So, should retired IDF officers do business in Arab states or not?
By Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent Last update - 03:34 18/09/2008
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1022196.html

The Swiss-based multinational company Asia Global Technologies (AGT) has won
contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars for two major domestic
security projects in Abu Dhabi. News of the tender award appeared in March
in the Persian Gulf business newsletter Zawya. According to the report, AGT
won United Arab Emirates government contracts to carry out two major
projects with the armed forces. The article noted that the agreements were
for the provision of homeland security technology along the country's
borders and at strategic offshore sites (oil wells).

The field of "homeland security" comprises integrated security, intelligence
and border defense systems as well as command and control systems.

The report quotes Gary Lenz, calling him a "senior representative" of AGT.
But in the biography distributed at a 2007 industry conference in Singapore,
Kochavi is described as AGT's "founder and CEO." He is also described as the
chairman of Sentry Technology Group, "one of the fastest growing security
companies in the United States."

STG has partnered with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) in the sale of
airport security knowledge, equipment and technology in the United States
and other countries, including in the Middle East. A source in IAI has said
that a few months ago, because of disagreements, the company's partnership
with Kochavi was terminated. STG recently paid tens of millions of dollars
to Ness Technologies for a division that develops command and control
systems.

Former Israel Air Force commander Major General (res.) Eitan Ben Eliyahu
worked for STG at one point. He told Haaretz, "I left the company several
years ago and have not had any connection to since it began operating beyond
the borders of the U.S."

However, Kochavi's companies employ dozens of former Israel Defense Forces
officers, as well as former Mossad and Shin Bet security service officials.

Stepping up activities

Logic, another of Kochavi's companies, is based in Herzliya. Its employees
include a retired IDF major general, a retired Armored Corps brigadier
general and D., formerly a senior Shin Bet official. Until recently Kochavi
also employed senior IAI and Elbit Systems personnel. A spokesman for
Kochavi said in response: "All of activities are carried out in coordination
with and under the guidance of the Defense Ministry and all its divisions."

Mati Kochavi is a former Israeli who lives in the United States and who made
his fortune in real estate. Several years ago he became involved in the
homeland security field, and this involvement increased after the September
11 attacks in 2001. He forged contacts within Israel's military
establishment and began hiring high-ranking former officials in the field. A
number of years ago he promised to establish a prestigious university on the
Israeli-Jordanian border to promote bilateral relations. The initiative has
not progressed since it was announced.

Around a dozen Israeli companies have in recent years stepped up their
activities in Arab or Muslim states, including ones that do not have
diplomatic relations with Israel. These firms include Radom Aviation
Systems, which installs systems in aircraft and whose chairman is former
National Security Council head Maj.-Gen. (ret.) Giora Eiland); BlueBird Aero
Systems, which manufactures Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, in which
Maj.-Gen. (res.) Doron Almog is a partner). Also on this list are IAI and
Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, which are under the control of the Defense
Ministry. The total investment by Israelis in such projects exceeds $100
million.

Former Mossad, Shin Bet and IDF personnel conduct training in operating
advanced security systems and intelligence equipment and also train locals
in averting coups, hostage-taking or attempts to occupy strategic targets.

This extensive activity is puzzling on many levels. Last week it was
reported that the defense establishment and the Counter-terrorist Unit
warned former senior IDF, Shin Bet and Mossad personnel not to visit certain
Arab countries for fear of kidnapping attempts Hezbollah or the Iranian
Revolutionary Guard Corps, in revenge for the assassination of Hezbollah
leader Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus in February. Haaretz reported that one of
the individuals warned was a major general in the reserves, the publication
of whose name was prohibited by the censor. The officer in question has
claimed that he has never visited the Arab country implied. According to
him, neither he nor other former defense officials, nor his current work
colleagues, received such warnings.

The reports underline the paradox of the military establishment's conduct.
On the one hand it encourages the defense industry to export Israeli
security equipment and weapons, including to Arab states, especially
pro-American ones that could be under the Iranian threat.

To increase exports these companies must maintain relations with and send
representatives to these states. On the other hand these visits and
relations can facilitate Hezbollah efforts to abduct Israelis, as in the
case of Elhanan Tenenbaum who was lured into going to Abu Dhabi and abducted
from it. Some of the emirates, particularly Abu Dhabi, have a significant
representation of Iranian companies, some of which are fronts for the IRGC
and Iranian intelligence.