We don’t, fortunately, face anything like the dangers that are daily life in Israel and there are many other differences between there and here, but this article demonstrates what a few prepared and dedicated volunteers can do to defend themselves and community against a seriouis assault. (I post this not as another thread about the war in Israel but about issues relating to defense of self and others.)

The Wall Street Journal article.
====================================

Small volunteer force protected families from militants who came to take hostages

BY DAVID S. CLOUD AND ANAT PELED

At 6:56 a.m. on Oct. 7, Moshe Kaplan sent an urgent alert to his volunteer security force in Mefalsim, a kibbutz of 1,000 men, women and children in southern Israel where he served as security chief.

“There’s a shooting in the village from the gate!” he texted after militants fired at his car as he drove past the main entrance. Attackers later blew open a pedestrian gate nearby with explosives and flooded into the kibbutz.

Kaplan rushed home to grab his armored vest, helmet and M16 rifle, then drove off to check another gate on the northwest corner. There he found armed men were already inside the razor- wire security fence that encircled the community.

“Terrorists in the kibbutz! Terrorists in the kibbutz!” he yelled in a second, panicked voice text, begging his men to hurry. Gunshots sounded in the background. He had trained a dozen men for this moment, a surprise attack from nearby Gaza. Yet 19 minutes after his first alert, none had arrived.

Kaplan left his car and shot at assailants from behind a metal garbage container. One lobbed a hand grenade at him. In a stroke of luck for him and Mefalsim, it didn’t explode.

More than two dozen Hamas fighters from Gaza had arrived with orders to subdue the small security force and herd hostages into the community dining hall. They carried a detailed map of the kibbutz and, like other assault teams in southern Israel that morning, an attack plan labeled “top secret.”

Mefalsim was one place that day where nothing for the Hamas attackers went according to plan.

Soon after Kaplan’s call for help, his volunteers rushed from their homes in helmets and protective vests worn over the T-shirts they had slept in, toting M16 rifles. Outnumbered and fighting alone or in pairs, the men mounted a life-or-death stand, communicating via walkietalkie and WhatsApp texts to track the militants and send each other help.

They believed they had to hold off the insurgents long enough for the Israeli army to arrive. At first, they hoped the soldiers would be there quickly. But as minutes passed, and the fighting grew worse, they realized they would have to fight alone.

“Where are the tanks?” Yarden Reskin, a 38-year-old landscape architect and security volunteer yelled into his walkie-talkie as the bullets flew. “It became very, very apparent that they weren’t coming,” he said later.

Palestinian gunmen who flooded out of Gaza killed 1,400 Israelis and took close to 200 hostages, terrorizing and shooting people at more than 20 Israeli towns and military bases and thousands at an all-night music festival not far from Mefalsim.

In town after town, attackers blasted through security fences that encircled Israeli villages near Gaza, gunning down residents, burning houses with families inside and taking hostages.

Bodies and the burned-up cars of people fleeing the music festival were later found outside Mefalsim’s main gate.

Frightened families at the kibbutz, a 200- acre, close-knit community with farm fields and tree-lined streets, took refuge in home shelters, some watching accounts of assaults in nearby towns on phones and TVs. They heard heavy gunfire just outside.

“We didn’t know what all the shooting meant,” said Gil Levi, 17, who was home with her mother, Inbal, younger brother Noam Levi and boyfriend, Ofir Itamari. Her father, Eli Levi, had told them not to come out of the shelter, no matter what.

He was in the living room standing watch through the plate-glass window, facing the southern fence of the kibbutz and the fields that stretched beyond.

When Levi saw militants heading toward the fence, he shot his M16 through the window. All his family could hear inside the shelter was the sound of gunfire.

“Were the terrorists inside the house?” Gil Levi recalled thinking.

Gil’s boyfriend handed her a souvenir Japanese knife he had found in the shelter and a pair of scissors to her mother, in case they had to fight off the intruders themselves.

