In the wee hours in a glitzy European city, a Hollywood actress leaves a cafe. Outside, as expected, photographers await her. “One paparazzi tried to make a scene. He just ran at us like a freight train,” says Roman Tukh, a member of the actress’ security detail at the time.
“I was sure he would stop 2 or 3 meters from us and take a picture or two of the lady, but when he was 2 meters from us I realized he wasn’t stopping. At that moment I raised my hands to my face and steeled my body – and he just crashed into me. But he got a pretty serious punch in the face.”
This may not be an everyday scene, but it can illustrate one facet of the global personal security industry – and Israelis’ involvement.
Daniel Vekony, 33, and Roman Tukh, 39, started Guise Security in 2019. Tukh is a graduate of the Israel Airports Authority’s course, and before that he served in the Armored Corps’ reconnaissance unit. Hungarian-born Vekony, a graduate of the Shin Bet security service’s course, immigrated to Israel at 18 and served in the Givati infantry brigade. After years in VIP security, the two struck out on their own.
“We began as bodyguards and the companies made a huge premium on us,” Tukh says. “We decided end all that. In VIP protection, you sometimes work 18 to 20 hours a day. When your client ends their workday, you accompany them to a restaurant with their friends as well – and then wake up for work in the morning.”
Tukh has been in VIP security since 2006. His first project abroad came in 2015.
“At a certain point, completely randomly, I started a Facebook group. At first there were close friends from all kinds of jobs. Slowly, by word of mouth, the group began to grow. In the security world everybody knows everybody, and now we have over 4,500 members,” Tukh says, adding that the industry has many branches, all represented in the Facebook group.
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“There’s VIP protection, airline protection, embassy protection. There’s overt and covert protection – if somebody wants security around them but doesn’t want people to know they have security. That’s become popular lately; this kind of guard is very sought-after. Somebody sits on the other side of the bar and notices if you’re being followed. Sort of a MacGyver.”
Kim Kardashian and a bodyguard on her visit to Israel in 2015.
Olivier Fitoussi
Is there a lot of demand in Israel, is it a growing field?
“There’s demand around the world, and rightly so. Israeli security is like Coca-Cola. You don’t have to advertise yourself – you have a name. The question is whether you manage to maintain it or not. That’s why it’s easier for us as Israelis.”
Vekony adds: “In Europe, somebody with a long beard and big muscles can decide that he wants to be a bodyguard – go to Poland, Serbia or South Africa and take a private 26-day course for $4,000. … With Israelis, it takes about six years until they get to protect a private client.”
According to Vekony and Tukh, an Israeli security guard abroad makes a minimum of $5,000 to $7,000 a month, alongside an apartment, car, phone and several flights per year to visit family. “It varies,” Vekony says. “If somebody wants security for a month, for the family’s summer vacation, or is looking for permanent security, the cost will vary.” The shorter the time, the higher the relative price.
In what countries do the Israelis work – and what are the wage gaps between them?
Vekony: “Most of the work is in Europe and the United States, but there are also jobs in Singapore, China, India, Australia, all over the world. When somebody goes to work in Europe, the salary may be low for the market. If you go to Africa and are willing to work on military bases in the middle of nowhere, you may get $15,000 or $20,000 a month.
“There’s almost no limit to what the employers are willing to pay. Some are willing to pay crazy sums. This isn’t disco club work. We don’t get somebody willing to pay those prices for private security – the pinnacle of a bodyguard’s career – every week.
Apropos remote bases in Africa, is the image of the Israeli bodyguard fair?
Tukh: There are no Israelis protecting dictators, as far as I know. If somebody is doing that, he’s a criminal. I’ve heard that some guys go and protect drug cartels in South America during their post-army trip. But from what I understand, the value of human life there is less than a can of Coke.”
Members of the Israeli army’s Duvdevan counterterrorism unit in action.
IDF Spokesperson’s Unit
A dash of Adam Sandler
Vekony and Tukh aren’t alone. Dozens of security companies around the world, run by young Israelis, use their military experience and Israel Defense Forces branding. The road to work both in Israel and abroad depends on the prospective bodyguard’s record in the IDF.
The choice path for combat-unit veterans is what is known as the uniform course – by either the Shin Bet or the Airports Authority. Later, complementary courses prepare the graduates for subspecialties. Special Forces veterans take a shortened course with an emphasis on combat. In this industry there’s no shortage of prestige wars between special-forces veterans and regular infantry.
Uniform-course graduates usually begin with embassy work or the protection of government officials. Later they hit the private market, an unregulated bonanza.
