Israel is facing a systemic and rapidly growing security failure on its border with Egypt, where a flood of weapons-smuggling drones is entering the country, which can be used to arm not only criminals but also terrorist organizations.

Oded Ailam, a former head of the Counterterrorism Division in the Mossad and currently a researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, told JNS in a recent interview that the scale of the smuggling is a top-tier security threat.

“The scope of the phenomenon is severe and constitutes a real security threat. The quantities are large and there is almost no interdiction, and the intelligence is also poor,” Ailam said.