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Elements of the Israeli Border Police, Yasam riot control unit and the Jereselum police force have been dealing with Palestinian protesters over the previous week in the vicinity of the Al Aqsa mosque over a dispute with security entrances that came about because of the murder of two Israeli police officers. Due to the size of crowds during the protests, numerous crowd control measures have been taken. Newsworthy to us at TFB is the usage of various 37mm stand alone launchers, in addition to a muzzle mounted rifle grenade cup, discharging a tear gas grenade via a blank 5.56x45mm round.
From https://www.police.gov.il/Images/MainArticleImageImg/225d3fab-977e-4dc3-9308-987abc59adab_d.jpg
This method of grenade propulsion was very common many decades ago but has since fallen out of favor due to more efficient methods of grenade delivery. One of the issues, apart from accidentally loading a live round and firing it into a live tear gas or smoke grenade, is that the user has little control over the release of the agent, due to the grenade becoming primed as soon as the spool is depressed from the cup. Specifically, the grenade used appears to be the “Skittering” or “400” tear gas grenade, named so because it is designed to bounce on the ground multiple times while discharging the chemical agent. According to B’Tselem, the grenade is produced by Israeli Military Industries, Inc.
Some of the the launchers have M203 circular handguards attached to them, which might just be an armory furniture upgrade.
With the Yasam police officers, there were multiple uses of the Safariland owned subsidiary Defense Technologies Model 1327, which is actually a single shot 40mm launcher in the stand alone configuration. The launcher in use at the Al Aqsa protests has been modernized with a 12 o’clock picatinny rail in addition to a Meprolight holographic optic. It has what appears to be a FAB Defense UAS AK P telescoping and folding stock mounted to the rear portion of the receiver as well. Ammunition used appears to be a combination of tear gas and rubber bullets from Defense Technologies (a subsidiary of Safariland), and Combined Systems. It is most likely this munition: eXact iMpact™ 40 mm Sponge Round.
Palestinians Protest against New Israeli Security Measures at Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound (2)
