Multiple weapons systems on display at the Israeli defence company IAI’s stand at an international arms fair in London, on Sept 9, 2025
Middle East Eye – Dec 5, 2025
Israeli defence companies pitched weapons systems to dozens of European and Asian countries by highlighting their role in Israel’s onslaught against Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel’s Defense Tech Week took place on Monday and Tuesday. It was sponsored in part by the country’s defence ministry along with Tel Aviv University.
According to The Wall Street Journal, at least one video was shown at the event of two Israeli attack drones flying into a building in Gaza before plumes of smoke emerged.
Israel’s war on Gaza started after the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 attack on southern Israel that killed around 1,200 people. Israel launched a ferocious response that has killed over 70,100 Palestinians, in what scores of human rights experts, world leaders, historians, and the United Nations have called a genocide. People continue to die every day due to Israeli ceasefire violations.
Yet Israel’s defence event drew over 2,000 participants, including those from abroad.
Representatives of Asian countries, including Uzbekistan, Singapore and India, attended, according to the WSJ, but also several European countries that have tried to show they are distancing themselves from Israel.
Their participation in the Israeli event showed how skin-deep that censure was.
For example, Israeli officials were banned by the UK government from attending the country’s leading arms fair in London. The government said in a statement that Israeli officials would not be allowed to attend due to the country’s continuing assault on Gaza. Dozens of Israeli arms companies with ties to the government were still allowed to participate.
This week, British embassy officials toured the event, looking at Israeli weapons systems and military technology being marketed, in part, based on their role in Israel’s assaults on Gaza and Lebanon.
The British embassy in Israel confirmed to the WSJ that its officials attended the event.
Another example is Norway, whose officials attended the arms fair.
In August, Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the largest in the world, said it had divested from American construction equipment manufacturer Caterpillar Inc, and five Israeli banks over human rights violations in Gaza.
The $1.9 trillion fund’s executive board said it had decided to divest from all six entities following advice by its ethics council, which said they all “contribute to serious violations of the rights of individuals in situations of war and conflict”.
However, Norwegian officials also attended the event, according to the WSJ. The sovereign wealth fund is owned by the government but managed independently of political decisions.
Plummeting global popularity, soaring arms exports
Israel has seen its popularity plummet since its war on Gaza. A poll released by Pew in June showed that from Italy to Japan, most people in the world now hold negative views of Israel.
That shift has also occurred in the US, where it is especially stark among young people who identify on both the left and right of American politics.
Representatives of Asian countries, including Uzbekistan, Singapore and India, attended, according to the WSJ, but also several European countries that have tried to show they are distancing themselves from Israel.
Their participation in the Israeli event showed how skin-deep that censure was.
For example, Israeli officials were banned by the UK government from attending the country’s leading arms fair in London. The government said in a statement that Israeli officials would not be allowed to attend due to the country’s continuing assault on Gaza. Dozens of Israeli arms companies with ties to the government were still allowed to participate.
This week, British embassy officials toured the event, looking at Israeli weapons systems and military technology being marketed, in part, based on their role in Israel’s assaults on Gaza and Lebanon.
The British embassy in Israel confirmed to the WSJ that its officials attended the event.
Another example is Norway, whose officials attended the arms fair.
In August, Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the largest in the world, said it had divested from American construction equipment manufacturer Caterpillar Inc, and five Israeli banks over human rights violations in Gaza.
The $1.9 trillion fund’s executive board said it had decided to divest from all six entities following advice by its ethics council, which said they all “contribute to serious violations of the rights of individuals in situations of war and conflict”.
However, Norwegian officials also attended the event, according to the WSJ. The sovereign wealth fund is owned by the government but managed independently of political decisions.
WHY REPEAT THAT TEXT ?
Hmmm. . .obviously there’s $$$ in mass murder – the Zios get free money from the US tax payers, they develop weapons, then market them around to countries with the same sick motives and make money! Anybody see anything wrong with this approach?
We give Israel the money to build or buy the weapons that they sell the to other countries. Why not cut out the middleman and do the building and selling ourselves? Of course, we already do. But a piece of the action goes to them to make them look like they are brilliant engineers in a rich and powerful nation. Take away their $$ aid from the US and UK, and they will be revealed as the parasites they are.