A reported 10,000 police officers will take part in securing the two-day visit of US President Donald Trump to Israel, in what is estimated to cost the US taxpayer approximately $100 million.
Trump will make his first visit to Israel as President of the United States a week today, but an airlift of tons of equipment to be used during the visit has already begun, according to a report in Israel’s Channel 2.
Approximately thirty C-17 American planes are expected to be needed in order to transport some 56 vehicles including 14 limousines as well as Trump’s presidential limousine known as “The Beast.”
Trump’s armored limousine, which is specially equipped to be heavily shielded from gunfire, grenades and explosive devices and to be resistant to biological and chemical attack, will reportedly land in Israel in the coming days.
Moreover, three trucks will be carried over as well, containing armored glass to be installed in the windows of Jerusalem’s King David hotel where Trump will be staying.
Trump will also be traveling with a large delegation from the US, numbering close to one thousand individuals. The delegation will not only include many of Trump’s White House officials, logistics personnel and security personnel but also a number of journalists. Specifically, the delegation comprises: logistics
personnel, medical personnel, security guards, computer experts, visit coordinators and White House officials.
Trump’s delegation is large enough for the Dan Hotels chain in Israel to have reserved three hotels in Jerusalem exclusively for all the personnel who are accompanying Trump.
In addition to having closed the King David Hotel to the public, the Dan Hotels has also
reserved the nearby Dan Boutique and Dan Panorama as well.
Approximately twenty Secret Service personnel are already exchanging intelligence with the Israeli Security Agency the Shin Bet to make
the necessary security precautions before Trump’s arrival. During the visit, Trump plans to visit Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Masada and Ramallah.
Trump will arrive at Ben-Gurion Airport, from where he will fly by helicopter to Jerusalem to visit the Old City and Yad Vashem, and sleep in the King David Hotel’s presidential suite.
Officers from the full range of regular and
special patrol units including undercover units,
border police and counterterrorism units will
secure the visit, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.
Police have prepared a contingency plan in case
inhospitable weather forces the US president to
drive from the airport to the capital.
This will involve armed security operatives along designated routes and a lockdown of traffic, with Yad Vashem closed to all visitors on the day of the presidential visit.
Trump’s predecessor, Barrack Obama, suffered an embarrassing setback during a similar historic visit to Israel in 2013 when his armored limo broke down on the way to the airport after the driver accidentally put gas in the tank
instead of diesel.
Jerusalem post
