NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and European Commissioner for Defence and Space Andrius Kubilius believe Russia could launch a full-scale attack on Europe by 2030, a fear that has prompted governments across the continent to prepare for war. As European citizens stockpile food and governments ramp up military readiness, one country sees opportunity in that fear: Israel.
The European Union is planning to increase its military budget by €800 billion ($900 billion) over the next four years. With the United States pulling back military support for NATO, EU member states are seeking new defense partners, and Israel is stepping in, offering weapons tested on occupied and besieged populations.
As governments across Europe prepare for a potential Russian assault, they are deepening defense ties with Israel, buying billions in battle-tested weapons even as Israel faces genocide accusations in the International Court of Justice. The result: a sharp disconnect between public condemnation and private militarization.
Between 2020 and 2024, European arms imports increased by 155% compared to the previous five years, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Over that same period, Israel climbed the ranks of global arms exporters, now standing eighth worldwide.
The surge in sales reflects a growing European reliance on Israeli military technology. In 2023, EU nations imported $111 million in Israeli arms. By 2024, that number jumped to $135 million, even as European governments publicly condemned Israel’s war in Gaza.
“Militaries often are quite interested in real-life experience witnessed by other militaries,” Dr. Iain Overton, executive director of Action on Armed Violence, told MintPress News. Israel’s repeated assaults on Gaza and the West Bank—and its long-running campaigns in Syria and Lebanon—have become central to its marketing pitch.
Under what Australian journalist Antony Loewenstein termed the “Palestine Laboratory,” Israel uses the occupied Palestinian territories as a testing ground for its military technology, and then manipulates the success of its state violence to boost its ammunition sales.
“[Israel’s] experience feeds back into its own production of weapons where they can say this is battle-tested,” Overton said.
These weapon systems are heralded as good battle-tested weapon systems, but, of course, the reality is these weapon systems cause huge civilian casualties.”
“If we only look at [arms transfers] through the prism of that they’re battle-tested, and we don’t look at it through the prism of the fact that they’re often indiscriminate or they cause large numbers of civilian harm… then we might inadvertently be purchasing more lethal weapons than necessary or weapons that actually do not fit the European standards of international humanitarian law in conflict,” Overton added.
Public Condemnation, Private Deals
Spain has been one of Israel’s loudest critics since the Gaza war began in October 2023. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez even called for a global arms moratorium. Yet Centre Delas, a Barcelona-based think tank, revealed in April 2025 that the Spanish government had awarded 46 contracts totaling $1.2 billion to Israeli arms manufacturers since the war began.
Among them: 12 PULS rocket launchers from Elbit Systems, 64 Predator Hawk missiles, and 168 additional missiles from Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. Contracts also went to Netline Communications Technologies and Guardian Homeland Security.
In Israel’s largest arms sale to date, Germany purchased the U.S.-Israel jointly produced Arrow 3 missile defense system for $4.3 billion in September 2024. In February 2025, the German army bought Elbit’s PULS rocket launcher artillery systems in a $57 million deal. Two months later, Germany’s Defense Ministry announced it was procuring loitering munitions—commonly known as suicide drones—from Israeli firms UVision and Israel Aerospace Industries.
Germany is Israel’s second-largest weapons customer after the United States, and Israel is one of Germany’s top arms exporters, supplying 13% of the country’s weapons.
“Israeli components are built into Germany’s military capacities, and that for them is far more important than any International Court of Justice genocide ruling,” said Jeff Halper, an Israeli anthropologist and author of “War Against the People,” which details how Israel uses its weapons technology on Palestinians.
Finland signed a €316 million ($356 million) deal for Israel’s David’s Sling air defenses in 2023. The Nordic nation finalized the sale in November 2023, a month into Israel’s assault on Gaza. Finland’s president, Alexander Stubb, defended the deal in an interview with Reuters, saying the purchase wasn’t related to Finland’s decision not to recognize a Palestinian state.
Israel and Greece have also strengthened their military partnership in recent years. In 2023, Greece purchased a $404 million package of Spike missiles and Orbiter 3 drones, produced by Israeli defense firms Rafael and Aeronautics.
At this year’s DEFEA, an international defense exhibition held in Athens, Israel Aerospace Industries and Hellenic Aerospace Industry signed an agreement for IAI to supply its BlueWhale autonomous submarine system to the Hellenic Navy.
Following the collapse of a fragile cease-fire in Gaza on March 18, 2025, the Netherlands announced it would individually assess future sales of weapons and dual-use goods to Israel. The Dutch government said it has not exported weapons to Israel since the start of the war, a result of a February 2024 Dutch court order prohibiting the export of F-35 fighter jet parts over concerns they could be used in violation of international law in Gaza. However, the Netherlands has continued to import Israeli arms.
