Israel Police: 'We were the bulletproof vest, with handguns against AK-47s'

Dean Elsdunne, international spokesman for the Israel Police, joined the special Arutz Sheva broadcast with the Israel Government Tourist Corporation and the Ministry of Heritage at the Burnt Vehicles Compound in Southern Israel to discuss the role the police played in the defense against the Hamas invasion.

''The Israel Police were the bulletproof vest of our country, the first people that were down there fighting the terrorists. Because of the officers' fast thinking, at 6:51 in the morning, the Southern District was shut down with a police order and checkpoints to keep terrorists from getting out and to only allow emergency responders in.''

He spoke of the Sderot police station, which was taken by terrorists, and how the battle there gave time for the rest of the country. ''There was a religious girls' school down the street. The police station held the terrorists down so they couldn't get in there. I can't imagine how it would have been if the terrorists had gotten inside the school.'' He mentioned that there were several other areas where police, frequently armed only with handguns against AK-47s or even heavier weapons, would engage and kill terrorists and rescue civilians in their area.

Dean detailed the events of the Supernova Festival. ''The police were stationed there for traffic control and to keep order. As one shift left and another arrived, the rockets came in, and they made the decision to shut down the party - not a decision to be made lightly. They could have been sued. As they tried to disperse thousands of people, the gunfire began, as terrorists attacked with machine guns on their trucks and AK-47s on their paragliders.''

''Despite the chaos around them, the officers did not run. Many could have thought 'What about my own family?' and gone home, but instead, officers stayed and fought until the last bullet. Many of the survivors stated that their only regret was that they couldn't have saved more.''

The Israel Police have faced an ongoing battle with psychological trauma since then. ''We opened a special resilience program for our officers - officers who had to collect the bodies of their friends, who saw things that no human should see. They kept working though, not for the money or respect, but for the love of their country. We call them fallen heroes, but that's not right - they should be called a hero every single day. We will keep doing everything to defend our civilians, no matter what.''