Israel Could Emerge From Its International Siberia Sooner Than Predicted

Can Western critics of Israel get over themselves? Can their attempts at isolating a country at war since October 7, 2023, end now? Will countries that rushed to deny weapons to the Jewish state as it fought in Gaza now rush to buy its arms? Israel might emerge from its international Siberia sooner than one might guess. In August, as European streets raged with anger over Israel’s war expansion, Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced a freeze on sales to Israel of German arms that could be used in Gaza. This week, his vice chancellor, Lars Klingbeil, hinted that the embargo will soon be lifted. Following the Gaza cease-fire, he said, Berlin will “reassess the situation.”Since August, Berlin “did not approve a single new arms shipment to Israel,” according to Deutsche Welle. Germany is Europe’s largest arms supplier to Israel, a Jerusalem defense source tells the Sun. Yet, he adds, it mostly sells large weapons systems, like submarines, that are unrelated to the Gaza war. Even during the embargo threat, Berlin approved a $415 million deal three weeks ago to purchase the Israeli arms manufacturer Rafael’s Litening pods for Germany’s Typhoon fighter jets. The pods, installed under a jet’s wings, are designed to enhance targeting and navigation.As the Russian threat to Europe grows, the Continent is arming. Countries have announced intentions to spend up to 5 percent of their gross domestic product on defense. Battle-tested and unique Israeli weapons increasingly become attractive to European armies, as they assess Russian threats. Rafael’s Trophy is a unique active defense system that intercepts anti-tank missiles and rockets as they approach the targets. “No other country makes anything that even remotely resembles it,” Rafael’s chairman, Yvan Steinitz, tells the Sun. “That’s why the Americans use it for their Abrams tanks, the Germans for their Leopards, and the Brits for their Challengers.”In Ukraine, Mr. Stainitz adds, entire tank convoys on both sides are disabled by artillery, anti-tank missiles, or drones. “So you can either abandon your armored units,” he says, “or you can install our Trophy active protection system. This is not just the best system in the world — it’s the only such system in the world.”France hopes to finance its own ambitious defense spree by selling French weapons. Last June it cited the Gaza war to ban competing Israeli manufacturers from participating in the prestigious Eurosatory defense and security exhibition at Paris. Yet, the Israel Defense Force’s defensive and offensive performance in that month’s 12-day war with Iran provided a much better sales pitch than any European arms fare could. The two-year war that Hamas launched on October 7 was closely watched by defense planners in Europe and beyond, and some are now recommending that their countries emulate Israel’s entire defense posture. “Just like Israel, Poland is a country that is located in a very hostile environment, with direct security threats on its borders,” a former Polish military counterintelligence commander, General Maciej Materka, says in a video posted on X. Israel, he says, “exists under constant threat and yet it thrives. That resilience has been deliberately built over decades, through civil preparedness, intelligence excellence, and technological innovation.”Poland, General Materka says, “must build an Israel-style security ecosystem.” His attitude might seem counterintuitive, as condemnation of Israel around the world is still smoldering in many quarters, where terms like “genocide,” “ethnic cleansing,” “deliberate famine-causing starvation,” and “apartheid” are hurled at the Jewish state.This week’s cease-fire “will have no bearing on the case that is before the International Court of Justice,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said Tuesday. He referred to South Africa’s allegation at the Hague that Israel has violated its obligations under the convention for the prevention of genocide. “Israel is the only country that defends itself in the face of aggression, and is then forced to end the conflict because of international norms,” the executive director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Jonathan Schanzer, tells the Sun. Adds he: “I’m still not convinced that Israel is in Siberia in a permanent way.”After Israel won the independence war of 1948, the Arabs imposed a boycott of the Jewish state, Mr. Schanzer notes. It was followed by isolation after the 1956 Suez crisis. Then came “the ‘Zionism is racism’ initiative at the United Nations, the Arab oil embargo after 1973, the first and second intifadas, Sabra and Shatila, the Boycott Divestment and Sanction movement. The Durban conference.” Even so, he adds, “Israel never rolls over in the face of these boycotts.” One reason is that despite, and perhaps because of, external pressures, the Jewish state has become a hub of innovation. Weapons and security are certainly part of it. Over five years, the total value of Israel’s defense exports has more than doubled, to $14.8 billion in 2024 from $7.3 billion in 2019. It is among the world’s top 10 arms manufactures, and the two-year war significantly increased sales. Beyond arms, though, it is hard to look at a pharmacy shelf without noticing Israeli-made products. Mr. Schanzer says that as we spoke he was driving home using the Waze navigation system, which was invented in Israel before it was purchased by Google Maps. “And the chips in the phones that we’re talking on right now: I mean, good luck boycotting all of that.”

Israel Could Emerge From Its International Siberia Sooner Than Predicted

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