was there him.”
Of course, Mista’aravim also have failures. Militant Palestinian groups have set up units to uncover Israeli agents. “The terrain and reality are constantly changing,” says Nissim Mizrahi, the 92-year-old at the Palmach Museum. “In the seemingly hopeless Middle East conflict, everyone learns something new, so you don’t have to be surprised, but always think one step ahead.”
But Mizrahi has also been campaigning for a settlement with the Palestinians for fifty years. He believes in the two-state solution and at the same time calls for a strong Israel. “For by wise counsel thy war shall be waged,” Mizrahi quotes the motto of the Mista’aravim, one of Solomon’s proverbs from the Torah, adding: “But one makes peace with one’s enemies.”
