German weapons giant acts as sales rep for Israel's "suicide drones"

Friedrich Merz has not halted all weapons cooperation with Israel. (German government photo)

Genocide is a marketable commodity.

That seems to be the message from Itzik Huber, a leading figure in the Israeli weapons maker UVision.

“Israel is the best playground,” Huber told the website CTech in a recent interview. He praised the “condensed area” for “training and operation,” while observing how the wars against Gaza and Iran have demonstrated the “big flexibility” of drones (in which his firm specializes).

Calling Israel the “best playground” while that state’s military wages a war of extermination against Palestinians is unfathomably grotesque. It is similarly repugnant to present weapons which have inflicted massive pain and destruction as “flexible.”

Hyping up the potential of drones in border management and naval operations, Huber had the gall to argue they offer an “efficient, with low collateral damage, solution.”

“Collateral damage” is military jargon for civilian deaths and injuries and harm to civilian infrastructure.

There is ample evidence to demonstrate that the “collateral damage” in Gaza has not been low. Rather, Israeli ministers have publicly ordered that “the gates of hell” be opened and entire cities razed.

Yet it would be naive to expect that arms dealers see the world as anything but a playground. Their overriding objective is to maximize profits, even if that involves milking the opportunities afforded by the most egregious crimes.

Although Israeli arms companies have seen their revenues grow because of the Gaza genocide, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has articulated – if that’s the right word – fears that they could be shunned in the coming years.

It is too early to predict how much restrictions on Israeli weapons will affect UVision.

What can be said with certainty is that it has a powerful “friend.” Germany’s largest arms company Rheinmetall acts as UVision’s distributor in Europe.

The partnership illustrates how Germany still has Israel’s back even if Netanyahu and his ruling coalition are a little too extreme for the Berlin government’s liking.

A ban on exports of weapons to Israel announced in August by Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, only applies to arms for use in Gaza. Wider cooperation between the Israeli and German weapons industry has continued.

Tested on Palestinians?

UVision does not shy away from describing its warplanes as “suicide drones” – which blow up when they hit a target. The preferred euphemism, however, is “loitering munitions.”

The Israeli military is reputed to have pioneered the concept of such “loitering” – an ability for a drone to hover near and surveil a target before striking. “Suicide drones” – or loitering munitions, if you must – are being used as a tool of genocide in Gaza.

The drones being made through the Rheinmetall-UVision partnership are sold under the name Hero.

The name indicates that either weapons makers don’t understand irony or they have an extremely warped sense of humor.

It is hard to think of anything less heroic than having drone operators sitting behind computer screens as they decide remotely to kill people and obliterate homes and other buildings. Gaza may have the dubious distinction of being the first place in the world subjected to a genocide that has at least partly been carried out by video game addicts.

In promotional material, Rheinmetall notes that the Hero range applies lessons learned from “current active battlefields” and claims these drones are “combat proven.” The term “combat proven” has long been used by Israeli weapons makers as code for saying their products have been tested out on Palestinians.

Rheinmetall did not reply to a query asking if the Hero drones have been tested in Palestine. More than likely, the reference to “current active battlefields” means that the weapons have been used in either Gaza or Ukraine – if not both.

Supplying Ukraine with drones and erecting a “wall” to intercept Russian drones is something of an obsession for NATO and the European Union.

As Rheinmetall boasts of being Ukraine’s most important ally in the weapons industry, the firm can pose as a valiant warrior against a belligerent Kremlin.

Rheinmetall is not as eager to celebrate how it acts as a sales rep for Israel’s “suicide drones.” Rheinmetall’s own summary of a display at a London weapons fair a few weeks ago acknowledged it is working in tandem with UVision, without stating that its partner is Israeli.

Genocide is a marketable commodity. But for German weapons dealers, saying that openly is taboo.