The Military Embargo is Here

Ending military ties with Israel is a moral and legal obligation

We are witnessing an unprecedented horror, a live-streamed genocide against 2.3 Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip. The Israeli regime perpetrates atrocities and daily attacks against Palestinians also in the occupied West Bank, while in Lebanon it has killed  almost 3,800 people in a few weeks, until the November 26th ceasefire and displaced 1.2 million. Israel has violated the ceasefire repeatedly.

Netanyahu: “We need three things from the U.S: Munitions, munitions, munitions.”

Israel, including its military forces, arms industry and research institutions, wouldn’t be able to commit these crimes and atrocities, maintain its illegal occupation and apartheid regime against the entire Palestinian people without weapons, ammunition, technology, joint academic research and other military and dual-use material produced globally. The urgency of a military embargo has never been greater.

What is a military embargo

According to international treaties such as the Arms Trade Treaty and other legal texts, there are three elements to an effective military embargo. States have an obligation not to sell weapons and dual-use items to Israel, not to buy Israeli weapons (thereby financing Israel’s war machine) and not to transit weapons to Israel through their territory. Academic collaboration in arms research that directly or indirectly enables Israel’s illegal occupation is also forbidden.

The military embargo is a moral obligation, because Israeli forces are violating the most basic rights of Palestinians. It is a legal obligation as well according to numerous international agreements, primary among them are the two rulings of the International Court of Justice, from January 26th ordering Israel to cease actions which are plausibly acts of genocide, and from July 19th in its advisory opinion finding the occupation illegal. 

Finally, a military embargo is a pragmatic and wise choice. States which fail to implement the military embargo and continue to sign contracts with Israeli arms companies will not be compensated if contracts remain unfulfilled because of criminal liability of the Israeli arms companies and their business partners and because of the lack of capacity of Israeli companies to live up to their obligations as a result of the growing military embargo and the weakening Israeli economy (especially in the tech sector). 

The obligation to implement a military embargo is first and foremost on the shoulders of states, but regional organizations such as the European Union and the OIC, as well as corporations and academic institutions, must end all military, security and dual-use ties with Israel and its complicit institutions as well. 

The Global South

People of the Global South deeply understand what colonialism means and does. They have, after all, endured it for centuries. Israel’s genocide in Gaza is the litmus test for humanity. As Colombian President Gustavo Petro said already in October 2023, “Gaza is only the first experiment for a world where we are all considered dispensable.” The brutal apartheid state of Israel has been able to keep up impunity and perpetrate its war crimes and crimes against humanity due to the full backing of the USA and powerful Western states, especially Germany and the UK. This complicity extends to the pressures placed mostly on Global South governments, economies, and national sovereignty, aiming to stifle or diminish any positions of solidarity with Palestine. There is no doubt that a web of interests ties together the former colonizers and the new ones. Governments in the Global South, however, should know how the story ends and that a regime which relies on brute force alone to survive will not survive for long. They should take note that the Israeli economy is gradually and seemingly irreversibly crashing, a phenomenon which the BDS movement is calling #ShutDownNation.

People of the Global South recognize Israel for what it is: a settler colony built on stolen and ethnically cleansed land

It is not surprising therefore that Global South governments are taking important steps in implementing the military embargo:

• Colombia has called out Israel’s genocide, announced a military embargo, and opened an investigation of Israeli spyware used against Colombian civilians. Colombia has also announced an end to coal exports to Israel, seeing that coal is a dual-use item which powers Israel’s military and its crimes against Palestinians, such as the energy-consuming servers upon which artificial intelligence is used to create a “factory of mass assassination” in Gaza.
• Brazil was poised to purchase artillery from Israel’s Elbit Systems but has frozen the contract because of the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
• Malaysia has blocked Israeli and Israel-bound cargo ships from its territorial waters, disrupting the supply of some weapons and dual-use items to Israel. 
• Chile has banned Israeli arms companies from participating in the FIDAE aerospace arms fair. It has also ended a satellite program with Israel’s ImageSat International after relations soured in light of Chile’s position in favour of Palestinian rights and the company’s failure to comply with its contract obligations.
• South Africa has pressed charges against Israel at the ICJ for the crime of genocide and does not supply military equipment with Israel. Several states, mostly from the Global South, have joined South Africa’s side. 
• Namibia has denied port of call to a ship carrying explosives to Israel. 
• Türkyie has imposed sanctions on the export and transiting of weapons and dual-use items to Israel in May 2024. 
• On November 5th, a letter initiated by Türkyie and co-sponsored by 52 states called for implementing an immediate military embargo against Israel. The majority of those states are Global South states. The initiative has also been adopted by the recent joint summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the League of Arab States, reflecting a growing expression of political will globally to impose a military embargo on Israel in accordance with international law. 

