TEL AVIV – The Israeli company that built a barrier along the Jewish state’s border with the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip is seeking to expand into the U.S. market, eyeing the possibility of aiding in the construction of a barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Magal Security Systems Ltd. built barriers along the Egyptian and Jordanian borders, and is currently bidding to construct a wall along Kenya’s border with Somalia.
“If Donald Trump makes it to the White House, Mexico could be next,” reported Bloomberg in a profile of the Israeli firm.
The news agency reported Magal is closely following the developments surrounding Donald Trump’s proposal to build a barrier along the nearly 2,000 mile-long U.S.-Mexico border.
“We would join forces with a major U.S. defense company that has experience with such projects worldwide,” the company’s CEO, Saar Koursh, told Bloomberg. “We’ve done it in the past and we would definitely want to do it.”
“The border business was down, but then came ISIS and the Syrian conflict,” Koursh said. “The world is changing and borders are coming back big-time.”
Reported Bloomberg:
Gaza, the scene of three wars with Israel since 2008, has become a key sales prop for Magal’s “smart fences,” which are integrated with video cameras, ground sensors, motion detectors, and satellite monitoring. …
Koursh said he is looking for growth beyond Israel and Magal’s biggest market in the U.S., eyeing acquisitions in Europe. The company will also put a greater emphasis on selling products – such as fences, cameras, and detection equipment – over project management.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has led a national security campaign to surround Israel with barriers to protect it from external enemies.
In January, it was reported that in addition to its above-ground barrier with Gaza, Israel is planning to move ahead with a massive above- and underground concrete barrier along the entire border with the Hamas-controlled territory in an effort to stop Hamas terror tunnels from reaching Israeli territory.
In February, Netanyahu announced he is working to surround the entire country with fences and barriers “to defend ourselves against wild beasts” that surround the Jewish state.
“We are preparing a multi-year project to encircle Israel with a security fence, to defend ourselves in the Middle East as it is now, and as it is expected to be,” Netanyahu stated at the time.
“At the end, in the State of Israel, as I see it, there will be a fence that spans it all,” said Netanyahu. “I’ll be told, ‘This is what you want, to protect the villa?’ The answer is yes. Will we surround all of the State of Israel with fences and barriers? The answer is yes. In the area that we live in, we must defend ourselves against the wild beasts.”
He said the plan would take several years to complete and that besides the fence around the country his government will also work to close the breaches in the security barrier that straddles the West Bank.
“This thing costs many billions, and we’re working on a multi-year plan of prioritization so it would be spread out over years in order to gradually build it, and to complete it to defend the State of Israel,” Netanyahu added.
Israel’s barriers are largely aimed at keeping terrorists out, but another major priority has been to stem the flow of illegal African migrants attempting to cross into the Jewish state along the Israel-Egypt border. To that effect, Israel in 2013 completed construction of a border fence along the Israel-Egypt border, and the numbers of illegals crossing the border massively decreased.
Israel began construction of the West Bank security barrier in 2002 at the height of the second Palestinian intifada, or terrorist war of shootings and suicide bombings targeting Israeli civilians. That intifada was launched after PLO leader Yasser Arafat rejected an Israeli offer of a Palestinian state during U.S.-mediated negotiations in the summer of 2000.
Upon the completion of a significant continuous section of the security fence in 2003, Israel already saw a marked decrease in the number of suicide bombers able to penetrate Israeli cities.
About 95 percent of the barrier consists of a chain-link fence backed up by high-tech surveillance systems and not the concrete barrier routinely shown by the news media. The concrete barriers are usually only located in areas where the wall intersects with Israeli communities and roads, including areas of previous Palestinian shooting attacks.
Trump has pledged numerous times to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border to stem the flow of illegal aliens and criminal drug traffickers.
“I would build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me, and I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border. And I will have Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words,” Trump declared during his speech announcing his 2016 presidential bid.
Aaron Klein is Breitbart’s Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio.” Follow him on Twitter @AaronKleinShow. Follow him on Facebook.
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