Latest news with #Israeli-developed
Middle East Eye
4 days ago
- Business
- Middle East Eye
Arab states received 12 percent of Israeli arms exports in 2024 amid surge in arms sales
Israel's Ministry of Defence announced on Wednesday that arms exports by Israeli companies reached an all-time high in 2024, totalling $14.8bn. 'The unprecedented operational achievements, combined with the combat experience gained through Israeli-developed technologies during the war, have generated significant demand for Israeli defence systems among numerous countries,' the ministry stated, attributing the surge in exports to the ongoing military offensive on Gaza, which began in October 2023. According to TheMarker, arms exports rose by 13 percent compared to 2023, when exports stood at $13.1 billion. The 2024 figure represents roughly 10 percent of Israel's total exports of goods and services, according to data published by the outlet. This marks a record year for Israeli arms exports, which have more than doubled over the past five years; in 2019, total exports amounted to $7.3bn. Europe emerged as the primary destination for Israeli arms, accounting for 54 percent of total purchases – up nearly 20 percentage points from 2023, when European countries made up 35 percent of Israel's arms export market. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters In 2024, European states bought nearly $8bn worth of Israeli military products, compared to $4.6bn in 2023, according to the Ministry of Defence. Beyond Europe, another significant destination for Israeli arms in 2024 was the group of countries that normalised relations with Israel under the Abraham Accords. Combined arms sales to the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan reached $1.8bn – equivalent to 12 percent of Israel's total arms exports. In contrast, there has been a marked decline in exports to Asian and Latin American countries. In 2024, Asian nations purchased $3.4bn worth of Israeli weapons, down from $6.3bn the previous year. According to TheMarker, the drop is attributed to major arms deals signed in 2023 with India and Azerbaijan that were not repeated in 2024. The surge in arms exports comes amid Israel's ongoing military campaign in Gaza, now approaching its 20th month, which has resulted in the deaths of over 54,000 Palestinians and destroyed most of the Palestinian enclave. In recent months, Israel has faced mounting international criticism – particularly from European partners – over Gaza, including allegations of using starvation as a weapon of war and of committing genocide. Israel opposition leader says Netanyahu arming 'equivalent of Isis' gangs in Gaza Read More » A recent survey conducted in the UK found that a majority of the British public supports a full arms embargo on Israel. According to the poll, 57 percent of respondents backed a government-imposed embargo, while only 13 percent were opposed. On Tuesday, it was reported that the Spanish government had cancelled a $327m arms deal with Israeli defence company Rafael. The contract involved the purchase of offensive weaponry, including 168 firing posts and 1,680 anti-tank missiles. Yair Coles, head of the International Defense Cooperation Directorate, the Ministry of Defence division overseeing Israeli arms exports, told Israeli news outlet Ynet: 'We are facing a serious challenge. Members of parliament are openly calling for a halt to arms purchases from Israel because of the images coming out of Gaza, and this is having an effect. Today, customers are telling us this directly.' Coles added: 'Sales to France and the UK are very low. Two forces are currently at work: military establishments that want to buy the best equipment from us, and political forces holding back. I hope that necessity will prevail over politics.' A national achievement According to defence ministry data, nearly half (48 percent) of Israel's arms exports consist of air defence systems, missiles and rockets. Other categories, including military and armoured vehicles, radar systems, manned aircraft and satellites, each account for between 8 and 9 percent of total exports. Israeli human rights lawyer and arms trade monitor Eitay Mack told TheMarker that Israeli arms exports could rise further in 2025. 'Due to escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, we may see a spike in arms deals with India,' Mack said. 'Additionally, the effects of the increased security budgets in Europe – driven by shifting relations with the United States – will likely be felt only in 2025.' 'The world sees Israel's strength and wants to be part of it' - Israel Katz, Defence Minister However, Mack cautioned that some countries may shift away from Israeli weapons in favour of American arms as part of efforts to improve trade balances with the United States. 'In the context of the tariff war declared by [US President Donald] Trump, some countries may prefer to buy from the US rather than from Israel,' he added. Defence Minister Israel Katz praised the export figures, calling them a national achievement. 'In a year of war, under complex and difficult conditions, Israel has broken its all-time arms export record,' Katz said. He attributed the success to Israel's battlefield performance: 'This is a direct result of the IDF's and defence industries' achievements against Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, the Ayatollahs' regime in Iran, and other enemies.' Katz added, 'The world sees Israel's strength and wants to be part of it.' Defence Ministry Director General Amir Baram echoed the sentiment. 'Israeli arms exports reflect, more than anything, a growing global appreciation for Israeli technology. Our systems have made a resounding impact across the Middle East over the past year,' he said. Coles also credited the collaboration between the defence sector and the military. 'The unique link between Israeli arms companies, the Ministry of Defence, and the IDF creates a distinct competitive edge in global markets,' he said. According to Coles, during the war in Gaza, Israel's defence industries demonstrated that they could 'meet the IDF's operational needs while simultaneously responding to growing international demand'.
