London
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in his words, is preparing his country for a “some kind of isolation” that will last for years.
For the first time, the normally unmanned leader confirmed last week that international outrage over the way Israel is fighting war in Gaza has transformed Israel into a potential pariah. Afterwards, Netanyahu emphasized reality while he walked through a desolate prognosis. Israel’s place at the global stage is changing.
With the annual UN General Assembly being held in New York, allies like the UK, Australia and Canada recognize Palestinian states.
The move reflects their rage towards Israeli leaders and a potentially existential moment for Israel.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu is calling on Israeli weapons manufacturers to step up their preparations. “We need to strengthen our independent arms industry, so we have the independence of munitions, the defence industrial economy and the industrial capacity to produce them,” he said at a Treasury Department meeting last Monday.
Israel and its weapons manufacturers have long been considered to be producing cutting-edge weapons technology. These weapons are sold to countries around the world. However, as international criticism of the war in Gaza grows, Israel risks losing its position in some of those markets.
Spain invalidated hundreds of millions of orders worth of battlefield weapons created by Israeli companies last week after months of signaling. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who officially recognized the Palestinian state in May 2024, called Israeli war in Gaza “wild barrage” and called for more punitive action against Israel.
Oded Yaron, arms industry and technology reporter for Israel’s left-leaning Harletz newspaper, warns that Israel cannot afford to follow Sanchez’s lead. “We don’t have an economy to support it. If we don’t sell it to other countries, it will inevitably lead to damage to Israel’s defense,” he told CNN.
For now, it appears Netanyahu has time by his side. The Israeli Ministry of Defense reported export sales of $14.7 billion in 2024, an increase of 13% from the previous year, but more than half of its defense transactions with European countries have been reported.
Israel’s billion-dollar arms industry sales are record high, Yaron said that “combat tests, combat is demonstrated and people need it” because their weapons are known.
Israel’s war in Gaza over the past two years, as well as operations in Lebanon, Iran and Yemen, have helped solidify its position as the world’s global arms supplier. Arrow missile interceptors, created by Israeli military manufacturer Israeli Aerospace Industry (IAI), intercepted Iranian ballistic missiles at high altitudes during a 12-day summer conflict.
Israeli-made reactive armor, which is routinely used in Israeli Defense Force (IDF) tanks and combat vehicles within Gaza, has also proven effective. The F-35I-ADIR, an Israeli variant of the US-origin F-35, also draws attention to Israeli-designed “upgrades.”
At one of the world’s largest arms fairs held in London earlier this month, the CNN team witnessed a crowd of interested customers lined up to talk to sales teams from Israel’s largest defense contractors, ELBIT Systems, IAI and Rafael, as well as sales teams from several small Israeli arms manufacturers.
One of the salesmen at The Defense and Security Equipment International (DSEI) exhibition told CNN that the business is “booming” as customers “love the way Israel “protects the way people are protecting” and buyers “want that combat-tested hardware.”
But Yaron warns that the boom may intensify political pressure, saying “it becomes more and more problematic as the war in Gaza continues to drag on.”
Outside the London Arms Fair, dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters, including nurses who went to Gaza several times during the war, protested the display as “accomplicity of the genocide” in the UK, allowing Israeli companies to display there.
Potential weapons buyers led them to the venue behind the line of riot responding police officers, as protesters called “baby killers” and “murderers.”
The UK government is also stealing heat from within its own rank on the issue.
Within the assembly, many of the ruling Labour MPs signed the government to exclude the award of contracts to ELBIT Systems UK earlier this month.
Independent MP Brian Leishman, the main sponsor of the motion, argued that Elbitt’s involvement in Israel’s F-35 fighter programme linked the company to “death across Gaza.”
Last year, the UK government stopped selling around 30 arms exports to Israel, but exempts components from F-35 aircraft.
Israel has 45 F-35s, and according to the Arms Trade (CAAT) campaign, they ordered an additional 36. According to Danish news outlet information and Danish Ngo Danwatch, the F-35 is used to drop a 2,000-pound bomb in Gaza. The Israeli army was targeting Mohamed Deif, the elusive Hamas chief.
Leishman’s move is now a political tip of the anti-war iceberg, further supported by young activists, pensioners, sports and pop stars.
Against this backdrop, the UK government cites concerns over the Israeli government’s decision to ban Israeli officials from attending the London Arms Fair and “an Israeli government decision to further escalate military operations in Gaza.”
The Israeli government has condemned the decision, calling it a “intentional and unfortunate act of discrimination,” but it has faced similar moves from many of its allies.
This summer, the French government was shut down at the Paris Air Show, the world’s largest aviation fair, short for a major Israeli weapons company, including Elbit Systems and Rafael.
And after Israel’s recent strike against Hamas negotiator residence in Doha, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates banned the Israeli government and defense companies from the scheduled Dubai Air Show in November.
However, Yaron warns that Israeli arms sales will not suffer much by crimping access to such shows. The country needs weapons, and Israel is being prepared for such a bloc, and “there may be more repulsion, if it may cost more, but there may be more problems,” Israel sails.
Last month, Israel’s largest arms manufacturer, Elbit Systems, signed a five-year, $1.6 billion contract with undisclosed European countries.
Matthew Saville, director of military science at the London-based Royal United Services Institute Think Tank, says Israeli arms sales are also protected in other ways, with Israeli components being woven into the larger supply chain, and Israeli companies setting entities in their client countries.
Savill said the relationship is even more fascinated through the sharing of security and intelligence. “There is this important political disagreement about what is happening at the moment, but there will be many in both security systems that want to avoid too much impact on the direct relationship,” he said.
For now, Israel can afford to continue fighting. However, costs are rising.
