Arms trade to Israel
Intro
On this page you find links to actions
against arms trade and military relations with Israel as well as
relevant background articles. It is meant as a campaigners tool, to
inform and inspire and bring people into contact. The page is updated
irregularily. If you have information that could be useful, please mail
to info@stoparmstrade.org
Israel has an extensive
domestic arms industry and is
also one of the
world’s largest arms importers. Most of its arms (about 95%)
are supplied by the
United States. The remaining 5% is mainly supplied by European
countries.
For an excellent analysis
of Israeli arms export profiting from the
'battle-tested' status due to the urban warfare in Palestine see Unmanned
aerial vehicles and the warfare of inequality management by Jimmy Johnson on
Electronic Intifadah.
European
and American weapons used in
Freedom Flotilla attack
In the May 31 2010 attack on the relief
boats for Gaza Israeli
special
forces
(Unit 13 - Shayetet 13) used European and American military material.
Based on photo and video material the navy corvettes, helicopters,
Zodiacks and attack crafts have been traced back to their US, EU or
Israeli company. See for an overview
of research results here. See also the weblog of Martin
Broek and the weblog of Ali
Abunimah
American and European governments used to say there is no objection to
the export of navy material to Israel, because it cannot be used in
human rights violations. They are proven wrong.
European Union
Arms
export to Israel are not in line with the 8 EU
criteria for arms export.
The EU
criteria forbid export if there is a clear risk that the
proposed export might be used for internal repression (criteria 2),
provoke or prolong armed conflicts or aggravate existing tensions or
conflicts in the country of final destination
(criteria 3) or if there is a clear risk that the intended
recipient would use the proposed export aggressively against another
country or to assert by force a territorial claim (criteria
4) . Export to Israel through third
countries and transfer of
(mainly American ) military goods through EU sea and air
ports are not tested against the EU arms export criteria at all.
An overview
of arms exports from the EU to Israël on the website of GRIP (in
French).
Note that this overview only gives direct exports. The exports of
components
through third countries is not listed. See also overview 2008 article on
EU.Observer.
Information on Israeli arms companies profiting from the European
Security Research Programme, see Ben Hayes' blog
NeoConOpticon. The blog is a follow-up to the report
NeoConOpticon:
The EU Security Industrial Complex published 2009. Apart from Ben
Hayes Frank Slijper
of Campagne tegen Wapenhandel & TNI also provides a lot of the
information posted.
Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign wrote a factsheet on How
Israeli arms companies benefit from EU
science funds
Spain
Thourough overview of Spanish-Israeli
military
relations with analysis of miliarization of Israel and EU
arms trade regulations. Written fro the Russels Tribunal on Gaza in
Barcelona spring 2010
Netherlands
Amsterdam Airport
Schiphol has been a major transit ports for arms transfers (mainly
ammunition and
bullet parts) for many years. Read the Press
Release and the overview
of arms transfers to Israël
2006-2007. Despite promises to parliament the government has
still not published arms transfer figures for 2008. A Parliament
vote on better transit control because of the Gaza war was turned
down. Read the report Wapenhandel
en militaire samenwerking
met Israël (with english summary). Read the common
press release of Vredesactie (B) and Campagne tegen Wapenhandel
(NL) about arms
exports and transits (in English).
Belguim
According
to the
Flemish minister of economic affairs Ceyens no weapons or
components are exported to Israel, writes newspaper the
Standaard.
This can be doubted. Read the press release of Belgium's Vredesactie
about arms
transfers through
Bierset (Liege) airport in Dutch and in
french. See the documentary about Bierset of TerZake.
Also an interview with Vredesactie's Hans Lammerant at MO.
Read the common
press release of Vredesactie (B) and Campagne tegen Wapenhandel
(NL) about arms
exports and transits (in English).
Questions are asked in the Flemish
parliament bij SP.a and in the Wallonian
parliament by Ecolo. Read article of Vrede & Vredesactie in De Morgen.
United Kingdom
Campaign Against
Arms
Trade
has protested against arms exports to Israel since the Lebanon War in
2006. The
British section of Amnesty International calls for boycot
of arms
exports to Israel and gives an overview of UK exports. In an urgent
letter to UK foreign minister Millibrand AI-UK calls to stop a
weapons ship heading to Israel. Nine
people from Brighton smashed the computers of EDO MBM Technology
military plant that produces wapons (including guided missiles) for
Israel. See also the
website of the Smash-EDO campaign.
Ireland
The Derry Anti War
Coalition has asked the police to
investigate Raytheon for war crimes. During Israel's invasion in
Lebanon in
2006, members of the DAWC who severely damaged the Rayteon
computer system were found not guilty by a jury because they "acted
to prevent war crimes".
Germany
MEP Tobias Plfuger
calles for an EU
arms boycot (in German). Interview with Otfried Nassauer from BITS
on
Rüstungszusammenarbeit zwischen Deutschland und Israel (arms
coöperation between Germany and Israel) and an article in TAZ.
Greece
On January 7 a
message appears on
the
internet that the US wants to ship extra weapons and ammunition to
Israel
through a Greek port. This is followed by an urgent
call for action from Palestinians to the people in Greece
to stop the ship. The transport
is canncelled, unclear if this is done
because
of the security situation in Gaza or the risk of civil action in
Greece.
Destination of the transport by the way is not the Israeli army but a
US
arms
depot in Israel.
France
Amnesty International
appelle la communauté internationale à
imposer
immédiatement un embargo sur les armes à Israël, le Hamas et
les groupes armés palestiniens. Rapports d’organisations
internationales Qui arme Israël et
le Hamas ? La paix pass(é)e par les armes ?
Article: France:
'Defying rules on arms sales to Israel'
Finland
Committee of 100 in
Finland investigates cooperation with israeli
arms industry. An (updated)
Finnish report contains english tables and figures. Read also
article in Helsinki Times "17
million euro deal shows Finlands arms trade hypocrisy"
United States
Of Israel's
military import 95%
comes from the United States. Through the FMF
program, Israel
remains the single largest recipient of U.S. military aid each
year, which they use to purchase U.S. weapons. Also protest in the
United States:
read the
speech and the letter of Democratic Member of Congress Kucinich: In
Gaza, Israel has violated arms export act.
Libanon
Link to website of
Beirut activists campaign. In English and French. Who
is arming the occupation? /
Qui arme
l'occupation de la Palestine?
On the use of forbidden
weapons
All weapons used in a
densely populated area are terrible. However, some weapons are
forbidden under humanitarian law. During the Gaza war there were
rumours about Israel
using cluster munitions,
white phosphor and DIME. See e.g. Independend.
So far only the use of white phosphor is
proven. Israel
claims all used weapons are legal. Please
find some comments by experts. See a Channel4
documentary on transfer of cluster weapons and DIME through
American military Airport in the UK.
On cluster munitions, a statement
by the Cluster Munition Coalition.
On the use of white
phosphor, Human
Right Watch Q&A on White phospor and International Law and CBS
news item from Gaza.
On DIME, a press article quoting two Norwegian
doctors.
Israel has established special army
units to record the operation to justify their actions against
schools, hospitals and holy sites.
Photo:
Peace demo in Tel Aviv, January 12, 2009
