Inside the weapons smuggling network threatening Israel from within

MembersInside the weapons smuggling network threatening Israel from within

Hundreds of thousands of weapons are smuggled into Israel every year through the Egyptian and Jordanian borders using sophisticated drones and organized smuggling networks, posing what Israeli officials now define as a strategic threat.

(JNS) The smuggling of weapons into Israel is no longer a marginal criminal phenomenon but an ongoing strategic threat that traces a clear blood trail: from porous borders with Egypt and Jordan, through drones and increasingly sophisticated smuggling methods, into the heart of criminal networks inside Israel, and in a growing number of cases into lethal terrorist operations.

This axis is well known to Israel’s security establishment. Its origins lie in Iran, continuing through Arab states, crossing the Egyptian and Jordanian borders into Israel, and from there flowing steadily into Judea and Samaria. It is a self-sustaining route that combines economic and nationalist interests and blurs the line between organized crime and terrorism. A deal that begins as a profit-driven criminal transaction often ends in a terrorist attack.

When weapons are smuggled on such a massive scale, prices collapse and firearms become readily available to almost anyone willing to pay, for any purpose and against any target.

Within Israel, the Bedouin village of Bir Hadaj in the Negev has been identified as a central hub in the smuggling chain....

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