Jewish Invention Myths: The Negev Light Machine Gun

When I was writing my previous article dealing with the myth that the Israelis ‘invented’ the Galil rifle – it is in fact almost a straight copy of the Soviet AK-47 and the Finnish variant of that rifle the RK-62 – (1) a reader on X/Twitter made me aware that the Negev light machine gun used by IDF might also be a similar such copied ‘Israeli invention’.

Compared to the Galil – which is widely acknowledged to be a simple copy of the Soviet and Finnish weapons – the Negev is less discussed as a potential copy in large part because more was ‘upgraded’ on it from the weapon that it was copied from than was the case with the Galil. Plus – to be frank – the Israelis have done a better job of concealing what they did than with the Galil.

However, a copy is exactly what the Negev is which is hinted at by Ian McCollum in his article on the Negev for ‘Forgotten Weapons’ when he writes that:

‘When the Israeli Defense Forces tested the FN Minimi, they found it to be lacking in a few areas, and decided that they could develop a better SAW domestically. Developed in the 1980s, the result was the Negev. Like the Minimi, the Negev is a 5.56mm light machine gun that can feed from either belts or box magazines (Galil mags or AR mags with an adapter), has quick-changes barrels, and fires form an open bolt. The Negev has several features the Minimi does not, though, including a semiauto fire control position, optics mounting on the receiver (instead of the top cover), a standard folding stock, and some mechanical improvements internally.’ (2)

Put another way; the IDF tested the Belgian FN Minimi Light Machine Gun – which was adopted and slightly adapted by the US military as the M249 SAW – liked it but decided they would ‘improve’ it rather than purchase it or license it out from the Belgian weapons manufacturer FN Herstal (standing for ‘Fabrique Nationale Herstal’) which is expensive to do especially over an extended period of time; in other words what the Israelis did is steal FN Herstal’s Minimi, make some minor modifications and claim they had made an entirely new Light Machine Gun in the form of the Negev.

One of the commentators in ‘Forgotten Weapons’ comments section also (correctly) points out that even the ‘mechanical improvements’ cited by McCollum – such as the adjustable gas regulator in the Negev – are in fact present on the FN Minimi. (3)

So, to summarise then; the IDF took the FN Minimi, copied it, added a semi-automatic fire control switch, the standard Israeli folding stock (from the Galil no less) and repositioned the mounting for the optic on it then claimed to have ‘invented’ an entirely new weapon called the Negev when in truth it is simply a slightly altered FN Minimi!

References

(1) See my article: https://karlradl14.substack.com/p/jewish-invention-myths-the-galil

(2) https://www.forgottenweapons.com/negev-lmg-the-israeli-take-on-the-saw/

(3) Ibid.