When
terrorists from Lebanon raided the Israeli northern coastal city of
Nahariya, Cpl. Rotem Saidon’s relatives were among the victims. This
dark chapter in her family’s history has given Saidon, a soldier in the
Israeli Navy, an incomparable perspective of what it means to defend
Israel from attack by sea.
It
is often said that every Israeli citizen knows someone who was killed
or injured in battle or a terror attack. That is why for many Israelis,
defending their homeland is not just a national imperative – it is a
personal obligation. So it is for Cpl. Rotem Saidon, a Command and
Control Center operator in the Israeli Navy.
With
70 percent of the state’s eight million citizens settled in the
country’s narrow coastal plain, the Israeli Navy bears an immense
responsibility for national security. Especially on Israel’s sensitive
northern border with Lebanon – which extends many kilometers into the
sea – the work of the naval soldiers who monitor the waters from the
IDF’s command and control center is truly vital to the nation’s defense.
Working
long shifts in the Command and Control Center at Rosh Hanikra – wedged
between Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea – Cpl. Saidon, 19, and her
fellow soldiers keep trained eyes on the sophisticated surveillance
systems monitoring the sea.
“We
watch the maritime border in every way possible, using radars and
cameras,” she said. “We control everything attempting to enter Israeli
territory. In effect we guard the whole region – including [major
population centers] Nahariya and Acre, so there won’t be a hostile
infiltration through the water. That’s really the definition of our
task: to protect the citizens and to prevent an infiltration at sea.”
Cpl. Rotem Saidon, Israeli Navy
And
according to Cpl. Saidon, keeping watch is no idle task. “Things happen
all the time, and we are here to prevent them,” she said. “If there is
an attempt to infiltrate we mobilize naval forces and all the IDF forces
that we work with.”
With
its regional stronghold firmly encamped on the other side of the
border, the terrorist organization Hezbollah never ceases in its efforts
to infiltrate into Israel to perpetrate attacks and to smuggle weapons
to other organizations bent on Israel’s destruction.
In
2009, the IDF intercepted the MV Francop and seized some 500 tons of
weapons found on board, which were destined for use by Hezbollah against
Israeli civilians. In 2001, the Navy intercepted and boarded the
Santorini – a fishing boat that had sailed from Beirut in Lebanon
towards Israel. On board, naval commandos discovered a large cache of
concealed weapons including missiles, rockets, mortars and rifles. Also
discovered were instruction manuals for the manufacturing of explosives.
Weapons found on board the Francop
In
April of this year, a hostile drone (unmanned aircraft) was launched
from beyond Israel’s northern border and began to approach the coast at
the port city of Haifa. The craft’s entire flight path was tracked by
IDF surveillance teams and an Air Force fighter jet was sent to shoot it
down safely, over the water.
National imperative, personal obligation
Cpl.
Saidon knows better than most how crucial her duty is in keeping
Israelis safe. She is related to the Haran family – torn apart by a 1979
terror attack in their hometown of Nahariya. In that incident, a terror
squad consisting of four members of the Palestine Liberation Front
(PLF) left Lebanon in a rubber dinghy, sneaking on to the coast of
Nahariya in the dark of night. Their raid on the coastal city left four
Israelis dead, including Danny Haran and his daughters Einat, four and
Yael, two.
Cpl.
Saidon’s sister is married to one of the victim’s nephews, and so the
Saidon family knows from up close what it means to see a family
shattered by terror.
“It
makes me understand that if we are not here to keep watch then whole
families could be destroyed,” Saidon says. “We are the ones who protect
the residents of Nahariya. Especially for me here at Rosh Hanikra when
the location of the [1979] attack is a place that I see in front of my
eyes. It makes me think about what happens when the Command and Control
Center isn’t being operated properly to protect all the people who live
here and how it is that in seconds a family can be torn apart like its
nothing.”
No simple task
The
challenges of Cpl. Saidon’s task are many, but she knows that
relentless vigilance is a price worth paying to defend her country and
its people. The small group of soldiers on her base are there 24
hours-a-day, sharing shifts operating the state-of-the-art surveillance
equipment, which the navy uses to track all movement above and below the
surface.
Cpl.
Saidon pointed out with a smile that she is at home less than her
boyfriend, a combat soldier in the Golani Infantry Brigade.
“Its
hard work and its exhausting, but we know that ours is a task that is
awfully important and meaningful – if we don’t do it then all the
citizens who live here would be in danger,” she said. “With time we
understand that it is so important that even with the difficulties, we
must remain constantly alert and be 100 percent focused.”
Cpl.
Saidon’s skill and determination have not gone overlooked, and last
week she began her journey to become an officer in the Israeli Navy.
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