Israeli PMCs can be divided into three groups:
1. company, working in Israel.
2. Israeli companies, operating beyond the borders of the country.
3. company, for various reasons, the Israelis registered in other countries, eg, in order to facilitate access to customers.
In Israel, where the threat of terrorist attacks - is a daily reality, State structures are physically unable to ensure the safety of each school, shopping center or hospital, concentrating efforts on strategic and government facilities. The rest goes to private security agencies. but, in the past two decades, the process of privatization of large state-owned corporations and, as a result, reducing monopolies in various fields, including, and security. Vacant niche once occupied private firms, eg, giants such security areas as "Modi'in Ezrahi" and "Amishav".
Today, private operators protect the power plant, airports and border terminals (for example, PPC named Yitzhak Rabin between Eilat and Aqaba).
Even military dogs "okecie" division, Learning Search explosives, replaced by private firms pets, eg, K-9.
Employees of firms - is yesterday's soldiers, serving in a combat unit of the Israeli army. Especially attractive work in this area for demobilized soldiers does the fact, that after a certain period, the state pays them a one-time allowance.
Began the process of worldwide implementation of private military companies in conflict zones, and touched by the Israeli army. The IDF handed over some checkpoints in Judea and Samaria under the responsibility of private owners. The aim of this process was to attempt to reduce the friction between soldiers and civilians at checkpoints, through which tens of thousands of Palestinians to get to work in Israel. Employees, running on these PPC, receive appropriate training, learn Arabic, and most importantly - people in civilian clothes, rather than soldiers, which should create a more peaceful and tranquil atmosphere. but, in fact, the result was unexpected. Palestinian workers prefer to make many kilometers of hooks, but to cross the border through checkpoints, it served the military. apparently, blame this absurdity was careful execution of their duties staff, receive a salary, relatively eighteen guys in uniform.
In Gaza, militants of the terrorist organization Hamas tried first to attack was a joint industrial zone. At first, because the existence of a relatively prosperous population strata, Earn on cooperation with Israel, It presents a danger alternative earnings on committing acts of terrorism. The second reason was the vulnerability of industrial zones, where every day come to work tens of thousands of Palestinian workers.
Employees of private firms on an equal basis with the army suffered casualties. AT 2008 was a terrorist organization "Islamic Jihad", dressed in women's clothing, He managed to enter the territory of the industrial zone "Nitzan shalom", where he opened fire on guards, killing two.
It happens and tragic mistakes. In March 2003 in the south of Hebron killed two private security guards. IDF special forces soldiers took them for terrorists and caused the helicopter fire support. One of those killed just four days ago was discharged from the army, and the second was an army officer, received permission to work while on vacation.
One of the main differences of this type of companies from the western PMCs in, that the West is losing the privateers have little impact on public opinion, Israeli society is equally sensitive to the death of a soldier, and employees of PMCs. The reason is very simple - they employ the same soldiers, recently completed their military service.
Before turning to the companies, operating outside of Israel, take a look at the activities of the Israeli PMC's what angle. Most of the countries, wherein PMCs, It located in the Middle East or the Muslim population of the country. Officially, no Arab country will not allow openly operate in its territory by the Israeli PMC. Furthermore, any employee of the Israeli company, working in hot spots, It is a potential hostage and a bargaining chip in the endless Arab-Israeli conflict. These two factors make the job unprofitable companies in the ordinary sense, that is, when the private army functions. Therefore, Israeli companies are focused on the areas of, as training, planning, project development, equipment and arms supply.
The first type of companies, operating outside of Israel, It represents large corporations, registered in Israel and usually headed by retired army ranks or former employees of a high-ranking secret service. In their work they rely on communications with the Ministry of Defense and the military industry. The activities of these companies is controlled by a special department in the Ministry of Defense, responsible for arms sales and military cooperation, abbreviated - Shibata.
Especially often mentioned in the Russian press two Israeli companies, supply weapons to Georgia. GlobalCST и Defensive Shield, led by retired generals (Gal Hirsch and Israel Ziv), also engaged in the training of the Georgian Armed Forces, and delivery of a wide variety of weapons and ammunition. It should be noted, that Gal Hirsch was actually forced to resign from the IDF after the Second Lebanon War. Too many accused him of involvement in the failure and unpreparedness of the army. Nevertheless, Georgia, these facts are not confused.
