Yahalom: Israel’s Underground Warriors

The warriors of Yahalom who plunge down these dark shafts are specially trained for tunnel warfare, demolition and commando operations. Their combat tasks range from sabotage to clearing booby-traps. The Weasels employ cutting-edge technologies, including robots and remote-controlled drones, to reduce human risk while tackling the formidable challenge that Hamas’s tunnels pose.

Boots Underground

John Spencer, chair of urban warfare studies at the US Modern War Institute and codirector of the institute’s Urban Warfare Project, would have us appreciate the level of complexity these Weasels face as they operate in the Gaza depths: “Soldiers need special equipment to breathe, see, communicate, navigate, breach obstacles and even shoot underground. Almost every piece of their standard military equipment designed for the surface will not work once they enter the subsurface. Line-of-sight and satellite-enabled technologies—including navigation, communication and drones—are rendered useless. Night-vision goggles that rely solely on ambient light will not work in an environment where there is none. A blast from a weapon or explosive detonated in enclosed underground spaces can cause harmful pressures and blast injuries making it dangerous to even fire a personal weapon if the soldier is not wearing the proper protective gear.”

We might reason, “Why send soldiers down into these deathtraps at all? Can’t the Air Force simply bomb them from above?” It isn’t as simple as all that though. First, there are lives to save: Israeli hostages held below until recently, but also Gazan noncombatants resident above. Secondly, even ground-penetrating munitions can’t reach the depths at which Hamas’s command and control centers are buried underground. Finally, there is vital intelligence to be gathered to better understand enemy intent and rob them of their next intended operational success. For all the high tech of warfare, bombs from the air will never achieve what only boots on the ground—or more to the point, under the ground—can accomplish.

Rats and Dogs

Israel’s esteemed Weasels are descended from the celebrated American Tunnel Rats of the 1960s Vietnam War. Decades of fighting between the French and Viet Minh meant that by the time the US ramped up its presence, there were miles of tunnels from which the Viet Cong could launch ambushes. Of course, these weren’t the concrete-reinforced corridors of Hamas but rather crumbling dirt crawl spaces big enough for one man to negotiate at a time. Small infantry units used an informal lottery system to see who was the “lucky” one to strip off his shirt and go underground. As if fighting the Viet Cong on their home turf wasn’t dangerous enough, the “chosen” Tunnel Rat, armed with only a pistol (or knife) and a flashlight, had to crawl through a series of extremely tight tunnels to corner his enemy, dodging savage booby traps all the way.

Fortunately, Israel’s Weasels are much better organized and equipped than their Vietnam predecessors, but that is necessitated by the level of complexity of underground warfare that Hamas perfected.

Men are not the only operatives in this most complex battle space. The IDF also has a robust military working dog program, the Oketz (Sting) unit, which includes canines specially trained for operating in subterranean spaces. This takes another exceptional soldier quality: the ability to train a dog to go to war and complete the mission with no thought to its own needs. There is of necessity a very personal connection between the dog and its master. Even so, the soldier must be willing to send the brave service dog to its death if required to apprehend the enemy or save lives. These “combat buddies” are often so close that in the event of the dog dying, the soldier must grieve the loss of his faithful friend. Keep in mind that the loss of Israeli life, whether human or animal, reflects a commitment by the IDF to minimize Palestinian civilian loss.

Ready to Go Underground?

Have what it takes to become a Weasel? Probably not! To be accepted into Yahalom, a young man must join the Israeli Engineering Corps and go through basic training where commanders identify the best and then select them for Gibbush, a grueling five-day test of physical and mental readiness through intensive field trials. The top graduates are invited to join Yahalom to receive advanced training for another year. Volunteers must agree to serve an extra year in addition to the mandatory three-year service in the IDF. The training includes engineering, explosive ordnance disposal, advanced combat skills and counter-terrorism training.

We may not have what it takes to fight like a Weasel, but as Christians, we know that we have warfare to accomplish with weapons of the Spirit: “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Cor. 10:4–5, ESV). As one immediate application of this passage, we as Christians should engage in the spiritual battle over Israel through devoted prayer with the selfless service of a warrior, even a Weasel underground!