On April 5, local time, the United Nations Human Rights Council voted to pass a resolution demanding that Israel take responsibility for possible "war crimes" and "crimes against humanity" in the Gaza Strip, and called on all countries to stop supplying weapons to Israel. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) said in an article on the 5th that with Israel's insistence on continuing military operations against the Gaza Strip, Western countries that sell weapons to it are facing increasing pressure.
Currently, the United States is Israel's largest arms supplier, followed by Germany. According to statistics from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) in Sweden, from 2019 to 2023, 69% of Israel's arms imports came from the United States, 30% from Germany, 0.9% from Italy, and a small amount from the United Kingdom and Canada. However, Canada announced last month that it would cease arms supplies to Israel.
Since the outbreak of the current round of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in October last year, only two US arms sales to Israel have been announced after obtaining emergency approval, but the BBC quoted the Washington Post as reporting that the Biden administration has also quietly carried out more than 100 arms sales to Israel, most of which are below the threshold for formal notification to the US Congress.
On April 5, 2024 local time, in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, a Palestinian father tried to find the grave of his young daughter who was killed in an Israeli attack. As a result of the attack, most of the cemeteries were reduced to a pile of rubble. (Source: Visual China)
The United States: Israel's largest arms supplier and has an arsenal in Israel
According to the report, the United States has helped Israel build a technologically advanced military force. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, in 2013-2023, 65.6% of Israel's arms imports came from the United States, of which, in 2019-2023, the figure was 69%.
Under a 10-year agreement, the United States provides Israel with $3.8 billion a year in military aid aimed at allowing its allies to maintain so-called "qualitative military superiority" over its neighbors.
Israel used the aid money to buy American F-35 fighter jets. So far, Israel has ordered 75 and the United States has delivered more than 30. Israel was the first country outside the United States to acquire F-35 fighter jets and the first to use F-35 fighter jets in combat.
F-35战斗机（图源：法新社）
Some of the U.S. aid ($500 million a year) is also being used by Israel to fund missile defense programs, including the Iron Dome anti-rocket system, the Arrow anti-missile system, and the David Slingshot air defense system, which the two countries have jointly developed. Since the outbreak of the current round of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israel has relied on these weapons to defend itself against rocket, missile and drone attacks.
After Hamas (Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement) launched a raid on Israel on October 7 last year, US President Joe Biden said that the United States was "adding additional military aid" to Israel.
Since the beginning of the current round of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, on the surface, the United States has made only two arms sales to Israel, both of which have been announced after obtaining emergency approval from the US Congress: one is to sell 14,000 tanks and ammunition to Israel, worth $106 million, and the other is to make parts and components for 155-mm artillery shells, worth $147 million.
The BBC quoted the Washington Post as reporting on March 6 that the Biden administration, while complaining that Israeli leaders were not doing enough to protect civilians, quietly approved more than 100 arms sales to Israel, most of which were for less than the amount that needed to be formally notified to the US Congress.
According to the Washington Post, U.S. officials told members of Congress at a classified briefing that the Biden administration's more than 100 "foreign arms sales" quietly approved included thousands of precision-guided weapons, small-diameter bombs, bunker bombs (also known as bunker bombs), small arms and other lethal equipment.
Despite the presence of these arms deliveries, Israel's total arms imports from the United States in 2023 are almost the same as in 2022, according to the SIPRI report.
On December 17, 2023 local time, Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip was bombed by Israel, and a man took a photo of the smoke billowing on the roof. (Source: Visual China)
Recently, the United States also has a planned arms sale to Israel, selling up to 50 F-35 fighter jets to Israel for $18 billion, which is the amount of the deal that the US State Department needs to notify the US Congress, which has not yet ratified the agreement.
Although the F-35s need to be built from scratch and will not be delivered immediately, the arms sale is expected to cause a heated debate within the Democratic Party, as many Democratic lawmakers and Democratic supporters are increasingly concerned about Israel's actions in Gaza, the report said.
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza caused by Israeli operations has put increasing pressure on the United States Government, which has always protected Israel. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren said she was prepared to block the potential deal and condemned Israel's "indiscriminate bombing" in the Gaza Strip.
The BBC mentioned that in addition to arms sales, the United States established a large weapons depot in Israel in 1984 to prepare supplies for the US military in advance in the event of a regional conflict, and also to provide Israel with quick access to weapons in case of emergency.
After the outbreak of the Ukraine crisis, the US Department of Defense transferred 300,000 155mm artillery shells from the arsenal to Ukraine. After the outbreak of the current round of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the ammunition stored in the warehouse was also supplied to Israel.
Germany is Israel's second-largest arms supplier, and Italy's third
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), in 2019-2023, 30% of Israel's arms imports came from Germany and 0.9% from Italy.
As of early November 2023, Germany's arms sales to Israel in 2023 have reached $326 million, a tenfold increase compared to 2022, and most of these arms export licenses were issued after October 7, 2023.
According to the German news agency dpa, Germany's exports to Israel are mainly components for air defense systems and communications equipment.
