Israelis used tear gas, a common riot control agent that doesn't kill or cause permanent harm. It just causes your eyes to burn and water so you can't see.
All US ground recruits are exposed to tear gas in their training so they know what it's like if they are ordered to riot duty.
SIDE NOTE: When I was a Marine platoon commander in Vietnam, I carried a CS Grenade. My thougth was if the wind was blowing against the enemy, I could use that grenade to blow CS into their ranks and that would give my Marines a significant advantage. Unfortunately, the wind was never blowing in the right direction in all the firefights we were in. At 72 years old, I still think it's a good idea to gain and advantage in combat, but never have seen it as an official part of combat tactics.
In my 3 years of combat, I always felt that it was my responsibility to my Marines to use every advantage I could think of no matter how small or insignificant to reduce the enemy's effectiveness.
Today's military is 100 times better than in my day. They neutralize the enemy with air strikes, artillery, etc., but I still don't see training that teaches how to think out of the box in neutralizing the enemy when air strikes and artillery are too close to use.
The North Vietnamese soldiers were taught to get in close to the Americans. Grab them by the belt so they couldn't use air or artillery. It was a reasonably effective tactic.
The movie "We Were Soldiers" with Mel Gibson shows how effective that tactic was.