The night before the attack on Mefalsim, around 30 families had spent the night camping in an olive grove outside the gate. It was an annual community outing on the last night of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.

In the morning, around 6:30 a.m., sirens warned of incoming rockets from Gaza, a wail so common in local communities that even children treated it as routine.

When Shaked Porat, 43, heard the sirens at the campsite, he roused his two sleeping children—a 10-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son— and quickly drove home, entering through a back gate. At home, the children joined Porat’s wife and their 12-year-old son in the family’s shelter. Porat listened to the urgent voice text from Kaplan about gunmen at the northwest gate.

Porat, an Israeli army veteran and one of the volunteers in Mefalsim’s security force, ran out his door with an M16 and hustled to a street lined with houses on one side and a kibbutz gate on the other. About 40 yards away, he saw four armed men in vests and black jeans.

Thinking he recognized one of them, he called out, “Sasi!” the Hebrew nickname of another member of the volunteer force. “Ta’al,” one of them responded, meaning “Come here” in Arabic. Porat realized they were militants and started shooting. Two of the armed men ran toward nearby houses for cover. Two others hid behind a parked car.

Porat, who had been in firefights as a soldier, ducked into a small concrete enclosure for trash cans. “It’s a very lonely feeling,” he said later, “especially when you are one against four.”

A resident who watched the exchange of gunfire from an upstairs window yelled a warning to Porat: “They are throwing grenades!” Porat ducked and escaped injury. When one of the militants ran from a yard into the open, Porat shot him.

A second attacker raised his head from behind the car, and Porat said he shot him, too. He saw a third gunman running away. The fourth attacker disappeared, said Porat, who stayed put for the next hour, guarding the kibbutz gate to keep out any others.

Photos taken later showed two dead men, one on the sidewalk and one in the street.

Video from a security camera at the main gate of Mefalsim captured some of the carnage that took place outside the main gate of the kibbutz as people fled the outdoor music festival and tried desperately to get inside, pursued by militants. A man in a white shirt was shot as he ran toward the entrance. He grabbed his right arm and dropped to the pavement, blood spilling from around his head.

Armed fighters emerged from a wooded area minutes later. Several ran to the fallen man and shot him again. Drivers who abandoned cars to hide in the bushes were attacked with grenades. A person pulled from the bushes was shot and bludgeoned with a rifle butt. The video was posted by South First Responders, a group of emergency personnel working in southern Israel, and verified by The Wall Street Journal.

After militants blew open the entrance at the kibbutz gate and streamed inside, Kaplan kept on the move, worried residents would leave their houses into danger.

“Someone send out a message to stay in the houses and not come out,” Kaplan said in a WhatsApp voice message, breathing heavily. “Emergency task force come to me! Emergency task force come to me! They are splitting up.” Shots cracked in the background.

Over the next hour, there were several gunfights. Security volunteers hunted for the militants who were moving alone and in pairs on residential streets. Two attackers were killed in the garden of a house by four Israeli soldiers who were home on a weekend leave. Two of the soldiers suffered minor wounds from grenade fragments.

Reskin, the landscape architect, came within sight of the main gate and saw a large group of attackers exchanging what looked like congratulations. He fired and they scattered. He next went into a nearby residential neighborhood and joined Idan Mayrovich, the team’s medic. As they walked, they saw Idan Kadosh, a resident, shooting with a handgun from his window, and he joined their patrol.

Two militants walked in front of an elderly woman’s house with their rifles on their shoulders, one holding a stolen children’s bike. Before the attackers saw the three defenders, Reskin fired and they ran.

A militant driving a stolen forklift was headed for the main gate, apparently intending to stack cars there and block an expected counterattack by the Israeli army. Reskin said he shot at the forklift, and the driver abandoned the vehicle.

Another group of militants made their way to a dormitory for foreign workers employed in the kibbutz’s farm operations. A dozen Thai workers hiding there were loaded at gunpoint onto a wagon pulled by a tractor that steered toward the front gate.

