Ibrahim Al-Arjani, a billionaire from the Tarhabin Bedouin tribe, is basically chargeable for gun and drug smuggling from Sinai into Israel.
Alarming studies are coming in on an nearly each day foundation of drones flying in from Sinai loaded with both weapons or medication. There’s one man largely chargeable for this evil site visitors. His identify is Ibrahim Al-Arjani, a billionaire from the Tarhabin Bedouin tribe.
The tribe has members on either side of the border.
Al-Arjani beforehand managed all of the smuggling from Egypt to Hamas on behalf of a gaggle of Egyptian generals, who reportedly ordered their troops to not intrude on this profitable site visitors, which supplied Hamas with the gear wanted for them to invade Gaza envelope communities on October 7.
President Sisi’s son, a normal answerable for Egyptian navy intelligence, was deeply concerned in serving to Al-Arjani together with his illicit actions and apparently made a fortune doing so. Egyptian President Sisi himself can also be very near Al-Arjani and has carried out every thing he can to assist him.
As soon as Israel took over the Rafa crossing and closed down Al-Arjani’s underground provide traces to Hamas, he shifted his “enterprise” actions to drone deliveries of weapons and medicines to his tribal associates within the Negev.
Vehicles queue with drivers ready to interrupt their quick, earlier than Iftar, a fast-breaking meal, through the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, within the North Sinai metropolis of Al Arish, Egypt, March 10, 2025. (credit score: Stringer/Reuters)
This has now reached ranges which might be threatening to undermine the safety of Southern Israel.
Why IDF and safety providers haven’t been capable of cease this destabilizing inflow of medication and weapons is baffling. It’s clear that the identical weapons Al-Arjani is offering his legal relations might someday be used in opposition to Israeli residents all through the Negev, additional undermining Israel’s maintain on the area.
What’s equally troubling is what the Egyptian Military is studying from all this. In spite of everything, if Al-Arjani’s provide drones can penetrate the Negev frontier with impunity, what might Egyptian suicide drones do to navy forces guarding the border ought to battle erupt?
Egyptian assault drones might all of the sudden pour throughout the frontier focusing on safety autos, sensors, and logistical services. Regardless of this potential risk, Southern Command has but to mount an efficient response to this rising downside.
Al-Arjani works with the Egyptian military
Yet one more facet to Al-Arjani’s operations, which ought to be elevating alarm bells, is the truth that he operates a Wagner- kind group throughout the Egyptian military, which takes its orders immediately from him.
This may occasionally clarify why Al-Arjani has been capable of function closely armed navy kind convoys in Sinai with none interference from the Egyptian Military. These convoys are geared up with heavy machine weapons, RPGs and complicated communications gear. These items present safety for Al-Arjani’s smuggling operations all alongside our southern border.
What ought to Israel do to cease this risk earlier than it turns into completely unmanageable?
To start with, Israel has to determine a line of cellular surveillance methods alongside the border based mostly round tethered drones.These methods can hover persistently at altitude and supply 360-degree optical protection not less than 10 kilometers into Sinai and the Negev.
The drones ought to due to this fact have the ability to present correct focusing on intelligence for connected groups working small suicide drones able to taking out each Al-Arjani’s safety convoys and Israeli Bedouin all-terrain autos used to move the medication and weapons again to their communities.
Second, if heavier firepower had been wanted, cellular mortar batteries firing precision rounds might be made out there to the frontier protection items.
Third, to interdict Al-Arjani’s drones, Israel ought to deploy autos armed with radars, gatling weapons, and a number of small
missiles. A few of these autos may be geared up with high-power microwaves able to taking down drone swarms with one shot.
Lastly, excessive flying drones with gentle weight radars might patrol the border wanting deep into Sinai for Al-Arjani’s drones.
This association could be able to stopping Al-Arjani’s drone shipments and eliminating his safety detachments in Sinai. In fact, it’s possible that Al-Arjani may ask the Egyptian Military for assist, but it surely’s uncertain that President Sisi would threat a confrontation with us earlier than his navy modernization program is accomplished.
Ought to Al-Arjani foolishly determine to tackle the IDF by himself, the flat, uncovered terrain of Jap Sinai will turn out to be his military’s graveyard.
The importace of defending the southern border
Whereas touring the southern border, I noticed superb communities of Israeli residents remodeling the barren panorama into agricultural wonders.
We now have an absolute obligation to guard these communities of hardworking pioneers as they guard our border with Sinai.
Drug and gun smugglers like Al Arjani, who threaten each their livelihood and our nationwide safety, should be defeated earlier than the risk they pose reaches disaster ranges.
We now have the troops and gear to perform this goal. We simply want the federal government and navy to get on with it.
The author spent 30 years in American prisons after being convicted for spying for Israel. Now residing in Jerusalem, he’s an investor and cofounder in a handful of expertise corporations. He additionally writes and speaks about Israel’s have to be militarily self-sufficient.
