Under pressure from pro-Palestinian organizations, Canada decided earlier this week to impose an arms embargo on Israel, and halt exports of weaponry. Canada is far from being a significant arms supplier for Israel but the concern is that the move will start a “Western snowball” with other countries joining in.
According to Canadian government figures, Canadian defense exports to Israel totaled just $15 million in 2022. Between 2019 and 2023, defense imports from Canada represented 0.05% of Israel’s total defense imports. For the sake of comparison, in 2022, UK arms exports to Israel totaled $53 million, and German arms exports to Israel totaled $35 million. In 2022, US military aid to Israel alone totaled $3.3 billion. But if the Canadian move were to expand to more significant countries for Israel, the implications could be more serious.
US arms embargo
The US has not imposed any sort of arms embargo on Israel since 2000 at the start of the Second Intifada, when it refused to sell parts for combat helicopters that were being used for targeted killings. The embargo was lifted the following year after 9/11. As the suicide bombings escalated, Israel was even given extra aid of $1 billion.
Dr. Uzi Rubin, a former head of the Israel Missile Defense Organization and currently a researcher at Bar-Ilan University’s Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies and the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security tells “Globes,” “Israel is exposed on all components from abroad in all areas as are all countries, including Russia, China and even the US. They all use commercial components.”
A country that remained consistent in its embargo against Israel during the Second Intifada was the UK, which today is being effected by the Campaign against Arms Trade (CAAT) organization, which opposes the export to Israel of F-35 parts. Last month the UK media reported that according to a diplomatic source, the UK would consider imposing a complete arms embargo on Israel “If the IDF attacks Rafah.” According to CAAT, since 2008 the UK has exported arms to Israel totaling $713.81 million.
The importance of Germany
Since the outbreak of the war on October 7, several countries have imposed arms embargos on Israel. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, for example, said in January that his country had completely halted defense exports to Israel in October. This happened even though Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is considered close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Italy’s defense exports to Israel totaled about $130 million between 2013 and 2022, mainly parts for combat and training aircraft according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
In addition to Italy, about a month ago the court in The Hague ordered a halt to the transfer of parts to Israel of F-35 aircraft from US army warehouses in the Netherlands. However, “Globes” has learned from sources familiar with the matter that Israel quickly found alternative sources for the same parts, and there was no shortage due to the move.
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Italy and the Netherlands are not significant suppliers to Israel and their moves did not seriously harm it, but Germany, which is a, EU member, is a major exporter of arms to Israel. Germany has also been subject to international pressure since the war, and is now seen as vulnerable to the “snowball” affect feared by Israel’s defense industry. Last Sunday German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited Israel, and expressed concern about the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Members of Germany’s parliament on the left even recently came out against the “indiscriminate supply” of weapons to Israel, “despite war crimes being committed.”
Reports on Germany’s ARD say, the war in Israel has led to a jump in defense procurement carried out by Israel from Germany to $351 million ten times higher than in 2022.
Dependent on Israel
While Israel needs to import arms, it is also a major exporter. SIPRI, which recently examined international trade in military equipment over the past five years, found that Israel is the second biggest supplier to Germany (16%), and the third biggest to the UK (2.7%). Israel is also a significant supplier to Morocco (11%), India (37%) and the Philippines (12%).
To what extent and if at all does the US depend on security components from Israel? “I don’t know,” answers Dr. Rubin honestly. “Even if I knew, I wouldn’t answer, because it’s confidential information.”
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on March 21, 2024.
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