The war in Ukraine generating an arms sales bonanza for Israeli regime
The weapons industry relishes military conflicts around the world because they generate huge profits for them. The war in Ukraine is creating an arms sales bonanza and Israel's weapons producers are cashing in.
Only last month, a senior executive at Israel's largest Arms Company, Elbit Systems, claimed that interest in the company was at an all time peak.
These unscrupulous Israeli weapons companies trade on the fact that many of their weapons systems are battle tested in Palestine and Syria.
The Zionist movement traced back to Ukraine, and its ties to Ukrainian Nazis
Zionism has deep roots in Ukraine. Jews are a significant element in the settler colony of Odessa, along with a range of non Jewish colonizers they settled on land from which Muslims had been expelled in the settlement around Haji Bay in 1794.
Ukraine, especially Odessa, was a key locus of the rise of the Zionist movement in the 20th century. The revisionist leader Vladimir Jabotinsky, hailed from Odessa.
The apparent elective affinity between Zionism and Ukrainian nationalism is seen in the relationship between Jabotinsky and Symon Petliura, the leader of the Ukrainian National Army, the UNA.
Petliura was a proto fascist and his UNA was responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Jewish civilians. In 1921 Jabotinsky signed an agreement with Petliura. This was a complicated and embarrassing episode for the Zionist movement; a famous Soviet cartoon at the time depicted Jabotinsky, weeping at Petliura's grave.
Zionist ambivalence about Ukrainian nationalism continues to this day. A number of Ukrainian Zionists have warned of the rise of Nazi movements in Ukraine. They have pointed to the adoration of Stepan Bandera, the heir of Petliura, as leader of the Ukrainian nationalists.
Eduard Dolinsky, Director of the Kyiv based Ukrainian Jewish Committee, has been intensely critical of Ukrainian efforts to rehabilitate nationalist Holocaust era Nazi collaborators, as a result, he has faced threats from nationalists.
Leading Zionists in the Ukraine, such as the oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi, funded Dolinsky as well as creating his own right wing militias. He also gave funds to the Azov battalion.
In April 2014 Kolomoisky posed, proudly wearing a t shirt combining the Jewish emblem of the menorah along with the Ukrainian Ultra nationalist symbol of a trident, all in red and black, beneath it said 'Judo Bandera', Jewish Bandera.
It’s no surprise therefore that some Ukrainian Jews joined Azov, and up to forty fought with the battalion in Mariupol in 2022.
In the Zionist movement, more broadly, there has been a concerted turning away from the approach of Dolinsky to minimize the presence and political influence of Nazis in Ukraine. Zionists are engaging in other words, in Nazi apologism.
In 2019, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) was still condemning the extremist Azov battalion, but by April 2022, they had published an interview on their website saying: "there are Neo Nazis in Ukraine, just as there are in the US and in Russia for that matter, but they are a very marginal group with no political influence, and who don't attack Jews or Jewish institutions in Ukraine".
In reality, Nazis infest the governing apparatus, the military, the police and the intelligence services, but the ADL does not care. It is totally focused on bashing the Palestinians and their defenders.
Why is the foundation of Odessa considered a form of settler colonialism?
Odessa was formed and founded as a city once the Russians, under Katherine the Great, had evicted the Ottoman Empire from the settlement which was there.
And the land was, therefore, empty because they got rid of the Ottomans and Muslims, and they sent people to colonize, to settle there. … to be a settler colonists you have to colonize somewhere and you have to settle there as opposed to move from a distance.
The Jews were amongst those who became settler colonists. There were others, there were Germans and various other national groups who became settler colonists there.
But the Zionist hate the idea that Jews were settler colonists in Odessa, which is simply a matter of historical fact, because they think it means that we're suggesting that Jews are always settler colonists, and that would be, for them, some kind of anti semitic draw.
