(MENAFN- Kashmir Observer)
Former Israeli Air Force chief Ido Nehushtan poses with Israel's Eitan drone. (Photo credit: David Silverman/Getty Images)
Tel Aviv- Israeli military contractors have been the largest beneficiaries of the so-called 'Abraham Accords' normalization agreements, signed between Tel Aviv and several Arab nations in 2020.
According to a report by the (WSJ) published on 9 October, Israeli defense contractors have secured over $3 billion in deals with the , , and .
Israeli security officials claim they have had more than 150 meetings with counterparts in the three Arab nations since the accords were signed.
These investments helped drive Israel's global military sales to a record $11.3 billion last year, with military sales to Gulf countries hitting of total weapons exports, according to the Israeli defense ministry.
The deals include supplying the UAE and Bahrain with , and a deal with Morocco to build drone factories in the North African nation.
Israeli military contractors are reportedly also in talks to sell the three nations everything from advanced radar technology to .
One of the most significant arms deals was made between Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi earlier this year, when Emirati officials agreed to buy an advanced mobile air-defense system known as Spyder, which uses missiles to shoot down hostile drones, cruise missiles, and other threats.
This purchase was the result of frustrations in the UAE over the lackluster support they received after Yemen's Ansarallah resistance group used long-range drones to earlier this year.
Saudi Arabia – another of Ansarallah's long-range retaliatory capabilities – has also expressed interest in acquiring the Israeli defense systems in the wake of the with Tel Aviv and with the US.
Nonetheless, the WSJ claims that much of the defense cooperation between Israel and the Gulf nations continues to be done in secret, as officials are reportedly trying to“keep the security deals out of the public glare so as not to Iran.”
The UAE and Bahrain signed the US-brokered normalization agreements in September 2020. Some other Arab states, namely Sudan and Morocco, followed suit afterward.
Their decision sparked condemnations from their , as well as Palestinians and human rights advocates across the globe, especially within the Muslim world.
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