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First Post
09-05-2025
- Politics
- First Post
'Madrassa students our second line of defence:' Khawaja Asif declares amid standoff with India
Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif announced that madrassa students will serve as the country's second line of defence amid standoff with India read more As tensions with India rise, Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif announced on Friday (May 9) during a Parliament session that madrassa (religious schools) students will serve as the country's second line of defence when needed. This statement followed India's retaliatory drone strikes on multiple locations in Pakistan the previous day. 'As far as Madrassas or Madrassa students are concerned, there's no doubt they are our second line of defence, the youngsters who are studying there. When the time comes, they will be used as needed 100 per cent,' Khawaja Asif said. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Pakistan's Defence Minister drops the mask: 'Madrassa students are our second line of defence and can be used for any purpose." Let that sink in. A nuclear state openly admits grooming children for — Riccha Dwivedi (@RicchaDwivedi) May 9, 2025 Asif's statement came after India's central government on Friday authorised the Chief of the Army Staff to call upon members of the Territorial Army as tensions with Pakistan rise. Asif, known for making controversial remarks, also gave the lawmakers the reason why the Indian drone attack on Thursday was not thwarted by Pakistan forces, an argument that directly contradicted a previous claim made by the Pakistan Army that the projectiles fired by India were intercepted. Asif said, 'The drone attack was mounted to detect our locations. It's a technical thing that I can't explain. We didn't intercept the drones, so that the location of our aerial defence units won't get leaked.' India said Thursday it targeted air defence units of Pakistan across several cities, effectively inflicting severe damage and taking out an air defence system in Lahore. According to reports, India used Israeli-developed Harpy kamikaze drones in these attacks. Earlier on Thursday, the Pakistani Army claimed that they had shot down 25 Indian drones since Wednesday night. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD However, a spokesperson for the army, Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudry, acknowledged that drone attacks in Rawalpindi, Lahore and an area near Karachi had resulted in a civilian casualty and an injury. Since the beginning of the India-Pakistan conflict on May 7, Khawaja Asif has increasingly made global headlines for his controversial remarks.
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First Post
09-05-2025
- Politics
- First Post
'Didn't intercept Indian drones as...': Khawaja Asif contradicts Pakistan Army in parliament
Khawaja Asif argued that the projectiles fired by India were not intercepted to avoid disclosing the location of Pakistan's air defence units, directly contradicting the Pakistani Army read more Khawaja Asif address parliament on Friday (May 9). Source: Screengrab from a video on X Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Friday (May 9) contradicted the Pakistan Army's claims of downing Indian drones while addressing the parliament, arguing the projectiles were not intercepted to avoid disclosing the location of the country's air defence units to Indian forces. Asif said, 'The drone attack was mounted to detect our locations. It's a technical thing that I can't explain. We didn't intercept the drones, so that the location of our aerial defence units won't get leaked.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'We didn't intercept Indian drones as it would have given away our defence positions' This isn't parody, this is scene from Pakistani parliament Pakistani parliament is funnier than parody 😹 — BALA (@erbmjha) May 9, 2025 India said Thursday it targeted air defence units of Pakistan across several cities, effectively inflicting severe damage and taking out an air defence system in Lahore. According to reports, India used Israeli-developed Harpy kamikaze drones in these attacks. Earlier on Thursday, the Pakistani Army claimed that they had shot down 25 Indian drones since Wednesday night. However, a spokesperson for the army, Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudry, acknowledged that drone attacks in Rawalpindi, Lahore and an area near Karachi had resulted in a civilian casualty and an injury. Since the beginning of the India-Pakistan conflict on May 7, Khawaja Asif has increasingly made global headlines for his controversial remarks. Khawaja Asif became the subject of widespread ridicule following his appearance on CNN in the wake of the Indian Air Force's strikes on terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir under Operation Sindoor. During the interview, he was pressed on Pakistan's claim that it had successfully shot down five Indian fighter jets — a statement that has been attributed as fake and has been widely questioned due to the absence of credible evidence. