PODCAST: Exposing Israel’s arms sales to oppressive regimes

Myanmar military representatives at the ISDEF 2019 expo in Tel Aviv on June 4, 2019

+972 interviews lawyer Eitay Mack, “Human rights lawyer Eitay Mack is working to uncover both Israel’s historic ties to brutal military regimes, such as Pinochet’s Chile, as well as its current arms exports to countries carrying out gross violations of human rights, like South Sudan and Myanmar.”

“Israel’s ticket to becoming an arms exporter — with deals dating as far back as the 1950s, when the global arms industry was already saturated — is Israel’s “no questions asked” policy, explains Mack: “You don’t criticize what we are doing in the occupied territories and inside Israel, and we won’t say anything and won’t ask questions about what you’re doing.”

Can you explain what Israel’s arms industry looks like?

“What’s unique in the Israeli arms industry is that it’s very centralized. It’s been controlled, and there’s oversight on it by very few people in the government, in the Ministry of Defense.”

“Very few people in Israel know where our weapons are going, and very few people are in the decision-making circle. There’s a lot of secrecy. What is also unique in Israel is that there’s no transparency, and there’s no interest for transparency by the Israeli media.”

“What’s funny about it, and this is the way I could do my work, is that most of the time, all the information is open outside. We see it especially in the last years, because with all the media and social media, a lot of dictators and security forces all around the world have their own Facebook page, and they have interest to publish that they are getting Israeli weapons and Israeli training.” (more…)