[News] These are the Two Countries that Provide Israel with 99 Percent of Its Weapons

[Anti-Imperialist News]

palestinechronicle.com
<https://www.palestinechronicle.com/these-are-the-two-countries-that-provide-israel-with-99-percent-of-its-weapons-report/>
These are the Two Countries that Provide Israel with 99 Percent of Its
WeaponsMarch 26, 2024
------------------------------
The overwhelming majority of Israel’s weapons imports originate from two
countries. (Photo: Israeli Air Forces, via Wikimedia Commons)

*By Palestine Chronicle Staff
<https://www.palestinechronicle.com/writers/palestine-chronicle-staff>*

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
<https://www.sipri.org/sites/default/files/2024-03/fs_2403_at_2023.pdf>
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.
*Aircraft Components*

Additionally, according
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/amid-arms-embargo-calls-data-shows-99-of-israeli-weapon-imports-are-from-us-germany/>
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
<https://caat.org.uk/data/countries/israel/mapped-all-the-uk-companies-manufacturing-components-for-israels-f35-combat-aircraft/>
last February by the Campaign against Arms Trade, “15% of every F35 that
Israel is using to bombard Gaza is made by British industry.”

Additionally, the British defense minister admitted
<https://www.declassifieduk.org/uk-admits-nine-israeli-military-planes-have-visited-britain-since-gaza-bombing-began/>
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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