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD When CNN's Becky Anderson asked for evidence, Asif conveniently pointed fingers at social media. Asif responded: 'It's all over social media. On Indian social media, not on our social media,' 'The debris of these jets fell… and it's all over Indian media.' Earlier, Asif embarrassed himself and Pakistan for admitting on camera that his nation has been doing 'dirty work' of supporting and funding terrorism in South Asia for decades. When Sky's Yalda Hakim said, 'You do admit, sir, that Pakistan has had a long history of backing and supporting and training and funding these terrorist organisations,' Asif replied candidly: 'Well, we have been doing this dirty work for the United States for about three decades, you know, and the West, including Britain.' 'That was a mistake, and we suffered from that, and that is why you are saying this to me. If we had not joined the war against the Soviet Union and later on the war after 9/11, Pakistan's track record… was an unimpeachable track record.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump spurns neocons, foreign policy hawks with his effort to reach a MAGA-fied Iran deal
Progressives and other opponents of military conflict with Iran scored a surprise victory last week when President Donald Trump announced imminent negotiations with Tehran. Talks took place over the weekend in Oman as US negotiators, under Trump's direction, seek a new arrangement aimed at constraining Iran's nuclear program. A second round was confirmed to be set for this Saturday in Rome, signaling that the negotiations are proceeding smoothly (so far), though two principals, US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, issued terse conflicting statements on social media. 'Iran must stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment and weaponization program,' Witkoff tweeted. Araghchi responded that a full dismantling of enrichment capabilities was off the table. But signs of an agreement taking shape were apparent. Then, on Wednesday, a new bombshell from The New York Times: Trump had personally waved off the prospect of U.S. support for an Israeli-developed plan to strike Iranian nuclear facilities as soon as next month. 'I think that Iran has a chance to have a great country and to live happily without death,' said Trump on Thursday, speaking to reporters at the White House. This shift in posture is not going over well in the hawkish corners of Washington's foreign policy sphere. 'Any deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran must not only verifiably eliminate every element of its nuclear program, but must also crush its ballistic missile capability and its support of terror proxies around the world. Anything less is simply Obama redux,' warned former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, one of the first-termers not invited back to the Cabinet this time. Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the Hill's loudest Iran hawks, added that any deal 'must include the total dismantling of Iran's nuclear infrastructure and include not only U.S. but worldwide supervision.' 'I fear anything less could be a catastrophic mistake,' he tweeted. As discussions among the neoconservative wing of the GOP on Capitol Hill veered in support of direct strikes on Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile facilities earlier this year, Donald Trump announced the resumption of his first-term 'maximum pressure' campaign in February. The strategy involves significant increases to both implementation and enforcement of anti-Iran sanctions, and other measures aimed at driving down the country's oil exports. But the writing was already on the wall by then. Over the wintertime presidential transition period, Trump purged his team of a handful of maximum pressure supporters and took the further steps of punishing some he apparently saw as disloyal — John Bolton, a target of alleged Iranian assassination plots, lost his security detail. Others from his first terms were simply not invited back as the president went even further in his efforts to staff agencies with MAGA loyalists. Now it seems clear: Trump is treating his maximum pressure strategy in a manner very much similar to his implementation of so-called 'reciprocal' tariffs on dozens of US trading partners — as a bargaining chip. Those same hawks, now isolated from Trumpworld, have resorted to publicly calling on the president to hold to certain red lines, some of which (like the demand for Iran to abandon all civilian nuclear programs and uranium enrichment) are likely to be unacceptable to Iranian negotiators. With only one round of negotiations complete, it's impossible to say where talks will end up. But the wing of MAGA Republicanism opposed to foreign interventions and 'endless war' is celebrating the progress the president has already made in shedding the neoconservatives from his foreign policy team. 'The Trump Administration is George W. Bush's third term, or not, and that's his whole legacy,' wrote Curt Mills, executive director of The American Conservative magazine. 'So far, POTUS is sagely waving off this nonsense. But the stakes are that high.' They're also railing against the devastation that a war with a Russian-backed Middle Eastern power could wrought. 'How many [wealthy kids] are on the front line? How many of their kids are in that carrier battle group?' Steve Bannon asked, referring to American aristocrats. 'Your sons and daughters are going to be in those carrier battle groups. Your sons and daughters are going to be in the first wave,' he cautioned on his War Room podcast on Thursday. 'Your sons and daughters will be doing the bombing runs if that has to happen.'
