Shocking UN Vote Reveals Who's Really Arming Israel!

Shocking UN Vote Reveals Who's Really Arming Israel!

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There is a growing international call for an arms embargo on Israel, with support from countries spanning Algeria to Vietnam in a recent United Nations vote on human rights. This movement has led several European nations to halt weapon sales, while key U.S. allies such as Britain and France are engaged in discussions on the matter. However, the two countries that supply almost all of Israel's imported weapons, the United States and Germany, have not explicitly supported the embargo.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the United States and Germany together provide about 99 percent of all arms imported by Israel. SIPRI's analysis shows that from 2019 to 2023, Israel imported 69 percent of its arms from the United States and 30 percent from Germany. This is partly due to the location of arms manufacturers and government policies. U.S. aid to Israel mainly consists of grants for U.S.-made military equipment, while the German government prioritizes export approvals of German-made arms for Israel.

Following the Oct. 7 attacks that resulted in 1,200 deaths, both President Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expedited arms shipments to Israel. However, experts believe that the United States is key to significantly impacting Israeli policy regarding arms restrictions. Signs indicate that leverage can work; after a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden emphasized the need for specific, concrete, and measurable steps to address civilian harm and humanitarian suffering. This led to Israel's war cabinet announcing new measures to allow more aid into Gaza, including the opening of the Erez border crossing.

The goal of the movement is not to completely halt all arms transfers but to use the leverage of arms transfers to enforce legitimate demands. Over 160 humanitarian organizations and rights groups have called for an arms embargo on Israel, with national and regional governments in Belgium, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain suspending arms sales to Israel due to concerns about international humanitarian law.

While a nonbinding resolution at the U.N. Human Rights Council passed by a vote of 28 to 6 with 13 abstentions, it is unlikely to have a practical impact on arms sales to Israel. The United Nations can impose mandatory arms embargoes on nations through a Security Council vote, but the United States holds veto power, making a U.N. arms embargo against Israel almost impossible.

The European Union could implement a bloc-wide arms embargo, but this would require consensus among all EU member states, including Germany. Germany's steadfast support for Israel is based on historical responsibility and "reason of state."

Unlike the United States, Germany is a party to the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty, which could prohibit the sale of certain arms to Israel if there was a risk they could be used to violate international humanitarian law. Domestic law could provide an additional constraint.

Efforts are underway to make the case to the U.S. government that its arms shipments to Israel are violating international obligations. The State Department and the Department of Defense have mechanisms for assessing whether U.S. arms are being used to breach the law, but the process has been criticized as burdensome and unclear.

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