The Red Alert

Soon after September 11, 2001 we moved to Brooklyn, NY. The city was a mess due to all kinds of security implementations. Most bridges between Brooklyn and Manhattan were closed to traffic, and police would make everyone go on the one open bridge. When I drove to work to New Jersey, there were Bradley Fighting Vehicles standing on the side of the road with soldiers in full gear ready to shoot. At who? I am not sure. But they were ready. There were 24 hour patrols of the NYC skies by F-15 fighter jets and you would see a bunch of them fly by every day. On the news they would announce that the alert ahs been raised today due to “chatter”. This was the Red Alert.

I thought to myself, this must be some kind of a joke. What would the National Guard in BFVs do if there was a terrorist attack? Blow off a building? What would an F-15 do? Would the terrorists come to the only bridge that was open to traffic and say hi to the police? How was all of this making us safer and more secure? I don’t know. It did look good though in the press.

And then we moved to Israel where they also apparently have Red Alert. And here is what it is.

On March 21, 2006 I went to my work in Jerusalem as usual - late. I left home at about 10:30 am. When I got to Mevaseret Tzion I noticed that all traffic on Highway 1 (Main Tel Aviv – Jerusalem Highway) has stopped. A few cars were trying to get off the highway and turn off into the Mevaseret exit. At first I thought there was a bad car accident, but then I saw about 10 police cars zooming down the highway in the opposite direction away from Jerusalem. A few ambulances followed.

I thought to myself, that’s weird. They are going the wrong way. I turned on the radio. They were saying that in Jerusalem there was a terrorist on the run who infiltrated Israel and they were trying to catch him. All entrances and exists to Jerusalem were closed by the army. The security alert was raised to Red, the highest.

I figured there is no point in going work anymore and I may as well turn around and go home. The opposite lanes looked empty. By now I was sitting about 50 meters past the Mevaseret exit. I switched over 3 lanes in between standing cars, got to the shoulder and waved to a bunch of cars to start turning around and go back to the exit. People started popping out of their cars and asking what’s happening. I told them there is a terrorist on the run and they should turn on the radio. A bunch of cars turned around and went into the exit. Once I got into the exit it took about 2 minutes to go through the light and back into the opposite direction. But just when I got to the ramp all cars stopped. I got out and what do I see? A police van parked across the ramp and is blocking everyone’s way. The police officer is not in uniform and it’s definitely not the traffic police. Someone came over to him to ask what’s going on, but all he said was that they can’t pass here.

Back on the radio they said that all major highways in central Israel have been closed to traffic and the police are chasing the terrorist. I was stuck in Mevaseret. I figured may be I should go to the mall to eat lunch, but that was a really dumb idea while there is a terrorist on the loose. I decided to just sit in the car and wait. In about 20 minutes the police van moved and a few brave souls decided to go onto the completely empty highway, including me. I got to about 200 meters away from my exit back to Bet Shemesh, when suddenly traffic stopped again. An army helicopter was hovering a bit further down the road.

On the radio they were already announcing that the terrorist was caught near the Latrun Junction (I should have known where it is by now, but I didn’t.) on Highway 1. They announced that the police knew the car make, the color, and the license plate of the van as soon as it infiltrated and chased it down until it stopped. Talk about intelligence.

Then they were interviewing the soldier who made the main arrest. He described how they stopped the van and stood about 100 meters away from it and how he told all the Palestinians inside the van through a loud speaker to stick their hands out the windows and throw the car keys in the middle of the highway in front of them. Then each one of them was told to completely undress down to their underwear and they had to walk out of the van like that and lay on the ground where they were tied up. The bomb was left inside the van in a back pack where it was later detonated by the sappers.

I realized that those police cars speeding in the opposite direction near Mevaseret was the car chase after the terrorist.

I was stuck again right next to the Paz gas station that’s located in front of the exit. I figured instead of waiting in traffic, I’ll drive into the station and use it as short cut to get to my exit. But once I went into the station I realized that it doesn’t connect to the exit and instead puts me back on the highway under the bridge of the exit ramp. At the end of the ramp from the gas station which is about a kilometer long I got stuck again the same jam. I parked my car on the side and decided to walk back to the station to get food. People were piled out of their cars all over the place. Some were talking, a bunch were taking their kids into the woods to pee, someone was saying Tehilim.

It took me 15 minutes to walk back in scorching heat to the gas station. Once I got there the place was packed. Everyone was buying sandwiches and all kinds of other food. Some people were already camping around, eating. It was probably their best business day in a long time.

In another 20 minutes I was back in my car which was still surrounded by the same cars, chumping away on my chips and soda. No one moved at all. In another 10 minutes the traffic started to move. Once I pulled back onto the highway I saw the sign – Latrun 500 meters. I never realized that the Latrun junction was the next exit after Bet Shemesh and the reason we were all sitting there because we were waiting for the sappers to blow up the bomb.

By the time I got to Latrun to go back to Bet Shemesh, all the action was over and everyone was gone. Around 3 pm I was back home.

You can read the more official description with pictures of the incident here:
http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Politics/8075.htm
and here:
http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Security/8077.htm

After this whole adventure I finally realized what Red Alert really is as it should be. Quiet and effective without tanks and planes freaking everyone out and doing nothing. The intelligence is amazing. And they don’t tell on the news that they are raising alerts because they hear “chatter”.