Two dozen companies are profiting from the bloodshed in the Gaza Strip, where Israeli forces are waging what experts call a genocidal war that sent defense stocks soaring.
Israel declared war on October 7, funded by $3.8 billion in annual military aid from the US. Since then, Israeli forces have killed over 20,000 Palestinians in Gaza sparking massive protests demanding a ceasefire around the world, including many led by Jewish people.
The rising death toll, displacement, demolition of civilian structure, and hitches in delivering humanitarian aid to the besieged enclave have increased a $14.3 billion package for the war that the Biden administration demanded from Congress as well as censure of the US weapon-makers and billionaire donors who are arming and empowering the Israel defense forces.
The scales of destruction and war crimes in Gaza would not be imaginable without huge weapon transfers from the US. After October 7, the US government started transferring to Israel enormous amounts of weapons. Among these weapons, Israel received more than 15,000 bombs and 50,000 artillery shells within just the first month and a half. These transfers were deliberately shrouded in secrecy to avoid public scrutiny and inhibit Congress from exercising any significant oversight.
Using US taxpayers’ money through the Foreign Military Sales program, some of these weapons were purchased; some were direct commercial sales purchased through Israel’s budget; and some replenished US military stockpiles in Israel, which the Israeli military may also use.
The Forum on the Arms Trade maintains a list of known US arms transfers. The list is based on reporting, social media, and other sources, and focuses on weapons used by Israel because all Palestinian militant groups receive no support from Western governments or corporations.
The world’s fifth-largest weapon manufacturer, Boeing, makes F-15 fighter jets and Apache AH-64 attack helicopters used by the Israeli forces, as well as multiple types of unguided small-diameter bombs and joint direct attack munition kits that have been used extensively during the war, including in a bombing of Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp.
Israeli occupation forces used Caterpillar’s armored D9 bulldozers to demolish Palestinian homes and civilian structures in the occupied West Bank and enforced the blockade of the Gaza Strip. The machines have been crucial in the Israeli military’s ground invasion of the enclave.
War profiteers are not in the United States only; the world’s seventh-largest weapon manufacturer, the UK’s BAE Systems, and Israel’s largest weapon manufacturer, Elbit Systems, one of the primary suppliers of weapons and surveillance systems to the Israeli military are also included.
Weapons giants such as General Dynamics, General Electric, L3Harris Technologies, Leonardo, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and RTX, formerly Raytheon, as well as vehicle companies, AM General, Ford, Oshkosh, Toyota, and drone manufacturers AeroVironment, Skydio, and XTEND, are other companies included in the list.
Some 12,000 rifles to the country’s forces within a week of October 7 were delivered by 7US-based Colt’s Manufacturing Company, which makes firearms including the M16, and Emtan Karmiel, an Israeli firm. Israel Aerospace Industries, a state-owned manufacturer that makes multiple weapons systems specifically for the Israeli military was also included.
Plasan, which makes the SandCat light armored vehicle, and MDT Armor, owned by the Israeli company Shladot and makes the David urban light armored vehicle used by the military for patrols and reconnaissance are other companies on the list.
ThyssenKrupp, the German company that built four warships for Israel, and Nordic Ammunition Company, which makes the M141 Bunker Defeat Munition, a shoulder-fired ‘bunker-buster’ rocket were other foreign firms on the list.
Assaults and attacks on civilians will never bring protection or peace to any party. We need a permanent ceasefire for lasting peace in the region.