Explain what an “intelligence raid” is. Try to explain it to someone who knows nothing.You arrive at a predetermined house: [the home of] someone with a high [risk] profile, [or] a person with no education and no degree, someone who’s been in prison or has a family member who’s been in prison, [or is related to] someone who is deceased.

That’s the [security] profile.Yes, that’s the point. You choose a house and “drop by” it. You go to the house, try to get as much information about it as possible; you take photos, collect the names of everyone who lives there, check how many windows there are, how many doors, how many entrances. Essentially, it’s sort of advance preparation in case they have to arrest someone there [in the house]. It’s reconnaissance, [in order] to have all the intel there is. There's an actual questionnaire, an actual form that is supposed to be filled out, that the soldiers [doing the mission] are supposed to fill out - who lives in the house, everyone’s phone numbers. This is a very, very violent activity.

Why?It’s done like an arrest. The exact same number of troops go there.

When does it happen?At night, in the middle of the night.

Only at night?Only at night.

And is it per week or per month?Every day you do two, four.

And who chooses the person?The Intelligence Officer’s assistant. The raid operations are initiated operations. It’s not like there’s an alert [to do the operation] from the Shin Bet or even the Police. It’s an activity where the Regional Brigade says they want it done, so it gets done. Like, it’s not obligatory. No one says to do it. We have a pool of [Palestinian] people. It’s happened that we went to the same house twice by accident. These are people that, honestly, so many soldiers come into their homes. 

And did these people do something?Some of them, but there’s nothing on them that’s.... It’s not really a legitimate reason to go arrest them or to go to their house. So, it’s people, let’s say, who once did something. So what? They might have been rehabilitated in prison. Maybe everything is okay. There’s no real way of knowing. [When] It’s a high [risk] profile, they’re the kind of people who might do something later on.

Do you remember what the official purpose of it was?There are a few. There was resistance inside the Battalion itself, actually; the Battalion didn’t like [raid operations], so the Brigadier General came to give us a lecture on why it gets done in Hebron; what the reasoning was. First of all, intel gathering. Of course, that works. [The second reason is] prevention, to show that there is a military presence in the area, a bit of intimidation. That's mostly it. Two main reasons.

Are you familiar with the term “creating a sense of being chased”?Yes.

Where do you know it from?Because that’s what they do in the army.Why do you say that?That’s what happens. We gave them a sense of persecution. We made them feel – here, we know where you live, we know when you’re home. You don’t say it [exactly] like that; it’s not written anywhere. But [we're] showing that there is a military force, absolutely.

Is ‘making our presence felt’ something they say?To ‘make our presence felt,’ sure, absolutely.