Several months into its war against Hamas, Israel started facing heavy international pressure. Apart from mass protests on the streets, and legal proceedings initiated by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, the most significant pressure exerted on Israel was in the field of defense procurement. 

As Shomrim revealed in September, Germany almost completely halted its export of offensive weapons to Israel; France banned Israeli companies from participating in major security exhibitions in Paris; the United Kingdom suspended dozens of weapons export licenses to Israel; Italy officially decided to cease arms shipments to Israel,  and Spain even prevented ships carrying military equipment to Israel from docking at its ports. European states justified their embargo by stating that Israel might use their weaponry in its war in Gaza, in ways that could violate international law. 

Even the United States periodically used arms shipments as leverage to pressure Israel on certain issues while, at the same time, continuing to supply large quantities of arms and ammunition, as well as providing diplomatic support. 

As Shomrim can now reveal, despite limiting exports to Israel, these same countries have shown greater moral flexibility when it comes to their own security interests. Some of them are maintaining contacts with Israel, including inviting Israeli security officials to conferences, as well as purchasing advanced Israeli military equipment—some of which has reportedly been used by the IDF during its campaign in Gaza over the past 16 months.

A Warm Reception from Spanish Police

Spain has been one of the most vocal critics of Israel since the outbreak of the war. Officially, it has suspended the sale of all arms and ammunition to Israel, and since May 2024 it has also barred several vessels believed to be carrying arms shipments to Israel from docking at Spanish ports. In early October 2024, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said “I do believe that it is urgent that, in light of everything that is happening in the Middle East, the international community stops exporting weapons to the government of Israel.” Shortly afterward, his Interior Ministry canceled a contract signed by the Guardia Civil Police Force to buy more than 15 million 9-mm rounds for six million euros ($6.2 million) from an Israeli company called Guardian Ltd.

At the same time, Shomrim can reveal that Israeli security companies continue to receive a warm welcome in Madrid. According to a social media post by the head of trade and commerce at the Israeli Embassy in Madrid, Israeli companies traveled to Madrid in June 2024 to present their latest defense technologies to Spanish authorities, including senior police officers and other law enforcement officials.

Among the companies participating, for example, was Coresight, which, according to media reports, supplied the Israeli military with advanced facial-recognition systems for use in Gaza. The systems were reportedly used, among other things, to search for the hostages and to identify Hamas members and other terrorist organizations among civilians. According to a report in the New York Times in March last year, the system needs only to scan half of a subject’s face for a positive identification, and Coresight claims that its facial recognition technology works with “extreme angles.” The company did not respond to these media reports.

Another Israeli company that participated in the Madrid conference was Magna BSP, which is known for its monitoring systems that are in use by the IDF’s Gaza Division, in East Jerusalem, and in penitentiary facilities. Also in attendance was D-Fend, a company that worked with the IDF in Gaza to defend against drone attacks. One of the Israeli participants in the conference wrote in a social media post that, while she had been concerned ahead of the visit by the ostensible worsening of relations between the two countries, she discovered that the spirit of partnership and cooperation remains intact.

Official figures released by the Spanish government strengthen that picture: in November 2024, Spain received at least two shipments from Israel, which included a wide variety of military equipment, such as bombs, grenades, mines, several types of missiles, and other munitions.

From the Spanish report:

Two months prior, Israeli and Spanish officials met at a conference in Madrid on investigative technology, criminal identification, and cybersecurity. Among those participating were senior members of the Spanish law-enforcement establishment. One of the speakers at the conference was Asher Rubel, director of sales in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa for Israeli firm Cellebrite, which specializes in extracting data from locked cell phones. Cellebrite’s products have been linked to problematic practices by authorities in Russia, Belarus and most recently, Serbia, who have used them to target journalists and political activists. In response to an investigation by Amnesty International last December, the company said that it does not engage in any kind of offensive cyber activity and that it will check whether its customers have been misusing the technology. It had also announced that it would stop selling its products to Russia and Belarus.

The conference in Spain last September:

As for the ongoing security ties between Israel and Spain, a document obtained by Shomrim reveals that representatives of Israeli security companies are due to return to Spain within the next month, to show off their products to representatives from the police forces of Catalonia and the Basque Country, as well as representatives from special units of the Spanish National Police and Internal Security Forces.

From the document - a meeting is planned this month in Madrid:

Missiles on Their Way to Rome

Spain is not the only country balancing somewhat conflicting policies toward Israel. In Italy, despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to forge closer relations with the conservative stream in European politics, the right-wing government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced that it had frozen all security contracts with Israel immediately after the October 7 attack and sharply criticized Israel’s operation in Gaza and Lebanon. In an interview with SkyTG24 television, Defense Minister Guido Crosetto – a member of Meloni’s Brothers of Italy faction – said that Israel’s attacks against Palestinian civilians in Gaza “can no longer be justified.”

