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IDF latest mission: saving Bnei Brak, Israel's most overcrowded city

With rabbis and residents disobeying instructions over the coronavirus, Israeli paratroops were dispatched to the town of Bnei Brak to restrict entry and exit.
02 April 2020, Israel, Bnei Brak: An Israeli policeman stops Orthodox Jews, who insist on carrying on with their prayer at the Ponevezh Yeshiva, a Jewish institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, despite the imposed lockdown amid the coronavirus pandemic. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa (Photo by Ilia Yefimovich/picture alliance via Getty Images)

The Commando Brigade of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) was formed five years ago, bringing together three elite infantry units — Maglan, Duvdevan and Egoz. The brigade is trained for particularly difficult warfare behind enemy lines in situations of tactical and numerical disadvantage. It simulates clashes with Hezbollah and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, elite Hamas units and particularly daring special operations deep in enemy territory. It provides the IDF with a clenched fist — an integrated, fast-moving, mobile force for special operations.

The brigade’s soldiers never would have believed that five years hence the IDF would task them with a strange mission, in which the “enemy” is allegedly within. It wears bizarre black uniforms and maintains weird habits. The new task of this elite unit, with the support of soldiers from the Homefront Command and about 1,000 police, is one that has never been assigned to the IDF — saving the Ultra-Orthodox, suburban Tel Aviv town of Bnei Brak.

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