Of course, we're not suggesting that we're suggesting that in a historical period that some Jews went to Odessa and became settler colonists along with others. But of course, the implication of that is that some of the Jews who were settler colonists in Odessa, of course their descendants went on to become settler colonists to Palestine.
And that is of historical significance because there's a historical memory, an experience of that kind of activity.
David Miller, Academic
Do you think the alliance between the revisionist Zionist Vladimir Jabotinsky, and the proto fascist Symon Petliura, would cause any embarrassment for the Zionist movement?
That's an interesting question, because, of course, the connection between Binyamin Netanyahu and his father Benzion Netanyahu, who was private secretary to Vladimir Jabotinsky, is a very strong connection for that reason.
And Netanyahu is known to be a revisionist Zionist, effectively, an expansionist nationalist far right Zionist, along the lines of Jabotinsky.
Israel has entertained members of the Azov Battalion back in December 2022, (including Illia Samoilenko) who made the statement, which I'm paraphrasing, that Ukraine and Israel were on the same side and that they were fighting the war of the civilized against the uncivilized.
So there's a clear correlation there between the far right nationalists in Ukraine, the Neo Nazis, and the revisionist Zionists led by Benjamin Netanyahu now in the occupied territories.
Vanessa Beeley, Journalist
It seems that some Zionists have objected to the increasing trend towards Nazi apologism in Ukraine while others Zionist ended up fighting with the Nazi Azov Battalion in Mariupol.
Extraordinary isn't it? this guy Zelensky seems, I hesitate to use the phrase, principle Zionist, has condemned all the way through the rise of Nazi apologism and he has, as a result, been threatened by them.
Of course, he was used to try and make anti Russian propaganda, because the Russians are saying, Look, even Zelensky is saying that there is Nazism there and he said: "Well, of course, they said that I've been threatened by the government, but I wasn't threatened by the government. I was only threatened by the nationalists".
And you know, of course, that's a distinction without any meaning whatsoever because, of course, the government is riddled, absolutely riddled, with Nazis, not just Nazi apologists but actual Nazis in the intelligence services, in the ministry of defense, in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
So the idea that there's only a limited number of Nazis, some of whom have worn patches when fighting, is completely wrong. And it's interesting that there is this division, and of course, most Zionists take the other position and said, well, actually they're not really Nazis. And you end up with, as the Israeli press have been reporting, 40 Jews from Ukraine fighting with Azov, with the Nazis in Mariupol.
That's not the only example. There's tons of examples, and that's fits extremely well because of course, the Azov is actually an anti Jewish and anti-semitic organization.
David Miller, Academic
What do you make of the Zionist billionaire, Ihor Kolomoyskyi, wearing the Bandera t shirt?
Well, you know, again, you have to remember that Olena Zelenska, the wife of Zelensky in Ukraine, the President of Ukraine, has also recently in June, again visited Israel and the Yad Vashem Holocaust Remembrance center. So therefore, in my opinion, the display of collaboration with Nazi Bandera Banderite elements is becoming more and more brazen and blatant.
And the fact that, of course, Kolomoyskyi, did you say he was actually wearing this t shirt while in the United States? I have a feeling it was; in which case that would make perfect sense to me because of course the United States has been importing Nazi elements since the end of the Second World War, it incubated and protected Nazi elements in Europe, particularly in Ukraine.
Post Second World War, we know that many of the organizations set up to demonize and criminalize, for example, countries like China, were effectively founded by people like Lev Dobriansky, again at the end of the Second World War, to run propaganda campaigns against communists because, of course, the Nazis actually targeted and persecuted communists prior to turning against Jews.
Vanessa Beeley, Journalist
The anti Defamation League has stopped peddling Nazis in Ukraine? Well, that's quite curious, isn't it?
To be fair to the Zionists this is all the way through Western elites, Nazi apologism from British MPs and British propaganda employees, people from MI6.
Indeed, in the US, too, you have people who quite happily use the Slava Ukraini, which is an actual Nazi greeting.
