Operation Arnon

By Justine Hemmestad

On October 7, 25-year-old Noa Argamani was at the center of the largest terror attack in the history of Israel, as well as the greatest massacre of Israeli civilians ever. Her kid- napping from the Nova Mu- sic Festival on a motorcycle was recorded by Hamas and viewed around the world. Her boyfriend, Avinatan Or, was also kidnapped into Gaza on that day. Or is thought to still be held captive there. After her abduction, Arga- mani truly thought she would be publicly lynched by a crowd in Gaza, and while in captivity, she was used to announce the deaths of two fellow hostages in a propaganda video released in January. Argamani had not been held as hostage in the tunnels of Gaza, but rather she was clothed as a Palestinian woman and moved from house to house in a refugee camp; her real name was never used. It is in this detail, that the collusion between Hamas and citizens is made more clear. When Argamani was rescued, she was being held captive in the home of local journalist Abdullah Aljamal. Three male hostages were also held by journalists in a neighboring house. And it was not the first time that journalists served as an outlet for Hamas activity; innocent civilians pay the price of these collaborations. Noa Argamani, and the nearby three male hostages, were rescued by IDF forces on June 8 after eight months in captivity. In order to successfully carry out the rescue mission in the middle of a civilian neighborhood (where Hamas regularly hides hostages), the IDF, Shin Bet, and the Israeli SWAT team members called YAMAM were all jointly involved. The IDF wore the “costumes” of Palestinian women looking for a place to live in an area “packed with terrorists,” when they entered the buildings that the hostages were in. The rescue mission began at 11 am on Saturday, when they would be least expected. Additional Special Forces had previously positioned themselves to provide cover. The IDF burst into the two houses where the hostages were held simultaneously, and were immediately fired upon amid the chaos. As more and more terrorists tried to reach the house, they had to “rain down fire rapidly so everyone can get away.” In the midst of the fighting, an officer in an elite police unit, Chief Inspector Arnon Zamora was wounded and killed. The fight quickly became more complicated, when in addition to the officer’s death, the getaway vehicle got stuck due to a technical problem and was overrun by terrorists. IDF forces had to quickly move the hostages into a separate vehicle, all the while under fire. Paratroopers were also called in to extract the IDF (which took 15 minutes), and the air force bombarded the area to create a defensive perimeter. Commandos used the code words “we have the diamonds” upon successfully escaping. Argamani simply told the IDF, “Thank you,” when helped into the awaiting helicopter. After the rescue, the 4 hostages were taken by helicopters to Sheba Medical Center to be examined. Rescued in addition to Argamani were Andrey Koslov, 27; Almog Meir Jan, 22; and Shlomi Ziv, 40; all abducted during the Nova Festival on Oct 7. I24 News reports that there is no formal hostage rehabilitation plan set in place for the returned hostages, however, and some of them continue to say that the government has failed them, even beyond October 7. Regardless of the formal government, the pilot of the rescue helicopter reflected the sentiment of a nation when he later said, “Our nation does not forsake its sons and daughters.” The rescue was then called “Operation Arnon” by the Israeli military to honor the security officer who was killed during the operation. Intelligence in support of the rescue mission was provided by the U.S. In fact, elements of Operation Arnon bear resemblance to Medal of Honor winner Staff Sgt. Salvatore A. Giunta’s battle in Afghanistan, including the special coordination of paratroopers. In recalling the chaos of the battle for which he won the medal, Giunta recalled the collective mentality of his unit when they were pinned down by enemy fire as: “Shoot everything.” He cited the coordination of everyone in his unit and said, “Everyone’s doing what needs to be done.” After winning the Medal of Honor, Salvatore had said, “The first 18 years of my life were in Iowa. I’m an Iowan.”