The security work of IDF veterans isn’t monitored by the Defense Ministry. On the other hand, instruction work, or any work that includes the transfer of knowledge learned in the service of the state, requires approval from the ministry. Senior figures in the industry say there’s a gray zone, and some companies registered abroad don’t operate with the proper permission. In any case, enforcement is very scant.
The IDF brand is strong around the world. The internet is full of counterterrorism, the krav maga self-defense system and security experts with IDF backgrounds and stories about their military service and counterterrorism exploits.
According to experts in the industry, some firms are serious while others seem flimsy, with employees uncomfortably similar to Adam Sandler in “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan” or Erran Morad in Sacha Baron Cohen’s TV series “Who is America?” Then there’s the gray zone regarding compliance with Israeli or local regulations.
The focal point of Israeli operations in the sector is the United States, where violent crime never seems far away. Last year alone saw dozens of shooting incidents, 34 of them in schools, with 437 fatalities and 1,700 wounded.
Toward the end of the year, a wave of violent crime in Los Angeles led to a panic, and The Hollywood Reporter published an article on the city’s civilian security market. Watches, luxury bags and jewelry worth millions were stolen from the mansions of the rich and famous, as Hollywood went on full alert.
Madonna, surrounded by security guards, visiting the Western Wall Tunnel in Jerusalem’s Old City in August 2009.
Gali Tibbon / AFP
The ‘Fauda’ factor
A number of private security companies reported that customers wanted additional bodyguards, beefed-up patrols around their homes, and armor for their cars, doors and windows. These firms also reported a wave of new customers, both institutions and individuals, seeking self-defense training.
In California, many of the people behind these outfits are former Israelis. “Americans with previous military experience in the IDF are an untapped resource in the civilian security market,” states the website of San Diego-based Cohen Security.
Cohen Security was founded by Matthew Johnson, who in 2012 moved to Israel to serve in the IDF and after his discharge worked in the U.S. Embassy’s security detail for six years. On the website he notes that in the IDF he was an accredited noncommissioned officer, tactical shooting instructor and sniper team leader. He also took part in the 2014 operation to find three abducted teenagers, and served during the Gaza war that summer. He has been deployed on the Gaza and Lebanon borders, and in the West Bank.
Speaking to Haaretz by phone, Johnson said he employs five Americans with Israeli citizenship who served in the IDF, and he’s proud to provide employment in the United States to IDF graduates. He believes this contributes to both countries.
The draw of Israeli bodyguards stems from the country’s ability to fight anything thrown at it, Johnson says, adding that the market on the West Coast is full of Israeli companies, notably in Los Angeles and San Diego, and most of the former soldiers teach krav maga.
Johnson is by no means alone. Aaron Cohen served for three years in the IDF’s Duvdevan counterterrorism unit, founded a security company and reportedly has served as a bodyguard for celebrities including Kim Kardashian. He also has a website called Cherries – duvdevan means cherry in Hebrew.
Cohen, who did not respond to requests for comment, has appeared on U.S. television, including interviews with Larry King. According to information available online, Cohen was born in Canada, grew up in California, came to Israel to join the IDF and returned to the United States immediately after his service. He’s also a writer, director, actor and screenwriter.
The link to the Duvdevan brand may be wise, even if the connection is more tenuous than may appear. “Graduates of Duvdevan and Shayetet 13 [Israel’s Navy SEALs] have only a very limited perspective on security – and I say that as a graduate of Shayetet 13,” says Yechiel Salomon, CEO and owner of the Israeli security firm BHS Security.
“These are assault units. That gives you a perspective through the eyes of the attacker, but its doesn’t give you methodology or technological and intelligence know-how. Organizations such as Jewish communities and serious global companies need a far more professional and comprehensive vision, so I always recommend that people look into who they’re hiring and ask for concrete recommendations,” Salomon adds.
“Israel is branded around the world as a counterterrorism success, so that catches on overseas. The question is what happens in practice, what’s the product you get. Duvdevan is something that people flaunt because of ‘Fauda,'” he says, referring to the Israeli television series. “People want bodyguards ‘like in “Fauda.”‘ It’s great marketing.”
But actually, Salomon says, “those who don’t know the work make it up. Some of them really are experts. A lot of security people are at a very high level and have enormous experience.
“But there’s another side to the story that’s very developed around the world but less so in Israel: security for the civilian-business sector. Providing security for clients worth billions of dollars isn’t like security for the prime minister. You don’t travel in a convoy and have all the traffic lights go green for you, and you can’t just detain anybody you want. You have to do things differently, more sophisticated.”