In September 2024, the Dutch Navy purchased two vessels equipped with drones and missiles for between $279 million and $1.1 billion. In December, the Netherlands awarded Elbit Systems a $175 million contract to supply the NATO member with systems to protect aircraft and helicopters from anti-aircraft missiles. Elbit also secured a $53 million contract in May 2024 to supply armored vehicles to Austria.
Several countries bordering Ukraine have also increased weapons imports from Israel.
Poland’s new government declared in May 2024 that it would not export military equipment to Israel and had not signed any new contracts.
“We will not have a hand in Israeli attacks on civilians in the Gaza Strip using Polish weapons,” Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Szejna said.
Yet Polish media reported in February that the country would purchase 1,400 Borsuk infantry fighting vehicles armed with Rafael’s Spike missile launchers.
In its largest arms deal with Israel, Slovakia bought the IAI-manufactured Barak MX air defense system for $583 million in December 2024. In a separate $92 million deal, Romania purchased Rafael-made Spike LR2 anti-tank missiles in February 2024. One month later, Elbit Systems won a $60 million contract to supply Romania with counter-drone systems.
In a show of solidarity, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala visited Israel after it launched its war on Gaza following the Hamas attack in October 2023. During the visit, the Czech Republic signed a contract to purchase 48 Rafael-manufactured I-Derby long-range anti-aircraft missiles for $120 million. This year, Axon Vision, an Israeli AI provider for militaries, partnered with Czech arms company Czechoslovak Group to install its AI-based situational awareness system on Czech military armored vehicles.
At the start of 2025, Serbia finalized its purchase of Elbit Systems’ PULS artillery rocket systems and Hermes 900 reconnaissance drones in a $335 million deal.
Also at the beginning of the year, the Swedish Dockworkers Union implemented a blockade against all military trade with Israel amid the ongoing war. Before the embargo, Swedish imports of Israeli military equipment had already surged, skyrocketing from $737,000 in 2023 to $23.8 million in 2024.
In 2024, Sweden signed a $36.6 million contract for Rafael Litening targeting pods for a fleet of fighter jets. Swedish defense firm BAE Systems Hägglunds also signed a $130 million deal with Elbit Systems for its Iron Fist Active Protection Systems. This year, Sweden signed a €2 billion ($2.26 billion) agreement with European defense company KNDS for 44 advanced Leopard 2 A8 main battle tanks equipped with Israeli firm Rafael’s Trophy active protection system.
Treaties Ignored as Israel Arms Europe
Despite the ICJ’s 2024 preliminary ruling that Palestinians have a “plausible right to protection from genocide,” European arms deals with Israel continue unabated. And international treaties are no obstacle. Overton tells MintPress News that:.
While the [UN Arms Trade Treaty] seeks to prevent arms transfers that could be used to commit human rights violations, its provisions are riddled with loopholes, and enforcement mechanisms remain weak.”
Most of the weapons Israel sells—missiles, drones, surveillance systems—don’t fall under banned categories like white phosphorus, even if they’re used in ways that violate humanitarian law, even if they’re used in densely populated civilian areas in violation of international law.
“In this regard, Israeli arms exports fall within the realm of ethics and morality, not treaties,” Overton said. “The question is: Should we be profiting from Israel?”
He compares the situation to sanctioned states like North Korea or Russia. But unlike those countries, Israel faces few material consequences.
While some EU nations announce embargoes or reassess trade agreements, Halper remains skeptical.
“They’ll do it on a symbolic level,” he said.
They’ll send a message to Israel in a way that doesn’t really impact its military capacity.”
“There is no morality in international politics,” Halper added.
As Europe re-arms for the next global war, it is doing so with weapons tested on occupied people, in neighborhoods flattened by airstrikes, and in refugee camps targeted by one of the most technologically advanced militaries on earth. Whether symbolic sanctions will ever evolve into meaningful action remains to be seen, but for now, business is booming.
Feature photo | As Europe ramps up its military readiness amid fears of war with Russia, events like the Enforce Tac security fair in Nuremberg showcase the continent’s growing appetite for “battle-tested” Israeli weaponry. Pictured: Military vehicles, including the Caracal airborne platform, on display at Rheinmetall’s booth, Feb. 28, 2023. Daniel Vogl | AP
Jessica Buxbaum is a Jerusalem-based journalist for MintPress News covering Palestine, Israel, and Syria. Her work has been featured in Middle East Eye, The New Arab and Gulf News.
The post Revealed: EU Nations Condemning Gaza Genocide Secretly Inking Billion-Dollar Arms Deals with Israel appeared first on MintPress News.