by Anna Ahronheim
"Our goal is to build an independent arms industry for the State of Israel and reduce the dependency on any party, including allies," Netanyahu said during a graduation ceremony for Air Force pilots.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday Israel would spend 350 billion shekels ($110 billion) on developing Blue and White arms to reduce dependency on foreign countries.
“I approved, along with the defense minister and finance minister, a sum of NIS 350 billion [$108 billion] over the next decade to build an independent Israeli munitions industry,” Netanyahu said during a graduation ceremony for Israeli Air Force pilots.
"We will continue to acquire essential supplies while independently arming ourselves," he continued. “I don't know if a country can be completely independent but we will strive to ensure our arms are produced as much as possible in Israel, and that includes some aerial platforms.”
While Israel relies on the United States for its fighter planes, refuelers and helicopters, there are several local companies that build unmanned aerial platforms including Elbit Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries-IAI.
“Our goal is to build an independent arms industry for the State of Israel and reduce the dependency on any party, including allies. The finest minds in our defense industries are hard at work developing weapons systems that will guarantee Israel's advantage on the battlefield of the future."
Israel faced barrage of arms embargos during Gaza war
During the war between Israel and Hamas, many countries imposed various restrictions on military sales to Israel, such as arms embargoes. Those countries included friendly countries like Germany, the UK, and even the United States briefly under the Biden administration.Spain approved a total arms embargo on Israel which forbids the European country from exporting any defense material or dual-use products or technologies to Israel and the import of any arms to Spain.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has called the war in Gaza a “genocide” and has called to ban anyone who has participated directly in the war from entering the country.
Nevertheless, official trade data indicates that Spain continues to buy weapons from Israel, reaching €7 million in 2024 and €10.2 million in 2025. Over the past year, Spain imported €6.8 million worth of bombs, grenades, torpedoes, mines, missiles, and similar munitions. Another €3.4 million worth of war weaponry and ammunition were also imported.
Australia has also been heavily critical of Israel’s war in Gaza.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has insisted that the country does “not sell arms to Israel. Yet, Australia’s defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy defended the country’s use of Israeli military systems, saying that the administration “makes no apology for getting the best possible equipment for the Australian Defense Force.”
Netanyahu previously proclaimed Israel must become 'super-Sparta'
In September, Netanyahu proclaimed that Israel should become a self-reliant economy with “autarkic characteristics” because of the global isolation the country was facing, and become a 21st century “super-Sparta.”“We are Athens and Sparta. But we’re going to be Athens and super-Sparta,” he said during a speech at the Treasury. “There’s no choice; in the coming years, at least, we will have to deal with these attempts to isolate us.”
His comments sent shockwaves throughout the country, and he later backtracked saying that he meant the need for more independence in the defense industry.
Though Israel has a strong local defense and defense-tech industry, Israel continues to procure weapons from the United States as part of the long-term defense defense cooperation including the multi-billion Memorandum of Understanding.
The defense budget for 2026 has been set at NIS 112 billion, Defense Minister Israel Katz’s office said, significantly less than what the military had initially sought but up from the NIS 90b. that Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich had demanded.
In 2026, Israel is set to allocate about 16 percent of its public budget to defense, around $35 billion out of an overall budget of $208 billion.
Anna Ahronheim
Source: https://www.jpost.com/defense-and-tech/article-881386
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