Hermes 450 UAV from Elbit. (Photo: Łukasz Golowanow & Maciek Hypś, Konflikty.pl, via Wikimedia Commons)
Elbit Systems, Palantir, Rafael, Lockheed Martin and Israel Aerospace Industries, whose arms and technology were reportedly used by Israel in its genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza, were major sponsors of the event.
Representatives from countries including the US, UK, Canada, Germany and Norway reportedly attended an arms expo held in Israel this week, where weapons tried and tested not only in the genocidal assault on Gaza, but also used in Lebanon and Iran, were exhibited.
One video presented to the audience at the DefenseTech Week summit, held in Tel Aviv, showed two attack drones striking a building in Gaza, according to a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report.
“You see the first one hitting on the left side…and then the second one goes to its own target,” UVision Air CEO Ran Gozali narrated the footage. “These are some of the clips that we were approved to share.” The company is an Israeli defense-technology company.
The website of the summit, hosted by the Israeli Defense Ministry, describes the event as “Highlighting complex, real-world scenarios, this summit will go beyond theoretical discussion to provide invaluable lessons from Israel’s cutting-edge technologies and strategies addressing global security challenges and shaping the future of defense technology.”
Leading Arms Manufacturers
Elbit Systems, Palantir, Rafael, Lockheed Martin and Israel Aerospace Industries, whose arms and technology were used by Israel in its genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza, were major sponsors of the event.
In addition to government representatives, attendees also included executives from private industry and foreign investors, the report said. India also sent a formal delegation came from India, while Uzbekistan, Singapore and Canada sent officials, with a European Union (EU) delegation also present, it noted. These delegates were able to mingle with “uniformed Israeli military generals and fighter pilots who took part in the war.”
The arms fair was evident that Israel’s military offerings were popular, despite its growing international isolation over the two-year military assault on Gaza that has killed over 70,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
Despite states expressing concern over the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza as well as the surge in settler attacks in the occupied West Bank, it seemed they were still eager to get a front-row seat to the killing machines and technology employed by Israel.
The UK, which blocked an Israeli delegation from attending an arms trade fair in September, reportedly justified its presence by saying that: “British Embassy officials attended the conference as they routinely do around the world to engage counterparts and advance UK interests.”
Germany with Largest Delegation
Norway also had a diplomatic official at the arms fair, even though the country’s sovereign wealth fund, the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), recently sold its shares in a number of Israeli companies. It has also withdrawn investments from Caterpillar over the use of its bulldozers in destroying Palestinian homes and properties in Gaza and the West Bank.
Germany, one of Israel’s closest allies, had one of the largest delegations at the arms fair, with delegates wearing pins with united German and Israeli flags. Last month, Germany announced lifting restrictions on arms exports to Israel that it placed in August, citing a “stablilized” ceasefire in Gaza.
According to the WSJ report, an Arrow 3 air-defense system that Germany purchased from Israel for about $4 billion became fully operational on Wednesday, “becoming the first Arrow system to be deployed outside of Israel and the U.S.” The report stated that it was “the largest arms deal in Israel’s history.”
Attendees also posed for photographs beside the Israeli-owned defense company Rafael’s Iron Beam laser-interception system, a smaller version of which Israel used in its assault on Gaza, as well as the devastating war in Lebanon. Israeli startups at the event were also seen hobnobbing with investors from Europe, including Germany and Austria, according to the report.
Record Arms Sales
Despite some marketing campaigns sparking backlash, such as a promotional video by Rafael in July showing its Spike Firefly munition killing a person in Gaza, the Israeli firms at the expo appeared galvanized.
“Israel in the war, for good or for bad, proved what worked and what didn’t,” Alon Lifshitz of Aurelius Capital, a venture-capital firm based in Tel Aviv and New York, reportedly said. The company, the report stated, specializes in dual-use technologies and cybersecurity for national-security applications.
According to the WSJ report, Israeli arms exports “broke a record in 2024,” having reached “$14.8 billion despite calls to boycott Israeli weapons.”
Citing data from Israel’s Defense Ministry, the report stated that Europe “was the biggest buyer of Israeli defense technology last year, accounting for 54% of exports compared with 35% in 2023.”
(PC, WSJ, Al Mayadeen)
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