Israel’s Weaponry: Gaza Being Battle Tested for the Global Market

We must shift the arms race into a ‘peace race’.  –Martin Luther king Jr.

Israel has had its prolonged occupation of Palestine since 1967. Throughout those years, Israel’s military-industrial complex has been testing weapons, surveillance systems, and counterinsurgency techniques in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, which it then exports around the globe.

Israel has supplied nearly 130 nations worldwide with spyware, so-called smart walls, facial recognition technology, occupation and repression instruments, and other items tested in the Gaza Strip. Therefore, the conflict is no longer limited to Palestine as a geographical location. It has evolved into the “Global Palestine.”

The phrase “Policide” refers to the idea that the Israeli elite wants to eradicate the Palestinian people not merely by killing them but also by destroying their political identity and aspiration for self-determination. Israel has consequently established its entire identity as a Jewish supremacist state. On the contrary, one may contend that the Palestinian resistance also lives on.

Since Modi came to power in 2014, ties between Israel and India have become more robust. First, because of their defence partnership, India purchases enormous quantities of technology, spy gear, and defence supplies from Israel. Second, there is an ideological alignment, the conviction that many Indian officials inside the government of Hindu fundamentalists are vocal about their appreciation for Israel’s actions in the West Bank and their desire to replicate those actions in Kashmir.

In Europe, Muslim refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, and other countries had poured into the European Union, and the EU did not want that to happen again. Towards that end, they established nearly a fortress-style Europe using a variety of instruments and technologies to keep people out, primarily Muslims. Employing Israeli drones is one part of that arsenal. Though they are unarmed, Frontex, akin to the E.U.’s border security force, mainly uses them in constant flight over the Mediterranean; in a sense, they are the eyes in the sky. As a result, they send all of these photos to Frontex’s headquarters in Warsaw 24/7. This gets to the core of why the E.U. uses Israeli drones, because they have been tested in combat over Gaza several times in the past fifteen years.

Exports from Israel’s border-industrial complex reach Mexico and the United States. Spread out over the border are vast Israeli monitoring towers manufactured by Elbit, the country’s top defence contractor, a vital component of the American arsenal located across the border in Mexico. Furthermore, the U.S. picked this company since it underwent initial testing in Palestine.

Israel has frequently provided countries with military assistance and training that the U.S. was unable to give formally due to a potential congressional dispute. And that included countries such as Guatemala, even at a time when they were killing the indigenous people. The idea of learning the so-called skills that Israel was gaining through its occupation after 1967 was a significant draw for many of those countries, including Guatemala, Honduras, Chile under Pinochet, and a host of other countries in Latin and South America, Africa, and Asia.

Israel and the United States turned into almost indispensable allies. Israel disclosed its 2022 armament statistics, which reached USD12.5 billion, the highest ever. Moreover, following the so-called Abraham Accords, 25% of that was flowing to the Arab autocracies. Not only is it a moral failing, but 75 years after the Holocaust, it has left a terrible stain on the Jewish legacy. It appears as though this legacy is supporting the world’s worst dictators.

Pegasus, an Israeli spyware, has garnered much attention over the past ten years. It is a tool that lets any law enforcement agency, military intelligence agency, or government spy on a person’s phone, whether Android or iOS, and gain all of its data. The largest consumers of it, as well as the main targets of this monitoring, are Mexico and Togo. Furthermore, Israel offers Pegasus and other programs as a diplomatic carrot, essentially saying, “We will sell you the most powerful spyware in the world if you back us in the U.N. or elsewhere.” It has led to its sale in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Rwanda, and numerous other oppressive nations. Israel is currently among the world’s top exporters of spyware; Even if the NSO Group vanishes tomorrow and goes bankrupt, there are many other similar technologies in Israel.

It is unethical and a violation of human rights for Israel to attack the Gaza Strip to test its weaponry and then sell them with the designation “Battle tested.” Meanwhile, the Muslim Ummah and the United Nations (UN) have to oppose Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people.