Recently in the Ukraine, the Mossad abducted Dirar Abu Sis an engineer who developed many of Hamas’s rocket and missiles to the point where the terrorist group was no longer just a terror band of suicide bombers but rather a fully equipped division. No doubt he is undergoing rigorous interrogation in Israel and will be singing like a canary to the Shin Bet and it will be fascinating to hear all the information that will be coming out – many of which obviously will be classified. Hopefully after they are through they can trade him for Gilad Shalit.
by Yaakov Katz
Calling him the “rocket godfather” of the Gaza Strip, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) filed an indictment on Monday against Dirar Abu Sisi, a Palestinian engineer from Gaza, detailing his rise to prominence as Hamas’s leading missile developer.
Abu Sisi, a director of the Gaza Strip’s sole power station, was reportedly abducted by Israel over a month ago as he was traveling on a train in Ukraine and brought to Israel for interrogation. On Monday, mystery continued to surround the details of his capture and how he was transferred to the Jewish state.
According to the indictment, Abu Sisi received his doctorate at the Kharkov Military Engineering Academy and studied under Prof. Konstantin Petrovich, an expert in Scud missile control systems.
During his studies, Abu Sisi acquired extensive knowledge in missile development, control systems, propulsion and rocket stabilization.
After returning to the Gaza Strip and parallel to his work as an engineer for the Gaza electric company, Abu Sisi was secretly recruited into Hamas by the military commander of the terrorist organization at the time, Salah Shehadeh, and began working as one of their leading engineers for short- and long-range missiles.
Abu Sisi not only developed missiles in Gaza but was also, according to the charge sheet, responsible for upgrading thousands of older rockets and increasing their range and penetration capabilities.
According to the indictment, which was filed on Monday in the Beersheba District Court, Abu Sisi was charged with membership in a terrorist organization, conspiracy to commit a crime, the production of illegal weaponry, assistance to an illegal organization, and a variety of other crimes.
During his interrogation, officials said, Abu Sisi provided valuable intelligence information on Hamas’s military wing, its different branches and the decision-making process within the terror group.
In 2002, Abu Sisi met Sheikh Nizar Rayan, a spiritual leader of Hamas’s military wing, who was later assassinated during Operation Cast Lead in 2009. Rayan introduced Abu Sisi to various senior Hamas operatives, including Shehadeh. Due to his education as an engineer, Abu Sisi was asked by Shehadeh to assist in developing weaponry for Hamas.
He later joined a committee that was responsible for the research and development of weaponry, and was tasked with electrical engineering, dealing mostly with developing boosters and fins that stabilized and enhanced the range of Hamas’s arsenal of rockets.
In 2005, the committee asked Abu Sisi to begin working on increasing the range of rockets manufactured domestically in the Gaza Strip. Due to his involvement, Hamas was able to increase the range of the rockets from 6 km. to 9 km., and subsequently to 15 km.
In 2007, Abu Sisi assisted Hamas in increasing the rockets’ range to 22 km. He was then asked to increase the range to between 37 km. and 45 km., and participated in several experiments during which rockets were tested and fired into the Mediterranean.
These attempts did not succeed.
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Read the rest: Shin Bet files indictment against ‘rocket godfather’
It seems as if the Israeli weapons industries has had a record year for export. Primary customer being India but increasingly North and South America as well.
by Ran Dagoni
Israel’s defense exports exceeded $7.3 billion in 2010, according to provisional calculations of new orders from defense companies. The final figure will probably reach $7.4 billion, the all-time high reached in 2009, according to Defense News, quoting Defense Ministry officials on Monday. The officials cautioned, however, that Israel’s defense industries face harder times ahead.
A senior Defense Ministry official told Defense News that the final calculation of new contracts signed by defense companies last year would be completed in April, following thorough checks by SIBAT Ministry of Defense Foreign Defense Assistance and Defense Export Organization and the Israel Export and International Cooperation Institute.
Provisional calculations made in mid-March found that the value of new contracts in 2010 reached $7.3 billion, but that the amount would probably rise to reach the record set in 2009, when the calculations for support and follow-up contracts are completed.
The official said that, for two consecutive years, Israel has passed the $7 billion threshold, and that Israel is very proud to be a member of the premier league of exporters of defense products.
As in previous years, 80% of Israeli defense production was exported. The official said that, for a small country under constant threat, such as Israel, exports were critical for the existence of the industrial establishment, maintaining the strength of the IDF, and creating diplomatic relations through arms sales and defense cooperation.
Israel’s defense exports have been rising for the past five years: from $3.5 billion in new orders in 2005; $4.9 billion in 2006; $5.6 billion in 2007, and $6.6 billion in 2008.
However, Ministry of Defense officials say that this trend will likely stall in the coming years. The reasons include steep budget cuts in Western European countries, a halt in exports to Turkey, continued restrictions on most defense exports to China, and rising competition from US and European defense industries in the Indian market, one of the largest target markets of Israeli defense companies. Another important reason is the erosion of opportunities to supply arms to US and NATO forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, as Western forces reduce their presence in the two arenas.
The senior Defense Ministry official said that, in recent years, India and North America were Israel’s largest defense trading partners. He added that Israel does not expect this to change in 2011 or 2012, but that Israel would have to work harder to keep its market share.
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Read the rest: Israel weapons exports top $7.3 billion
Tags: Ran Dagoni, Yaakov Katz
