Israel

Activists have resisted and challenged arms fairs and exhibitions in Canada, Czech Republic, Israel and Spain in recent weeks.

This article was first published on +972 Magazine on 27 May 2019.

An IDF disciplinary body sentenced Israeli conscientious objector Roman Levin to 30 days in military prison last week for his refusal to continue serving in the military.

Upon completing his current sentence, he will have served a total of 80 days behind bars. Military conscription is mandatory for most Jewish Israelis.

This article was first published on +972 Magazine on 22 April 2019.

Kamal Zidan, an Arab-Druze citizen of Israel, presented himself at the Israeli army’s Tel HaShomer induction based last Sunday and declared that he refuses to be conscripted into the IDF. Zidan, whose refusal is based on his Palestinian identity, was sentenced on the spot to five days in military prison by an administrative tribunal.

HSBC - Europe's largest bank - has announced that it has divested from Elbit Systems, an Israeli arms company which builds a wide range of weaponry used by the Israeli military and many other armies around the world.

Safariland is an American company, founded in California in 1964, specialising in a wide range of products and services for police and security forces. Safariland is made up of a number of different companies and brands, and has estimated revenues of $500 million.

In the first week of September 2018, the president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, spent four days visiting Israel. His trip was an opportunity to meet the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the thousands of Filipinos who live and work in the country… and explore opportunities to buy weapons.

On 3rd July, the Israeli army discharged Ayelet Brachfeld who refused to be drafted due to her opposition to the occupation. Brachfeld spent 100 days in total -in four prison terms- behind the bars before she got her exemption by the army's conscientious objection committee.

A new report called “A Lab and A Showroom” exposes how the extreme violence used by the Israeli military against Palestinian protesters supports the sale of military equipment by Israeli arms companies.

A new report called “A Lab and A Showroom” exposes how the extreme violence used by the Israeli military against Palestinian protesters also supports the development and sale of military equipment by Israeli arms companies.

On 26-28 May, activists from Greece, Israel, Russia, Turkey, and Cyprus (both south and north) gathered in Nicosia (Cyprus) for a 3-day training, Gender and Countering Youth Militarisation, organised by War Resisters' International. During the training, participants explored gendered dimensions of youth militarisation within their societies as well as discussing how to work internationally to counter these processes.

Elbit Systems, an “international defence electronics company” is Israel's largest weapons producer. Through it's subsidiaries around the world, the company produces a wide variety of high-tech products for the military and security industry.

Thales is a French company, part owned by the French government, that builds a vast range of radars, sonars and electronic surveillance satellites, tactical communication systems and combat management systems, drones, helicopter avionics, armoured vehicles, mortar systems and missiles.