Amit Saban, the Israeli teen who invented a tracking device to prevent kidnappings. Photo: Facebook.

JNS.org – An Israeli teenager from Ramat Hasharon recently launched a start-up that makes “smart” ID tags with built-in GPS technology that can help soldiers and civilians in distress, and even prevent abductions.

“The tag I invented contains a chip with GPS, so if a soldier is in trouble he presses [the tag] and his information and location are sent via a computer program to the IDF and his parents,” Amit Saban, 16, tells Israel Hayom.

“I currently have a prototype of the smart ID tag that I can show to the public,” says Saban, who found an investor he hopes will commit $129,000 to the ID tag project.

Saban’s goal “was to save Israeli lives, because that’s ‘an entire universe.’ I saw the three yeshiva students [abducted and murdered by Hamas in the summer of 2014, Gilad Shaer, Naftali Frenkel and Eyal Yifrach], and my heart ached. After that I felt that I had to take action and think of an initiative that would save lives, both civilians and soldiers.”

The ID tag earned Saban first place in a youth start-up competition sponsored by Google. He has reached out to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon with news of his invention.

“They told me they were very excited by my idea and would give me an answer soon,” Saban says.