The Star Early Edition

Shares up in firm keen to build Trump wall

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AN ISRAELI security company is making a push to help build Donald Trump’s Mexico border wall, after the US president praised Israel’s success in boosting security by fencing off its frontiers.

Shares of Yehud, Israel-based Magal Security Systems Ltd jumped 5.6percent on Friday, the day after Trump told Fox News a security barrier could almost completely stop border breaches. The company’s shares have risen nearly 50% since Trump’s election.

Executives from Magal’s US-based Senstar unit will be showing off its FiberPatro­l product at a border security summit in Alexandria, Virginia, where officials from the US Department of Homeland Security and other agencies will be present, according to Magal chief executive officer Saar Koursh. The system, which embeds fibre-optic sensors in long stretches of fences and walls, is already used for perimeter security at airports and seaports around the world, he said.

“We have the right product and we have the experience in Israel that helps in showcasing our product,” Koursh said.

Magal was a major contractor on Israel’s West Bank barrier, a stretch of sensor-laden fences and concrete walls that was begun in 2002 to counter a wave of Palestinia­n suicide-bombings. The company has also helped build a fence along Israel’s border with Egypt, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented on Saturday as an example for Trump’s Mexico wall.

Washington Post –

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