Haaretz columnist David Stavrou – who has also been presenting to the Genocide Seminar which is conducted by our Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide Jerusalem – has published a major new article in Haaretz entitled “And If They Used Israeli Weapons.” Stavrou describes a horrifying raid and genocidal massacre in a village in northern Myanmar, and reports that he was relieved to discover it contained no evidence of weapons purchased from Israel. However, Stavrou observes that there still is reason for a “particular concern to Israeli readers.”

He writes, “It is known that in the past, Israel had extensive ties with the regime in Myanmar, and weapons, cyber systems, vehicles and drones of Israeli manufacture were and are used by the army… Israel is one of the world’s largest arms exporters.  In spite of that, they cannot ratify the Arms Trade Treaty – a multilateral pact that regulates the international trade in conventional arms – as did most western democracies.  Israel is also refraining from setting regulations to monitor the activity of intermediaries, especially former senior defense establishment officials.”

Stavrou is aware of the work of the new non-profit organization, Yanshuf, (see story on this website) and reports that when they requested position statements on Israeli arm sales from the various political parties, only Meretz replied.

Stavrou concludes that all of Israeli society would benefit from enjoying “an international reputation as the nation of startups, drip agriculture and Copaxone, rather than as a nation of ‘masters of war.’”

For the full article in Haaretz, click here.