They were intercepted by the security volunteers. One of the kibbutz defenders shot at the wagon, and the militants fled, leaving the workers behind.

Nearly an hour after the battle erupted by the front gate, the fighting shifted to Mefalsim’s southern perimeter.

David “Didi” Rosenberg, a member of the volunteer force, stood on his second-floor balcony where he kept watch on Mefalsim’s southeast fence, armed with his M16.

His wife, who was in the home’s shelter with their two children, texted him, “I’m scared.” He suggested games to play with the kids.

Rosenberg, whose balcony overlooks the fence, reported over his walkie-talkie that a truck carrying a dozen armed men and a motorcycle ferrying two gunmen were roaring across an open field toward the fence.

Levi, 48, the head of security and emergency management for Intel in Israel, had also been watching the southern perimeter through his living- room window, and he saw the attackers when they were about 100 yards away.

Levi, a former Israeli soldier, said he froze for a few seconds, thinking of the danger to his family. Then he heard Rosenberg, a few houses away, open fire, prompting Levi to start shooting at the attackers from his living-room window.

Noam Kazaz, 52, who had evacuated with his family to the house of another kibbutz resident shortly after his own was hit by a rocket, called Rosenberg. “We will die on the fence. No one is entering the kibbutz,” he recalled saying before he opened fire.

The three volunteers hadn’t trained to shoot at such a far range. But their heavy gunfire prompted the motorcycle driver to turn around. The men riding on the truck jumped off and flattened on the ground. Levi thought he could see several had been hit.

They kept shooting for the next 90 minutes—until Israeli soldiers arrived at Levi’s house. “I’m from the squad, I’m from the squad,” Levi yelled to the soldiers. “I’m an Israeli. Please don’t shoot me.” Then he went into the shelter and hugged his family. Instead of staying amid the shattered glass in their living room, they went to Rosenberg’s house for the comfort of being with neighbors.

Israeli soldiers spent the following three days going house to house, looking for any attackers who might be still hiding on the kibbutz. The bodies of eight militants were recovered, one resident said. Two more were killed after troops found them hiding in a cow shed. Another was captured, and the rest were driven off.

No Mefalsim residents were killed or taken hostage, protected by a dozen residents, many of them former Israeli soldiers, who had prepared for years to defend the kibbutz. [Emphasis added.]

Mefalsim also got lucky. Although the defenders didn’t know exactly how many attackers infiltrated the kibbutz, they estimated it was probably around 25 to 30, a group smaller than those that attacked other local communities, which suffered far more casualties.

Residents departed after the battle, many of them relocating to a beachfront hotel north of Tel Aviv. Mefalsim has been declared a military zone and is closed.

Most of the residents say they will return and rebuild their home.

“There is a feeling of discomfort that we survived, and others did not,” security chief Kaplan said.

But Mefalsim, at least, had survived.

LINK

This message has been edited. Last edited by: sigfreund,

quote:

Two attackers were killed in the garden of a house by four Israeli soldiers who were home on a weekend leave.

I'm curious if those are the same two from that video that's been circulating where the Hamas POS recorded himself killing people in a house and then getting shot himself as he moved between houses. The scenario kind of matches.

The locals did amazingly well; helped by the cowardice of the Hamas “fighters”. But it must have been awful for them to realize the IDF wasn’t going to come in time. The complacency of the government and military was astounding. And on the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War too.
We are much the same: today’s DOD priorities are climate change and DEI. God help us.

quote:

We are much the same: today’s DOD priorities are climate change and DEI. God help us.

Yes. And may we help ourselves.
Further proof that an armed citizen is the first defense, both here and in Israel.

Thanks for posting. I tried to read this article a couple of times but always behind WSJ paywall. Thanks!

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:

quote:

We are much the same: today’s DOD priorities are climate change and DEI. God help us.

Yes. And may we help ourselves.
Further proof that an armed citizen is the first defense, both here and in Israel.

