[News] Israeli drone conference features weapons used to kill Gaza’s children

[Anti-Imperialist News]

  Israeli drone conference features weapons used to kill Gaza’s children

Submitted by Rania Khalek on Thu, 09/18/2014 - 13:14
*http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/rania-khalek/israeli-drone-conference-features-weapons-used-kill-gazas-children*

Less than one month after killing more than 2,100 Palestinians in Gaza, 
including over 500 children, Israel is hosting its annual drone conference.

Organized in partnership with the US embassy in Tel Aviv, “Israel 
Unmanned Systems 2014 
<http://www.unmanned-systems.org/UVID_Conference.html>” offers Israeli 
military firms an opportunity to flaunt the performance of their 
products, many of which were tested on Palestinians in the besieged Gaza 
Strip this summer.

Palestine has long served as a laboratory for Israel’s ballooning 
“homeland security” industry to test and perfect weapons of domination 
and control, with disenfranchised and stateless Palestinians serving as 
their lab rats.

Speaking to the German magazine /Der Spiegel/ last month, Avner 
Benzaken, head of the Israeli army’s “technology and logistics” division 
— a unit “comprised largely of academics who also happen to be officers” 
— explained 
<http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/defense-industry-the-business-of-war-in-israel-a-988245.html> 
the benefits of this occupation.

“If I develop a product and want to test it in the field, I only have to 
go five or ten kilometers from my base and I can look and see what is 
happening with the equipment,” said Benzaken. “I get feedback, so it 
makes the development process faster and much more efficient.”

Easy access to a captive population to experiment on 
<http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/rania-khalek/israel-firing-experimental-weapons-gazas-civilians-say-doctors> 
allows Israeli weapons manufacturers to market their products as 
“combat-proven,” a coveted label that gives Israel a competitive edge in 
the international arms trade. Israel’s suppression technology is then 
exported to regimes 
<http://electronicintifada.net/content/how-israels-war-industry-profits-violent-us-immigration-reform/13283> that 
are similarly invested in subjugating the poor and marginalized.

This dystopian arrangement has paved the way for Israel, a country the 
size of New Jersey, to rank among the globe’s top five largest arms 
exporters 
<http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2014/08/29/344030354/with-home-grown-technology-israel-becomes-leading-arms-exporter?_ga=1.179130916.1832701724.1410929448> 
and to become the world’s number one exporter of unmanned aerial 
vehicles 
<http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-is-world-s-largest-exporter-of-drones-study-finds.premium-1.524771> 
(UAVs), or drones.


    *“Combat-proven”*

One of the sponsors of this year’s drone conference is G-NIUS. Formed as 
a joint venture between two of Israel’s largest arms companies — Elbit 
Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) — G-NIUS develops unmanned 
ground vehicles for the Israeli army.

Thanks to the Gaza assault, G-NIUS can now add “combat-proven” to the 
/resumé/ of its unmanned Armored Personnel Carrier (APC), which was 
deployed operationally in Gaza this summer, marking the first time a 
remote controlled and unmanned APC has ever “participated in combat,” 
according to /Israel Defense/ 
<http://www.israeldefense.com/?CategoryID=411&ArticleID=3071>.

Those attending the drone conference were scheduled to visit 
<http://www.unmanned-systems.org/Program_Details.html> G-NIUS on Monday 
15 September to get a first-hand look at the machines used to assist in 
Gaza’s destruction.

They were also scheduled to visit Israel’s largest developer of military 
technology, Elbit Systems, which benefited enormously from the 
summertime offensive.

Elbit’s stock jumped 
<http://http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/rania-khalek/stocks-rise-israeli-drone-maker-gaza-slaughter-continues> to 
its highest level since 2010 during the Gaza slaughter, a phenomenon 
/Bloomberg Businessweek/ attributed to investor speculation that the 
Haifa-based company would see increasing demand for its products from 
governments impressed by its blood-soaked performance.

One product likely to use the Gaza bloodshed as a selling point is 
Elbit’s Hermes 900, which was deployed operationally for the first time 
<http://www.defensenews.com/article/20140812/DEFREG04/308120026/Israeli-Forces-Praise-Elbit-UAVs-Gaza-Op> 
during Operation Protective Edge.

The Hermes 900 is a larger and more advanced version of the Hermes 450, 
an aerial attack and surveillance drone that was used by the Israeli 
army to deliberately target civilians in Gaza during Israel’s 2008-2009 
onslaught, according to Human Rights Watch 
<http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/iopt0609webwcover_0.pdf>.

Elbit drones were also used to kill civilians in Israel’s war on Lebanon 
in 2006 <http://www.stopthewall.org/downloads/pdf/Elbit-fc.pdf>, 
including Red Cross workers, ambulance drivers and dozens of people 
fleeing their homes for refuge from relentless Israeli bombardment.

Even before it helped Israeli soldiers reduce Gaza to rubble, the Hermes 
900 was winning lucrative contracts.

