JERUSALEM – Thousands of police and counter-terrorism officers will be deployed throughout Jerusalem this week as nearly 50 world leaders gather in Jerusalem to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Some 10,000 police officers will line the city streets and along the road from the airport. IDF troops and the Shin Bet security service’s Unit 730 will provide security for the high ranking foreign statesmen that includes kings, presidents and prime ministers.
Dubbed “Operation Future,” it is one of the largest and most complex security operations in Israel’s history, the head of police operations, Commander Yishai Shalem, said, paralleled only by the funerals of late leaders Yitzhak Rabin’s and Shimon Peres.
Unit 730 will also accompany world leaders for meetings in Ramallah with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
“Things will need to run like a Swiss watch,” Shalem said.
Among the commemoration’s attendees are Russian President Vladimir Putin, Britain’s Prince Charles, US Vice President Mike Pence, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and advisor Jared Kushner, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, French President Emmanuel Macron, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zolenskyy, Dutch King William Alexander, Belgian King Philip, the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon Magnus.
Polish President Andrzej Duda snubbed the commemoration because he was not invited to speak.
Israel warned the Gaza ruling Hamas terror group against any attempt to interfere with the proceedings, Channel 13 reported. In recent days, the launch of incendiary devices into Israel from the Gaza Strip has resumed.