[b215826]

I'm not sure I understand the point of this article as Israel isn't even a major arms exporter [1]. There are several major countries that profit off of wars -- America, France, the UK, etc., all are prominent weapons exporters. And all these countries export to "problematic" buyers.

[1] https://www.statista.com/chart/18417/global-weapons-exports/

[nightowl_games]

Not everything has to have some black and white "point". Some stories are just facts that are part of a larger picture. You are pointing out that there are more details in this domain than are in the article, but the specific context you've added seems largely irrelevant. Drawing an arbitrary comparison like you've done here hardly alters the validity of the facts in the article. Israel's geopolitical standing is an entity worthy of study, I think that is clear. How can you say this article has "no point"? I think your displaying some kind of bias to arrive at such a strange reductive statement.

[b215826]

I'm not questioning the validity of the article and I'm not defending Israel. But it's basic knowledge that (i) several first-world countries make a nice profit off of wars in the third world and (ii) almost all of these countries are liberal Western (or West-aligned) democracies. This is the reason why I don't understand why the author has singled out Israel here. Put it another way, could you name an arms exporter, which could be a company, country, etc., that doesn't sell to despotic regimes?

[jjulius]

>There are several major countries that profit off of wars -- America, France, the UK, etc., all are prominent weapons exporters. And all these countries export to "problematic" buyers.

Okay? And that somehow makes Israel exempt here, or something? Two wrongs make a right? We can't discuss Israel without making sure more "major" countries fix themselves first?

Help me out here, I'm not sure I see where you're going with this.

[b215826]

> And that somehow makes Israel exempt here, or something

It doesn't. But it's irresponsible journalism to write an article of this sort without admitting that every single arms exporter sells to autocracies.

[8note]

It's premature optimization. Why bother with Israel when the main English reading audience likely has much more direct influence over the biggest war profiteer - america.

Blaming Israel, is either anti-Semitism, that's it's only with criticism when people representing Jews do it, or colonialism, that it's only bad when it's not western powers doing it.

It's only a story because it's Israel, and Israel is seen as lesser than France or the USA

[alephnerd]

> Israel isn't even a major arms exporter

Israeli MICs primarily make money off IP licensing, not exports.

Companies like Rafael, IAI, Elbit, Elta, etc will generate the core IP and then sell the IP and co-manufacture with MICs in countries like South Korea, Taiwan, France, USA, Italy, and India.

This is the same business model that France used with Israel in the 70s, and also acts as a way for Israel to not piss off Western allies and generate revenue because a first world country with 9 million citizens can only manufacture so much.

[helsinkiandrew]

> I'm not sure I understand the point of this article as Israel isn't even a major arms exporter.

Did you read it? It was a book review of two books that covered Pegasus and Israeli defence exports.

[rektide]

Information warfare is both more affordable, more able to be used covertly, and often more effective.

The tools totalitarian & authoritarian systems - in particular - use to keep themselves in power are often information tools. Their challenge is to suppress the population. The first challenge there-in is identifying who your potential enemies are. No bomb will tell you that. Hacking your citizens phones will tell you that. Israel's special craft here is thus immensely alluring to thr worst of the worst.

[boomboomsubban]

The article is a book review of two books, one by an author with a history of research into Israel-Palestine and one on Pegasus spyware.

[rnk]

They might not be "major" but they are likely the world's leader in making electronic surveillance of protestors and reporters possible by despotic regimes.

[toofy]

a murderer on the stand, “why are you looking at my case? what about all the other people who murdered someone and haven’t been prosecuted yet?”

[iab]

Classic whataboutism.

[gordian-not]

And what’s the problem with whataboutism when it is part of an argument of having unrealistic moral expectations from a single country?