(Staff article from the FRONTIER MYANMAR on 05 September 2023.)
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| Israel is arming Killer Myanmar Army. |
Israel has supplied the Myanmar military since the
2021 military coup, according to a major general in the Myanmar air force, who
spoke with Frontier on the condition of anonymity, and new trade data shared by
activist group Justice for Myanmar.
Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd, a state-owned company that designs and produces both civil and military aviation equipment, has sent at least four shipments of “aircraft parts” since February 2021, the trade data shows. These follow four earlier consignments starting in 2019, despite existing arms embargoes from the United States and European Union.
The first two
shipments were in July and August 2019, starting a month after several Myanmar
military personnel were seen attending the Israel Defense and Homeland Security
Expo, the country’s largest arms fair, in Tel Aviv. The second set followed in
March and April 2020.
Two more
shipments were made in March and November 2021, and another two in February and
March last year, amid brutal military crackdowns and the imposition of
sanctions by the US, EU, Canada and United Kingdom on the Directorate for
Defence Procurement, which was identified as the importer of all the
consignments. An external relations official at the Ministry of Defence, which
contains the directorate, declined to comment to Frontier.
The final three
shipments were also sent after Israel backed a United Nations General Assembly
resolution in June 2021 that called for member states to “prevent the flow of
arms into Myanmar”.
The major general in the air force told Frontier in
June that “countries such as Israel are selling aircraft spare parts and
related items for aircraft to the Myanmar military” and that these shipments
had been received both before and after the coup. He did not say how the items
were used and could not be reached for further comment.
According to the
trade data shared with Frontier, all eight shipments departed from Ashdod Port
south of Tel Aviv, on Israel’s western coast, and were unloaded in Yangon.
Shipping memos list DHL as the forwarding and booking contact, although a DHL
Group spokesperson told Frontier that the company “could not identify any
transports that were processed with us”.
The goods were
described as “metal plates” in the shipping records but no further information
was provided. The Israeli company IAI advertises sheet metal and machined
detail parts for “aerospace products” on its website, but it’s unclear whether
these are the same parts as those described in the data.
IAI did not
respond by press time to Frontier’s request for comment, but in a story by
Israeli newspaper Haaretz that cited the same trade data, the company said
“there has been no business activity with Myanmar in recent years” and the
company “acts in accordance with the policies of the Defense Ministry’s Defense
Exports Control Agency”.
Haaretz also
reported that Elbit Systems, a publicly-traded defence electronics company, has
sold military systems to the Myanmar air force, including an air combat
manoeuvring instrumentation pod, parts for unmanned aerial vehicles and a
remotely operated naval turret. It was not clear from the report whether these
items were sent before or after the coup.
The IAI
shipments are the first reported instance of trade between Israel and the
Myanmar military since the military takeover. It also adds Israel, a US ally,
to a list of mostly anti-Western countries such as Russia and China that have
continued to supply the military since it deposed the civilian government and
launched a campaign of deadly attacks across the country. The Embassy of Israel
in Yangon did not respond to Frontier by press time.
Terror from the air
Over the last
decade, the Myanmar military has substantially upgraded its aerial
capabilities, buying helicopters and fighter jets from Russia and China.
The same major
general in the air force told Frontier that after the coup leader Senior
General Min Aung Hlaing became commander-in-chief in 2011, military expenditure
increased and the air force became a priority.
This investment
has paid off since the coup, giving the military an advantage over armed
resistance groups that lack anti-aircraft weapons. As it has lost ground to
these groups in large parts of Myanmar, it has increasingly resorted to aerial
attacks – including against civilians accused of supporting the resistance.
Between the coup and March this year, the military
carried out 1,427 air strikes, according to data from local research group Nyan
Lynn Thit Analytica, and these attacks are becoming more frequent. In August
alone, war planes conducted more than 100 bombings, and the monthly average has
risen to 30 this year, up from 26 last year and 8 in 2021.
“Airstrikes are
effective in terms of what the military is trying to do,” said Mr Morgan
Michaels, a research fellow for Southeast Asia at the International Institute
for Strategic Studies. “You can’t wipe out an armed movement with airstrikes
alone, but you can prevent [resistance forces] from consolidating control over
territory, you can contest any area, you can prolong the war and you can likely
tire out the civilian population with incessant air attacks.”
