Not Coincidental

Cross-post on JoeSettler

It is unfortunately not coincidental that what I was doing yesterday evening was directly related to the massacre at the Mercaz Harav high school.

Two weeks ago, terrorists attempted to commit a massacre at a high school in Gush Etzion.

Those terrorists were killed by people at the school who had undergone training for these situations.

Over the past few weeks there have been roadside bombs in Gush Etzion. Major stonings, and firebombs at passing Jewish cars. Shootings. Murders. Infiltrations into Settlements.

This past week we saw the attempted lynch by the Arabs in Jerusalem, the attacks on soldiers and police officers in Jerusalem, and the general escalation.


Last night, before the massacre, we were training in one of the local schools.

Specifically, we were working on the various techniques, protocols, and procedures for handling different situations where a terrorist has entered a school.

As we trained, we laughed and joked.

Yes, its serious training, but you can’t hang around for hours with a bunch of armed (unloaded) guys (most of us with serious combat training and experience) and not joke around.

Some local high school kids were invited to participate with us for the color.

When it was my turn to play the terrorist, I grabbed one high-schoolers and used him as a human shield while I mowed down the first rescue squad - until they figured out how to effectively neutralize me.

But then it came in, we got notice over our radios that there was a major attack on the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva in Jerusalem. Maybe dozens dead and injured. The attack and shooting was still going on as we listened to one side of the report.

Our training session ended immediately. We quickly did a summation while the security chiefs checked to see how things were on our own perimeters. We went home to listen to the news.

An hour after we got home, we got a full-scale, emergency drill call-up.

It was decided that we needed to finish the entire session that was planned for the evening.

In that session (as we were to find out), a group of terrorist had entered a high school dormitory and were shooting away – a scenario far too similar to that evenings events.

A scenario that is expected.

We all drove/ran to get there.

Students and dorm counselors from the school lay “dead” and “injured” on the floor as we began combing the building for the terrorists. One terrorist had been killed at the beginning by a dorm counselor. We quickly engaged the others and “killed” them (of course “confirming our kill”).

For obvious reasons I’m not going to go into details, but the students all undergo drills on how to act and respond to a terrorist infiltration.

Unlike the earlier training session, this drill had the taste of reality lingering over it.

This time there was no joking, no humor.

Just pure professionalism as we quickly took the building and “saved” these high school kids from the Arab terrorists.


People like to say think that this stuff only happens in the Yishuvim (settlements) which is why we need to train like that all the time, and perhaps as an excuse to say we don't belong in this part of Eretz Yisrael.

But last night’s massacre occurred in Jerusalem.

The terrorist was the school’s bus driver. The guy who took these kids to and from school. The guy who was making a decent living from the Yeshiva. The guy who saw these kids every day. The good Arab, who isn’t like “them”, the ones who want to kill Jews. He was someone they trusted. (The police and Yeshiva are saying that this is not true).

And this guy was prepared. He was well armed. He was obviously trained well enough to use his weapons and multiple magazines effectively. This was an operation that was thought out and organized.

It is not coincidental that we do these training sessions and drills regularly, and why they should be expanded to other schools around the country.


The Arabs have no compunctions about going into schools, be they nursery schools or high-schools, and killing all the little children they can find.

And that’s not coincidental either.


Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד