Occupied Jerusalem- The Israeli security establishment has expanded its secret campaign around the world to strengthen its military arsenal and fill the weapons shortage that its army suffers as the war enters its second year on multiple fronts, despite the fact that its military industry works seven days a week, and despite the arrival of hundreds of American arms shipments to Tel Aviv.
Weeks after the “Al-Aqsa Flood” battle on October 7, 2023, the Israeli army’s stock of weapons, ammunition, bombs, missiles, Apache helicopters, and even explosives used to destroy tunnels and residential squares in the Gaza Strip began to run out.
In the week following October 7, 2023, occupation army officers opened military equipment warehouses in the two main reserve divisions of the Northern and Southern Command, turning a blind eye to the shortage of equipment for the reserve forces.
A worsening crisis
Coupled with the lack of walkie-talkies, ceramic vests, and hundreds of unusable tanks and armored personnel carriers, officers noted that more than 50% of field commanders would not have night vision devices, a crucial tool for ground combat in any modern army, such as The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Hezbollah.
With the continuation of the war and the subsequent proceedings at the International Criminal Court, Israel being accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, and the expansion of the global arms embargo on it, this crisis worsened, according to an investigation of the “7 Days” supplement issued over the weekend by the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.
According to the investigation, the occupation army is suffering from a severe shortage of weapons stocks and is facing a problem with everything related to the conduct of the war, especially in Gaza. The investigation concluded that Americans cannot always provide everything, and some countries have announced a ban, and there is also fierce competition with Ukraine, while manufacturers are asking exorbitant prices.
After a year and a month of war, Israel needs almost everything, from tank shells to F-15 aircraft bombs and missiles, as the Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv is engaged in a global race to obtain the largest possible amount of weapons in the fastest possible time and with the least amount. Possible money.
After the seventh of last October, the Israeli Air Force returned the Apache squadron to service, and since then, the old helicopters have remained in the sky almost continuously, and the use of combat helicopters has become very intense, including in maneuvers in Lebanon, and the war has proven that the army The Israelis need more old planes.
The Israeli Ministry of Defense contacted the Americans and requested to urgently purchase more Apache helicopters, even if they were used, but Washington asked them to wait in line according to the system in place by the manufacturer, “Boeing,” as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles Brown, rejected the White House’s requests to transfer the helicopters. To the occupying army.
Urgent need
These efforts, according to the newspaper, reflect just one example of the severe shortage of weapons for the Israeli army, which was in dire need of artillery shells and tanks at the beginning of the ground incursion into Gaza, as soldiers fired fire, shells and bombs excessively and almost randomly, without any target. suspicious.
But very quickly, in December 2024, the Land Forces began to take care of the stockpile and economize on the use of the weapon also intended for a full ground campaign in Lebanon, as Israel went to the United States to receive the missiles, and they agreed positively, and the shipment arrived several weeks later.
At the same time, the Israeli security establishment also went to a country in the Balkans to buy thousands of shells, which demanded an exorbitant price that jumped by 50%, to about $4,500 per tank shell, while a cannon shell reached $6,000.
The newspaper quoted a senior official in the security establishment who participated in the process of purchasing the missiles: “They also demanded an advance payment. We returned to Tel Aviv to deliberate and check the price regulations. Then we received a call from them saying, ‘Ukraine paid and bought this order before you.’”
Thus, from the end of last year until now, Israeli army officers and representatives of the Ministry of Defense have been making trips to purchase weapons around the world. According to various publications, some of these countries are friendly to Russia, such as Serbia, which has become a major arms supplier to Israel, and may prefer it over Ukraine.
Under the table
According to the newspaper’s investigation, some other countries supply weapons to Israel despite internal difficulties. For example, a country with relations with Iran and hundreds of millions of its population are Muslims, became a major supplier of explosives to Tel Aviv and sold hundreds of thousands of tons to the engineering forces of the occupying army.
An official in the Israeli security establishment says: “There are countries in Africa and the Third World that do not only insist on complete secrecy, or demand a high price. They are exploiting the impasse that Tel Aviv is experiencing to demand the return that there was great doubt in the past whether they would obtain, which is obtaining Advanced technological means from the Israeli defense industries.
The official added: “An African country requested and obtained Israeli military technologies, which included advanced vehicles, anti-aircraft guns, and computerized combat systems, in exchange for supplying the Israeli army with explosives, missiles, and other low-tech devices.”
According to the Israeli security sources who spoke to Yedioth Ahronoth, some of these transactions were not completely official, and some deals were concluded under the table and with lightning-fast steps, with a green light and the approval of the supervisory authorities in the Israeli Ministry of Defense.
The sources justified this by saying: “This is the case in the new Israeli arms race, which has become a war in itself. Weapons sanctify the means of obtaining them, even if they are through illegal methods and questionable sources, even from distant countries. What is important is that you have something to unleash.” “.
In recent months, the Israeli security establishment has also turned, according to the newspaper, to global “arms brokers” who are experts in brokering deals around the clock. This organization admits: “Everyone does this in years like this in a global race for arms. Not all intermediaries are trustworthy, but sometimes there is no other choice.”