Blood on display: Western nations turn blind eye at Israeli arms exhibition

According to existing documents and evidence, and as confirmed by international institutions and organizations including the United Nations, Israel’s war against Gaza constitutes a genocide against the Palestinians of the region. World leaders, historians, genocide experts, scholars, and human rights groups are in broad agreement on this issue.

At the same time, many legal experts have challenged the arms cooperation of Israel’s allies, including Germany, during the Gaza war, describing the export and supply of weapons to the occupied territories as a form of complicity in Israel’s genocidal crimes in Gaza.

Israel’s two-year war against Gaza, which began in October 2023 and continues despite repeated violations of the ceasefire agreement, is proceeding along the path of implementing a genocide strategy. Due to Israeli officials’ confidence in the continued immunity granted by Western allies, the war has turned into an opportunity for Israel’s weapons marketing.

Last Monday and Tuesday, Israeli military and defense companies showcased weapons “tested” in the Gaza genocide during an arms exhibition, openly highlighting their role in attacks against Palestinians.

Companies such as Elbit Systems, Palantir, Rafael, Lockheed Martin, and Israel Aerospace Industries—whose weapons and technologies have reportedly been used by Israel in the killing of Palestinians in Gaza—were among the main sponsors of the event.

The exhibition’s website, organized by Israel’s Ministry of War, described the event as follows:

“This exhibition, by highlighting complex and realistic scenarios beyond theoretical discussions, will provide valuable lessons from Israel’s advanced technologies and strategies in facing global security challenges and shaping the future of defense technology.”

According to reports, representatives from Western countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, and Norway attended the arms exhibition held in the occupied territories. At this exhibition, weapons that had been tested not only in the genocidal attack on Gaza but also in Lebanon and other regional countries were put on display.

The Wall Street Journal reported that several Western countries that had previously tried to deny their complicity in the Gaza genocide participated in the event—demonstrating the superficial nature of their stated condemnations of crimes against Gaza.

For example, the UK took part in the exhibition despite earlier making a symbolic declaration opposing Israel’s presence at a London arms fair under the pretext of protesting the Gaza genocide.

Another example is Norway, whose officials attended the Israeli arms exhibition, despite the fact that Norway’s sovereign wealth fund—the world’s largest—announced in the summer of 2025 that it had divested from the U.S. construction equipment manufacturer Caterpillar and five Israeli banks due to human rights violations in Gaza.

Germany, one of Israel’s closest allies, sent one of the largest delegations to the exhibition. Its representatives wore pins featuring both the German and Israeli flags. Just last month, citing the Gaza ceasefire, Germany announced the lifting of weapons export restrictions to the occupied territories that had been imposed in August.

At least one video shown at the exhibition depicted two Israeli attack drones flying toward a building in Gaza before columns of smoke rose. In part of the footage, the CEO of UVision Air, while describing the strike, claimed that these were among the clips approved for sharing.

Rising Israeli arms exports amid global isolation

Since the start of the war on Gaza, Israel has faced widespread protests and growing global isolation. A Pew Research Center survey published in June 2025 showed that from Italy to Japan, the majority of people worldwide now hold unfavorable views of Israel.

This trend has also appeared in the United States, especially among young people across both the left and right of the American political spectrum.

An April Pew poll found that Republicans under the age of 50 are now more likely to view Israel unfavorably, with 50% expressing negative opinions.

Despite this global decline in public opinion and Israel’s increasing isolation, Western countries—by turning a blind eye to Israeli crimes, especially in Gaza—have continued to show strong interest in Israel’s military hardware.

Israeli arms marketing has previously triggered negative reactions. One example occurred in July, when a promotional video by Rafael showed its Spike Firefly munition killing a person in Gaza.

Israel’s blood-soaked capital is now growing through brutal weapons marketing and Western backing, with its lethal weapons—tested on Palestinians—selling more profitably than ever.

The Moral vacuum of Western countries

For European countries that had openly expressed concern about the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, this exhibition exposed a shocking moral vacuum: the ruins of Gaza have become a proving ground for the performance of Israeli arms manufacturers’ products.

The reality is that the exhibition revealed not only Israel’s military economy, but also the double standards of the countries that continue to trade with it.

By purchasing weapons tested on Gaza’s devastated population, these countries become active participants in turning collective suffering into profit. Their contracts serve as political cover, and their presence functions as moral validation.

By attending Israel’s arms exhibition and purchasing weapons tested through genocidal attacks on Gaza, Western countries transformed Palestinian suffering into a marketing asset, exposing their deep complicity in profiting from these atrocities.

Their presence at this week’s exhibition—held with the backing of Israel’s Ministry of War—signaled open collaboration: a willingness to profit from technology refined through the destruction of a besieged civilian population.

This took place while legal proceedings regarding Israel’s genocide in Gaza are ongoing in international courts. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes.

Despite this legal backdrop, buyers were not deterred. They openly mingled with Israeli commanders involved in the Gaza genocide, indicating that the crimes hidden behind the “battle-tested” label of these weapons pose no obstacle to business.

Despite Western governments’ expressions of concern over the humanitarian disaster in Gaza and the rise of settler attacks in the occupied West Bank, it appears that these countries are still eager to remain at the forefront of Israel’s killing machinery and military technologies.