"Leo Dan" company, led by retired Gen. Zeev Zichron, It operated in Africa, training police Congo President Denis Sassou-Ngeso. "Leo Dan" works commissioned by other military companies - «Geo-Strategic Consultancy», but about it will be discussed below.
In South America, too, is not without Israel. So, sitting in a Moscow prison, a former colonel in IDF, hero of the Yom Kippur War, Yair Klein in his book talked about, how in 1989 year he was approached by influential individuals from Panama to help them remove General Noriega. Klein, owner of PMC called "Hod Hanita" (which means "spear"), receiving the deposit, down to business. Antigua was secretly organized a sabotage school for Panamanian opposition. Weapons for them was commissioned in Israel. But after a while turned Panamanians project, leaving to do the dirty work of the US Army.
Later, Klein and his company, According to the Colombian authorities, drug cartels engaged in training fighters. Klein himself says, that trained self-defense units of the Colombian Farmers. Whatever it was, Colombian authorities have asked Interpol. Klein was arrested in Moscow, at 2012 g. and in anticipation of their fate was the same. They demanded his extradition, Colombia and Israel. But Moscow is not yet hurry with the decision,and that to him now, It is not known.
In countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan, too, Israeli companies are working. In Afghanistan, the activities of the Israeli PMC limited to the supply of weapons to NATO forces, participating in hostilities. According to the Israeli economic portal "Kalkalist", supply amount reaches half a billion dollars a year.
In northern Iraq, in Kurdistan, Israeli companies ensure the safety of the international airport in Erbil and train employees of local power structures.
Usually both sides, Bargaining, try not to make public the details of the broad. After all, not all customers need to advertise their links with Israeli companies, as this, in its turn, It can affect the attitude towards them in the Arab world. An illustrative example of this - a list of business partners on the Defensive Shield Online: 90% there hold Israeli firms. One more reason, for which customers do not like too much attention, - is corruption. Transactions on sale and modernization of arms often occur in countries, far from the standards of Europe and North America, with their relatively low level of corruption in government bodies. Respectively, bribery of public officials is not in such transactions with something out of the ordinary.
Transactions and Company, involved in it, fall under the attention of the press in the two cases.
First - this is a war or a sudden change in the status of a specific conflict, the sides of which are involved in the transaction. In this case, the press can have a positive service to the company in the form of advertising, demonstrating the effectiveness of the delivered goods, as it was, eg, Israeli UAV, delivered cargo. true, It can happen and vice versa, both with the same set by Georgia's XM-15 rifles American, demonstrate their low efficiency.
The second case - the corruption scandal, That is, to put it mildly, undesirable for any company. Several years ago, a scandal broke out in India, where among suspected of taking bribes (not only on Israelis, but also on other military companies) were the Minister of Defense, commander of the naval forces, and even the head of the Indian National Congress. As a result,, Indian Ministry of Defense issued a "black" list of military companies, where, along with other Israelis were also.
AT 2011 in Kazakhstan, the trial of Vice-Minister of Defense Kazhimurat Mayermanov and Israeli businessman Boris Sheinkman. The investigation began after, both during the tests revealed, that «Soltam Systems» modernized by Israeli artillery systems have not been adapted to the remaining Soviet-era technology. MT-LB and KamAZ broke under the weight of mortars "Cardio" and 122-millimeter guns "Semser".
Very "ugly" has received the FBI with a whole group of different military companies. Bureau of Investigation agent has played the role of defense minister of an African country, arrived in the United States for the purchase of weapons. For myself, the minister modestly demanded from potential suppliers 20% of the transaction amount. In January this year in the United States were arrested on suspicion of bribery more than twenty directors and sales agents companies - manufacturers of weapons and military equipment, willing to pay 20% lzheministru to promote their company's interests, among them were three Israelis.
All this only a few cases, a drop in the vast sea of similar transactions. It is not necessary illusions: many of the sale of arms to third world countries are accompanied by bribery and bribery. These are the rules of the game, and most active in these regions military companies like the right to take.