Agree that was in my thoughts while reading it, a well written piece JMO you could imagine the scenes while reading, moving piece.

The situation sure raises some questions on military response times and how the readiness of the civilians and retired IDF people in the area may change, more guns, ammo, security systems since they now know that the IDF response is going to take some time to mobilize, defending your home is priority, great jobs by all...

Its a damn good thing there were armed men willing to combat the terrorists.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
Its a damn good thing there were armed men willing to combat the terrorists.

Not enough. It is the responsibility of every law abiding adult to have a rifle at home and a pistol on their hip to defend themselves, their family and their community.

It is the responsibility of government to not just permit it, but to encourage it.

"Trust in God and keep your powder dry."
~Old Noll

When there is a rifle behind every blade of grass, invasion is impossible.

An interview with a man who was actively involved in the defense of another kibbutz:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddEw8lY4IPs

The next time someone asks what a high drag, low speed civilian can do when outnumbered by armed attackers, I will be thinking of him.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
An interview with a man who was actively involved in the defense of another kibbutz:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddEw8lY4IPs

The next time someone asks what a high drag, low speed civilian can do when outnumbered by armed attackers, I will be thinking of him.

Why on earth would they not have a method of securing those bomb shelter doors..??

quote:

Originally posted by Veeper:


Why on earth would they not have a method of securing those bomb shelter doors..??

This was in the news the first day of reporting. It’s by law that there is no lock. The safe rooms were designed to protect against bombs. Unlock doors allowed neighbors caught outside to share shelter.

This was well known including by the Hamas terrorists.

Thanks for sharing the article.

I think of me an my neighbors. I know how well a few of them are armed and can make reasonable assumptions about a few others. The trick is we’d all have to be home when attacked (Saturday at 6:30am would be good).

The undisciplined attackers quickly fled once fired upon.

I’m feeling good about my humble assortment of rifle, shotgun and two handguns.

Thanks for posting the entire article.

Very inspiring and sobering. Having to defend not only your community and home but, also your family, amazing amount of courage and grit.

quote:

Originally posted by Fenris:

(My Cousin Vinny, Vinny's voice): "Everything that guy said is bullshi..."

Except. It is not.

First, Israel is not the USA. Their Constitution is not our Constitution (to their chagrin).

And trying with all their might to be "good neighbor" and giving the benefit of the doubt, while existing in a petri dish under the microscope of the world, they simply got used to going to the toilet with their (collective) pants, around their ankles...

Until, it hit them in the ass.


While we are here, now in this money, let us stop, without thinking ahead, and see Israel, again, is the Miner's Canary.


Americans, in their group think, believe themselves insular to the erosion of the need and purpose of the 2ndA, as well as permitting and desiring the government to protect and defend, forgetting that the fox, guarding the henhouse,will happily contemplate the plight of the chickens at evening time, whilst dining on eggs in the morning.


It is easy to bist against the Israeli people for being foolish and blind to both their enemy's desire to eliminate them and their government's goal to subjugate them (because it's easier to control and deal with such people, than put fort the honest effort to
represent their needs as a responsibility).

(Easier to give children candy and toys, then deal with feeding them nutritious food and train them)

It's as that, or as complicated as that. You decide.


But in all of the rhetoric, do not discount the effort of those who stood and fought, when all the above bullshit,cement nothing to any of them.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:

The next time someone asks what a high drag, low speed civilian can do when outnumbered by armed attackers, I will be thinking of him.

Except almost every last Israeli I've dealt with has been a humble badd ass.
Even the chunky ones. They might be high drag, but they're no range only commando.
If I was in a firefight, I'd rather have one high drag low speed Israeli than 10 American range commandos, even fit ones.

Yes, great to read about the successful defense of the small town.

You may think I’m being critical, I am not. I see a lot of mention about ‘shots being fired, the militants fled’? I realize it’s not the movies, just asking about more precise, aimed fire?

