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Waffenlieferungen nach Israel
Ein Report von amnesty international (USA)
Amnesty International (AI) USA hat am 23. Februar 2009 einen detaillierten Bericht vorgelegt, der belegt aus welchen Ländern Israel und die Hamas mit Kriegswaffen beliefert wurden.
Der ausführliche Bericht kann hier als pdf-Datei heruntergeladen werden:
Fuelling conflict: Foreign arms supplies to Israel/Gaza.
Im Folgenden geben wir
Amnesty hebt in dem Report hervor, dass seit 2002, somit während der Bush-II-Regierungszeit Israel über 21 Milliarden US-Dollar an Militärhilfe erhalten hat, und stellt fest, dass Israel bei der Intervention im Gazastreifen zu einem großen Teil mit Waffen, Munition und Militärausrüstung aus den USA verwendete, die obendrein mit US-Steuergeld bezahlt wurden. Am 16. August 2007 wurde zwischen den Regierungen Israels und der USA ein Zehn-Jahres-Abkommen unterzeichnet, das die Bereitstellung von 30 Milliarden US-Dollar an Militärhilfe für Israel festlegt. Mit 3 Milliarden US-Dollar jährlich übersteige dies die bisherige Vereinbarung um 25 Prozent, denn zuvor seien an Israel 2,4 Milliarden US-Dollar pro Jahr geflossen.
AI hat für den Zeitraum 2004 bis 2007 errechnet, dass der Betrag von fast 8,3 Milliarden US-Dollar, für den die USA Waffen an Israel lieferte, 95 Prozent sämtlicher Waffenexporte an Israel darstellte. Gleichwohl sind für diesen Zeitraum auch deutsche Waffenexporte nach Israel wertmäßig erfasst. Sie summieren sich auf 1,68 Mio. Euro und nehmen sich geradezu bescheiden aus (Platz 8 in der EU). Darin sind Munitionslieferungen im Wert von 823.000 US-Dollar enthalten. Damit steht Deutschland innerhalb der EU an Platz 2.
Wer nun glaubt, dass der deutsche Rüstungsexport nach Israel lediglich eine Randnotiz wert ist, sollte sich die Exortdimensionen der Vorjahre ansehen. Die Jahre 2004 bis 2007 sind geradezu untypisch. 1999 wurden zwei Dolphin-U-Boote (Wert 936 Mio. DM), und 2000 ein drittes U-Boot dieses Typs exportiert (347 Mio. DM). Im Jahr 2001 wurde für 28 Mio. DM nach Israel exportiert, im Jahr 2002 für lediglich 1,2 Millionen Euro. Darunter waren jedoch Bomblets (Streumunition), Zielsuchköpfe und Treibladungen. Im Jahr 2003 schnellte der deutsche Kriegswaffenexport nach Israel auf 100,5 Millionen Euro empor.
Der Boom ist nicht vorbei. Im Jahre 2006 wurden Verträge über den Bau von zwei weiteren U-Booten der Dolphin-Klasse unterzeichnet. Hatten die drei ersten U-Boote noch den herkömmlichen dieselelektrischen Antrieb, erhalten die zwei neuen den einzigartigen und superleisen Brennstoffzellenantrieb. Die Boote können damit bis zu drei Wochen ununterbrochen unter Wasser bleiben und gelten von den Marinen außerhalb der NATO als nicht zu orten. Hinweise halten sich hartnäckig, dass sie für den Verschuss von nuklearen Marschflugkörpern nutzbar sind. Ihr Wert wird von SIPRI mit 1,2 bis 1,3 Milliarden US-Dollar angegeben. Deutschland finanziert sie aus Steuergeldern zu einem Drittel, jedoch nicht mit mehr als 333 Millionen Euro. Geliefert werden sollen sie 2012 bis 2013. Israel hat die Option auf ein drittes U-Boot diesen Typs.
