Made in India weapons heading for Israel: Report

India has for long been advocating for dialogue over conflict in resolving thorny global issues, including the Palestine crisis, and yet investigative reporters and analysts claim the emerging South Asian power has been exporting offensive weapons to Israel despite the ongoing Gaza war.

Defence analysts from Stockholm International Peace Research Institute and investigative reporters from Al Jazeera have learnt of large amounts of secretive Indian shipments to Israeli ports, likely to support Israel’s protracted war against Palestinian armed group Hamas.

According to shipping documents seen by Al Jazeera, a German-operated ship named Borkum contained explosives loaded in India and was en route to Israel’s port of Ashdod, some 30km (18 miles) from the Gaza Strip.

Leftist politicians in Spain prevented the ship’s port call at the European country’s Cartagena port on 15 May in protest against the vessel’s weapons cargo bound for Israel.

Marine tracking sites showed it departed Chennai in southeast India on 2 April and circumnavigated Africa to avoid transiting through the Red Sea, where Yemen’s Houthis have been attacking vessels in reprisal for Israel’s war.

The identification codes specified in the shipping documentation, obtained unofficially by the Solidarity Network Against the Palestinian Occupation (RESCOP), suggest the Borkum contained 20 tonnes of rocket engines, 12.5 tonnes of rockets with explosive charges, 1,500kg (3,300 pounds) of explosive substances and 740kg (1,630 pounds) of charges and propellants for cannons.

A paragraph on confidentiality specified that all employees, consultants or other relevant parties were ordered that “under no circumstances” were they to name IMI Systems or Israel. IMI Systems, a defence firm, was bought by Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer, in 2018.

A second cargo ship that had departed India was denied entry on 21 May to the port of Cartagena. Spanish newspaper El Pais reported that the Marianne Danica left from India’s port of Chennai and was en route to Israel’s port of Haifa with a cargo of 27 tonnes of explosives. Minister of Foreign Affairs Jose Manuel Albares confirmed in a news conference that the vessel was denied entry on the grounds that it was shipping military cargo to Israel.

On 6 June, in the aftermath of Israel’s bombing of a United Nations shelter at the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza, the Quds News Network released a video of the remains of a missile dropped by Israeli warplanes.

Amid the tangled parts, a label clearly read: “Made in India.”

Zain Hussain, who researches the transfer of conventional arms at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), said the video required further investigation but observed that a large share of the collaboration between India and Israel is known to revolve around missile production, in particular the Barak surface-to-air missile.

On 31 March, Indian company Premier Explosives Limited Executive Director T Chowdary admitted to exporting to Israel amid the current war in Gaza.

“We have received the pending revenue from the Israel export order, and this has shown an exponential jump in the revenue of the quarter,” he told investors, according to the minutes of a meeting on the day.

“We are happy to announce that we have highest ever quarterly revenue.”

In its January 2024 overview, the company listed exports to Israel in the “defence & space” sector, which SIPRI deemed likely to include propellants for Barak missiles.

Source: Al Jazeera