Once beyond the initial shock of the attack, I’d be jonesing for accurate fire for the sweet spot, 50-200 yards. I’ll take the scoped 308. I’d like a higher enemy body count.

quote:

Originally posted by sourdough44:
Yes, great to read about the successful defense of the small town.

You may think I’m being critical, I am not. I see a lot of mention about ‘shots being fired, the militants fled’? I realize it’s not the movies, just asking about more precise, aimed fire?

Once beyond the initial shock of the attack, I’d be jonesing for accurate fire for the sweet spot, 50-200 yards. I’ll take the scoped 308. I’d like a higher enemy body count.

There were only shotguns and ARs. From what my friends there tell me, only the ones were on leave soldiers that HAD their weapons were able to fight back, MANY MANY were not able to. Their weapons were locked away. Or they went home unarmed.

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:

quote:

Originally posted by Fenris:

(My Cousin Vinny, Vinny's voice): "Everything that guy said is bullshi..."

Except. It is not.

I am confused. Are you agreeing or disagreeing? And to which of my semi-coherent ramblings?

quote:

Originally posted by sourdough44:
You may think I’m being critical, I am not.

I believe I understand completely.
Part of my reason for posting this thread is to give all of us who have ever thought about defending ourselves and/or others something to think about.

As I always tell my students when discussing real life incidents and outcomes, I wasn’t there and therefore nothing I talk about is intended as criticism. What we should do is accept the gifts that others’ efforts and sometimes sacrifices give to the rest of us. At the same time, though, those lessons must include recognizing not only the good, but also what wasn’t so good.

When I first read that eight murderers’ bodies were recovered, my own reaction was to wonder why there were so few in such a “target rich” situation. Almost as immediately, though, I reminded myself that eight recovered said nothing about how many others were hit and rendered combat ineffective either physically or psychologically. Causing such casualties in intense military combat is far more important than body counts.

As for the defenders’ performance, how might that have been affected by things we can’t begin to appreciate? The most important factors that were different from trying to hit the “A” zone of a stationary target at the range is that those targets were moving, probably using cover, and shooting back.

In addition, what do we know about other factors? How would I perform if I were gasping for breath and my heart was pounding at 200 beats per minute? What if I had poor vision and had lost my glasses or hadn’t had time to put in my contacts (as was true of one of the Benghazi defenders)? What if I had to wonder where my comrades or family members were? What if my training resources and opportunities had limited me to 10 live fire shots six months ago? What if my rifle, ammunition, and sight weren’t at the top tier levels that this rich American can afford—and were perhaps unavailable at any price? What if …, if …, if …?

As I say, it’s not about criticisms, but rather understanding and accepting the teaching gifts we are given.

quote:

Originally posted by Fenris:...
I am confused. Are you agreeing or disagreeing? And to which of my semi-coherent ramblings?

Agreeing. And that is was not enough.

The "Vinny bit" is how most people respond to the premise that every person has the right to be armed and that the government shall encourage it.

quote:

Originally posted by ScreamingCockatoo:
MANY MANY were not able to.

Despite the impression that many American gun owners (including me) have had about the availability of weapons in Israel, the reports about the inability of most residents there to effectively defend themselves due to the lack of suitable weapons was very eye-opening for me.

Two that I read mentioned that one woman was given a pair of scissors to defend herself and another had a knife ( ). Although I haven’t watched it, one YouTube video reported that as a result of the most recent attacks the restrictive laws about private ownership of firearms there were being relaxed.

I can only think of something I read in the book by Rebecca Fraser, The Story of Britain (New York: W.W. Norton, 2006), 22:
“In 410 the sack of Rome by Alaric and the Goths obliged Rome for the moment at least to wash her hands of the distant province [Britain]. [Emperor] Honorius sent a formal letter to the British cities telling them that they could no longer depend on the Romans for their defence against the Picts. Henceforth they must rely on themselves. Citizens should now carry weapons, which hitherto had been forbidden.”