Is Australia sending weapons to Israel? No, but Israeli arms imports continue

When the heated debate over Gaza erupted in federal parliament last week, the Greens reiterated an accusation they have made regularly in recent months: that the federal government “supports genocide” through a “trade in two-way weapons” with Israel. , as party leader Adam Bandt said.

Labor ministers have regularly insisted that the government does not export any weapons or military parts to Israel, and now defense officials have also refuted those claims.

What does the evidence say? Simply put, this suggests that the “arms trade” is in fact a way forward.

Defense officials who appeared before Senate estimates last week added weight to the government's claim that no “military” exports had been approved to Israel in five years.

But government tender documents published online reveal Australia continued to import deadly Israeli-made technology and made purchases worth millions of dollars from Israeli defense companies Elbit and Rafael since the terrorist attacks of October 7 and the conflict that followed.

The export debate

Green politicians have repeatedly claimed that unspecified exports to Israel are still approved by Defence, also pointing to recent data from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and crucially highlighting the presence of Australian components at the The interior of the F-35 military aircraft operated by Israel.

During last week's Senate estimates hearings, Labor attempted to counter these different data sets by polling a series of “Dorothy Dixers” with defense officials, obtaining rare details on the opaque arms trade in Australia.

Under carefully orchestrated questioning from a young Labor senator, assistant secretary Hugh Jeffrey told the committee that since the start of the conflict in Gaza, the government had reviewed defense export permits involving Israel.

“We looked at all of our export permit processes, the export permits that have been granted over the last five years, to make sure we were talking about dual-use technologies and items going to the ADF” , Mr. Jeffrey told the committee.

The assistant secretary also revealed that seven of the eight export permits issued since October 7 involved the return of equipment to Israel as the original manufacturer, for repairs or modifications, while the final item was non-lethal and non-military.

Earlier this year, the ABC also revealed that frustrated Australian defense manufacturers believed the Albanian government was overseeing a deliberate “slowness” in assessing exports to Israel.

In recent weeks, the Greens have also highlighted official DFAT figures showing that in February Australia exported $1.5 million worth of “arms and munitions” to Israel, but Defense again clarified that these figures were inaccurate.

“(It's) for just one item, it's an item returning to Australia that falls into the category of what we've just been talking about in the sense that it supports Australian defense capability,” the official said. Defense David Nockles to Senate estimates last week.

A more effective argument from the Greens has been Australia's involvement in the global supply chain for the F-35 jet fighter, which is operated by more than a dozen countries, including Israel.

Last October, the RAAF boasted that more than 70 Australian companies had already directly shared more than $4.13 billion in global F-35 production and sustainment contracts. But the defense insists that these components taken individually cannot be considered weapons.

Speaking during the estimates, Hugh Jeffrey explained that in granting export permits for F-35 parts, 12 criteria had to be balanced, including human rights concerns and the question of whether withholding products would harm national security interests and treaty obligations.

“I think the question of whether or not the F-35 is used in the crisis in Israel is irrelevant to the question of whether or not we grant an export permit,” said Mr. Jeffrey to the commission.

This week, Defense Minister Richard Marles added to criticism of the F-35 supply chain, telling ABC Melbourne that Australian-made components for the fighter jet were “non-lethal.” .

“We need to be very clear about the complexity of the situation very quickly. I mean for example Qantas and Virgin buying Boeing planes. Boeing also supplies military planes and supplies military planes to the Israeli Defense Forces,” Mr. .Marles.

“What do we say now if we go down that path when it comes to Qantas and Virgin? I mean, the reality is that in today's world we live in a very complex global supply chain, it's is in fact very much the case when it comes to the F-35.”

These details offered in rebuttal are unusually blunt for Australia's defense export system, which is considered one of the most secretive and opaque in the Western world. But the information, even choreographed, helped bring clarity.

Evidence on imports

In contrast, officials spent less time talking about trade going the other way. But there has been recent scrutiny in this regard.

In particular, attention has focused on a controversial $1 billion contract awarded to Israeli company Elbit earlier this year to supply manned 30mm turrets for the Army's new infantry fighting vehicles. army, which are being built near Geelong by the South Korean defense company Hanwha.

On Monday, Defense Industry Minister Pat Conroy claimed that Elbit had been “subcontracted” by Hanwha and that while the government had control over those decisions, it was not “sanctioning the companies Israeli companies or boycott Jewish businesses.

“We signed a contract with Hanwha Defense Australia to build infantry fighting vehicles for the Australian Army in Australia. As part of this, Hanwha subcontracted to Elbit the construction of the turrets, which are part of the vehicles of the “Australian Army in Australia,” he said. told the ABC.

As other tender documents released by the government reveal, Australia's military imports from Israel extend beyond the Elbit deal and continued well into the Gaza war.

In total, Defense has signed or modified nine contracts with Elbit, Rafael or their subsidiaries since the start of the war, notably for missiles, explosives and war vehicles. The total value of these contracts is just under $100 million.