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G H UA
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F INE C HINESE D INING

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Hi-Tech Home

IDF prepares for relocation to
southern Israel’s “Silicon Wadi.”

“We are following the vision of
(Israel’s first Prime Minister David)
he IDF is gearing up for a
Ben-Gurion. We are moving the best
major relocation to southern
people to the Negev,” said Lt.-Col. Itai
Israel, where it plans to create
Sagi, who heads the branch responsi-
new environs replete with academia
ble for establishing the IDF’s
and high-tech firms, and
ABOVE: Israeli Air Force C4i (command, control,
to give a significant boost soldiers who completed communications, computers
to the Be’er Sheva area.
the IAF’s flight course
and intelligence) and Cyber
By 2023, the IDF plans
are pictured during a
Defense campus. “Next to
graduation ceremony at me are the university and
to set up a sprawling
the Hatzerim Air Base in
campus in Be’er Sheva
tech companies, with their
southern Israel’s Negev
— known as the “capital
own labs. We are creating a
desert on June 25, 2015.
of the Negev” — that
very significant ecosystem.”
will house technological
Sagi told JNS “the first
units, the IAF and the headquarters
bulldozers will be on the ground in
of the military’s Southern Command,
2019. This is a national maneuver. It’s
which is responsible for dealing with
not something the military is doing
threats from the Gaza Strip.
alone.” The Israeli Defense Ministry
The military will also build a sec-
has set up a Southern Relocation
ond new campus for the intelligence
Administration to manage the entire
community and a new large-scale
program.
training complex. In total, the reloca-
The new technological campus will
tion will cost some 22 billion shekels
house cutting-edge IT data centers,
($6.44 billion), and will involve 35,000
which will form the backbone of the
soldiers and officers.
IDF’s digital combat network. It will
also concentrate elite cyber units into
one complex.

JNS.ORG

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www.thejewishnews.com

36

January 25 • 2018

jn

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Lt.-Col. Itai Sagi said the IDF is “creating a very
significant ecosystem” through its forthcoming
high-tech campus in Be’er Sheva.

BENEFITS OF BE’ER SHEVA
But beyond benefits to the military
world, the move south has social and
national significance, according to
Sagi. He said the campus’ proximity
to Be’er Sheva’s Ben-Gurion University
of the Negev and to the city’s main
train station means that “soldiers who
finish their day can cross the street
to the university and study for their
degree. That’s something we encour-
age.”
The IDF campus will also be
situated near the Gav Yam high-tech
park, which will encourage new coop-
eration between the military and the
private sector. The giant state-owned
company Rafael Advanced Defense
Systems is reportedly planning on
moving into the area.
The ongoing effort to transform
southern Israel into a technology
hub has been described as “Silicon