And the idea is that it has, somehow, taken the poison of out of it by it being used in a different context is nonsense. And it's traveled all the way across Western elites in the US, the UK, and indeed amongst the Zionists.
David Miller, Academic
Ukraine war used by Israel to increase arms sales to NATO countries
The much vaunted Ukrainian counter offensive, first mooted for the spring of 2023, has thrown many varied images and videos of wrecked Western military equipment.
The Russian military has made short shrift of even the supposedly superior German Leopard tanks. Western military stocks are running so perilously low that even Jens Stoltenberg of NATO has sounded the alarm.
Our weapons and ammunition stocks are depleted and need to be replenished, not just in Germany, but in many countries across NATO.
Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General
Obviously the merchants of death, otherwise known as the arms industry, are eager to step into the breach to provide new weaponry.
Amongst the keen contenders is a firm that boasts that its weapons are battle tested on the Palestinians.
US propaganda channels have trumpeted the soaring sales of Israeli arms as a result of the conflict in Ukraine. Figures show that arms exports have markedly increased. Recent contracts with NATO, Romania, and two other, undisclosed, NATO members have been reported.
In May a £305 million deal with the Netherlands was publicized. Other contracts with Finland, Sweden, Germany and Estonia, have also been announced. Haaretz salivates over the massive sums to be earned for Israel from its contributions to the Ukrainian meat grinder.
If it wasn't for the war this deal wouldn't have happened at this juncture in time, according to a Haaretz diplomatic source. The arms industry is one way in which Israel is directly intervening in Ukraine; another is ex-IDF personnel fighting in Ukraine, with Israeli military equipment having previously been spotted on the battlefield.
But recent reports of offensive Israeli military equipment being sent were quashed by Russian officials. It was also announced that Russia would be given cost free land, stolen from the Palestinians, for a new consulate in Al Quds.
In response, Ukraine launched a verbal attack on the Zionist entity, saying the so called neutrality of Israel's government is considered a clear pro Russian position. The Zionist Foreign Minister, Eli Cohen, called Ukraine's embassy statements "unacceptable".
The spat reminds us also that Ukraine has previously urged Israel to supply it with the Iron Dome system. But the request was refused. The Zionists have pointed to the risk of Western military equipment ending up in the hands of Iran.
And this is a clue to their reluctance; the so called Iron Dome is not very effective, even against the low tech missiles predominantly fired by the resistance factions in Palestine.
How ineffective it is would be revealed in Ukraine when faced with hypersonic Russian, and in the future, Iranian, missiles and the defense systems, exposing it as the paper dome it clearly is.
How do you view the apparent failure of Ukraine's counter offensive to make much progress and the large piles of Western weapons that have been destroyed?
What is NATO trying to achieve in Ukraine? It is weaponizing Ukrainians who are dominated by the neo Nazi elements in the Aidar and the Azov battalions, just as the, let's say, more moderate, although I would question that, elements in Syria were eventually overtaken by al Qaeda, by ISIS and by derivatives of those two extremist groups.
And they are effectively depopulating Ukraine to defeat Russia. There was never really any expectation in my mind that Ukraine would be able to withstand a Russian military campaign.
Even with the supply of NATO weapons, the weapons have to come with training and training time. The personnel are not available to handle the weapons that NATO is supplying into Ukraine.
And that also begs the question, to what extent is NATO fighting directly in Ukraine.
Vanessa Beeley, Journalist
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said that most NATO countries are out of weapons. Does that mean that Russia has managed to disarm the whole of Europe?
Here we are with all the NATO countries saying that they're not engaged in the conflict, and they can supply huge sums of money and weaponry to Ukraine.
And the result is that the NATO countries now have really virtually no weapons and so if the unthinkable happened, and they've all been trumpeting this as a possibility, that the Russians would invade Europe, and then there would be very little that NATO countries could do to defend themselves from the Russians.
