FEATURED AUTHOR
ITAY GIL

Itay Gil is a Jerusalem-based security adviser and close-combat instructor. As supervisor-trainer for several Israeli government bodyguard units as well as U.S. police agencies, he is at the vanguard of international experts dealing with the new generation of post-9/11 terrorist threats.

The Citizen's Guide to Stopping Suicide Attackers , Gil's first book, coauthored by Dan Baron, is the fruit of that expertise.

A master of tactical krav maga, Thai kickboxing, and jujutsu, Gil served in the elite Israel Defense Force (IDF) paratrooper reconnaissance company during the 1982 Lebanon War--a conflict in which Islamist suicide bombers gained their first notoriety. After studying in Texas, he was wooed by Yamam, the Israel Police counterterrorist SWAT team. Gil was one of a dozen recruits out of hundreds to make it through Yamam's grueling seven-month training program in 1986, a feat he attributes to the physical resilience earned by competing on the full-contact martial-arts circuit from the tender age of 6.

A Yamam sniper and entry-team leader, Gil took part in hundreds of counterterrorist missions in the West Bank, Gaza, and southern Lebanon. Yamam led Israeli efforts to put down the first Palestinian intifada between 1987 and 1993, and Gil helped design the unit's undercover operations to kill or capture terrorist fugitives. His grappling skills came into play in scores of nonlethal operations, such as tracking down escaped prison inmates and cracking Israeli underworld rings.

In 1989, Gil became Yamam's chief krav maga instructor, a role that also brought 3,000 border police officers under his aegis. He streamlined fitness and close-combat training for riot personnel charged with keeping order on the flashpoint Temple Mount in Jerusalem. His other duties included overseeing the formation of special forces in Israeli client states in Africa and classified intelligence missions abroad.

After his discharge in 1997, Gil trained the Israeli presidential secret service and other government agencies. He has provided consultation services for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police and the mayor's bodyguards. At 41, he regularly does reserve duty with IDF special forces, such as the Duvdevan unit, planning and participating in raids against Palestinian terrorists.

Q&A

Paladin: Why did you write The Citizen's Guide to Stopping Suicide Attackers?
IG: Like all Israelis, I have always been aware of the threat of terrorism, and I dedicated my life to fighting it. But the September 11 atrocities were a watershed that convinced me of the need to get this knowledge out to the widest audience possible. The hijackers' main weapon was not an arsenal of box cutters or their suicidal hatred of the West: it was the
lack of basic preparedness among their victims . My aim is to prevent, as much as possible, a repeat of those events by equipping readers with the mental and physical tools to fight for their lives.

Paladin: So the book draws on your combat expertise?
IG: Absolutely--everything from improvised quick-kill techniques to tips on how to survive the "friendly fire" risk during a SWAT rescue raid. I invented many of the methods described, and they are already in daily use by Israeli special forces and other government agencies.

Paladin: But surely in a real confrontation, it is the would-be victim's mental fortitude that dictates the final outcome. How do you provide psychological preparation?
IG: Along with my coauthor, Dan Baron, I have given readers an overview of suicide attacks throughout history that examines the methodology of this form of terrorism. I have demystified the threat in order to empower potential victims to fight back. Then it all comes down to a simple personal resolution: If someone is so bent on killing you that he or she is willing to die in the process, you have no choice but to strike first. A refusal or reluctance to kill the terrorist with no hesitation is not only stupid, it is immoral. And The Citizen's Guide to Stopping Suicide Attackers tells you how to make that moral
choice, whether facing hijackers aboard an airliner or a teenage fanatic about to detonate his explosives belt in a restaurant.

Paladin: Of all your experiences in the field, what best prepared you for this new advisory role?
IG: I would say my years in Yamam, a group of the most fearless and resourceful professionals one could hope to find. Yamam taught me that the right mix of moral courage and ruthlessness makes for success in outsmarting even the most devious of criminal minds. No terrorist situation is absolutely hopeless if the will to prevail is there. Because I am the grandson of Holocaust survivors from Poland, that message was especially important for me.

Paladin: What about your missions for the Mossad?
IG: All I can say about my government work abroad is that you learn to adapt to unfamiliar settings instantaneously. That, as much as anything, is key to gaining the upper hand when there are surprise confrontations.

Paladin: What do you find most rewarding about your job?
IG: Training Israeli and U.S. units that deal daily with the lethal threat is always heartening. It is good to know there is a new generation of capable fighters keeping innocent civilians safe. My wife might disagree, but when I'm called in as an IDF reservist to help neutralize some terrorist in the West Bank, there is the added thrill of being on the front line once more!

Paladin: You discuss terrorism in very clear ethical terms. Does moral indignation help a person win the good fight?
IG: Yes, as long as it does not turn into a piss-and-vinegar approach to fighting. I never hated any of the terrorists I took on; I just objected fully to the ideology they represented. Hatred is a waste of energy and a distraction from the focus needed to fight to the finish. If anything, if we are to survive the biggest threat of the 21st century, emphasis should be placed on love--love of life and liberty, and the willingness to protect them at all costs.

THE CITIZENS GUIDE TO STOPPING SUICIDE ATTACKERS
Secrets of an Israeli Counterterrorist