5 family members massacred

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Golan

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In a small settlement near Nablus, five members of a family were massacred by two terrorists that infiltrated a home in the settlement of Itamar. Father, mother and three childen (ages 11-3 months) were stabbed to death after they went to bed following the Fridaynight Sabbath dinner. Three children survived, a 17 year old girl who was out with her friends until midnight, and two brothers that slept in a bedroom that was not known to the terrorists. The mother apparently awoke before she was murdered, and managed to shoot twice from her husbands semi-auto before the terrorists killed her, she did not hit them. The news article says that she was untrained in the art of using a handgun and was unfamiliar with it's proper use. According to the same article, they didn't lock the front door as they felt safe in a settlement with an electronic intruder system in place so all the terrorists needed to do was walk right in unannounced. The intruder system worked but the patrol found no signs of an intrusion and wrongly assumed either a fault or that an animal had touched the wire. The intruder system once again alerted the security of the settlement when the terrorists left but again the patrol found nothing (apparently they were untrained volunteers).
Terrorists have used ladders in the past, I assume they did so again as the fences are usually no more than 8 feet high.
I post this for a number of reasons;
A) Situational awareness or lack of,
B) Placing too much trust in systems, even when they work properly,
C) Training complacency,
D) Lack of understanding a motivated aggressor.

They buried the 5 family members today and instead of instituting a training system for those that need it, my government decided that they will build 500-800 new housing units as a means of detering future terrorists. :cuss:

Yesterday, I read about the second perp on trial for the Connecticut home invasion that helped rape and murder the wife and daughters of the home. The same lack of the above (A.B.C.D) had the same outcome for the American family as it did for the Israeli family.

Does anyone see the difference between a Home Invader and Terrorist aside from motive perhaps?
 
They buried the 5 family members today and instead of instituting a training system for those that need it, my government decided that they will build 500-800 new housing units as a means of detering future terrorists.
Click to expand...

Actually, that's not a bad response. If you attack us, you lose more land.

As for strategy, ultimately it is up the the individual and families. Anybody who relies on the police or some other governmental system to protect them is a fool.
 
(Geckgo) What? I don't think Golan meant to define the difference in the words Terrorist vs Home-Invader. I think he meant (correct me Golan if I am mistaken) the tactical difference between the two.
 
Both were home invasions. I agree that ABCD apply to both and that attention to these items would certainly result in better defensive preparation, if not prevention, of a tragedy.

Also, as others at THR have previously pointed out, home invasion with a theft motive generally attempts to avoid confrontation. By contrast, home invasion with a victim motive can be considered as terrorism.
 
[Moderator Comment: The politics, sociology, and history driving terrorism are off-topic for THR. Focus the discussion on here-and-now Strategy and Tactics.]
 
I'm in agreement with the OP. I would take from this the following points:


  • Keep the door locked, especially at night, or when you are sleeping. Because walls aren't transparent, you might not know someone is entering your house until it's too late. Locked doors and windows may not keep someone out. They may not even slow them down much. But they'll almost certainly cause the invader to make noise that will get attention.
  • Put little faith in alarm systems. How many times do you hear a car alarm and think, "A car is being stolen!" Never. House alarms are a similar phenomenon. You get far more false alarms than positive ones.
  • Don't put much faith in the police coming to the rescue, either.
  • Know how to use your gun, including how to hit your target. This cannot be stressed enough. Don't wait until you're startled from your sleep to try to figure it out.
  • Don't count on the benevolence of your attackers. Resist! Fight! Criminals want and often require compliant victims. Don't make it easy for them.
 
One thing that was obviously missing in this settlement were dogs. I know a lot of people don't put much stock in them but those are people who have not been in the situation to try and sneak up on a house or group of houses with several dogs. In Iraq we tried on multiple occasions to move into positions on foot during the night to hole up for the next day in a position with a good vantage point. If the area has dogs it is pretty much impossible to approach a community without being given away. Of course dogs in that part of the world are considered dirty animals so I would be willing to bet that the settlers did not have any or few families had them. In the small farming communities in Iraq they were half wild and roamed around the villages at night and were a real nightmare for operations at night that required stealth. Few people keep them as pets in the Middle East so a fenced in settlement would probably have few if any dogs.
 
Instead of dogs, what about birds?
Some folks don't like dogs. I know geese make great watchdogs. I wonder if any caged birds are smart enough to detect danger and make noise.
 
I agree 100% with the OP, but point D stands out (lack of understanding a motivated aggressor). Living in a similar situation, I would assume that I had a target on my back 24/7, and plan appropriately. Not being trained and familiar with a firearm in the house can easily become tragic.
 
wrongly assumed either a fault
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Installing a security system that results in frequent false alarms will condition you to ignore the alarm. Yet you will likely lower your state of preparedness, because you have a security system. This makes you worse off for having the system.... and the $$ you pay for it, takes resources away from more productive solutions.