Some military analysts say that NATO could probably sustain maybe two weeks of active conflict. And that's an extraordinary position to be in, the hubris of the way in which these war planners operate.
They spend all this money because they can't imagine the Russians could possibly win the conflict in Ukraine. And it's resulted in them being fatally, perhaps, weakened, in the face of a confident and never more powerful Russia. And that's the extraordinary position we're in.
David Miller, Academic
Would you agree that the huge number of weapons contracts going to Israel is indicative that it's effectively one of the belligerents in the war?
Absolutely, I think it was in 2018 that Israel actually agreed that NATO could supply weapons that had Israeli manufactured components.
So we know that for some time Israel has very probably been involved in the supply of weapons, both directly and indirectly, because I think it was in 2018 that the Tavor assault rifle was also spotted in the hands of the various far right battalions in Ukraine, of course being used against the eastern Ukraine, now Russian Donbas resistance, and of course, it has benefited tremendously.
It announced its sales in 2022 of 12 point 5 billion, of course, the majority of that is in the supply of drones. It supplies 61%, I believe, of the world's export of drones, that's an extraordinary amount, 24% to Arab nations, Bahrain, (the) UAE and Morocco, and of course, Morocco, recently refused to normalize relations with President Assad of Syria.
And so, therefore, in Ukraine it becomes very clear that, either directly or indirectly, Israel is already heavily involved in supplying weapons, again, just as they did in Syria, and that wasn't admitted until, I think, late 2020 or 2021.
Vanessa Beeley, Journalist
What did you make of the Stop the War Coalition's assertion that the war is currently going very badly for Russia?
Well, 'Stop the War' seems to have this position, which is that it's against the war, and it has to be critical of Russia as well as of NATO.
And as a result, it's got itself into territory where it's believing the hype which NATO countries are putting out, and NATO itself is putting out, that the Russians are incompetent, that they're overextended, that the morale is low, that Putin is a hated dictator.
Now, none of these things appear to be actually true. And whether they are true or not, we really should be responding to what's happening in the conflict rather than responding with the effects we imbibe in propaganda.
I wouldn't have expected, prior to this, that Stop the War would have gone down this line, would have gotten into this ridiculous position, where they're actually parroting NATO propaganda.
David Miller, Academic
What is your take on the current relationship between Russia and Israel?
I think in Russia, as in any country, Russia has a way of doing diplomacy that we in the West have kind of forgotten about.
Russia tries to maintain respectful relationships with almost every country that it is involved with globally, and that includes Israel and of course, Turkey, despite the fact that both are a considerable threat to Syria, where Russia of course has its naval and military base in Tartus.
I was also to be honest a little surprised at the announcement that Russia would be opening the Embassy on, effectively, stolen Palestinian land.
My only thought would be that even within Russia there are elements that are for example, pro West, potentially pro Israel, and that there is, potentially, conflict even within the inner circles as to whether to give support to Israel or to maintain support for Palestine.
Vanessa Beeley, Journalist
What do you make of this apparent spat between Ukraine and the Zionist entity?
It's very interesting. I mean, the question of the consulate seems to be the thing which has sparked them off and of course, the idea that the Zionist entity is good to give the Russians free land, stolen from the Palestinians, is a disgrace.
That, of course, is smart of the Ukrainians to denounce the Israelis. Of course the Israelis have been ... contributing to the effort against Russia, but they don't want to be engaged in the sanctions, they don't want to openly do that.
They're selling arms, yes, of course, but then they're not directly giving offensive capacity, so it would seem, to Ukraine so that that is a difficulty for them.
Now, it’s a tightrope for them because, in the new era of power politics and the new era of multipolarity, they don't want to be putting themselves firmly in the western camp, which is itself an extraordinary change in the way that things operate.
We wouldn't have seen that two years ago, and that's part of the dividend if you like, of multipolarity, even while it's really problematic that the Russians are going to be using this stolen Palestinian land for a consulate.
David Miller, Academic
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