Zusammenfassung: Lühr Henken
Arms supplies to Israel
Israel is a significant manufacturer of conventional arms, falling within the top 10 of arms exporters in the world, but also relies on imports of military equipment, parts and technologies. For example, Merkava-4 tanks produced in Israel have used diesel engines assembled in the USA incorporating components produced in Germany.Since 2001, the USA has been by far the major supplier of conventional arms to Israel based on the value of export deliveries of all conventional arms including government to government as well as private commercial sales. US foreign military sales to Israel have continued on a large scale (see Appendix 1). The US authorities reported to the UN that the USA commercially traded $1,313 million in “arms and ammunition” to Israel in the years from 2004 to 2007, of which $447 million was traded in 2007. Israel did not report this trade to the UN. These figures for US trade would normally exclude gifts of military equipment and associated or “dual use” equipment and technologies. In addition to this trade, the USA has provided large funding each year for Israel to procure arms despite US legislation that restricts such aid to consistently gross human rights violators.
Since 2002, during the Bush administration, Israel received over $21 billion in US military and security assistance, including $19 billion in direct military aid under the Pentagon's Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program. Put simply, Israel's military intervention in the Gaza Strip has been equipped to a large extent by US-supplied weapons, munitions and military equipment paid for with US taxpayers’ money.
Section 502B of the Foreign Assistance Act stipulates that "no security assistance may be provided to any country the government of which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights” which includes “acts of torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, prolonged detention without charges and trial, causing the disappearance of persons by the abduction and clandestine detention of those persons, and other flagrant denial of the right to life, liberty, or the security of person.” Section 4 of the Arms Export Control Act authorizes the supply of US military equipment and training only for lawful purposes of internal security, "legitimate self-defense," or participation in United Nations peacekeeping operations or other operations consistent with the U.N. Charter. However, under the US Export Administration Act, security assistance may be provided if the President certifies that “extraordinary circumstances” exist, so Section 502B is circumvented. The Leahy Law, named after the senator who introduced the amendment to US legislation, prohibits the USA from providing most forms of security assistance to any military or police unit when there is "credible evidence" that members of the unit are committing gross human rights violations.
Assistance can resume if the government in question takes "effective measures" and, under the Pentagon's interpretation of the law, if the foreign government filters out the "few bad apples" in that particular unit, security assistance can continue. On 16 August 2007, the US and Israeli governments signed a 10-year agreement for the provision of $30 billion in US military aid. Full details of the package were not disclosed; however, it is reported to include a new generation of F-35 fighter jets, advanced bombs, and laser-guided missiles. This military aid package, amounting to $3 billion per year, represented a 25 percent increase of the US annual military aid appropriation to Israel of $2.4 billion. Israel was already the largest recipient in the world of US military aid before the proposed increase. Even after the start of the current conflict and reports of serious violations of international humanitarian law by the IDF in Gaza, the US authorities continued to authorize large consignments of US munitions, including white phosphorus munitions, to Israel.
Other major arms exporting states such as France, Germany and the UK have been exporting far less to Israel than the US since 2004 but nevertheless these exports appear significant. According to the EU's 2008 report on arms export licences, published in December for the 2007 calendar year and consolidating the accounts that Member States must annually submit, 18 EU Member States authorised a total of 1,018 such licences to Israel worth €199,409,348. France, Germany and Romania were the top three exporters. France issued export licences worth €126 million, Germany authorised €28 million and Romania €17 million. Export authorisations from states do not necessarily correspond to actual arms export data in any one year for a variety of reasons, but licence authorisations do show the willingness of governments of exporting States to equip Israel’s armed forces. (...)
Under Criterion 2 of the EU Code of Conduct on Arms Exports, Member States are supposed to “deny an export licence if there is a clear risk that the proposed export might be used for internal repression” or “be used in the commission of serious violations of international humanitarian law”. The term “internal repression” “includes, inter alia, torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, summary or arbitrary executions, disappearances, arbitrary detentions and other major violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms as set out in relevant international human rights instruments, including the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.” Across the EU, only 28 export licences were refused as a result of human rights, internal security or regional stability reasons.