Cracks in western genocide-enabling

Even western states who are among the strongest supporters of Israeli apartheid and colonialism are forced to publicly announce policies and to partially implement military embargo against Israel, lest they risk legal proceedings, such as Nicaragua’s case against Germany at the ICJ for complicity in genocide

• The Netherlands is a major arms trading partner with Israel, but its court has ruled that supplying F35 parts to Israel is illegal, although a lawsuit for a complete ban of arms transfers to Israel was rejected.
• Canada’s parliament has passed a non-binding resolution to end arms trade with Israel, which was formally adopted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, due to public pressure. This has led to the cancellation of 30 export permits for weapons. Canada remains complicit in the arms trade with Israel, and public pressure continues to rise against it.
• In the face of protests and sit-ins, British civil servants have warned the government that processing arms exports to Israel could be illegal. Over 600 legal experts have urged the government to stop supplying arms to Israel. The British government, though still deeply complicit in Israel’s genocide, was forced to take a symbolic gesture of suspending 30 arms export permits to Israel.
• Australia is “reviewing” its arms exports to Israel, due to public pressure, and has amended or ended 16 arms export licenses already. Australia has also restricted visas to Israelis suspected of war crimes, which in turn severely restricts Israel’s ability to market arms exports there.
• France, as well as Italy and Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Norway have all been forced by public pressure to make statements about allegedly not selling weapons to Israel since the start of the genocide in October 2023, but some have not yet been implemented, affirming utter Western hypocrisy and complicity in Israel’s genocide. As public pressure on governments mounts, demanding them to end military ties and uphold international law, governments are forced to rhetorically express support for a military embargo. It is central for movements to ensure these policies are actually followed through and not merely smokescreens, behind which complicity continues. 
• Israeli arms companies have been excluded from two French arms fairs (a decision which was unfortunately overturned by French courts, which have a history of systemic racism, hypocrisy, political interference and bias). 
• The Spanish State has taken concrete steps from the Congress adopting a non-binding resolution to impose an arms embargo, to the government partially adopting the resolution, beginning an administrative process to cancel the purchase of Israeli missiles. Prime Minister Sanchez has called for a comprehensive military embargo but has yet to adopt one as policy.
• Irish PM Simon Harris claimed in June 2024 that “No airport in Ireland or Irish sovereign airspace is being used to transport weapons to the conflict in the Middle East.” The investigative newspaper, The Ditch, however, has exposed this to be a falsehood, as Ireland has persistently allowed US military flights and commercial flights to illegally carry weapons to Israel through its airspace and even through Shannon airport. The right-wing Irish government, largely beholden to US influence, has resisted public demands from a large majority in Ireland to implement a policy for ending future arms purchases from Israel. The Uplift campaign, for instance, has initiated legal steps to stop the delivery of weapons through Irish airspace.
• An unprecedented 19 US senators voted in November 2024 for halting arms shipments to Israel, a vote ignored by the genocidal US administration, under influence of the Israel lobby and the US military industries lobby.
• Portugal has banned the U.S from transiting weapons through the Lajes air base, and has claimed in a reply to a freedom of information request that it does not export any weapons to Israel.

Block the boat

The supply chain of weapons to Israel relies on a combination of military and commercial ships and cargo planes. Activists, unions and human rights groups along the path of the supply chain have organized actions to disrupt the transiting of weapons and dual-use items to Israel’s genocide against Palestinians.

Activists, unions and human rights groups along the path of the supply chain have organized to disrupt the transiting of weapons

• Persistent protests in the Spanish State have successfully brought a policy change, and ships carrying weapons to Israel are denied port of call, as in the case of Marianne Danica. 
• Following civil society calls and pressure, Angola, Namibia, Malta, Montenegro and Slovenia have also closed their ports to the MV Kathrin for carrying explosives destined to Israel. Portugal has banned the MV Kathrin from unloading its deadly cargo under a Portuguese flag and forced it to change flag.
• Sit-ins and civil disobedience have successfully delayed ships carrying military cargo to Israel from the U.S, Italy and Spain. 
• Greek unionists have confiscated a container of ammunition and guarded it at the fish market of Piraeus so it won’t reach Israel. 
• Statements supporting the military embargo of Israel by unions in the Spanish State, Belgium and Greece have inspired activists around the world. 
• A global campaign against the Danish freight company Maersk for illegally transporting weapons to Israel has been launched alongside the existing campaign against the Israeli shipping company ZIM which is gaining momentum.

Legal action

In Canada, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, the UK and the US, human rights groups together with Palestine solidarity groups and conscientious lawyers have filed lawsuits against these governments’ arms shipments to Israel during genocide, demanding the implementation of a military embargo as a legal obligation under the Genocide Convention.

Although the lawsuits are based on sound legal arguments and on both national and international law, courts have seldom dared to stand up to governments that enable Israel’s genocide and profit from the killing of Palestinian civilians, with the partial exception of the Netherlands. However, the lawsuits have been very effective in raising public awareness about these governments’ complicity, in some cases disrupting, even if temporarily, their military exports to Israel with impunity. Under public pressure, some governments have been forced to at least formally suspend export licenses, withhold weapon exports and recognize the legal restrictions on trading arms with Israel.

