Guns, Drugs, and Smugglers: A Recent Heightened Challenge at Israel’s Borders with Jordan and Egypt

Jul 2023

Also published in CTC Sentinel
About the Authors
Matthew Levitt
Matthew Levitt

Matthew Levitt is the Fromer-Wexler Fellow and director of the Reinhard Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at The Washington Institute.

Lauren von Thaden

Lauren von Thaden is a research assistant in The Washington Institute's Reinhard Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence.

Articles & Testimony

A dataset covering case-by-case information underscores the problems that authorities in each country face as they cooperate to clamp down on criminals and secure their shared frontiers.

Israeli, Jordanian, and Egyptian officials report that smuggling across their shared borders—mostly involving drugs or guns—has increased significantly over the past two years, with major consequences for public health and public security. This is despite Israel’s peace treaties with both countries and parallel patrol efforts on each side of their borders. Building on assessments by authorities on the ground, this in-depth study discusses a dataset the authors compiled of 105 cases of identified, thwarted, or disrupted weapons or drug smuggling attempts into Israel from March 2021 through April 2023, focusing on the borders with Jordan and Egypt...

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