Geneva – The United Arab Emirates’ approval of Israeli arms companies’ participation in the Maritime Defence and Security Exhibition NAVDEX 2025 and the International Defence Exhibition IDEX represents direct support for the Israeli military industry and war machine. The Israeli companies’ products have been used to commit crimes against humanity and war crimes that have killed 10s of thousands of innocent people in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon in recent months.
Hosting these companies and allowing their participation in such major exhibitions—both of which have been taking place in the capital of Abu Dhabi and end on 21 February—at the height of Israel’s violations of the laws of war cannot be viewed as a neutral business decision. Rather, the decision is a direct facilitation and actual support for a military system engaged in grave transgressions of international law. It is important to emphasise that any military or security cooperation with Israel as it commits egregious violations amounts to clear complicity in Israeli crimes against civilians.
A number of well-known Israeli arms companies are represented in the Israeli pavilion at the two defence shows in Abu Dhabi. These include the Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI), the company RT LTA Systems, the EMTAN arms manufacturing company, and the Heven Drones company, which specialises in unmanned aerial systems. These businesses have been essential in providing the Israeli occupation army with the weapons it needed to attack civilians.
Since these companies are among the primary providers of weapons to the Israeli army, the UAE is well aware of their involvement in Israeli crimes. In fact, these businesses have always publicly boasted about employing their technology in military operations that involve bombing densely populated civilian areas.
In the face of growing international calls to boycott companies involved in human rights violations, the UAE’s hosting of Israeli arms companies that directly contribute to violations in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon through defence exhibitions and other means violates the principle of international responsibility of states for internationally unlawful acts. It also perpetuates the cycle of impunity enjoyed by Israel, and impedes efforts to bring victims justice.
Israeli weapons have been used in attacks that constitute grave breaches of international law and are full-fledged international crimes, such as the commission of massacres against civilians, according to international reports, including reports from United Nations organisations. Thus, giving these businesses a platform in the UAE facilitates their capacity to grow economically, which in turn encourages and sustains crimes against civilians in the region, particularly Palestinian and Lebanese individuals.
The import and export of weapons used in grave violations is expressly prohibited by international law. According to the 2013 Arms Trade Treaty, any arms transactions that involve a clear or significant risk of weapons being used to commit grave human rights or international humanitarian law violations must be stopped. As a member of the international community, however, the UAE has not only done nothing to curb this trade, but has also publicly supported businesses that provide Israeli forces with weapons for death and destruction operations in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.
The question of whether states are legally liable for aiding international crimes has been resolved by international law. Enabling military industries engaged in serious rights violations helps to enhance the ability to commit these crimes, which places legal and moral responsibility on the host state, according to the internationally recognised principle of states’ responsibility for unlawful acts. Since government and private entities have been tried overseas for facilitating the export of weapons to parties that have committed international crimes in recent decades, there are serious questions about the UAE’s accountability in this area.
Allowing Israeli companies to sell weapons that have been proven to be used in serious violations at a time when pressure from around the world is growing to hold these companies accountable not only maintains impunity but also reveals a dangerous contradiction in the way human rights principles are applied to different populations. While allowing the Israeli military industry to expand its influence and profit from crimes against Palestinians and Lebanese people, complicit countries present themselves as champions of international law and civilian protection. Euro-Med Monitor emphasises that these states’ commitment to human rights principles is undermined by this obvious contradiction, which also exposes the glaring inconsistency in how these principles are applied.
The international community must act quickly to halt the import and export of weapons from businesses and all parties involved in these major breaches of international humanitarian law. Independent investigations need to be launched immediately into Israeli companies’ involvement in crimes against Palestinians and Lebanese people.
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor stresses that continuing to support the Israeli military industry in spite of mounting evidence of the use of Israeli companies’ weapons in crimes against civilians perpetuates an atmosphere of impunity, and turns the international community into a collaborator in its failure to protect the entire international legal system. Therefore, all relevant entities worldwide must fulfil their legal and moral obligations by imposing sanctions on Israeli weapons companies, ceasing cooperation with them, and ensuring that all nations, including the United Arab Emirates, adhere to international human rights standards in their arms trading.
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor is a Geneva-based independent organization with regional offices across the MENA region and Europe
