Post 11: When Your GPS Becomes a Security Issue

The port in Haifa, Israel.

We were driving in Haifa, Israel, when Google Maps suddenly redirected us to Amman, Jordan. It’s nearly a four-hour drive away, assuming you could cross the border in a rental car, which you can’t.

We pulled over and tried resetting the GPS. We didn't know how to get back to our hotel, and the GPS kept sending us to Jordan.

We later learned that this wasn’t a glitch. The GPS is intentionally scrambled by the Israeli military for defense purposes.

Terror groups and other hostile forces use GPS tech to help guide drones, rockets, and missiles to hit civilian and military targets in Israel. By jamming or blocking GPS signals, the Israeli military can confuse the guidance systems of incoming projectiles, causing them to miss their intended marks or malfunction entirely.

This interference causes navigation apps like Waze and Google Maps to fail or mistakenly place you miles away in neighboring Jordan or Lebanon. GPS disruption can also affect commercial aviation and shipping, forcing pilots and ship crews to rely on backup navigation systems.

It's called electronic warfare and it’s being used in the current conflict in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important shipping routes. GPS interference is affecting hundreds of oil tankers and cargo vessels.

Can you imagine this happening at home? In Israel, even something like getting directions is impacted by the realities of living under constant security threats.