The Independent
17-04-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Trump spurns neocons, foreign policy hawks with his effort to reach a MAGA-fied Iran deal
Progressives and other opponents of military conflict with Iran scored a surprise victory last week when President Donald Trump announced imminent negotiations with Tehran. Talks took place over the weekend in Oman as US negotiators, under Trump's direction, seek a new arrangement aimed at constraining Iran's nuclear program. A second round was confirmed to be set for this Saturday in Rome, signaling that the negotiations are proceeding smoothly (so far), though two principals, US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, issued terse conflicting statements on social media. 'Iran must stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment and weaponization program,' Witkoff tweeted. Araghchi responded that a full dismantling of enrichment capabilities was off the table. But signs of an agreement taking shape were apparent. Then, on Wednesday, a new bombshell from The New York Times: Trump had personally waved off the prospect of U.S. support for an Israeli-developed plan to strike Iranian nuclear facilities as soon as next month. 'I think that Iran has a chance to have a great country and to live happily without death,' said Trump on Thursday, speaking to reporters at the White House. This shift in posture is not going over well in the hawkish corners of Washington's foreign policy sphere. 'Any deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran must not only verifiably eliminate every element of its nuclear program, but must also crush its ballistic missile capability and its support of terror proxies around the world. Anything less is simply Obama redux,' warned former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, one of the first-termers not invited back to the Cabinet this time. Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the Hill's loudest Iran hawks, added that any deal 'must include the total dismantling of Iran's nuclear infrastructure and include not only U.S. but worldwide supervision.' 'I fear anything less could be a catastrophic mistake,' he tweeted. As discussions among the neoconservative wing of the GOP on Capitol Hill veered in support of direct strikes on Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile facilities earlier this year, Donald Trump announced the resumption of his first-term 'maximum pressure' campaign in February. The strategy involves significant increases to both implementation and enforcement of anti-Iran sanctions, and other measures aimed at driving down the country's oil exports. But the writing was already on the wall by then. Over the wintertime presidential transition period, Trump purged his team of a handful of maximum pressure supporters and took the further steps of punishing some he apparently saw as disloyal — John Bolton, a target of alleged Iranian assassination plots, lost his security detail. Others from his first terms were simply not invited back as the president went even further in his efforts to staff agencies with MAGA loyalists. Now it seems clear: Trump is treating his maximum pressure strategy in a manner very much similar to his implementation of so-called 'reciprocal' tariffs on dozens of US trading partners — as a bargaining chip. Those same hawks, now isolated from Trumpworld, have resorted to publicly calling on the president to hold to certain red lines, some of which (like the demand for Iran to abandon all civilian nuclear programs and uranium enrichment) are likely to be unacceptable to Iranian negotiators. With only one round of negotiations complete, it's impossible to say where talks will end up. But the wing of MAGA Republicanism opposed to foreign interventions and 'endless war' is celebrating the progress the president has already made in shedding the neoconservatives from his foreign policy team. 'The Trump Administration is George W. Bush's third term, or not, and that's his whole legacy,' wrote Curt Mills, executive director of The American Conservative magazine. 'So far, POTUS is sagely waving off this nonsense. But the stakes are that high.' They're also railing against the devastation that a war with a Russian-backed Middle Eastern power could wrought. 'How many [wealthy kids] are on the front line? How many of their kids are in that carrier battle group?' Steve Bannon asked, referring to American aristocrats. 'Your sons and daughters are going to be in those carrier battle groups. Your sons and daughters are going to be in the first wave,' he cautioned on his War Room podcast on Thursday. 'Your sons and daughters will be doing the bombing runs if that has to happen.'
