The Military Police Corps of the Israel Defense Forces (; shortened to Mishtara Tzvait)Israeli Defense Forces since 1973, Sam Katz, Osprey Elite 8, Osprey Publishing, @1986, P.60, , commonly called "Mem Tzadik" or "Mem Tzadi", is the Israeli military police and provost. The military police serves the Manpower Directorate during peacetime, and the Technological and Logistics Directorate during war.

The military police is a brigade-sized of about 4,500, currently headed by Brigadier General Yuval Ya'amin. It is responsible for various law enforcement duties, including aiding IDF commanders in enforcing discipline, security of all military instillations, guarding the military prisons, locating deserters, investigating crimes committed by soldiers, and helping man the Israel Defense Forces checkpoints

The corps puts an emphasis on discipline and follows the principle of A Choice in Life, which says no to traffic accidents, narcotics, alcohol, suicide and improper use of weapons.

History

Founding and initial organization

The IDF's Military Police Corps traces its roots to a Jewish youth paramilitary organization called Notrim, founded in 1936. It was legal under British Mandate law, unlike its many counterparts such as the Haganah. Its original purpose was to defend and police Jewish yishuv localities during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine. In 1937, the organization was given permission to expand, due to lack of British manpower allocated for defending Jewish villages in Palestine.

During World War II, the Notrim became part of the Jewish Brigade, where it grew and became more known among the Jewish public. Many new recruits joined the organization, where they went through a filtering process where it was decided what unit they were to be placed in. In 1944, an order was given by the Haganah to create its own military police in the Jewish Brigade, and the task was given to a captain therein, named Daniel Lifshitz (later Danny Magen). Lifshitz and three sergeants from the brigade who served at a base near Cairo, Egypt, were the initial nucleus of the organization, and recruited soldiers mainly from within the brigade itself.

During Israel's fight for independence between 1945 and 47, the Jewish leadership created the Military Police out of the organization, which became a small contingent of four units (Disciplinary Military Police, Traffic Supervision Military Police, Investigations Military Police, and the Prison Division), each proficient in its respective field. Originally, this force consisted of only 160 soldiers and officers, personally picked by the first commander, Danny Magen.

The force officially gained recognition in March–May 1948 as a result of the Riptin Commission and after the IDF formulated its disciplinary laws, and quickly expanded as the necessities of a military police service were made clear in the IDF. Originally, the traffic supervision units were organized into regions, serving in the most populated cities (Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa), while the discipline supervision units were subordinate to the various IDF brigades, with each brigade having its own small unit.

The headquarters and training base for the corps were set up in the Kiryat Meir base in Tel Aviv, then part of HaKirya compound. The first military police course took place during Israel's founding, including about 150 recruits and ending on June 2, 1948, immediately joined the effort to fight the invading Arab forces. The first course for women ended on August 20, 1948.

On October 13, 1949, the name of the military police was changed from Military Police Service (Sherut Mishtara Tzva'it) to Military Police Corps (Heil HaMishtara HaTzva'it). The first permanent headquarters were created on the ruins of the Arab village al-Shaykh Muwannis, today in Ramat Aviv (northern Tel Aviv), and the MP training base was also moved there.

A dog handler unit was founded in 1949 in the corps, consisting of about 50 soldiers and several hundred dogs. Its case was located in Kiryat Haim. The unit trained dogs to guard, assault, detect explosives and injured/dead bodies. Despite its many successes, it was disbanded on February 15, 1954, due to a lack of funding. Today, a similar unit is operated by the Israel Border Police.

World War II The pre-IDF military police force in the Jewish Brigade operated on the Italian front between March 3 and April 25, 1945, when the brigade was stationed there. They were trained at a British police academy in the conquered territory near Naples, where they studied military law enforcement and motorcycle riding. The unit was responsible for placing road signs and doing regular police patrols. By the end of the war, the force consisted of 39 soldiers, excluding the commander, Danny Magen.

The force also aided Holocaust survivors in the liberated Nazi concentration camps. A police force with the Star of David as part of its insignia increased the hope and motivation of the survivors. In addition, it participated in the interrogations of Gestapo members and Nazi war criminals.

1948 Arab–Israeli War

In the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the military police took both combat and supporting positions. In May 1948, the service was divided into regional fronts. The northern front, headed by future chief officer Yosef Pressman, consisted of 15 military policemen, most of them former Notrim, and was based in the police compound in Afula. It moved to Nazareth when the city was conquered from Arab forces.

Among others, the northern front's job was to deliver the Napoleonchik cannons, which turned the tide of several battles on the front. During Operation Brosh, a military police soldier managed to shoot down a Syrian plane using a Sten gun mounted on a jeep. The plane crashed near Ayelet HaShahar. The unit was also charged with stopping panicked Jewish residents of the Galilee from fleeing their homes, and Pressman personally stopped buses leaving Afula and Yavne'el, returning the men and evacuating the women and children to Haifa. After the completion of Operation Dekel, the military police was sent to Nazareth to enforce martial law, and worked directly under the military governor.