As a result of political pressure in some EU countries concerned about the conflict in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, nine EU states including Sweden now claim not to export any arms to Israel and states such as Italy and the UK have claimed to restrict their exports of conventional arms overall, but sometimes such exports to Israel consist of components or transit trade. Nonetheless export data show that such states have exported infantry weapons, military vehicles and components for arms sent to Israel. Other significant suppliers of military equipment to Israel since 2001 are (in alphabetical order) Austria, Australia, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania, Serbia-Montenegro, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, South Korea and Spain. The Netherlands and Greece have been major transit countries for military equipment sent to Israel. Albania, Bosnia-Herzogovina, Brazil, Colombia, and India are reported to have been in the top 20 commercial suppliers of arms and ammunition.
(...)
Major commercial suppliers of infantry weapons, munitions and armoured vehicles, and aircraft to Israel
Based upon customs data submitted by states to the UN Commodity Trade Statistics Database (Comtrade) the US accounted for 95 percent of all commercial sales - which are those sales made directly to Israel by manufacturers to foreign recipients falling within the broad UN customs category 891 of “arms and ammunition” between 2004 and 2007 amounting to a total recorded value of over US$1.3 billion. Other major suppliers in this category were Serbia and Montenegro (in 2004), Poland, Romania, Serbia (since 2005), South Korea, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Finland and Austria.The table below shows the top 20 arms suppliers to Israel by value in US$ according to this UN customs category of “arms and ammunition”, code 891. UN data is not yet available for 2008.
Top 20 Arms and Ammunition Deliveries to Israel between 2004-2007
measured in US$
| USA | 1,312,909,556 |
| Serbia and Montenegro (2004 only) | 8,626,560 |
| Poland | 7,455,679 |
| Romania | 6,757,241 |
| Serbia | 6,331,138 |
| Korea, South | 5,864,486 |
| Slovakia | 5,415,005 |
| Czech Republic | 4,491,753 |
| Finland | 4,138,731 |
| Austria | 4,015,987 |
| Italy | 3,187,896 |
| Brazil | 1,983,166 |
| Bosnia-Herzogovina | 1,880,499 |
| Germany | 1,531,000 |
| Colombia | 1,496,192 |
| Albania | 1,255,415 |
| India | 1,052,680 |
| Spain | 952,725 |
| Netherlands | 784,714 |
| UK | 754,367 |
| Canada | 707,384 |
(...)
Aircraft and Helicopters
Over the years, the US has also supplied Israel with US-made F-16 combat aircraft, Apache AH-64 helicopters and Black Hawk UH-60 combat helicopters. According to the most recent data available submitted to the UN Register on Conventional Arms by the US government, during 2007 the US exported to Israel one M577A2 Command armoured combat vehicle; 18 F-16D combat aircraft; and 50 LAU-129 A/A launcher missile launchers. In 2006, the USA exported to Israel 21 F16 aircraft in 2006 and 42 Bell AH-1F Cobra. The Bell AH-1F Cobra gunship incorporates the 2.75 inch rockets fired from 7-tube M158, 19-tube M200, 7-tube M-260, or 19-tube M261 rocket pods, the M65 TOW28 missile system and the M197 20mm gun.Tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles
According to the UN Comtrade database the following countries are the top five suppliers of equipment under the category of ‘tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles’ code 89111.Top 5 suppliers of armoured fighting vehicles between 2004-2007 in US$
| USA | 540,900,776 |
| Romania | 5,819,346 |
| Slovakia | 901,676 |
| Korea, South | 530,775 |
| Kazakhstan | 197,861 |
Ammunition
According to the UN Comtrade database, the US was the largest commercial supplier of “munitions of war” under the code 89129 to Israel between 2004-2007 with US$480 million - 98% of all commercial sales in this category.Top 10 deliveries of ‘munitions’ 2004-2007 in US$
| USA | 480,814,850 |
| Finland | 4,093,348 |
| Korea, South | 4,048,761 |
| Germany | 823,000 |
| Serbia | 760,635 |
| Poland | 393,587 |
| Albania | 387,169 |
| Serbia and Montenegro (2004 only) | 376,681 |
| Romania | 329,150 |
| Estonia | 185,772 |
| UK | 8,048 |
According to research by Amnesty International and International Peace Information Service (a NGO based in Antwerp), Serbian and Bosnian companies have in recent years exported large quantities of small arms ammunition and components, as well as artillery shell and mortar components to Israeli companies that supply such weapons to the IDF. Such exports have been sanctioned by the governments of Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzogovina.
