Covert flights, deadly cargo: Inside Australia’s secret arms flow to Israel

According to Quds News Network, at least 71 packages of F-35 fighter jet weapons parts were sent from a military base in Australia to Nevatim Air Force base in Israel, home of Israel’s F-35 flee that has been used in Gaza genocide, on a commercial passenger flight in November, an investigation by Declassified Australia revealed.

During a Senate interrogation by Greens Senator David Shoebridge last month and in a public admission by a senior Defence official that came in response to questions and reports about the F-35 parts exports, Deputy Secretary Hugh Jeffrey, said, “What you’re probably talking about is data-x-items that Lockheed Martin imported into Australia to support the maintenance and sustainment of our fleet and then needed to move around to someone else. They are entitled to do that under the F-35 global supply chain mechanism.”

“These are US owned goods. They’re managed by Lockheed Martin. Australia does not direct the export of those goods. It does not control the export of those goods. If it’s resident in Australia, it needs to issue a permit for those goods to be moved offshore.”

However, a newly leaked shipping document seen by Declassified Australia confirms the ‘lethality’ of these parts. The document reveals the latest shipment is a part for the 25mm four-barrel cannon on the F-35 fighter jet.

It was covertly transferred on a commercial passenger flight about two weeks ago, sent from the Williamtown Air Force base in Australia to the Nevatim Air Force base in Israel.

The package was flown out from Sydney International Airport in the cargo hold of a commercial passenger plane, Thai Airways flight TG472. This happened on Saturday afternoon, 22 November at 3.25pm.

After transferring to its connecting flight, another passenger plane, El Al Israeli Airlines flight ELY84, touched down at Ben Gurion International Airport in Israel, on Sunday 10.45pm, local time. Then it was delivered to its destination at Nevatim, the base for the Israeli Air Force’s three F-35 squadrons that are continuing to inflict so much devastation on Gaza during the ongoing genocide.

The leaked documents show the shipment from the Williamtown RAAF Base was labelled ‘Gasket, Ammunition Holder’, and marked as a ‘JSF’ (Joint Strike Fighter) part from its source company ‘Lockheed Martin’. The report says it is almost certainly for the 25mm GAU-22/A four-barrel cannon fitted to Israeli F-35s that can fire 3,300 rounds per minute and is used to devastating effect on Gaza.

Lawyers representing the Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq have previously told a UK court the F-35s have played a critical role in Gaza and linked them to airstrikes that have killed more than 400 people, including 183 children and 94 women.

More than 75 Australian companies have contributed to the global supply chain for the F-35 program, according to the defence department. More than 700 of the fighter jet’s “critical pieces” are manufactured in Victoria alone, according to the state government.

In July, the Declassified website published a story confirming that civilian and military use aircraft parts had been sent from Sydney to Israel. The story cited shipping records that listed Lockheed Martin as the source of some parts and described them as being for the “JSF” – the F-35 joint strike fighter.

None of the leaked shipping documents seen by Declassified Australia show parts presently being sent from Australia to any destination other than Israel.

Australia’s supply of components and parts to the F-35 fighter jets, which have been used by Israel, constitutes “directly the facilitation of war crimes,” Josh Paul, a former US state department official who resigned over US arms shipments to Israel, told the ABC.

The Australian Centre for International Justice, a non-profit legal centre, has said Australia’s role in the supply chain “raises grave concerns that Australian parts and components are involved in the atrocities we have seen unfold in Gaza”.

Amnesty International Australia’s Mohamed Duar has said “the lack of transparency surrounding Australia’s defence exports has made it extremely difficult to determine the extent of our involvement in the commission of genocide and war crimes”.

Human Rights Watch was among 232 civil society organisations who urged nations involved in the F-35 supply chain to “immediately halt all arms transfers to Israel”.