Local emergency first-response security teams in Judea and Samaria are placing a strong emphasis on the utilization of drones to keep their communities safe, in light of lessons learned from the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas invasion of southern Israel.
Community security chiefs have been acquiring the drones, equipped with thermal imaging systems, through philanthropic donations and via allocations made by the Israeli Defense Ministry.
Last week the Samaria Regional Council distributed about 60 drones to communities and farms, with the assistance of the WZO’s Settlement Division along with donations from partners in the United States raised by council head Yossi Dagan.
Speaking at an event with project donors from Miami, alongside representatives from Samaria communities, Dagan said that regional officials weren’t waiting for help from “the establishment” but rather would learn from events such as Oct. 7, and take action.
“Today, there isn’t a community in the Shomron [Samaria] that does not have a thermal drone for defense. This is a clear lesson from the Hamas massacre about two years ago on Simchat Torah. We stand together with strength, like an iron fist—in the Shomron and throughout the State of Israel,” he said.
According to the Samaria Regional Council, the newly distributed, highly advanced drones will be utilized by local emergency and security teams for detection of threats at night and will allow for a quick response, providing an additional layer of defense alongside existing systems.
A local community security chief in Gush Etzion, whose name can’t be published, told JNS that before the Oct. 7 massacre, his community was already utilizing one thermal drone, paid for by donors via the One Israel Fund organization, which assists communities in Judea and Samaria.
But since then, he said, they have procured three more, two via donations and another via the IDF.
He shared that the IDF recently distributed drones to many communities in Judea and Samaria through the Defense Ministry’s “Mashiv Haruach” (“He who makes the wind blow” — a Jewish prayer for wind and rain) initiative, which since Oct. 7 seeks to protect potentially vulnerable communities throughout the country.
The security chief said that drones are a strategic weapon which have become a basic staple for community defense.
“Just like we have emergency first responders, weapons and emergency vehicles, we now utilize drones,” he said.
He described UAVs as a “force multiplier” dispatched in emergency situations.
He was also grateful to the army for the additional equipment provided to his security team, including ceramic vests, combat kneepads, eye guards, along with the budgetary allocation for refresher training sessions for his team.
Yochai Provisor, director of special projects for the One Israel Fund and himself a survivor of the Nova music festival massacre, concurred that in the post-Oct. 7 reality, drones are a standard necessity in Judea and Samaria.
He told JNS his organization had recently distributed over 70 drones to various communities in order to deal with the most extreme security threats imaginable.
“The drone provides a strategic edge, not only in terms of surveillance around a community’s perimeter, but being able to see our enemies from afar, before they can do any harm, is a gamechanger,” he said.
Recently, he said, a Jordan Valley community’s security team had utilized one of the drones he distributed in order to catch two Arab weapons smugglers who had managed to infiltrate into Israel from Jordan.
“Thanks to the device’s thermal capabilities, it’s a huge advantage to be able to detect threats at night,” he said.
His father, Marc Provisor, a well-known Israeli security expert and consultant and the former One Israel Fund director of security projects, told JNS the organization started supplying thermal drones, along with providing flight and operational instruction, years before Oct. 7.
He explained that drones have been found to be an effective, low-cost and mobile solution to detecting threats beyond community permitters.
“There is no doubt that the use of drones in communities for security and emergencies is extremely important, especially now as technology is advancing further and further. The ability of the drone to make that detection [in an emergency] has increased,” said the elder Provisor.
He however cautioned that communities can’t be complacent, as “the threat is constant, we are in a conflict,” he said.
He stressed the importance of working with properly trained security professionals when operating the devices.
“After Oct. 7, everyone became a security expert,” he said.
In an emergency situation, he added, just getting drones in the air was not enough, as a tremendous amount of technical skill is needed to use them effectively. Improperly used, drones can actually endanger both operators and communities, he continued.
