Police to close highway, deploy thousands for Peres funeral

Thousands of police officers, hundreds of Shin Bet security service agents, hundreds of Magen David Adom medical service personnel and two Jerusalem hospitals will work on Thursday and Friday to ensure that the ceremonies for Shimon Peres’s funeral in the capital go off without incident, officials said.

With representatives from more than 70 countries around the world attending, the funeral represents one of the largest security operations in the history of the country, according to officials from the police, Shin Bet and MDA.

The Route 1 highway into Jerusalem, the country’s main artery connecting the capital to Tel Aviv, will be closed on Friday from 7:30 a.m. until 9:30 a.m. and then again from 12:30 p.m. until 2:00 p.m., police said.

Beginning at 6:30 a.m., streets around the Mount Herzl cemetery will also be closed, police said.

According to police, the main locations that will require their attention are Ben Gurion International Airport, through which hundreds of foreign officials will enter the country; the Knesset, where Peres’s coffin has been put on display until the funeral; the Peres Center for Peace; the hotels where visiting VIPs will be staying on Thursday night; and Mount Herzl, where Peres will be laid to rest on Friday.

The Shin Bet will be specifically responsible for providing personal protection to “more than 60 people from Israel and the rest of the world, including 20 presidents, 15 foreign ministers, five heads of state and VIPs from various countries that are coming to represent their nations at the funeral,” the agency said.

US President Barack Obama, former US president Bill Clinton, the United Kingdom’s Prince Charles, French President Francois Hollande, and German President Joachim Gauck will be among those attending the funeral.

To meet the challenge of guarding those dozens of dignitaries, hundreds of Shin Bet agents will be operating on “a variety of missions and in different venues beginning today, September 29, with the arrival of individuals until the end of the ceremony and their departure from Israel,” the agency said.

The Shin Bet said it has also coordinated with security personnel from the numerous countries with representatives in attendance.

Some 8,000 police officers will take part in providing the security for the event, and additional firefighters and rescue personnel have also been put on alert, the police said.

“This will be the police’s most complex operation, and it has prepared for it in a short amount of time. I was impressed that the preparations were professional and that the level of preparedness is so high. However, we are still in a sensitive time period, which has included ‘lone wolf’ attacks and incitement on social networks. Therefore, the police must be prepared for possible of responding to any scenario, and the public is called upon to be vigilant,” Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said Thursday in a meeting with police.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service also called in additional volunteers to the capital in order to provide medical care for the thousands of people expected to pay their last respects to Peres at the Knesset and at his funeral. Additional personnel were also sent to Ben Gurion airport in case of emergency with incoming VIPs.

On Thursday and Friday, both regular and intensive care ambulances will be on standby, along with fast-response motorscooters and medical personnel on foot, MDA said in a statement.

“This is one of the largest security events ever. We have reinforced the city of Jerusalem and the surrounding area. We’ve set up specialized units at central locations in order to reach any place necessary,” Gil Moskowitz, MDA vice president of operations, said Thursday.

Jerusalem’s two main hospitals — Shaare Zedek Medical Center and Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem — were also put on high alert ahead of the ceremonies.

“Meetings were held with security and medical personnel from world leaders who will be arriving, including the [US President Barack] Obama, in order to coordinate medical treatment if, heaven forbid, there is a need for it,” Shaare Zedek’s spokesperson Shoham Rubio said.

Hadassah Ein Kerem put its trauma center staff on high alert, and staff from every medical unit will remain “on hospital property until the end of the funeral,” according to hospital spokesperson Hadar Alboim.

The hospitals will be open to the public as usual; however, due to closures on some of the roads in the city, both hospitals encouraged anyone coming in for surgery or other treatments to arrive between 7:00 and 7:30 a.m. to avoid missing their appointment.