A private Israeli company specializing in the research and development of advanced non-toxic, non-lethal scent-based repellents for law enforcement.

Odortec, in collaboration with the Technological Development Department of the Israel Police, developed “the Skunk”. The Skunk is classified as a scent-based non-lethal weapon. It was designed to be sprayed from a distance in order to disperse crowds. The Skunk mist, which is fired from a water cannon, is usually yellow and leaves a stench of sewage in the mouths, hair and clothes of the sprayed people – a stench very difficult to remove. The Skunk’s safety data sheet indicates that the liquid can cause skin irritation, eye pain or redness and abdominal pain. According to the data sheet, inhalation of the liquid may cause breathing difficulties.

The Skunk was used for the first time in the occupied West Bank by the Israel Border Police in 2008. The Israeli army started using this device in 2009 in demonstrations in the West Bank, particularly in the villages of Bil’in, Ni’lin, Kafr Qaddum and Nabi Saleh.

Since then, the “Skunk” has been used on a regular basis by Israeli forced in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and on Palestinian protestors within the Green Line. The Skunk is used as a collective punitive measure against residents of villages in the West Bank where regular weekly demonstrations are held.