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Data reviewed by Al Jazeera shows Israel recorded record arms sales in 2024, generating $15 billion in revenue, with most exports consisting of missiles, projectiles, and air defense systems, according to an Israeli government statement issued last June.
The weapons were marketed as “battle-tested” after being used in Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, which began on Oct. 8, 2023, and continued for two years, resulting in over 71,000 deaths, most of them women and children.
Most exports consisted of missiles and projectiles, as well as air defense systems, according to a statement issued by the Israeli government last June.
More than half of these shipments went to European militaries, while other consignments were sent to countries in the Asia-Pacific region, led by India.
Israel is one of the world’s top 10 arms exporters.
The surge in revenues last year came as Israel faced allegations of genocide.
Indeed, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on allegations of war crimes.
Speaking to Al Jazeera about what he described as the exploitation of the war to market weapons, Antony Loewenstein, author of “The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World,” said Israel sells the idea of impunity, adding that “there is a big attraction to that for many other countries.”
For his part, Shir Hever, a specialist in the Israeli arms trade, said countries importing Israeli weapons understand that what they are doing is “illegal.”
He told Al Jazeera that Israel’s arms buyers are aware that a genocide is unfolding in Gaza and that it is not permissible to conduct business with states that commit war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Israel’s arms exports also include AI and surveillance tools, such as facial recognition technology, which has been installed at hundreds of sites in the occupied West Bank and is also widely used in Gaza.
On the technology, Ahmed Labbad, a former Palestinian detainee, told Al Jazeera he discovered the scale of Israeli surveillance in December 2023, when he was arrested.
He said Israeli soldiers knew his wife’s phone number, his new and old addresses, the names of his neighbors and everyone he had worked with.
“After what I went through during interrogation, I’m convinced we are being monitored all the time. We are completely exposed,” he added.
Israel’s Ministry of Defense said in a statement last June that demand from Europe saw “huge” growth in 2024, with exports to the continent rising 54%, compared with 36% in 2023.
The Asia-Pacific region ranked second at 23%, followed by the United States at 9%.
Despite rising demand from Europe, some countries, including Spain, have imposed restrictions on arms imports from Israel.
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