In July, the Swiss government purchased the Hermes 900 system for $280 
million 
<http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/swiss-army-knifes-palestinians-israeli-drone-deal>. 
And earlier this year, the Brazilian government purchased a fleet of 
Hermes drones 
<http://www.thenation.com/blog/180465/exporting-gaza-arming-brazils-world-cup-security>, 
including the Hermes 900, to help crush the massive protests that 
erupted across Brazil against the World Cup.

After participating in Israel’s 51-days of terror on Gaza this summer, 
the Hermes 900 can join its predecessors in the “combat-proven” camp, 
which is sure to boost demand.

Also likely to profit from its role in turning Gaza into a graveyard is 
Elbit’s Skylark mini-UAV, a hand-launched surveillance drone. Though 
it’s been used in Gaza in the past, Operation Protective Edge was the 
first time the Skylark was deployed in large numbers to assist the 
invading ground forces.

Roy Riftin, a general and chief artillery officer in the Israeli army, 
told /Defense News/ 
<http://www.defensenews.com/article/20140812/DEFREG04/308120026/Israeli-Forces-Praise-Elbit-UAVs-Gaza-Op> 
that the Skylark was instrumental in “serving up targets of opportunity” 
for Israeli gunners.


    Weapons testing

Drone makers were’t the only ones to profit from the Gaza massacre.

Mired by debt prior to the Gaza onslaught, Israel Military Industries 
(IMI) was on life support. The company’s slump was so severe, the 
Israeli government planned to privatize it by 2016 and was offering 
$370,000 severance packages 
<http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.609919> to any employee 
willing to retire early.

But now things are looking up for IMI.

During Israel’s military assault on Gaza, IMI employees worked nonstop 
to ensure an endless flow of 5.56 mm bullets and Kalanit and Hatzav tank 
shells to Israeli forces, reported /Haaretz/ 
<http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.609919>.

The Kalanit and Hatzav tank shells detonate in midair, blanketing the 
people and structures below with deadly bomblets. The Kalanit, an 
Israeli army favorite, is so popular that it was awarded Israel’s 
esteemed “Defense Prize 
<http://www.jpost.com/Video-Articles/Video/Mid-air-blast-tank-shell-winner-of-Defense-Prize>” 
in 2011. Though they have been used in the past, Operation Protective 
Edge marked the first time the Kalanit and Hatzav shells were deployed 
on a colossal scale.

IMI also tested several new weapons during the Gaza slaughter, including 
its MPR-500 multipurpose rigid bomb 
<http://www.imi-israel.com/vault/documents/imi%20at%20singapore.pdf>, a 
500-pound precision-guided explosive so powerful it can penetrate a 
meter of reinforced concrete. After deploying the MPR-500 the first time 
in an operational capacity against the structures and bodies of the 
people of Gaza this summer, demand for the bomb skyrocketed, with 5.6 
billion shekels <http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.609919> 
($1.5 billion) worth in back orders in early August.


    Getting in on the action

Meanwhile, foreign military contractors are aiming to cash in on the 
next slaughter.

Doron Shalev, business development manager at BAE Systems Rokar, a 
subsidiary of the Anglo-American firm BAE Systems that specializes in 
developing GPS navigation for artillery, is already angling for new 
business opportunities from the Israeli war machine in the aftermath of 
the Gaza slaughter.

Writing in /Israel Defense/ 
<http://www.israeldefense.com/?CategoryID=483&ArticleID=3118>, Shalev 
notes that Israel’s use of indiscriminate artillery, most heavily in the 
Shujaiya and Rafah areas, provoked the ire of the Obama administration. 
To avoid a similar “controversy” in a future attack on Lebanon, Shalev 
suggests Israel invest in the type of navigation systems that he happens 
to sell, understanding full well that Israel is itching to attack 
Hezbollah 
<http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-preparing-for-very-violent-war-against-hezbollah-tv-report-says/>.

“During the last operation, artillery fire was admittedly employed on a 
relatively large scale, but it is important to bear in mind that it was 
employed under relatively favorable conditions,” argues Shalev. “It is 
important to understand that the next conflict will be different and 
that the Gaza Strip theater is not in any way similar to Lebanon. For 
this reason, we must ensure that the right lessons are being drawn and 
that the artillery layout is being prepared effectively for the next 
challenge rather than for the previous challenge.”

Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest “defense” contractor, is also 
looking to get in on the action, having just formed a subsidiary inside 
Israel. “The move is part of a wider push by Lockheed Martin to seek 
overseas defense contracts amid a slowdown in US military spending,” 
reported 
<http://online.wsj.com/articles/lockheed-martin-forms-israel-unit-executive-1410789395> 
/The Wall Street Journal/.

Meanwhile, the besieged and devastated Gaza Strip remains buried under 
four million tons of rubble 
<http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/middle-east-unrest/gaza-buried-under-four-million-tons-uncleared-rubble-group-n204276> 
as the death merchants responsible parade around Israel’s annual drone 
festival bragging about their successes in an effort to export their 
products.

War is a racket <http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.html> 
indeed.

-- 
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863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
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