New research, paid for by Uplift members, has shown worrying financial support from the Irish government to Israeli weapons manufacturers and spikes in dual-use exports to Israel which may violate our human rights obligations.
The full report can be read here but a summary of the key points are listed below.
Drones imports from Israeli corporations
The Irish government has purchased drones from Israeli weapons manufacturers like Elbit Systems and Aeronautics Defence Industries.
In the case of Aeronautics Defence Industries, the Irish government still has active contracts with them for maintenance and support.
In 2023, at least €295,000 was paid to Aeronautics Defence Industries and already, in just the first quarter of 2024, that has been doubled to €590,000.
Israeli arms dealers label their weapons as “battle-tested” because they’ve been used in Gaza. By paying Israeli state-owned arms corporations for drones and drone expertise, we are rewarding this battle-testing of weapons on Palestinians in Gaza.
Not only has the Irish Department of Defence failed to end these military contracts, but they’ve actually doubled the size of the contract in just the first three months of 2024 so far.
It’s worth noting that the actual total paid may be higher but any contracts for less than €20,000 are not included in the publicly available procurement data.
Dual-use exports to Israel
Dual-use products have both military and civilian capabilities and could be used to suppress human rights or launch attacks.
In 2023, the amount of dual-use exports to Israel spiked to 6.5 times what it was in the previous year. Much of this increase in dual-use trade happened in the last quarter of 2023.
On average, dual-use trade accounts for about 1.8% of all EU trade but when it comes to Ireland, a whopping 13.5% of our trade with Israel is dual-use.
Our dual-use trade with Israel has risen disproportionately high when compared with other countries.
In February of 2024, then Minister for Trade, Simon Coveney claimed that both the Dept of Trade and the Dept of Foreign Affairs review all dual-use export licence applications against the eight assessment criteria set out in EU Council Common Position 2008/944/CFSP. These include things like:
- Respect for human rights and international humanitarian law in the country of final destination and risk of internal repression
- The internal situation in the country of final destination, with respect to tensions or armed conflicts
- Risks posed to the territory of neighbouring countries
- Risk of diversion of these goods for undesirable uses
In 2023 and 2024 so far, not a single dual-use licence for export to Israel was rejected by the Irish government. It’s extremely unclear how the Irish government assesses these applications.
Investments in Occupied Territories
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) published a database of businesses operating in illegally occupied Palestinian territory.
On this list were 11 companies in which the Irish government has investments. In April 2024, Minister Michael McGrath said the government intends to withdraw investment from just 6 of these companies. This would still leave 5 violating businesses within the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund’s portfolio.
In addition, the UN database contains a number of countries who have offices in Ireland such as AirBnb, Booking.com and Trip Advisor.
Solutions
It is completely hypocritical that the Irish government has stated it will intervene in South Africa’s ICJ case against Israel for genocide while at the same time is increasing both military and dual-use trade with Israel.
It is also hypocritical that the government declared in 2021 that Israel’s settlements on occupied Palestinian territories were a de-facto annexation, yet they continue to invest in corporations profiting from the illegal occupation of these territories.
The Irish government must immediately end all military and dual-use contracts with Israel and divest fully from all businesses profiting from illegally occupied Palestinian land.
The full, updated report (July 2024) can be read here.
P.S. We took this research and launched a legal challenge against the Irish government. You can read about it here.
