The Israeli Defense Ministry announced that, for the third straight year, Tel Aviv had set a new record for weapon exports. Israel sold $13 billion in arms last year, with India the largest importer.
In a statement on Monday, the ministry touted Tel Aviv’s ability to distribute munitions around the globe. “For the third consecutive year, Israel set a new record in defense exports, with over $13 billion in 2023, the highest figure to date,” it wrote.
“Israel’s defense exports have doubled within five years, with over a third of the agreements signed – missile, rocket, and air defense systems,” the statement continued. “Israeli defense industries signed hundreds of significant contracts worldwide with the help and support of the Israel Ministry of Defense, including mega-deals amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars.”
The exports included missiles, rockets, electronic warfare equipment, radar war systems, weapon launchers, drones, and ammunition.
At $13 billion, Israel is the world’s ninth-largest arms dealer, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). India was the top importer of Israeli weapons during the same period, purchasing nearly $1 billion in gear. The SIPRI research found that the Philippines and the US were Israel’s second and third-largest arms export recipients respectively.
Haaretz noted that the SIPRI report is not comprehensive, and Israel has conducted weapons sales with Azerbaijan that go undocumented by the international arms watchdog.
Tel Aviv’s record year came as the Israel Defense Forces rampaged through Gaza, killing thousands of Palestinians while razing much of the enclave. Israel has a legacy of testing its new or experimental weapons on Palestinians before selling them to the world.
The Israeli atrocities in Gaza have led some countries to halt arms purchases from Tel Aviv, including Colombia. The US has withheld a single shipment of 2,000-pound bombs from Israel over the use of heavy munitions in civilian areas of the Strip.
Kyle Anzalone is the opinion editor of Antiwar.com, news editor of the Libertarian Institute, and co-host of Conflicts of Interest.
So why are they spending our money?
Even these sales are just rebranded American products. It's all just US subsidy.
More or less rhetorical, but yes.
RICO indictment, anyone? Whoever tries that might have something to bragg (sic) about. Honestly.
Not surprising.
Wait so let me see if I understand. We give them billions in weapons and defense money to protect themselves and then they turn around and sell 13 billion worth or arms for profit? Why not just keep their 13 billion of product and we keep our cash and weapons?
Now that's just silly talk.What would US politicians do for bribe money,kickbacks, and overseas bank accounts?
We're exporting billions in weapons to Ukraine, much of which ends up being sold on the black market in Africa. Business as usual for the Military/Industrial Complex.
Ukraine is known as being one corrupt country.
You are talking logic.
What an ugly world.
And that's why world leaders never try to seek peace, because peace doesn't sell weapons and defense systems.
Theyre all psychopaths or cowardly sycophants and none of them are worth a damn, yet the ordinary people are forced to be their pawns and protect them and their sinister businesses.
War is a Racket. The name of the book written by Major General Smedley Butler (USMC).
"To summarize: Three steps must be taken to smash the war racket.
We must take the profit out of war.
We must permit the youth of the land who would bear arms to decide whether or not there should be war.
We must limit our military forces to home defense purposes."
-Major Gen Smedley Butler (1935)
Wow, then why does the US taxpayer need to send them billions of free weapons every year? Maybe the Israelis', MIC and Wash. all benefit from the great giveaway program?
They also were gifted Record Weapons Imports from US and UK in 2023
So, the selling Record must be Fake Propoganda…!
2 + 2 =5 LOL. Having record weapons sales and getting record weapons aid are not mutually exclusive. Weapons systems are not fungible.
So Israel is the middleman for the arms we send them? What a racket.
There is no indication that Israel is reselling weapons send to them as aid.