Well, and finally some statistics. By 2006, the ninth year, according to the newspaper "Kalkalist", number of Israeli military companies, registered in Shibata (cm. higher), reached two hundred and twenty.
The second type of companies in Israel, operating outside of Israel, - this company, registered by their owners in third countries, where the co-founders and co-workers are citizens of Israel.
This is done for various reasons,, eg: to facilitate access to customers, who do not want to direct transactions with Israelis; for, to go out of control Shibata; or in search of a more compassionate system of taxation.
At first glance it may seem, that only countries, signed with Israel peace treaty (Egypt and Jordan), have with the Jewish state some semblance of economic cooperation. Other Arab countries support anti-Israeli policy and the assiduously reject any attempts to economic contacts with Israeli companies. However, in reality things are different. In fact, Israel has traded with the Arab world. "Political" orders, as they are often referred to in Israel, go to Europe without any markings or Israeli Hebrew letters on the packaging. There, through the intermediaries and subsidiaries of the company product spreads throughout the Middle East. Range of products is very wide: agricultural output, software, chemicals, and more. security services are no exception.
Gulf countries often rely on the protection of the most expensive of its treasures, oilfield, namely the Israeli experts.
For obvious reasons, information about such transactions and contracts almost does not leak to the press, and, if the name of the military campaign is still possible to find, any details, by which one can recognize the country, clients are, kept secret.
According to all the same "Kalkalist", at 2011 the Swiss company AGT has signed a huge contract with one of the oil-producing Gulf states, including the security of strategic facilities, borders and protect oil fields, training government forces.
The irony is, the creator and owner of «Swiss» AGT - Israeli named Mati Kohavi. Furthermore, all scientific and technical aspects of the contract a subsidiary of AGT - Logic Industries, based in the Israeli town of Herzliya.
Mother loved - entrepreneur, lives and works in New York, created AGT (Asia Global Technologies) after the attacks 11 September. In the wake of rising global fight against terror, the company pretty quickly achieved major successes, in full use of the experience of its employees, former officers and retired officers of Israeli intelligence, such as Amos Malka, previously held the post of the Chief of Military Intelligence, Generals Arie Tesler, Omri Digelya, Zvi Toyzera and other.
Arie Tesler, together with the former commander of the Israeli police SWAT Hagai Peled, supervised training of the client country's secret services. To work directly with the customer the Israeli «Logic Industries» employees came to Cyprus, where private aircraft were transported to the work site, the Arabian Peninsula.
This contract wrote major Israeli newspapers. However, not in the light of the warm joint Arab-Israeli security cooperation.
The newspaper "Yediot Ahronot" and "Ha Aretz" asked a very important question for Israel: whether the right of former high-ranking military and security officials for personal gain endanger the country. After all, if one of them gets into the hands of terrorists, damage to Israel's defense capability will be huge.
AT 1997 in France the police launched an investigation into the case, later called the press "Angolagate". Among the suspects were such personalities, as Jean-Christophe Mitterrand, son of French President François Mitterrand; Jacques Attali, former president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development; Charles Pasqua, former Minister of Internal Affairs of France. Police were investigating cases of corruption around the arms shipments to Angola worth hundreds of millions of dollars the company «Brenco International».
One of the suspects was also a businessman Arkady Gaydamak. In the seventies, Gaydamak immigrated to Israel from the Soviet Union, a few years later he moved to France, which he went into business.
After the scandal around Brenk he created his military company «Geo-Strategic Consultancy», which were co-founders is also a former head of the Israeli intelligence Danny Yatom and former Head of the Mossad Avi Dagan. The Company continued to supply arms to Angola, Besides, He engaged in training and arming of the militia of the Congo President Denis Sassou-Ngeso (hiring for this other PMCs - "Leo Dan", cm. higher). The contract value amounted to fifty million dollars. In fact, the services of these two companies have allowed the president of Congo to regain power.
Israeli military companies quite successfully found a niche in the growing in recent decades the market of private armies. Endless Arab-Israeli conflict creates difficulties for Israel, but thanks to him, the IDF and Israeli intelligence every year supply on the market of high-class professionals, and developed and produced in Israel, weapons ready to buy worldwide. And Israeli PMCs make the most of these factors.
Author: Losev Egor
