These terror busters mix motorcycles and swagger

JewishWorldReview ^ | 1 DEC 2006 | Ned Warwick

[radar101]

— What looms suddenly in your rearview mirror and is past you in a streak on the stone slip of a darkened street is crime-fighting Israeli-style: two men, dressed in black, bent low on a dark motorcycle, the one behind with his automatic rifle angled off his back, the bike darting quick as a bat.

A moment later up ahead, near the Ben Yehuda shopping area in the center of Jerusalem, a man is up against a wall, dressed in clothes that resemble what a Hasidic Jew would wear, but in a faintly raffish way that doesn't quite square with the sober probity of Hasidism. The backseat rider from the motorcycle is frisking him; the driver, still atop his bike, is reaching for the man's identification.

The man is eventually let go but not before he is closely questioned. He has just had his first, and he hopes his last, brush with the motorcycle unit of Yasam, an elite police unit.

In a city that has experienced war, terrorism, and its share of crime, the sight of these fast-moving patrols elicits little reaction. But for newcomers, the first impression is of something straight from a thriller or a gritty science-fiction tale.

Their low-slung KLE 550 motorcycles are powerful and highly maneuverable, the right specs for threading the clogged and narrow streets of this edgy city at high speed.

And speed was of the essence one night in the summer of 2002, when, at the height of the intifada, a Palestinian militant started firing automatic weapons at pedestrians on busy Jaffa Street. A two-man Yasam team, blocks away, heard the gunfire and raced to the scene.

Jumping off their bike, the officers confronted the gunman. Shots were exchanged as pedestrians flattened on the sidewalk; the gunman was killed.

[SouthernBoyupNorth]

awww the poor Arab feel threatened.... If hes not doing anything illegal then he has nothing to fear.

[radar101]

Tzvika Hassia, the superintendent of the Jerusalem Yasam force, said 24 members of his 80-person unit "ride and fight from motorbikes and are meant to answer (to) special criminal or terrorist acts quickly, getting to where cars can't go." Israel is divided into six police districts, and each has a Yasam unit.

To even be considered for the Yasam unit, applicants must have served in one of Israel's military combat units and been highly rated. Given that Israel has had precious few days without conflict, that means nearly all have seen action.

In Arab East Jerusalem, feelings toward the Yasam unit are not as warm as those held elsewhere. In fact, none of the shopkeepers interviewed along Salah Eddin Street had a good word for the unit, calling it anti-Arab.

"No one messes with Yasam, especially the ones on the bikes," said Amr Sandouka, 25, who works in the family business selling electronics equipment. "They are rude, violent, and have a license to kill."

[Nat Turner]

Their low-slung KLE 550 motorcycles are powerful and highly maneuverable

that seems kinda small for two grown men with guns...but whatever works...

[popdonnelly]

"awww the poor Arab feel threatened...."

Jewish Israelis feel threatened every day. I wonder why? Could it be Arab terrorists sworn to kill them?

[stormer]

"that seems kinda small for two grown men with guns...but whatever works..."

When I was in China I saw two cops on a motorcycle. I laughed my ass off.

[Rummyfan]

"No one messes with Yasam, especially the ones on the bikes," said Amr Sandouka, 25, who works in the family business selling electronics equipment. "They are rude, violent, and have a license to kill."

Sounds like a good group of guys to have on your side!

[bert]

......that seems kinda small for two grown men with guns...but whatever works.......

Please remember that there are lots of Jews and Muslims in Jerusalem and they are all offended by Hogs. :)

[ASOC]

LOL - Outdamnstanding!

Seen locally on a bumper sticker

USMC - Martyr Manufacturing at its best - May we make YOU one today?

[Sender]

Too cool. Bump for later.