The primary Israeli importer of small arms ammunition components and finished products from the Balkans is the company Israeli Military Industries (IMI). During 2005 and 2006, IMI imported millions of rounds of 5.56 calibre ammunition from the Prvi Partizan factory in Serbia. IMI also ordered 45 million rounds of 5.56 calibre ammunition compatible with IDF assault rifles from a Bosnian factory in September 2005. IMI continued to import massive quantities of IDF compatible ammunition from Serbia. IMI is the leading small arms supplier to the IDF.
Rockets and Missiles
Israel typically uses the AGM-114 Hellfire II missiles which are fired from the Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopter. The armament of the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter consists of the 2.75 inch (70mm) Hydra rockets carried in 19- tube rocket pods and the M230 30mm chain gun. (...)Israel makes its own pistols, assault rifles (Galil and Tavor), machines guns and other light weapons, while such items in the hands of Hamas and other Palestinian groups are usually former USSR types smuggled in from unknown sources. The US has been a large supplier of firearms and light weapons to Israel. Many Israeli soldiers can be seen carrying M4 carbine assault rifles. According to EU reports for exports to Israel during 2007, Bulgaria and Poland issued licences for small arms and/or light weapons worth over €2 million, with Germany, Spain, Slovenia and the UK approving small amounts of less than €500,000.
The top five suppliers to Israel of ‘military weapons’ (under the code 89112 in the UN Comtrade database) have been:
Top 5: 2004-2007 In US$
| USA | 31,181,225 |
| Albania | 868,246 |
| Netherlands | 420,360 |
| Mexico | 115,080 |
| Croatia | 47,342 |
Electronic Equipment
The EU's 2008 consolidated report on arms exports lists "electronic equipment specifically designed or modified for military use” with licences for export to Israel approved by France (€89 million) and Germany (€5 million) during 2007. In addition, France approved the export of €22 million of “imaging or countermeasure equipment for military use”. The US is also thought to be a major supplier of such equipment.Components
According to the UN Comtrade data, the US was the largest commercial supplier of “parts and accessories for military weapons and non-military weapons” to Israel. Between 2004 and 2007 the US exported US$151 million-worth of such parts and accessories - 97% of all commercial sales in this category. Other suppliers include: Austria which shipped $3,045,131 worth during the same period; the Netherlands $361,841; the UK $279,565 and the Czech Republic $116,304.The UK is also coming under increasing scrutiny about the export of components. Amnesty International remains particularly concerned about the exports of UK components that may have been incorporated into military systems used by the IDF. The introduction in 2002 of revised UK guidelines for the control of exports of components for incorporation in military systems were specifically intended to allow the export of UK components to the USA for incorporation in military equipment such as F-16 combat aircraft and Apache combat helicopters which were known be exported to the Israel. The UK has also licensed components for a wide variety of military equipment directly to Israel. Details contained within UK government reports do not allow for a meaningful assessment of the end-user of this equipment, but Amnesty International has concerns that some of this equipment, particularly components for UAVs and naval equipment, may have been exported to Israeli military forces and used for serious violations. In addition, numerous credible sources, including company promotional literature, established defence industry journals and sources from within the Israeli military have stated that a UK company provides the engines for the Hermes 450 pilotless “drone” UAV aircraft manufactured in Israel by Elbit systems. The Hermes 450 UAVs are currently operated by the IDF as well as other armed forces. It has been widely reported that the Hermes 450 UAV uses a 'UEL AR-80-1010' engine manufactured by a company based in Lichfield. The initial version of the aircraft was reportedly powered by an 'AR741' engine, also produced by the Lichfield company, when at the time the IDF were the only users of the Hermes 450.