Citing an
escalation in “violent airstrikes”, the US introduced new sanctions in late
August against two individuals and three Singapore-based entities “involved in
the procurement and distribution of jet fuel” to the military.
In its
announcement, the US Treasury Department noted the particularly deadly bombing
of Pa Zi Gyi village in Sagaing Region in April, which killed an estimated 170
people. Mr Richard Horsey, a senior advisor on Myanmar at think tank
International Crisis Group, said the attacks on Pa Zi Gyi showed the lengths
the military would go to inflict harm.
“They’re not
restrained by concerns over civilian casualties or concerns over being
perceived as brutal or inhumane and therefore they’re ready to use these kinds
of horrific weapons against civilian populations if they believe that it will
help them suppress dissent,” said Horsey.
“It hasn’t
worked, but their calculation is that the higher the cost and the greater the
fear, the less people will be willing to continue fighting against them.”
Longstanding ties
Military ties
between Myanmar and Israel are longstanding. Myanmar was the first country in
Southeast Asia to recognise the State of Israel upon its foundation in 1948, a
few months after Myanmar’s independence from the British. For several years
after that, the Tatmadaw regularly sent officers to Israel to buy weapons and
seek out ways to build its own forces.
According to a
paper by security scholar Dr Andrew Selth, these ties were considerably
weakened under the isolationist regime of General Ne Win, between 1962 and
1988, but were ”strengthened considerably” under the junta that ruled Myanmar
between 1988 and 2011.
These strong
relations continued during the following decade of semi-civilian rule. Shortly
before the coup, in 2020, Israel’s Cognyte Software won a tender to sell
intercept spyware to Myanma Posts and Telecommunications, a state-owned
enterprise under Myanmar’s Ministry of Transport and Communications.
(Blogger’s
Note: Myanmar Army’s MA standard rifle is the licensed-copy of Israeli GALIL
rifles transferred illegally against UN arms embargo from Israel in the mid-90s.
The whole weapon manufacturing palnt together with the design and complete set
of production machinery were secretly shipped to Myanmr through Singapore in
discrete shipments. That was after the Germany stopped licensing the production
of their HK G-3 assault rifles in Myanmar by Myanmar Army’s Defense Industries’s plants.)
The previous year, Israel’s CAA Industries Ltd, a registered arms manufacturer, sold US$5 million worth of materials used to upgrade small arms to the military through Star Sapphire Trading, a company controlled by Myanmar arms broker U Tun Min Latt. Both have since been sanctioned by the US, while Tun Min Latt was sanctioned separately by the UK and has been in Thai custody since September last year on drug trafficking and money laundering charges.
IAI was also
accused of supplying the Myanmar navy with two Super-Dvora Mk III fast attack
craft in April 2017. This was less than a year after the military launched a
brutal clearance operation in Rakhine State, in response to attacks by Rohingya
militants in October 2016.
Shortly before
the IAI craft were sent, a petition was filed to Israel’s High Court of Justice
seeking to prohibit defence cooperation with Myanmar.
A gag order has
prevented the court ruling from becoming public, but since 2018, the Israeli
government has repeatedly denied that it is exporting military equipment to
Myanmar. Israel also joined several other countries, including Australia,
Germany and South Korea, in downgrading its representative in Myanmar from
ambassador to charge d’affaires after the coup.
“Israeli
authorities should urgently investigate IAI’s business with the Myanmar
military and ensure accountability for any breaches of Israel’s High Court
ruling and its responsibilities under international law,” JFM spokesperson Daw
Yadanar Maung told Frontier. “It’s time Israel stands with the people of
Myanmar and end all support for the illegitimate junta.”
Israeli human
rights lawyer Mr Eitay Mack told Frontier that while Israel has not stopped
military exports to Myanmar, the High Court ruling prompted a shift from the
country sending large arms or boats to shipping small parts. This allows
Myanmar to “produce its own [equipment] independently,” said Mack, who
submitted an application to Israel’s attorney general earlier this year to
investigate CAA Industries.
“If it’s only
parts it’s like a disguise. We see a pattern with Cognyte, with the CAA and now
the parts [from IAI],” he said, also noting that Israel chose to list
themselves as the exporter and send the shipments directly to Myanmar rather
than from a third country. “Maybe it’s a political statement to say to the
Myanmar junta, we have trouble now to be open about our relationship but we
still support you.”