From Germany to Saudi Arabia, states are fuelling Israel's war economy by buying weapons and surveillance tools battle-tested on Palestinians in Gaza
While anybody with a shred of humanity is outraged by Israel's campaign of mass starvation and death in Gaza, Germany has other priorities. It recently agreed to purchase a missile defence system from Israel's largest arms company, Elbit, for $260m.
Nothing to see here. Just business as usual with a state that Israel's own leading human rights organisations say is committing genocide.
Israel's arms and surveillance industries are thriving because of its violence in Gaza, the West Bank and beyond. It is a major selling point. Occupation is big business. The latest available figures, from 2024, show record sales of $14.8bn.
Numbers for 2025 are likely to be even higher, fuelled by huge global demand for the arms, drones, surveillance and AI tools that Israel has deployed in Gaza.
Genocide is no impediment to Israel promoting itself as the ultimate "battle-tested" entity. Far too many democratic and autocratic states are listening, learning and buying. Big Tech is up to its neck with the Israeli army - looking at you, Microsoft, Amazon and Google, among many others.
I have spent more than a decade investigating the Israeli military-industrial complex. While it is an exaggeration to argue that Israel's endless occupation and war crimes exist solely to boost defence sales, there is no question that the money made from the war economy significantly strengthens Israel's bottom line.
It is a point rightly stressed by Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza, in her recent report, From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide, where she names and shames the corporations profiting from Israeli actions. (more...)
Israel's arms industry thrives on genocide and the world keeps buying
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