Reporter's Notebook: Israeli forces are facing a significant national security threat, as Egyptian smugglers send hundreds of weapon-carrying drones per month into Israel.
On all sides, an ultra-still, uniquely desert quietude and tranquility surrounds the sand dunes we are standing atop, spoiled only occasionally and briefly by the sound of gusts of wind. This area – the Bar-Lev Lookout Point – is Israel’s most peaceful border, the border with Egypt. And yet, a bit northeast of Ezuz and a bit southeast of Nitzana and Kadesh Barnea, it is far less peaceful than it was in the past, leaving the IDF, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), and police to play catch-up against the latest dangerous trends.
From 2010-2013, Israel built a new, tougher fence to better defend its border with Egypt, especially from illegal African migrants who had come into Israel in recent years – estimated at more than 60,000. The hope was that this new fence would also reduce all kinds of cross-border smuggling.
But then the smugglers learned from Hezbollah and Hamas that they could outsmart the IDF using cross-border tunnels and a variety of hard-to-track tactics to restore their smuggling operations – if not persons who were harder to move around fast, then drugs. (Read More)
