Members of mista‘arvim units are specifically trained to assimilate among the Arab population and operate within Arab societies to accomplish their missions.[3][4] Gary Spedding, a consultant on the Middle East, said that the activity of mista‘arvim "allows the Israeli military and border police to identify protesters they wish to arrest and detain. Israeli affairs expert Antoine Shalhat claimed that the main missions of the mista‘arvim “include gathering intelligence and counterterrorist operations.”[3] Mista‘arvim dress as Arabs, know the customs and etiquette of Arab society and speak fluent Arabic, in the appropriate dialect. Mista‘arvim have participated in public demonstrations and may support the protests as if they were demonstrators.[3][5]

In 1948, the commander of this Arab platoon Moshe Ben-Zvi expressed interest in assisting Israeli operations of biological warfare. It appears that subsequently, on 21 May, two mista‘arvim, David Mizrahi and Ezra Horin, operating out of Dorot and kibbutz Gevar‘am were captured by Egyptian troops as they attempted to poison with typhoid and diphtheria bacteria the wells from which Egyptian troops in Gaza drew their water supplies, an incident which led Egypt to make a formal protest to the Secretary General of the United Nations later that month.[6]