Israeli military industries are booming thanks to the UAE
International press reports confirmed the increase in demand for Israel’s military industries since the signing of the UAE, Bahrain, and then Morocco and Sudan agreements to announce normalization with Tel Aviv.
The Wall Street Journal said that Arab normalization with Israel had become a great blessing for Israel’s military industries.
The newspaper reported that the UAE and Bahrain acquired Israeli air defence systems after signing the normalization agreements. And a factory for the manufacture of Israeli drones was opened in Morocco.
It explained that the UAE had purchased the Rafael Drone Dome Israeli air defence system to protect the last Dubai Expo, a small system designed to shoot down enemy drones.
The Israeli Ministry of Defense stated that defence companies concluded deals worth more than three billion dollars with the three countries (the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco).
This helped push Israel’s global military sales to a record high of $11.3 billion last year, and sales to Gulf countries amounted to only 7% of total Israeli military exports.
According to the newspaper, Israeli military contractors have also signed contracts to establish drone factories in Morocco.
Defence contractors said they were in talks to sell the three countries everything from advanced radar technology to cybersecurity systems.
In one of the most far-reaching deals to date, Israel paved the way earlier this year for the UAE to buy an advanced mobile air defence system known as Spider, which uses missiles to shoot down drones, cruise missiles and other threats, according to people familiar with the matter.
Another Israeli company, Avnon, sold the UAE and Morocco a small air defence system called Skylock, designed to protect airports, military bases, power stations and other small areas from drone attacks.
“It’s a new playing field, in addition to Morocco,” said Stacey Dotan, chief marketing officer and board director at Avon.
Israeli officials confirmed that they had held more than 150 meetings with their counterparts in Bahrain, Morocco and the UAE since the agreements were signed, especially in defence sales.
The newspaper pointed out that much defence cooperation between Israel and the Gulf states continues secretly.
Leaders in Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain say they are trying to keep the security deals out of the public spotlight so as not to openly antagonize Iran, which has threatened to attack its Gulf neighbours if they work closely with Israel.
In this context, the Hebrew Walla website revealed the escalation of intelligence cooperation between the Israeli occupation state and the Arab and Islamic countries that have normalized their relations with Tel Aviv, including joint planning for operations in areas in the Middle East against opponents.
The report, written by the Israeli military expert, Amir Boukhbut, said that the International Cooperation Department of the Military Intelligence-Aman has taken on increasing responsibilities in this regard.
Boukhbut interviewed several officers involved in these contacts, including Lieutenant-Colonel A, who performed various roles in the Special Operations Department of the Israeli army’s intelligence, a remote system.
After joining Aman 5 years ago, today, he is the head of the regional partnerships branch with Arab countries, “the printing press.” The details of these partnerships cannot be revealed.
He added, “This new branch was born a year ago after the signing of the normalization agreements to expand intelligence and operational cooperation in the Middle East, and there are other branches responsible for geographical areas such as Europe and America.
And it works through a security agency, along with Mossad, in identifying secret links and building the infrastructure for these contacts with the intelligence agencies in the mentioned countries.
He claimed that “today there is the ability to manage relationships directly and without intermediaries, on a variety of issues, at much higher rates, and as part of ongoing exchanges with partners of different parties in the areas of intelligence, air force, operations and the strategy department.”
He revealed that “since the signing of the normalization agreements, activities within the army have accelerated to link its capabilities with the corresponding entities to establish regular cooperation between all of them.”
He stressed that “there are many examples of repeated cooperation between the Israeli army and foreign intelligence services, including the UAE, and relations with them are excellent.”
A lieutenant marked with an “X” revealed that “the transformation of intelligence cooperation into a joint field activity is the last step that leads to tangible results. It is true that this was rare in the past, but today it occurs regularly, and it is increasing, including material cooperation through the provision of satellites.”.
And he continued, “We have reached with the Emirates completely the intimate areas and a level of openness so that the operational communication is really unified between Tel Aviv and several capitals of the region, and in the end, we conduct joint operations together.”
