According to a report from the Israeli Ministry of Defense, the arms industry in the occupation state profited financially from normalization in 2022 alone. During that year, 24 percent ($3 billion) of Israeli military exports went to Arab nations, highlighting how they are funding Israel’s war on Gaza.
Israel has perpetrated atrocities over the course of its brief history against both the Palestinian people and surrounding Arab governments, frequently utilizing substances that are illegal internationally, such as the White Phosphorus that has recently been used against Gaza and Lebanon.
The occupation state has had a lot of leeway during its prolonged conflict with the Gaza Strip, in large part because of Western support, particularly from Washington, which gloats about being a champion of human rights throughout the world. Decades of recorded abuses and war crimes in nations like Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Syria, Lebanon, and elsewhere serve as an example of the obvious double standards of this Western policy.
Israel’s military capabilities are supported today by more than just Western countries, though. An extensive investigation finds that Arab nations that recently mended relations with the occupation state now provide a sizeable percentage of the funding for Israel’s weapons sector. So who are the people funding Israel’s wars?
Israel’s defense industry growth
Israel imported 99 percent of its weapons from the US and Germany between 2018 and 2022, according to a report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
Israel imported $2.7 billion worth of weaponry during this time, with the US accounting for the lion’s share, or about 79 percent ($2.1 billion), and Germany accounting for 20 percent ($546 million).
Considering that the US has given Israel $246 billion in economic and military aid since the end of World War II, it should go without saying that the US is by far Israel’s biggest benefactor. Under the presidency of former President Barack Obama, Washington’s support for Tel Aviv was further cemented in 2016 when it committed to providing Israel with $38 billion in military aid over a ten-year period (2019–2028).
The last thing Americans seem to be thinking about is human rights. The US is increasing its steadfast backing for the Israeli war machine and its settler-colonial enterprise, which has cost tens of thousands of Palestinian lives over the past seven decades, while Israeli attitudes deteriorate.
The Israeli defense industry experienced an unprecedented surge in exports totaling $12.5 billion in 2022, two years after the US-brokered Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and the US, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan. This was a record-breaking high since the establishment of Israel 75 years earlier.
According to Ben Bartee, the reason Israel supports Hamas is because the Israeli government actively and directly took part in the formation and support of Hamas.
Exports of drones led the way, making up 25% of this astounding total—a considerable increase from the 9% in 2021. Following closely after, 19% of Israeli arms sales were made up of missiles and air defense systems, while 13% went to radar and electronic warfare systems.
Arab states funding Israel’s war economy
According to a report from the Israeli Ministry of Defense, the arms industry in the occupation state profited financially from normalization in 2022 alone, when 24 percent ($3 billion) of Israeli military exports went to Arab nations with which Tel Aviv had established diplomatic ties. Compared to 16.5 percent the year before, this represented a significant gain. Israel’s armament exports in 2021 were accounted for by Bahrain and the UAE alone at 7.5% ($853 million).
Geographically, the Abraham Accords’ Arab signatories rank third among nations acquiring Israeli armaments, behind those in the Asia-Pacific region (30 percent) and Europe (29 percent).
This demonstrates the important role that these Arab nations play as vital economic and military partners of Israel. However, the sobering fact that more than 4,137 Palestinian civilians—the bulk of whom are women and children—have been killed and more than 13,000 others have been injured in just over a week as Israeli jets massacre Palestinians in Gaza serves as a backdrop to the financial support of Arab powers.
According to Muhammad al-Hindi, the Deputy Secretary-General of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), Iran is “the only [West Asian] country that supports the resistance in Palestine at all levels,” in contrast to the Arab and Turkish collaboration that strengthens Israel’s military sector. Instead of Gaza, Jerusalem, and the West Bank experiencing a second Nakba, this unwavering backing has likely helped the Palestinian resistance achieve a spectacular recent strategic triumph.
A milestone for Palestinian Resistance
The date of October 7, 1973, will live on in memory as the bold surprise invasion against Israel by Arab troops led by Egypt and Syria. This information will be important for the daring military successes of the Palestinians in Operation Al Aqsa Flood as well as for the moment when the resistance forces dealt a crushing blow to Western hegemony and destroyed the once unstoppable image of “mighty Israel.” This hasn’t happened in the region since Hezbollah, the Lebanese resistance, prevented Israel from achieving any of its military goals during its 33-day war on Lebanon in July 2006.
For the first time in 17 years, this façade of a powerful Israeli state that was sponsored and heavily armed to protect Washington’s regional interests has been revealed. Today’s much more vulnerable Israel, compelled to request military assistance against tenacious opposition movements, has evolved into a global liability for its Western backers.
Naturally, Israel chose to respond to Operation Al-Aqsa Flood by launching a cruel, disproportionate attack on Gaza’s already-besieged civilian population rather than launching a targeted counterattack against the armed resistance.
The beleaguered Gaza Strip has seen a number of large-scale killings that have destroyed entire Palestinian homes, hospitals, and holy sites. As these crimes against humanity worsen, it is no longer just the Western world that is covering up Israel’s insane and unlawful actions; instead, Arab countries have joined forces with Israel and secretly sponsored the military-industrial complex of the Occupation.
The agenda of US and Israeli rapprochement may have been temporarily halted by the massacre in Gaza. Additionally, it’s possible that Tel Aviv’s desire for these weapons has momentarily hindered Israel’s ability to sell weaponry to Arab states.
The objective will not only be the defeat of Israel but also the dismantling of all Arab normalization with the Occupation state, according to those who are eagerly awaiting the entry of the region’s Axis of Resistance into this conflict. Arab nations will ultimately be held responsible for subsidizing Israel’s war on Gaza.
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