The military police was a major participant in Operation Shoter ("Policeman"). The operation was conducted during a ceasefire, which prohibited military actions, and was disguised as a military police law enforcement operation against an Arab uprising in Israel proper. A bus carrying two military police platoons made its way to Fureidis, where it prepared for an attack at dawn with the combat units. The attack failed and new recruits from the military police were called in as reinforcements. They reached a stalemate near Ayn Ghazal, and retreated on July 24 at 09:00. One military policeman was killed in action.

On the Jerusalem front, a military police company, under orders from Moshe Dayan and the command of Capt. Ze'ev Katz, was responsible for rationing the sparse food and supplies between the besieged population. The company, whose authority had been expanded to include gendarmerie duties due to a lack of civilian police in the besieged city, also dealt with deserter location and crowd dispersal. On June 26, 1948, a mass Haredi rally against doing activities prohibited on Shabbat as part of warfare, was dispersed with nightsticks and live weaponry.

In the south, the military police participated mainly in Operation Yoav and Operation Horev, mostly by placing road signs and guiding troop movement. In Operation Ovda, a squad of MPs joined the Negev Brigade on their road to Umm-Rashrash. After the operation, they helped create an airstrip in the area.

Law enforcement operations 1948–56 Aside from its combat duties during the War of Independence, the corps was active in its standard policing duties, as well as enforcing martial law in Arab towns and villages. Major operations and operations involving the civilian population were usually done in conjunction with the Israel Police.

In August 1948, information came in that a large percentage of the deserters of the time was living in the Kerem HaTeimanim neighborhood of Tel Aviv. In an operation codenamed Masrek ("Comb"), a strict six-hour curfew was imposed and a joint force of the military police and the Israel Police conducted house-to-house searches. More than 200 people were investigated, most of whom were transferred to the absorption base. Former Irgun members who refused to join the IDF following the Altalena affair were also arrested. The provisional military jail was overwhelmed with prisoners, and a mass-escape was staged on October 9, 1948. The prisoners returned voluntarily, but the event raised a scandal which saw the dismissal of several MP commanders, and the prison was handed over to the Kiryati Brigade and Palmach.

On September 17, 1948, after the murder of Count Folke Bernadotte by the Lehi, civilian and military police conducted a large-scale operation to arrest Lehi operatives in Jerusalem. Over a hundred members were arrested and taken through the Burma Road to the prison in Jaffa.

Following a deadly traffic accident near Ness Ziona on January 8, 1949, in which three IDF officers were killed, the military police initiated a nationwide law enforcement operation with the Israel Police, in order to curb traffic-related lawbreaking. It was codenamed Operation Mordechai (after Mordechai Nimtza-Bi, one of the officers killed in the traffic accident), which also served as the name for future missions with an identical purpose. During the original operation, almost 550 soldiers were caught and judged in a special ad hoc court, and approximately 1,700 civilians were issued fines. Two other major traffic supervision operations were carried out by the Military Police Corps in 1951 – the first on February 18, 1951, and the latter, Operation Bi'ur Hametz (not to be confused with the capture of Haifa), on April 21. Operation Bi'ur Hametz was conducted on a Shabbat, specifically to check the driving habits on this Jewish holy day.

The military police was also called into action during the austerity period in Israel, to combat the increasing black market on October 5, 1950. Roadblocks were set up and military vehicles were pulled over. Construction materials, furniture, home supplies, clothes and food were found in large quantities. The Criminal Investigations Division led the investigation efforts, which helped put many contrabandists in jail. In 1952, the Aluf Moshe Dayan of the Southern Command ordered the military police to instill order in the immigrant camps and ma'abarot in the south of the country.

Two major operations for locating deserters were carried out on May 10, 1952 (Operation Tihur – "Cleansing"), and in June of the same year (Operation UVaArta Hametz – "(You) cleansed for Passover"). After the two, similar operations were carried out at set intervals, and named Operation Small Filter for local jobs, and Operation Large Filter for nationwide operations.

Other than large-scale enforcement operations, MPs were also engaged in many ceremonial policing duties. In 1948 it was responsible for accompanying the first President of Israel, Chaim Weizmann, and subsequently guarded other notables and events. The corps guarded the 1951 IDF parade, the ballot boxes for Knesset elections, World Zionist Congress members, and sometimes the IDF Chief of Staff and Defense Minister of Israel. MPs also accompanied the British General Robertson on his visit, and other notables in Operation Harari on July 29, 1952, and Operation Hospitality on May 17, 1953.

1956 Suez War