However, even these strongly worded condemnations were not enough to halt arms shipments from Israel to Italy. According to figures first revealed by Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano, during the first six months of 2024, Italy imported “weapons and ammunition” from Israel for around 16 million euros. In April last year, the Italian parliament even ratified a deal to procure hundreds of advanced Spike missiles made by Israeli company Rafael. These highly advanced missiles are also in use by the IDF. Italian parliamentarians discussed a plan “to ensure completion of the second stage” of the contract that was signed several months before the outbreak of the war and approved funding of 92 million euros for the project.

Approval of the Italian Parliament:

The Spike missile is in high demand in Europe, partly due to the ongoing war in Ukraine. In September, the Royal Netherlands Army unveiled a massive contract for the purchase of more than 200 Spike missiles. Haaretz also reported that the Dutch are also about to sign a $175-million contract with Elbit – even though the courts in that country ordered the government to stop supplying F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel because of the war in Gaza.

While Brazil’s president condemns Israel, his army is buying drones

Another country that has imposed restrictions on Israel is the United Kingdom, despite continuing its cooperation with both Israel and the United States in the war against the Houthis in Yemen. In early September, the British government suspended export licenses for dozens of companies supplying weapons and other military equipment used by Israel in Gaza, including replacement parts for fighter jets, helicopters, and drones, citing “concerns over International Humanitarian Law.”

At the same time, as Shomrim can now reveal, during the second half of 2024, the police in Essex—a county located northeast of London— deployed facial recognition technology developed by the Israeli company Corsight. Similarly, since the outbreak of the war in October 2023, the British Ministry of Defence has signed contracts with leading Israeli defense firms such as Rafael and Elbit. European countries collectively represent Elbit’s second-largest market and have played a significant role in the company's surge in profits in 2024.

Corsight, it seems, is popular outside of Europe, too – and again in a country whose leaders have  loudly condemned Israel over the past year. In May 2024, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva recalled his country’s ambassador to Israel and, last month, an Israeli soldier was forced to flee Brazil after proceedings were opened against him on suspicion of committing war crimes. It now appears that the military police in Brazil’s largest city, São Paulo, have adopted Corsight’s technology in their battle against soaring crime rates in the city.

AEL International, the Brazilian subsidiary of Israeli large defense firm Elbit, also continues to sign contracts with the Brazilian government. In 2024, the Brazilian military spent $8.5 million on the procurement of Elbit’s Hermes drones and also unveiled a new armored fighting vehicle that had been developed by AEL – which also supplied the Brazilians with a turret simulator.

The report on the deal in Brazil:

‘You don’t buy weapons from the defeated’

The strength of Israel’s arms industry is nothing new. Despite its tiny size, Israel is one of the ten largest exporters of arms and defense equipment in the world. According to figures from 2022, Europe accounts for around 30 percent of Israeli exports in this field. Most of these exports are drones, missiles, rockets, and air defense systems.

Potential clients are not deterred by the fact that some of these Israeli systems were operational in Gaza. In fact, the very opposite is true, according to Ian Overton, a human rights activist who has reported from some of the most violent conflicts in the world. Overton, who now heads the London-based Action on Armed Violence NGO, tells Shomrim that, “nation-states will always want the best weapon systems out there to buy. Why would you want the second-best weapons system and risk being defeated? You want to buy weapons from those who defeat their enemy, and Israel is brilliant at this. You don’t buy weapons from the defeated, you buy weapons from the victor. The entire military-industrial complex always favors the victorious.” In this military perspective, he said, “the moral complexities of how the system came around in the first place is never really discussed.”

“The existing protocols for arms trade regulation are generally about who you export to, not who you import from. For instance, the Arms Trade Treaty is very much framed in light of what is likely to happen to those weapons when they arrive in a country, not framed around what were those weapons used for by the exporting country, and how was the research and development of these weaponry involved in the evolution of the technology. We never really ask what these weapons did to civilians during their manufacture and research,” Overton said.

Dr. Natalie Davidson, a senior lecturer at Tel Aviv University’s Faculty of Law, confirms that, even if there are legal restrictions on the sale of products that could be used in violations of human rights, she is not aware of any legal prohibition – in Europe or internationally – that limits the procurement of weapons that were developed under what is referred to as “controversial circumstances.”

Davidson also says that one cannot expect companies like Elbit and others not to use the fact their products have already been successfully tested on the battlefield to promote their sales. “That’s what they have always done,” she says, “and I must say that, at the arms expos I have visited, in Paris, for example, I saw companies from every country, not just Israel, doing the same thing. So, when a French company sells anti-riot technology, it stresses the fact that the technology was successfully tried and tested on protestors in France.”