Drone fair doubles in size thanks to genocide

Palestinians are still being killed by Israel’s drone strikes on Gaza.
Belal Abu Amer APA images

An event held in Tel Aviv this week demonstrated that the weapons industry is actively exploiting a genocide.

Featuring 350 exhibitors, the Unmanned Vehicles Israel Defense (UVID) DroneTech event was reportedly double the size of previous years. Alon Unger, the exhibition’s self-described “very excited” founder, is pouncing on the major use in Gaza to promote those weapons as a “growth engine” for Israel, as he prophesies a “new strategic era.”

Drones are multi-purpose instruments of terror. In Gaza, drone operators carried out massacres by firing missiles packed with nails and shrapnel.

Quadcopter drones, meanwhile, broadcast nightmarish sounds as they were flown above buildings and people seeking shelter in rudimentary tents. Other drones resorted to “loitering” – a fancy word for spying – before blowing themselves up in attacks on Palestinians.

The high fives and hugs exchanged at UVID DroneTech this week were celebrations of how drones have proved their versatility in a genocide.

Sitting safely behind computer screens and fiddling with consoles, drone operators inflict both physical annihilation and psychological harm on Gaza’s inhabitants.

The Gaza genocide was carried out in significant part by remote control. Israel’s weapons industry is now cashing in on all the frightening inventions it has been able to showcase over the past couple of years.

It is telling that Aero Sentinel – a maker of quadcopter drones – gave a presentation titled “lessons from Gaza” at this week’s event, according to its program. The “lessons” being learned clearly do not involve any declarations of remorse.

Rewarding genocide

Some powerful governments are rewarding Israel for its distinctive blend of innovation and subjugation.

Rafael – one of Israel’s top three weapons firms – has been flaunting its relationship with Germany over the past few months.

In August, Friedrich Merz, the chancellor, announced that Germany was suspending exports of weapons to Israel in cases where those weapons were intended for use in Gaza.

The “embargo” did not affect other forms of weapons trading.

Later in August, Rafael voiced pleasure at how the Bundestag had approved the acquisition of 90 “targeting pods” from Rafael. They will be installed in the Eurofighter Typhoon – a warplane project involving several countries.

Germany’s “embargo” may go down in history as one of the shortest restrictions ever imposed on the weapons trade. It has already been lifted.

And the “targeting pods” deal is far from the only one that Rafael has inked. In recent days, it has boasted that new Leopard 2A8 battle tanks unveiled in Munich are fitted with Rafael technology.

Rafael owns a subsidiary named Dynamit Noble Defence (DND) in Burbach, a town north of Frankfurt.

DND is supplying the Bundeswehr – Germany’s military – with shoulder-fired weapons.

The firm is also expanding into other countries. DND has begun building a factory in Hungary over the past year and last month signed a contract for providing Latvia with a “mine-laying system.”

Rafael’s activities leave no doubt that it has a strong foothold in Germany and that it is benefiting from Europe’s obsession with increasing its spending on weapons.

Not long ago, Israel’s violence against Gaza had become so extreme that the European Union’s leadership felt compelled to denounce it with terms such as “abhorrent.” The abhorrence was phony – Israel is still being treated as a staunch ally by many EU countries, especially Germany.

The drone exhibition in Tel Aviv this week is a sordid reminder of how genocide has given weapons industry representatives an ideal opportunity to test out new killing machines and get richer in the process. No wonder they are very excited.