Aust taps into Israeli security experience

Australia will send emergency services and border officials to Israel to draw from that country's vast experience in keeping people safe in public areas and air cargo security.

The initiative will involve Australian police, paramedics, firefighters and Defence personnel learning new methods of protecting buildings, carrying out surveillance and using biometrics.

It follows the recent launch by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of Australia's strategy for protecting crowded places from terrorism, which in part was informed by the Israeli experience.

Officers from transport security and the Department of Immigration and Border Protection will also be allowed to travel to the Middle East to learn how to better target and screen air cargo, collect and use screening data and how goods transported by air are cleared or banned.

It comes as Mr Turnbull wraps up his 48-hour visit to Israel for the centenary of the Battle of Beersheba on Tuesday.

As well as attending a number of commemorative events across the town, he held meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu within hours of arriving on Monday.

The pair's talks focused on defence and terrorism, with an emphasis on cyber security.

The leaders witnessed the signing of a new memorandum of understanding to allow greater co-operation between the two nations' defence industries.