Israel: Arms sales continue to shoot up

Israel’s arms sales have risen sharply over the past two years as 61 countries have been given the all clear to buy Israeli weapons, reports Bloomberg, October 3. 

The purchase of Israeli defence exports increased as NATO and European countries invested more on weaponry following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which first broke out in February 2022. 

 In 2022, The Israeli ministry’s International Defense Cooperation Directorate (SIBAT) revealed that the state hit a new record of $12.5 billion in arms sales. This was double the number of exports from a decade ago and over a billion up from 2021’s total (11.3 billion). 

Some have said that this is the main factor for the Israel-Palestine issue escalating over recent years as statistics concluded that this year alone, 236 Palestinians and 31 Israelis were killed. This is the highest death toll amongst Israelis and Palestinians since 2014. 

SIBAT’s head, Yair Kulas explained the reason for the increase in sales back in 2022 saying, “Demand for Israeli defense solutions has grown in the past year, manifesting in the sharp increase in agreements between defense ministries,” 

Israel is having a stronger influence in the region and globally in general. Similarly, Turkey has seen a rise in arms sales making them increasingly important within and beyond the Middle East. 

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) carried out reports concluding that Turkey’s arms exports in the period between 2014 to 2018 had made a 170% increase compared to the previous five-year period. 

According to the Turkish Aerospace and Defence Industry, the total turnover of the Turkish arms industry in 2022 was around $9.1 billion, with exports of $3.2 billion. These figures were up from $8.5 billion and $2.3 billion the previous year. 

BLOOMBERG