Was Israel First In Space Too?

I am sure Mel Brooks' Jews in Space was based on real events (wink, wink--I love Mel): 

So, I think statements such as this:

Military drone technology was pioneered by Israel in the 1980s and later developed by the U.S. to fight the global war on terror. But success brought complacency, and in recent years countries such as China, Turkey, Iran, and Russia have made rapid progress in building their own drones

Should only be attributed to sheer ignorance and Israel sucking up culture which permeates neocons rags such as National Review, but since the author of this drivel is Mr. Frantzman, originally from Jerusalem Post, it is not surprising that working with facts is not the strongest trait of their craft. The next you know they will declare US to be a main force defeating Nazism... oh, wait.  So, I think a bit of a retrospective on the origins of "military drone technology" is due and we go back to 1964, when TU-123 Yastreb (Hawk)--my-my, Russians even "stole" the name--was introduced into regular service with Soviet Armed Forces., which was... well--a drone. The technology was raw and imperfect, to put it mildly, but these machines were doing exactly what modern, much much more advanced, drones do--primarily provide intelligence. So, the issue of Israel "pioneering" this technology is at best debatable. Moreover, Lavochkin design bureau came up with its LA-17 drone even earlier--in 1962 it introduced Lavochkin-17R. 

Boy, talk about not getting one's facts straight. But I have a consolation for National Review--Israel DID help Russia in 2010s to "develop" some of drones, by selling Israeli drones to Russia. Of course, even this fact has to be put in proper context but we will omit this for now, since it is irrelevant to the issue of "pioneering". This is not to mention the fact that creating things of this nature was and remains currently beyond economic and technological Israeli expertise:

So, I guess, just let them get the prize.