July/August 2006

http://alawda.newjerseysolidarity.org

A Historical View: "Israeli" Arms Sales to Latin America

(“Israel” has long been a supplier of arms to oppressive states, specifically other US client states. As the US arms its client state, the Zionist entity in Palestine, in turn, “Israel” arms others. The following article, from the Palestine Information Bulletin issued by the PLO., was printed in 1981 and presents a historical view of “Israeli” practices. Source: Palestine: P.L.O. information bulletin 1-15 September 1981, Vol. 7 No. 15)

The Israeli arms industry is older than the state itself. One can trace its beginnings to the small underground workshops that, before and during the 1948 war, manufactured and repaired various types of light arms, ammunition, light aircraft armoured cars and many types of military hardware used in the initial conquest of Palestine and the eviction of more than a million of its Arab population.

These workshops were incorporated after Israel's creation into the military concerns. The Israeli plants concentrated initially on the production of small arms, mainly Uzi submachine guns and ammunition, and on the upkeep of the weapons that Israel bought from other countries, after the 1967 war. But to some extent before that, Israel decided to channel its resources into the development of original weapons systems or obtaining the necessary data to build weapons systems developed by other countries.

The Kfir plane, for example, is a pirated version of the French Mirage 2000 (with a U.S. engine). The Galil gun is an improved copy of the Russian AK47 Kelashnikov. Most of Israel's missiles use pirated U.S. technology, while some of U.S. naval systems are pirated from British designs. Israel now designs and constructs a wide range of weapons.

It makes small arms, mortars, air-to-air, sea-to-sea and surface-to-surface missiles which can be altered to accommodate nuclear war heads, armoured personnel carriers, gun and torpedo boats, Kfir combat planes and Merkava tanks.

Such a large arms industry cannot survive on local consumption, and since Israel cannot compete with U.S. and European manufacturers in the so-called legitimate arms market, it had to sell its weapons to those states which found it difficult to buy arms from the other manufacturers. These states are mostly headed by the brutal and reactionary regimes in the world.

El Salvador: The present regime in El Salvador holds on to power through the organised terror of its army and gangs of murderers who carry out massacres.

According to the Stockholm Institute for peace studies, and opposition sources in El Salvador, Israel has been sending military experts and advisors to aid the regime.

Guatemala: The Guatemalan regime is infamous for completely destroying demonstrating students as its method of social control. Following reports on atrocities, the Carter regime in the U.S. removed discontinued arms shipments to Guatemala. Following the U.S. move the Guatemalan Chief of Staff, accompanied by an Israeli arms dealer, Marcus Katz, arrived in Israel for a visit.

On his return home, he assure his government that its "arsenal will be refilled by Israel" according to foreign sources. International reports reveal that 38 percent of Guatemala's arms imports come from Israel.

Nicaragua: Somoza, semi-feudal dictator of Nicaragua whose regime was toppled in July, 1979, after a long and bloody civil war, was one of Israel's best customers. The full extent of the Israeli deals there only came to light after his fall. According to one Israeli source, Israel supplied Somoza with 98 percent of his military imports and continued to send him arms until the last days before his fall. A series of articles in Davar in November 1979 by Nahom Barnia and Jozef Prial exposed Israel's links with Somoza. The two journalists were more concerned with Israel's image abroad and large commission paid to death dealers.

On May 8, 1978, they quoted, a letter from Elhanan Har-Lev, representative of the Israeli army in South America to Yaakov Shapira, deputy director of the Israeli Ministry of Defense for Military Exports stating that Galil guns were supplied directly to special terror units under the leadership of Somoza's son and are used to kill worsen and children.

Colombia Seeks Arms in Israel

The Colombian Defense Minister General Carlos Camacho Leyya was on a visit to Israel on January 16, 1981. He was said to have inspected the production line for manufacture of the Kfir fighter aircraft. Three of Israel's generals were revealed to have some connections with Chile and Argentina. This was in an article in Ha'aretz (an Israeli newspaper) an August 10, 1978. The first general was ex-Chief of Staff, General Haim Laskov who visited Buenos Aires In May 1978. He met with the Argentinean Chief of Staff and had talks with him and other high ranking officers. The second general was Mordechai Hod, former commander of the Israeli air force, and the third general was Mordechai Gur, former Chief of Staff who went to Argentina directly from Chile where he had met with the dictator, Pinochet. The article states that these visits resulted in Israel winning arms sales contracts.

A series of articles published in March 1977 in Ha'aretz dealt with Israel's arcs sales to Ecuador. The usual array of weapons ranging from small arms to Kfir fighters was on offer. A group of Israelis, headed try General Rehava'am Ze'evi, then Prime Minister Rabin's adviser on counter-insurgency warfare, were said to have offered to supply Ecuador with advanced equipment and personnel for counter-insurgency services.

Israel Now No. 5 in Arms sales

Israel's $1.6 billion arms sale last year (1980) made it the fifth largest military exporter, according to a recent CIA report. Nevertheless Israeli sales are expected to increase in 1981, because of Reagan's relaxation of restrictions on tyre sale of Kfir fighters to Latin America. The Reagan administration argues that permitting the sales of Israeli weapons with US engines or components helps Israel pay for its American urns - and reduce its huge outstanding debts to the U.S.

On July 8, 1981 the New York Times reported that an international panel selected by UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim concluded that Israel can make nuclear weapons "within a very short time". The parcel named in 1979 calculates that Israel may already have obtained weapons-grade material for making several bombs comparable to the bomb dropped on Nagasaki in 1945. The panel estimates that Israel's Dimona reactor, which is not subject to international inspection, could have produced enough weapons-grade platinum for 10 or 15 atomic bombs.