Municipalities

Local councils do not normally trade arms but are nevertheless able to contribute to the efforts to impose a military embargo by divesting from Israeli arms companies, and from international arms companies which arm the Israeli forces committing genocide against Palestinians. 

• Municipalities in the US have divested from arms companies arming Israel’s genocide. Alameda County, Hayward, Richmond, Hamtramck, Alameda, Portland, Lucas County and Summit County have divested or pledged to divest from Israeli companies and/or from US companies which arm Israel and profit from Israel’s illegal occupation and genocide.
• In the UK, the local councils Waltham Forest, Ilsington and Lewisham have divested from a list of companies involved in the arms trade with Israel through their pension funds. 

Corporations and financial divestment

Two giant Japanese corporations, Itochu and Nippon Air Systems (NAS), ended a memorandum of understanding for the development of drones with Israeli arms company Elbit Systems in February 2024 in order to avoid complicity in the genocide. 

Universities have been divesting at an accelerated rate from Israeli arms companies and the companies that arm Israel.

The Norwegian sovereign fund, the world’s largest, divested from Caterpillar in June 2024. In September it also divested from General Dynamics, which is the main supplier of ammunition to Israel.

The world is standing up to genocide

In January 2024, the ICJ determined that Israel is plausibly violating the Genocide Convention against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza. In July, the ICJ determined that Israel’s entire presence, including military occupation and colonial settlements, in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is illegal. The ICJ has also found Israel in violation of the prohibition against apartheid. The ICJ’s determinations triggered obligations of Third States under international law to ensure no complicity in Israel’s genocide, illegal occupation, and apartheid and to take measures to end and punish Israel’s crimes and violations. On April 5th, the UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution with a majority of 28 against 6, calling for a military embargo against Israel.

States which refuse to implement a military embargo against Israel are standing against humanity itself

UN experts reiterated the legal obligation to impose an arms embargo on Israel on June 20th 2024, and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights issued an urgent call to stop arms trade with Israel signed by these experts.

In September, the UNGA passed a historic resolution adopting the ICJ Advisory Opinion which called on states “to take steps towards ceasing the importation of any products originating in the Israeli settlements, as well as the provision or transfer of arms, munitions and related equipment to Israel, the occupying Power, in all cases where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that they may be used in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.” The same month, UN legal experts warned that, as a result of Israel’s atrocity crimes and the impunity provided to it by other states, the world is standing on a “knife’s edge,” and called on Third States to “Impose a full arms embargo on Israel, halting all arms agreements, imports, exports and transfers, including of dual-use items that could be used against the Palestinian population under occupation.

The UN Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories has exhorted States to “Hold business entities fully accountable for complicity in violations of international law, whether through their supply of arms, provision of digital products and services and/or engagement in technology transfer and facilitation (including artificial intelligence) or links to value chains (including algorithmic-based decision-making systems) that enable Israel’s ongoing onslaught in Gaza and apartheid system of injustice in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.”

The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel has issued a detailed interpretation of the legal obligations of states alerting that “This restriction on military related relations applies also to research and development cooperation with Israel, engaging in joint training and military exercises with Israel, and any imports from Israel that provide funding and economic support to Israel to maintain the unlawful occupation.”

Not enough

The military embargo is becoming mainstream. Most governments of the world already support it, at least formally. Yet, even in light of public statements about halting military deliveries or banning transfers to Israel, Israel continues to commit genocide with imported US, German, British, Italian and other weapons, dual-use items, intelligence support, etc. The flow of military and dual-use supplies to genocidal Israel needs to be stopped now.

The U.S and Germany remain the two largest violators of international law

It is also crucial to insist that a military embargo on Israel has to include ending military procurements, academic research and training with Israel and with its complicit universities as well. Only then, Israeli universities won’t be able to design and develop military-security technologies, methods and doctrines that enable Israel’s apartheid and genocide, and Israeli arms companies won’t be able to sell weapons and military technology “field-tested” on Palestinians and Lebanese to customers abroad, and profit from Israel’s atrocity crimes. Every form of military-security cooperation or purchases directly finances and enables Israel’s genocide, illegal military occupation and apartheid. 

In response to the spreading military embargo, Israel has launched a massive industrial project hoping to produce most of its weapons domestically. While the U.S and Germany continue to be the worst violators of international law and continue to arm Israel’s genocide, Israel’s aggression does not depend on these two countries alone. It depends on the raw materials, components and dual-use items (including energy in the form of oil and coal) which are imported from many countries around the world to manufacture the weapons with which it commits crimes against humanity and war crimes. The military embargo is tightening, and when collective strategic campaigning and grassroots power-building make it reach a tipping point, it will stop Israel’s genocidal war machine once and for all.