IMO, you have to keep it simple and reliable.... and then when you have an alarm, you have to believe that it's telling you the truth and respond accordingly...

We burn wood (it's a Maine thing) and have multiple CO alarms in the house. Most are simple stand alone, plug in the socket Kiddie alarms and the only time I think of them is when the back up battery dies. So two weeks ago when one of them alarms and reads 18 on the DRO.... you can bet I didn't unplug the alarm, drop the battery and go back to bed....
 
My alarm system is for waking me up, I don't expect much else that will happen in time.

I probably need a good dog too.
 
In my opinion, that's a whole other situation going on over there which most of us are unacquainted with.....:what:

Gotta sum up one's options and choose.
 
Those of you who have built a home.... what consideration did you give to security and defensibility when designing the floor plan and landscaping?
Even when one has committed to locking doors and windows, having some sort of alarm, practicing with one's firearms, etc... the layout of some homes could make most of that of little use, depending on where the intruder gets into the home, in relation to where the occupants of the house are. If you're at one end of the home, and an intruder is coming in at the other end, and that's where your children are, there may not be a whole lot one can do to fight back. Without knowing the layout of the home and arrangement of surrounding property in the case above, it's hard to say if that played a role in the outcome of this tragedy. Maybe the topic of fortifying a home deserves a new thread, but I think the idea ought to be kept in mind when discussing what we can do to be safe from attack in our homes.
It's one of the reasons I plan on never living in an apartment building again. While they usually offer fewer points of entry for an intruder, they pose a bunch of other issues.
 
Something as simple as a locked door may have averted this tragedy. It's likely the noise associated with defeating a strong door would have given the father (who I assume knew how to use his gun) time to react.

Also, dogs, geese, donkeys... or any other loud and territorial creature would help.
 
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Those of you who have built a home.... what consideration did you give to security and defensibility when designing the floor plan and landscaping?
Click to expand...
1. Lot location. Bought a lot on a dead end private road out from the city. Private road would allow neighbors to collectively agree to install a gate, if desired. Out from the city is not as likely to be involved in riots and other urban SHTF sceanrios.
2. Set back from street. Don't put the house on the curb.
3. Visibility. Be able to see what's in your driveway.
4. Window/door selection. Do your homework.
5. Floor plan. All bedrooms were upstairs. (Great for young family, less so for seniors.)
6. Front porch and rear deck ran full length of house. Any traffic on those boards could be heard inside. Gargage at one end and other end was 6' above ground.
7. This house was vinyl siding. Easiest way to break in was probably with a good knife or seldge hammer right thru the exterior wall.

We moved to an older brick ranch. Installed a heavy gauge, insulated garage door where none existed. Replaced all windows and doors with attention to locksets and jambs. Front door also has a heavy-duty glass storm door with deadbolt. Yard is fenced and gates are chained with padlocks. Full flood lights from either of two 3-way switches at each end of house.

There's always more than can be done. I know I should have a dog and have greatly enjoyed them in years past, but lifestyle is not presently conducive to that. Why not an alarm system... I really should look into it. Not interested in a subscription, but by now there are probably web-based alarms that can let ME know via cell phone (Anyone with this type of alarm experience, vendor recommendations, etc ???)
 
Untrained birds make good alarms at night at least, even if the particular birds you might have aren't too smart. Over the years my family has had a number of cockatiels, and now we own a sun conure. Some of them were smart cookies and some of them were as dumb as a box of rocks, but all of them would make a lot of fuss if if they got spooked at night. I don't know if you could train them to be guards during the day tho.
 
Someone entering your home with violent intent is ... someone entering your home with violent intent, regardless of label. No need to discuss anything else. :)

I'd say that Factor D above is the root of the problem. Failure to understand and prepare for their adversary led to everything else.

We didn't design our home, but we do have an alarm (mainly for burglars; nobody I know sets their alarm before bed). We also have motion spots, and will have a generator before it's all said and done. I also have my wife trained to arm herself, get behind the bed or in the closet, and call the cops on speakerphone.
 
Just a thought but no one has mentioned neighborhood involvement.
We have a phone chain for reaction to untoward things. I know it was the middle of the night but us old guys get up several times a night. One night I saw something.... results were quite gratifiying.
 
yup.... leave it to Quds net to give us an unbiased "just the facts" report on the "occupied palestine" web site...

way do deflect with the age old "stingy jew" stereotype.... :(
 
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