A spokesperson for Elbit Systems has denied these claims, stating that whilst the UK company does provide engines for Hermes 450s that are destined for export, the UK company does not provide the engines for any of the drones used by the Israeli armed forces. Amnesty International is not alleging any illegality on the part of UK companies, nor suggesting that any of its exports have not been authorised by the necessary export licenses from the UK government.
UAVs have been extensively used in combat operations by the IDF in Lebanon and Gaza. The claims have been strongly Denied by Elbit systems, the Israeli manufacturer of the Hermes 450, who have stated that UK engines are only used in variants manufactured for export and not used by the IDF. Amnesty International-UK has written to the UK government to seek assurances that it has not licensed components for use in UAVs and that it has undertaken sufficient end-use monitoring to ascertain that UK engines are not and have not been used in UAVs operated by the IDF. Government officials have admitted that they are unable to say whether UK engines have been incorporated into drones used by the IDF. MPs are calling for a full account into arms exports to Israel. The lack of a robust end-use monitoring and verification system hampers public and parliamentary scrutiny of UK arms supplies, especially where it concerns the transfer of components that are incorporated into military equipment. According to the Canadian NGO Ploughshares, Canadian-built components are also included in many US weapons systems that are exported to Israel.
Current US arms ships
Since early December 2008, the US Military Sealift Command has been organizing three large deliveries by sea of military ammunition and high explosives, including explosives with white phosphorus, from the US base at Sunny Hill, North Carolina, to an Israeli port near Gaza.On 4 December 2008, the USA's military shipping service, Military Sealift Command, issued a request to charter a commercial cargo vessel to move a very large consignment of “containerized ammunition and other containerized ammunition supplies” from Sunny Point, North Carolina – the location of a US Military Ocean Terminal - to Ashdod in Israel. The contract was awarded on 8 December 2008 to a German shipping company, Oskar Wehr KG GmbH, and the cargo was due to be loaded in North Carolina on 13 December 2008.
The US military tender request indicated an extremely large quantity of ammunition and associated supplies: the first planned shipment consisted of the equivalent of 989 standard (20ft) shipping containers of cargo, and required the ship to carry at least 5.8 million lbs (around 2600 metric tons) of 'net explosive weight', a measure of the explosive content of the cargo. The ship was placed under the tactical control of the US Sealift Logistics Command for the duration of the voyage, and was required to have up to 12 US armed forces personnel on board.
On 31 December 2008, just four days after the start of Israel's attacks on targets in Gaza, a second request was issued by the US Military Sealift Command for a ship to transport two further shipments of ammunition from Astakos in Greece to Ashdod, Israel. These shipments were to comprise 157 and 168 standard shipping containers of ammunition with a net explosive weight of nearly 1 million lbs. The 'Hazard Codes' of the cargo indicate that the cargo would include articles containing white phosphorus.
Transport tenders for these second and third shipments were cancelled on 9 January. However, a US military spokesperson confirmed on 12 January that they were still seeking a way to deliver these shipments, likewise destined for the Israel stockpile. US forces have also previously transferred ammunition consignments between vessels at sea around the Greek mainland and Crete. According to Amnesty International research with the NGOs TransArms and the Omega Research Foundation, on 20 December 2008, the first delivery of 989 containers was taken from North Carolina in a container ship, the Wehr Elbe, owned by Oskar Wehr KG. This arms ship entered Gibraltar on 28 December, but the German firm told Amnesty International that its ship did not unload the arms in Israel. According to maritime tracking facilities, the Wehr Elbe sailed off the coast of Greece near Astakos for several days then disappeared off the radar on 12 January reportedly after the Greek Government refused to grant permission to tranship the munitions to Israel. The Wehr Elbe has a capacity of over 2,500 20 ft shipping containers and thus has the capacity to load the first shipment of ammunition in North Carolina, load the other shipments in Astakos, and sail on to Ashdod. As of 27 January, according to maritime tracking facilities, the ship’s last port of call was Augusta, Italy. As of 17 February, the ship has not subsequently docked anywhere.
