Eye on the Enemy: Yemeni -"Israeli" Ties? Robots to Patrol Instead of Soldiers
It appears that the possibility of returning to negotiations with Colombia over a different form of the UAV deal is being examined as well, even though "Israeli" sources believe that the chances for a deal are not so high. Over the past year, there have been reports of Colombian procurement of "Israeli"-produced UAVs, primarily the Hermes-900 by Elbit Systems. However, Colombia is still seeking wide-scale UAV procurement.
Yemeni -"Israeli" Ties?
Channel 7 - (Arutz Sheva)
Deputy Minister of regional cooperation received an e-mail asking him to participate in a conference held in Beirut, Lebanon, entitled "The Future of Yemen and the Requirements of Building the Modern Civil State". The e-mail was signed by the president of organization of the Free Republic of Yemen. Abdo Bashr, the president of the organization, expressed his desire to cooperate with "Israel" in political, economic and technological fields, and indicated that he sees "Israel" a central and important key to the success of the process of building the new civil state in Yemen.
The Deputy Minister, Ayoob Kara gave the security division the invitation attached with an approval request on this challenging trip, but the division refused giving approval due to the risks associated with this visit.
Kara said that the security establishment must think of founding a special security unit for such cases that require secret flights to any country, due to changes taking place in the Arab world and the openness of the opposition parties in the Arab states that see "Israel" as the key of success of any change required; Recently the Arab league and gulf countries have asked the support of Deputy minister Kara to stop the violence in Syria.
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"Israel" Offers Merkava IV Tanks to Colombia
"Israel" Defense - Arie Egozi
During discussions with Colombia, a possible procurement of 25 to 40 tanks was discussed. The price of the Merkava tank has never been published, as it is produced by the "Israeli" army and has been provided so far only to "Israeli" forces. But experts assess that the price of such a tank would reach approximately $6 million.
Colombia is concerned over the accelerated armament of its neighbor Venezuela, ruled by President Hugo Chavez, and has noticeably increased its military procurement. Several years ago, Colombia procured the Kfir fighter aircraft, in addition to ground and naval systems. Colombia is also on the verge of procuring UAVs from "Israel".
Apparently, additional procurement of "Israeli" products was also brought up during the visit of "Israel's" Minister of "Defense", Ehud Barak, to Colombia last month.
Several years ago a large-scale UAV deal with Colombia was cancelled due to a conflict between Aerospace Industries and Elbit Systems Company. Since then, tension has existed in the "defense" procurement relations between both countries. Deals with "Israel" were also an issue of political dispute in Colombia.
In addition to the attempt to rescue the UAV deal in another form, the "Israeli" security establishment is trying to convince the Colombian government to procure the Merkava IV tank and Namer APCs from "Israel".
"Israel" will be exporting technologies developed for the various Merkava tank models, mainly as part of programs to upgrade old tanks. One of the leading projects in this field was the upgrade of the Turkish Army's M-60 tanks, which was carried out by "Israel" Military Industries. However, the tank has never been exported as a complete system.
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Robots to Patrol Borders Instead of Soldiers
Channel 7 - (Arutz Sheva)
After 12 years of abducting "Israeli" soldiers in Shebaa Farms, and after 8 years of returning their bodies and burying them in "Israel", the families of Avraham, Avitan and Sawaid are developing robots that will replace IDF soldiers on patrols along "Israel's" borders.
Haim Avraham, father of Benny Avraham, told Arutz Sheva on Wednesday that the revolutionary project is being developed in collaboration with the IDF's Engineering Corps and the College of Management in Rishon LeZion. "The project aims to develop robots to fill the roles of soldiers patrolling the border and so far the college has developed six robots," Avraham said. Avraham hopes other institutions will join the project, "The institute which is creating the robots will not be able to evolve unless additional parties, other than the three families, support it as well," he said. "It requires many resources, and the "IAF" is collaborating with us. We are making efforts to get more resources and have so far distributed 160 scholarships to students participating in the project. We also received a large donation from an anonymous donor for the project."
Avraham said that he believes the robots will be able to provide a partial solution to kidnappings of soldiers, noting, "It's not a solution to all the kidnappings, just for border patrols. Terrorist organizations take advantage of the proximity to the border and examine our soldiers' routines. Our robots will move along the border and, based on a decision of the commander stationed at the control point, they will also be able to shoot."
In the interview, Avraham also spoke of "Israel's" decision to transfer 100 bodies of Palestinian Authority "Arab terrorists", as a goodwill gesture to PA Chairman Abbas. According to him, the gesture was "a scandal", adding, "All these gestures only encourage them to continue to kill us. They release bodies of "terrorists", whose hands are stained with blood. They do not sit with us for negotiations, they refuse to accept invitations from us, so what's the point of these gestures? Our families waited three and a half years without receiving information about their children, in the end we received dead bodies in exchange for living terrorists, and here we again succumb to the whims of the Palestinians."
Source: Hebrew papers, Translated and Edited by moqawama.org
