Germany supplies 30% of Israel’s arms imports – DW – 19.07.2024

The US has been Israel’s main arms supplier for decades. According to the Stockholm Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), between 2019 and 2023, 99% of Israel’s arms imports came from the US (69%) and Germany (30%).

Before the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, Washington exported an average of $3 billion (€2.76 billion) worth of weapons to Israel each year. In absolute terms, however, Israel imports fewer weapons from the United States than other countries in the region.

Over the past five years, 3.6 percent of U.S. arms exports went to Israel, while 15 percent went to Saudi Arabia, 8.2 percent to Qatar and 4.5 percent to Kuwait.

US warplanes are playing a key role in Israel’s massive military offensive in Gaza as well as in attacks on Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. According to a SIPRI reportThe United States delivered thousands of guided missiles and rockets to Israel at the end of 2023. However, the total volume of Israeli arms imports in 2023 was not significantly higher than in the previous year.

Steady flow of arms deliveries

The supply of heavy weapons to Israel was particularly controversial this year, with protesters taking to the streets and blocking supply lines to stop the arms deliveries.

In May, US President Joe Biden temporarily suspended the delivery of 2,000-pound (907 kilograms) and 500-pound bombs after expressing concern about the high number of civilian deaths in Gaza and the conduct of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which have been accused of human rights abuses against Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, the death toll in the besieged enclave has exceeded 39,000 since Israel began its military campaign last year in response to the October 7 attacks. Nearly two million people, almost the entire population, have been displaced, and some 8,000 children are suffering from malnutrition due to the ongoing blockade, which UN experts say has spread famine throughout the Gaza Strip.

After it was announced that the supply of 500-pound bombs to the Israeli military would resume, a US official told Reuters anonymously that the “primary concern was and remains the possible use of 2,000-pound bombs in Rafah and elsewhere in the Gaza Strip.”

In Rafah, Israeli airstrikes and artillery fire killed numerous refugees who had sought refuge in the city. The International Court of Justice subsequently ordered Israel to “immediately cease its military offensive and all other actions in Rafah province.”

Although the US halted its shipment of heavy bombs for several weeks, this did not stop the steady flow of American weapons across the Atlantic. A report last month, Reuters said that between the start of the war in Gaza last October and the end of June, the US had transferred “at least 14,000 2,000-pound MK-84 bombs, 6,500 500-pound bombs, 3,000 Hellfire precision-guided air-to-ground missiles, 1,000 bunker-busting bombs, 2,600 air-dropped small bombs and other munitions.”

The 2,000-pound MK-84 bomb is one of the largest conventional free-fall or unguided bombs in the U.S. arsenal. It is filled with more than 945 pounds (429 kilograms) of high explosive and can cause massive destruction to concrete and metal structures. The bomb is often used against heavily fortified targets or underground bunkers.

Due to the large explosion radius and high destructive power, their use in densely populated areas is particularly problematic.

Germany supplies war weapons and defence goods

Last year, the German government approved arms exports to Israel worth a total of 326.5 million euros. Of this, 20 million euros were earmarked for military weapons, and the remaining 306.3 million euros were reserved for military equipment.

According to media reports, the deliveries include 3,000 portable anti-tank weapons, 500,000 rounds of ammunition for fully and semi-automatic firearms, and additional detonators and propellants. A large part of the more than 300 million euros was spent on armored vehicles, military trucks, and safety glass.

Until autumn 2023, Germany had only approved arms exports to Israel worth 38.5 million euros. After October 7, this number rose sharply.

In November, the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA), which is responsible for arms exports, announced that as a consequence of the attack, decisions on “applications for the export of military equipment to Israel” would be made according to priority. The share of war weapons is almost 6 percent of the total volume – in 2022 it was still 2 percent.

As a result of the significant increase in Germany’s arms exports to Israel, Israel is now the seventh most important recipient of German military technology. Ukraine tops the list with a value of over four billion euros, while Norway and Hungary come in second and third place respectively, each with over one billion euros.

Activists and Palestinians sue German government

German arms deliveries to Israel have repeatedly come under criticism. At the beginning of the year, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) filed a lawsuit against the German government at the Berlin Regional Court to stop arms exports to Israel.

The ECCHR filed its lawsuit together with five Palestinians in Gaza whose relatives had been killed by Israeli rocket attacks. In June, the court dismissed the lawsuit on the grounds that the German government had complied with laws and international obligations when approving the exports.

This article was translated from German.