According to a report from Reuters on 9 January 2009, a US naval spokesperson stated that the delivery was “to a pre-positioned U.S. munitions stockpile in Israel in accordance with a congressionally authorized 1990 agreement between the U.S. and Israel...This previously scheduled shipment is routine and not in support of the current situation in Gaza.” However, the portion of US Army Prepositioned Stocks (APS) maintained in Israel is the War Reserve Stocks for Allies – Israel (WRSA-I) stockpile. According to information provided to Congress in 2003 by the US Department of Defense, this is a “separate stockpile of U.S.–owned munitions and equipment set aside, reserved, or intended for use as war reserve stocks by the U.S. and which may be transferred to the Government of Israel in an emergency, subject to reimbursement.”
Arms supplies to Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups
Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups have smuggled small arms, light weapons, rockets and rocket components into Gaza, using tunnels from Egypt into Gaza; this weaponry has been acquired from clandestine sources. “Katyusha” rockets are originally Russian-made, but those being used by Palestinian fighters are unlikely to have been acquired directly from Russia. Such imports and holdings are on a very small scale compared to those of Israel. A rocket arsenal that provides an offensive or deterrent capability similar to that fielded by the Lebanese group Hizbullah during the 2006 war with Israel is beyond the reach of Palestinian militant groups.It is reported by Jane's Defence Weekly that Hamas has an estimated rocket arsenal of 3,000, primarily locally made, short-range rockets: the Qassam 1, 2 and 3. The longer-range rockets are purchased abroad and smuggled into Gaza via Egypt. These include the 122mm Grad rocket, originally Russian-made, the Iranian-made 220mm Fadjr-3, and allegedly also Chinese-made rockets smuggled from Sudan. The explosives used in the warheads is either manufactured locally from fertilizer or smuggled into Gaza through tunnels or from the sea. Over the years several arms shipments allegedly en route to Gaza are reported to have been intercepted by Israeli or Egyptian security forces. In May 2006 the Israeli Navy said it had intercepted a Palestinian fishing boat with 500kg of weapons grade TNT. The Egyptian police said they recovered 1,000 kg of explosives in Sinai – 30 km from Gaza - in October 2006. Also, in 2008, several large caches were reportedly recovered: Egyptian police uncovered a cache in May 2008 containing 500kg of TNT 500 metres from the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza. In late May 2008, an Egyptian police official told the Associated Press news agency that the Egyptian authorities had found ammunition boxes, RPGs and anti-aircraft missiles apparently bound for Gaza some 80 km south of Rafah.
The table below estimates the Hamas rocket arsenal:
| Type | Range | Warhead Payload | Origin |
| Qassam-1 | 3 km | 0.5 kg | Locally made |
| Qassam-2 | 6-10 km | 5-7 kg | Locally made |
| Qassam-3 | 10 km | 10 kg | Locally made |
| 122mm Grad | 20 km | USSR/Russia, various | |
| 220mm Fadjr-3 | 40 km | 45 kg | Iran |
| 122mm | 40 km | China |
According to Jane's Defence Weekly, Hamas is in the possession of several homemade anti-armour rockets: the Al-Battar, the Banna 1 and Banna 2. There have been several reports that Iran has provided military equipment and munitions, including rockets, to Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups but Amnesty International has not seen any evidence to verify these allegations.
Source: Amnesty International, Fuelling conflict: Foreign arms supplies to Israel/Gaza
23 February 2009; www.amnestyusa.org
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