According to the BBC, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been firmly supportive of Israel's right to self-defense during the current round of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and although his tone on Israel's actions in Gaza has changed in recent weeks, and there have been some debates in Germany, there is no sign that Germany will stop arms sales to Israel.
As for Italy, its products for arms sales to Israel include helicopters and naval guns. Last year, Italy exported weapons worth $14.8 million to Israel, according to the Italian National Institute of Statistics.
The conservative Italian government immediately provided support to Israel after the outbreak of the current round of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but has since criticized Israel's invasion of Gaza, which has resulted in too many civilian deaths, and urged Israel to cease fire immediately.
According to Reuters, although Italian Defense Minister Crosetto had stated that the Italian authorities had blocked the authorization of arms exports to Israel after the outbreak of the current round of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Italian independent media Altreconomia disclosed in March this year that from October to December last year, Italy approved the export of weapons and ammunition worth about $2.3 million to Israel. In December last year alone, Italy's arms sales to Israel reached $1.41 million, three times that of the same period in 2022.
According to Italian law, the export of weapons in the country is prohibited to countries that wage war and to countries that are considered to have violated international human rights. However, the Italian Minister of Defence, Crosetto, argued that these were unfinished contracts and that the Italian authorities had examined the arms exports on a case-by-case basis, and that the products exported did not involve materials that could be used against civilians in Gaza.
Other sources
According to the British government, the UK exported "relatively little" weapons to Israel, at about $53 million in 2022.
Since 2008, the UK has issued arms export licences to Israel worth about $727 million, according to the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT), a British organization. Most of them were parts and components for American-made fighter jets, which were eventually delivered to Israel.
Currently, the British government is under increasing pressure to suspend the export of these products to Israel. But a senior British government official told the BBC that the British arms embargo on Israel "is not going to happen."
It is worth mentioning that Canada also used to export weapons to Israel, but recently announced that it would stop. Israel is one of the top 10 recipients of Canadian arms exports, with Canada exporting about $15.7 million worth of military supplies to Israel in 2022, according to Radio Canada.
Since January of this year, Canada has suspended the issuance of export licenses to Israel for non-lethal military equipment and technology. On March 19, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said that the Canadian government would stop arms exports to Israel.
A Canadian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that "the situation on the ground does not allow us to" export any military equipment.
Canada's decision drew fierce criticism from Israeli Foreign Minister Katz. Katz claimed that the steps the Canadian government is taking "weakens Israel's right to self-defense against Hamas" and that "history will be harshly critical of Canada's current actions."
Israel's defense industry
In addition to importing weapons, Israel has built its own defense industry with the help of the United States and is currently the ninth largest arms exporter in the world. Israel's R&D focus is on advanced technology products rather than large-scale hardware.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Israel accounted for 2.3% of global arms exports between 2019 and 2023. Israel's arms exports to India account for 37 percent of its foreign arms sales, and the second and third largest recipients of Israeli weapons are the Philippines (12 percent) and the United States (8.7 percent), respectively.
According to data from the Israeli Ministry of Defense, in 2022, Israel exported weapons worth about $12.5 billion, with drones accounting for 25% of the total exports, followed by missiles, rockets and air defense systems (19%), and then radar and electronic warfare systems (13%).
On September 28 last year, on the eve of the outbreak of the current round of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Israel and Germany signed a defense agreement worth about $3.5 billion, under which Germany purchased the "Arrow-3" missile defense system from Israel, which will arrive in Germany by the end of 2025. This is Israel's largest foreign arms sales order in history. Since the Arrow anti-missile system was jointly developed by Israel and the United States, the deal was agreed to by the United States in advance.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues, although Israel insists its army is working to avoid civilian deaths, accuses Hamas of deliberately putting civilians in the line of fire, and says aid deliveries are not restricted. However, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, said in January that "there is no safe place in Gaza" and that some 1.9 million people have been displaced.
Earlier this month, seven staff members of the International Food Aid Organization's World Central Kitchen were killed in an attack in Gaza, prompting the international community to once again urge a ceasefire and condemn Israeli attacks on civilians.
On April 5, local time, the health department of the Gaza Strip issued a statement saying that since the outbreak of a new round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict on October 7 last year, the Israeli army's military operations in the Gaza Strip have killed 33,091 Palestinians, 70% of whom are women and children. According to Israeli statistics, about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, were killed in the Hamas attack on October 7 last year.
As the humanitarian crisis in Gaza intensified, the attitude of the United States and the West has changed, and they have begun to make tough statements about the Netanyahu government's approach, urging the Israeli army not to harm civilians. However, the United States, Germany and other countries have yet to touch the most effective means of putting pressure on Israel - the arms embargo.
The UN Human Rights Council voted on April 5 to adopt a resolution calling on States to "cease the sale, transfer and transfer of weapons, ammunition and other military equipment to Israel," while calling for an "immediate ceasefire" and "immediate humanitarian access and assistance" in the Gaza Strip. At the time of the vote, 28 countries voted in favour, 6 against and 13 abstained.
China voted in favor, the United States and Germany voted against. Germany claimed that this was done because the resolution did not explicitly condemn Hamas, and the representative of the United States called the draft "a number of problems", including the absence of an unequivocal condemnation of Hamas.
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