אבי אהרן

The Israeli Defense Products Exhibition – IsraelMatzav (”where Israel is”) – that took place last week has demonstrated where the Israeli defense policy is heading. No, Israel is not presenting the arsenal that will – hopefully – allow it to eradicate Iran. No, Israel is not presenting almost any other weaponry.

The exhibition dealt with means and products that will help decrease the amount of casualties wars have a tendency to generate. Got your tower crashed by an airplane? No problem, we have something that will allow you to reach the ground floor for the outside of the building (see the video below). It’s simply an external elevator, with its own power unit, padded and all, and, most importantly has some Israeli logo carved on it. Israel imports its top elevators from the US, but who cares? If the customer wants to by “Made in Israel” who are we to tell him he’s wrong.

Next on the show: grenades that don’t really kill. Something you can shoot at your enemy, make yourself believe you are actually in a combat, without having anyone getting hurt. I used to use these kind of grenades (”forced to use” will be more accurate) in Gaza 1987/8. They don’t really kill. They can’t harm a teenager who has accidently gained two pounds and has already slit her palms. Safe as money in a bank, as the prospected customers may say (not in a year of recession, that is).

A new Israeli fighter plane?  You’ve probably missed the 1975 exhibition. A new tank? not in decades, as well. A new rifle? Well, you see, we were not exactly proud in the 1970s Galil, you know. Luckily, S. Africa cleared the stock. Make a note for yourself that apartheid makes you stupid.

One can say that armament manufacturers only sell what the customers want to buy, and there are no real weaponry in the market simply because there is no interest in them. I’ll stick to that: no one in the plans to win a war anytime near.

Shame.