With increasing international pressure to stop supplying weapons to Tel Aviv amid its genocidal war in Gaza, recent data reveals that the overwhelming majority of Israel’s weapons imports originate from two countries.
According to the annual report published in March by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), 69 percent of Israel’s arms acquisitions in 2023 are sourced from US firms, with 30 percent coming from Germany, followed by Italy, with 0.9 percent.
“At the end of 2023, the USA rapidly delivered thousands of guided bombs and missiles to Israel, but the total volume of Israeli arms imports from the USA in 2023 was almost the same as in 2022,” the report read.
“By the end of 2023, pending deliveries of major arms to Israel included 61 combat aircraft from the USA and 4 submarines from Germany,” it added.
The sale of fighter jets by the US to Israel in recent decades has played “a major role in Israel’s military actions against Hamas and Hezbollah,” according to SIPRI.
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Aircraft Components
Additionally, according to The Times of Israel, “all of the Israeli Air Force’s current manned aircraft are American-made, aside from one helicopter built by France’s Airbus Helicopters.”
The Israeli newspaper also reported that “Israel relies heavily on other nations for many of the components in its warplanes, helicopters, warships and submarines,” including the United Kingdom, Canada and the Netherlands.
According to a report published last February by the Campaign against Arms Trade, “15% of every F35 that Israel is using to bombard Gaza is made by British industry.”
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Additionally, the British defense minister admitted in February that nine Israeli military aircraft had landed and taken off in Britain since October 7.
Arms Embargo
More than 200 lawmakers from 12 countries have called for an arms embargo on Israel, arguing in a letter that they will not be complicit in “Israel’s grave violation of international law” in its assault on Gaza.
In their letter, the politicians argue that, after the ruling by the International Court of Justice, ordering Israel to ensure its forces do not commit acts of genocide in Gaza, “an arms embargo has moved beyond a moral necessity to become a legal requirement”.
An appeals court ordered the Dutch government on February 12 to halt the export of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel, citing a clear risk of violations of international law.
Other countries, including Canada, announced the halt of arms exports to Israel in light of the ongoing aggression on the besieged enclave.
Gaza Genocide
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 32,414 Palestinians have been killed, and 74,787 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire.’
(PC, MEMO)
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