A drone fitted with a video camera sailing through the skies over Mount Hebron crashed in a forest on Mount Hebron this week, prompting the residents of Moshav Ma’on to pick it up and take it to the Regavim organization, an NGO known in English as the Movement for Preservation of State Lands.
Regavim posted some of the video footage online.
According to a report broadcast by Israel’s Channel 2 television news, footage retrieved from the drone revealed an extensive operation by the European Union, acting in concert with residents of local Arab communities to gather intelligence on Jewish communities.
Numerous videos revealed footage of Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria, some of which also contain IDF bases. One of the videos showed the drone flying low over the residents of Ma’on before it crashed next to a car.
The last video contained film of its eventual crash.
“What started as illegal construction continues and now is harmful to security,” said Regavim Land Division director Oved Arad. He warned the reconnaissance mission was logical, given the government’s weak response to European Union support for, and construction of illegal Arab houses and other structures in Area C.
“For years the European Union has been involved in illegal construction in Judea and Samaria. Now it’s clear that EU officials, with the Palestinians, are even documenting Israeli settlements and sensitive locations in Judea and Samaria,” he said.
“The Foreign Ministry must respond strongly and unequivocally against this activity, which crosses a red line and is very dangerous.”