Israel Is 4th Largest Arms Exporter

Associated Press reported that Israel became the world's fourth largest defense exporter in 2007, surpassing Britain, with $4.3 billion in signed contracts, officials said Tuesday amid efforts to tighten controls on the nation's arms sales to banned countries or groups.

Israel exports mostly radar systems, drones and anti-tank missiles to India, Turkey, Britain, the United States and other Western nations, defense officials said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information. But Israel has earned a questionable reputation for the small percentage of its sales -- usually of shells, rifles and ammunition -- that go to war-torn countries, analysts said.

A new Israeli law attempts to ensure that Israeli weapons do not end up in the wrong hands.

Under pressure from the United States, the No. 1 arms exporter, Israel enacted the law that will make it illegal for Israeli residents to sell any weapons, even if they are not Israeli-made, to embargoed countries or militias.

Those convicted could serve as much as three years in prison and be fined up to $1.5 million, said Eli Pinko, the head of the new inspection department set up to comply with the law. The new law takes effect Jan. 1.

Israelis have in the past sold arms to embargoed countries and groups. Despite the violations and international pressure on Israel to take action, local law did not allow for their arrests.

"About 5 percent of the exports are meant for problematic countries in the Third World, in Asia and Africa, for countries that are in the midst of civil war," said military affairs expert Yossi Melman. "These are the markets that give Israel a bad name."

Israel also deals with countries with poor human rights records, like a sale to Zimbabwe in 2001 of crowd dispersal equipment that was later used against demonstrators protesting Robert Mugabe's rule, Amnesty International's Israel branch said.

Israelis also have been suspect in sales to Croatia during the war there in the mid-1990s and to Ivory Coast and Nigeria.

Amnesty welcomed Israel's attempt to improve its laws but the organization's campaign director, Ilan Lonai, said the efforts needed to go further.

"Israel needs to come up to standards that are not only better than what they are at the moment, but to international standards, like those of the United States and European Union," Lonai said.

Israeli defense officials have said Israel must export arms to keep its defense industries viable. Israel needs to develop and manufacture weapons for its military, which faces threats from hostile neighbors, but the Israeli military by itself is too small a market to sustain the industry.