While Israel faces moral lectures at the UN, its weapons are in record demand abroad. The contradiction is less hypocrisy than proof of the world’s quiet dependence.
In a Nutshell
In the midst of condemnation over Gaza, Israel’s defense industry signed $15 billion worth of contracts in 2024, its highest total in history. The bulk of those deals were not with marginal partners, but with Europe’s heavyweights: Germany, Finland, and others seeking Israeli missile defense systems and battlefield-tested drones.
The paradox is stark. Israel is treated as a pariah in the chamber of the United Nations, accused of “genocide” by rapporteurs and lectured by human rights councils. Yet when national survival is on the line, the same countries reach for Israeli technology.
The Main Course
The story of Israel’s defense exports is not simply about economics. It is about credibility. Countries buy from those who have proven their capabilities in battle. Iron Dome, once doubted, is now the envy of the Western alliance. Anti-drone systems perfected in the skies over Gaza are purchased for the plains of Eastern Europe.
According to AP News, 2024’s export total surpassed the previous record by billions, despite a year of political turmoil and mounting international criticism. That juxtaposition is telling. When governments face their own voters, they lecture Israel. When they face their generals, they sign contracts with it.
It is not the first time history has played this trick. In the 1970s, Israel armed the South Vietnamese as Washington withdrew. In the 1990s, it sold technology to India even as New Delhi joined in UN condemnations. Today, as Europe frets about Russia, it is Israel’s technology that offers protection.
The Media Recommends
BBC ran the story under the title: “Israel’s defense industry expands despite Gaza war.”
The Guardian phrased it more pointedly: “Israel profits as Palestinians suffer.”
CNN avoided the contracts entirely, focusing instead on “mounting global isolation.”
The irony could not be clearer. The same editors who decry Israel’s “pariah status” write from countries whose defense ministries are quietly wiring billions into Israeli bank accounts.
The Merlow View
The fantasy is that lectures in Geneva carry weight. The reality is that contracts in Berlin, Helsinki, and Washington decide the balance of power. Israel’s critics know this, which is why they continue to buy its systems even as they scold it in public.
The contradiction is not accidental. It is structural. Western democracies must placate their activist classes with pious condemnations while ensuring their militaries have the tools they need. Israel, for all the vitriol it attracts, has become indispensable.
History has its precedents. Britain scolded Jewish fighters in the 1940s while relying on them to gather intelligence in the Middle East. America alternately punished and courted Israel during the Cold War, recognising that the Jewish state’s survival was bound up with Western strategy. Today, the story repeats. Israel’s enemies scream in New York. Its partners sign in Tel Aviv.
The contradiction is worth noticing. Israel’s strength does not rest on applause in international halls, but on the quiet contracts signed in defense ministries across the globe. To see this clearly is to wake from the theatre of “isolation” and recognise the reality: in a dangerous world, survival beats slogans every time.
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