Frontex hires notorious Israeli drones for border security trials
IAI cooperated with European arms company Airbus on the Harfang UAV, a variant of the Heron. Airbus recommended the Harfang for border surveillance It also promoted the drone as being based on the 'combat proven' Heron. Criticised for promoting a drone, ‘tested’ by Israel in Gaza, for tracking refugees, Airbus stated that what “technology partners choose to do with their own developments in their own countries, […] is their own business.”
In 2015 Elta was in contact with several European governments on its ‘Virtual Border Patrol’-system, based on social media monitoring and intercepting mobile phone communications. Amnon Sofrin, homeland security projects manager of Elta and former head of the Intelligence Branch of the Mossad said that the balance between individual rights and national security needs to be shifted to the latter.
Magal Security Systems, which build a smart border fence, with camera's, detectors and sensors, around the Gaza Strip, uses this as a showcase to land border security contracts in Europe. Saar Koush, CEO of the company, said: “Anybody can give you a very nice Powerpoint, but few can show you such a complex project as Gaza that is constantly battle-tested.” Magal has already done border security projects in Spain, on the border between Bulgaria and Serbia and on the border between Slovakia and Ukraine.
Israel is the only non-European full partner country for EU research funding under its 7-year-Framework Programmes. IAI participated in three EU-funded border security research projects: OPARUS, AEROCEPTOR and TALOS. The last one was aimed at developing specially adapted combat robots which “will undertake the proper measures to stop the illegal action almost autonomously with supervision of border guard officers”.
In 2015 Switzerland decided to buy six unarmed surveillance Hermes 900 drones from Elbit, at a cost of approximately €230 million. The Hermes was selected over the Heron UAV “because it delivered the better overall result in all assessed criteria”.
In 2017 it was revealed that, before this decision was made, Swiss officials monitored tests with the Hermes drones at an airfield in the Golan Heights on three separate occasions. This went against official Swiss policy, which does not recognize the Golan Heights, an area taken from Syria after the 1967 war, as being part of Israel. Meanwhile the deal itself was criticized because the Hermes 900 was first used by Israel in the 2014 war in Gaza.
Meanwhile, prime minister Netanyahu of Israel, urges Europe to take an even tougher stance against refugees than it already does. During a meeting with the political leaders of Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Poland, the so-called Visegrad Group, in July 2017 he advised them to close their borders for refugees from Africa and the Arab world. According to Netanyahu Israel plays an important role in stopping migration to Europe and the EU should reward this by showing more support to Israel.
Ironically, the UNHCR recently noted that new Israeli policies to deport refugees from the dictatorships Sudan and Eritrea will lead to a situation where many of them are forced to flee again, now often trying to reach Europe, again facing many dangers, including passing through or getting stuck in the hell of Libya.
Using the Palestinan Territories as a testing ground, Israel has become a leading global producer and exporter of 'combat tested' drones. The EU shouldn't support this cynical selling strategy by awarding contracts to Israeli military companies as Frontex recently did. Moreover, the increasing cooperation with Israel and the use of military drones for border surveillance are signs of the EU's continuing boosting and militarisation of border security, which has devastating consequences for refugees.