Drop Site News obtained audio of this months weapons conference in Tel Aviv
At a recent military technology conference in Tel Aviv, Israeli weapons companies made some of their most explicit remarks yet connecting the value of their products to the real-world testing of that firepower on Palestinians in Gaza. A recording of the conference remarks was obtained by Drop Site News and includes comments from the president and CEO of the Israel Aerospace Industries as well as executives at Elbit Systems, RAFAEL Advanced Defense Systems, and others. The conference was called DefenseTech Week and was held in early December. Drop Site shared the audio with independent news outlets in Brazil, Ireland, Australia, and elsewhere; those outlets will be producing their own investigations.
The Israeli weapons industry has previously come in for criticism for its willingness to boast that its products are “lab tested” on human beings under occupation, most prominently by Australian journalist Anthony Lowenstein. His book, The Palestine Laboratory, was adapted into a Drop Site podcast last year.
The newly uncovered remarks suggest that, rather than having been chastened by global condemnation for the genocide in Gaza, the nation’s weapons industry is emboldened by it. “The war that we faced in the last two years enables most of our products to become valid for the rest of the world,” boasted Boaz Levy, head of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), on day one of the conference. “Starting with Gaza and moving on to Iran and to Yemen, I would say that many, many products of IAI were there.”
The military itself was well represented at the gathering. Major General (Res.) Amir Baram is director general of the Israel Ministry of Defense and also gave remarks on the first day. “These are not lab projects or powerpoint concepts,” he said. “They are combat proven systems. This is what defense tech means in Israel and this has redefined Israel’s global identity. For years, Israel was known worldwide as a cyber nation. Today, we have evolved into a true defense tech nation.”
Gili Drob-Heistein, executive director of the Blavatnik Interdisciplinary Cyber Research Center, said that the two years of unleashing Israeli weapons technology on Palestinians had helped transition Israel from a “startup nation” to a global player in the defense industry. (more...)
“This Has Redefined Israel's Global Identity”: Israeli Weapons Industry Bullish After Genocide
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