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Despite International Controversy, Israeli Defense Industry Had Record Setting Year in 2023
Crews work on an Israeli Air Force F-15 Eagle in a hangar, said to be following an interception mission of an Iranian drone and missile attack on Israel, in this handout image released April 14, 2024. Photo: Israel Defense Forces/Handout via REUTERS
Israeli defense companies signed a record $13 billion in defense exports in 2023, marking the highest total in the country’s history, even as international criticism builds against the Israeli defense industry.
Israeli defense companies signed new export orders worth a record $13.073 billion last year, the Ministry of Defense International Defense Cooperation Directorate (SIBAT) reported on Monday. This is the third consecutive year in which the record has been broken, with new orders worth $12.5 billion in 2022 and $11.3 billion in 2021.
Increasing interest in Israel’s air defense systems included the historic $3.5 billion sale of Israel Aerospace System’s (IAI) Arrow 3 to Germany and the sale of Rafael’s David’s Sling to Finland for $317 million. SIBAT’s figures showed that 36 percent of the exports in 2023 was in air defense systems, compared with 19 percent in 2022.
“Even in a year when the State of Israel is fighting in seven different arenas, the defense exports of the State of Israel have succeeded in continuing to break records,” said Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. “This fact is a badge of honor, first and foremost, for our defense industries and the creative and talented minds that work in them and drive them to heights of breakthrough and innovation. This year’s figures show that even though our defense industries are harnessed in their order of priority for the success of the war effort, they continue to sign more and more significant export deals.”
The report was published just a day before a French court struck down severe restrictions requested by the French Defense Ministry on Israeli companies at the Eurosatory 2024 defense show, one of the largest events in the industry. The Paris Commercial Court found that the order would lead to discrimination — a criminal offense in France
The order suspended “the execution of the measures adopted against the Israeli companies whose stands were prohibited at the Eurosatory 2024 exhibition, until the closing date of the exhibition.”
The original ban had not only prohibited Israeli companies but also barred exhibitors from promoting Israeli weapons or engaging with Israeli representatives at their stands.
The event began on Monday and runs through Friday. Seventy-four Israeli firms had been due to participate.
The post Despite International Controversy, Israeli Defense Industry Had Record Setting Year in 2023 first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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White House Withdraws Nomination for US Hostage Envoy
FILE PHOTO: Adam Boehler, the CEO of the US International Development Finance Corporation, addresses the daily coronavirus task force briefing in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, US, April 14, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo
The Trump administration has withdrawn the nomination of Adam Boehler to serve as special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, the White House said on Saturday.
Boehler, who has been working to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, will continue hostage-related work as a so-called “special government employee,” a position that would not need Senate confirmation.
“Adam Boehler will continue to serve President Trump as a special government employee focused on hostage negotiations,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
“Adam played a critical role in negotiating the return of Marc Fogel from Russia. He will continue this important work to bring wrongfully detained individuals around the world home.”
A White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Boehler withdrew his nomination to avoid divesting from his investment company. The move was unrelated to the controversy sparked by his discussions with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
“He still has the utmost confidence of President Trump,” said the official.
“This gives me the best ability to help Americans held abroad as well as work across agencies to achieve President Trump’s objectives,” Boehler told Reuters in a brief statement.
Boehler recently held direct meetings with Hamas on the release of hostages in Gaza. The discussions broke with a decades-old policy by Washington against negotiating with groups that the US brands as terrorist organizations.
The talks angered some Senate Republicans and some Israeli leaders. According to Axios, Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer expressed his displeasure to Boehler in a tense phone call last week.
Boehler was given permission from the Trump administration to engage directly with Hamas, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said earlier this week, calling the talks a “one-off situation” that had not borne fruit.
Boehler has been credited with helping secure the release of Fogel, a US schoolteacher who was freed by Russia in February after three and a half years in prison.
The post White House Withdraws Nomination for US Hostage Envoy first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Bernard-Henri Lévy, German Officials Bow Out of Israeli Antisemitism Conference
French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy addressing the 38th Zionist Congress. Photo: Screenshot.
i24 News – A French intellectual superstar and a pair of German officials announced that they withdrew from a conference on antisemitism organized by the Israeli government, citing the participation of far-right figures in the Jerusalem event.
Iconic thinker Bernard-Henri Lévy, who was set to deliver the conference’s keynote address, opted out upon learning that Marion Marechal and Jordan Bardella from France’s far-right National Rally party were among the other speakers.
Felix Klein, the Federal Government Commissioner for Jewish Life in Germany and the Fight Against Antisemitism, “has decided not to attend,” his representatives told Haaretz.
“He was unaware of the other attendees when he accepted the invitation, and upon learning who the other speakers were, he decided to withdraw.”
Volker Beck, a former Green Party parliamentarian who chairs the Germany-Israel Friendship Society (DIG) also announced he was cancelling his attendance. “If we associate ourselves with extreme right-wing forces, we discredit our common cause; it also goes against my personal convictions and will have a negative impact on our fight against antisemitism within our societies.”
The post Bernard-Henri Lévy, German Officials Bow Out of Israeli Antisemitism Conference first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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US Kicks Out South Africa’s Hamas-Linked Ambassador
Marco Rubio speaks after he is sworn in as Secretary of State by US Vice President JD Vance at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, DC, Jan. 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
i24 News – US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday designated the South African ambassador to Washington Ebrahim Rasool as a Persona Non Grata, branding Rasool a “race-bating politician.”
The decision comes after Rasool made the inflammatory allegation that Trump was “leading global white supremacist” movement.
A known supporter of the genocidal Palestinian group Hamas, Rasool even boasted that he owned a keffiyeh signed by late Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh.
South Africa filed a claim with the International Court of Justice, alleging that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza during its ongoing war against Hamas, a charge both Israel and the US regard as slanderous and antisemitic.
The post US Kicks Out South Africa’s Hamas-Linked Ambassador first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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