Arms Exhibition and Gaza Genocide – Protecting the ‘Merchants of Death’

Israel continues to carry out massacres against Palestinian civilians in Gaza.(Photo: Mahmoud Ajjour, The Palestine Chronicle)

By Jeremy Salt

Although primarily anti-war, the Gaza genocide and the presence of Israeli arms merchants in Melbourne were the sharp edges of demonstrations against this marketing of the weapons of war.

Of the 900+ participants taking part in the arms exhibition in Melbourne, one was missing but only because he was dead. Basil Zaharoff was the king of the ‘merchants of death’ from the late 19^th century to the 1930s. The proceeds turned him into one of the richest men in the world.

Death was his trade and war was the single lode of his wealth. He set governments against each other while selling arms to all of them. He was unscrupulous and amoral but that of course was the nature of the business. Governments didn’t care about that as long as he could deliver the weapons they wanted. They were equally unscrupulous and amoral.

Zaharoff was showered with honors, including a knighthood from the British government. Alive, he would have been stitching up new deals and rubbing shoulders with fellow merchants of death gathering from around the world at the 2024 ‘Land Forces International Land Defence Exposition’ held in September at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The exhibitors included four from Israel, Fibrotex Technologies, UVision Air, Elbit Systems and Rafael, but even before allowing them through the door, the federal and Victorian state governments had established a pattern of collaboration with Israel. ‘Defense’ deals were signed at the federal level and a joint ‘center of excellence’ research center was opened in 2022 by the Victorian government and Elbit.

An extension of this project was the two-year partnership set up between Elbit and RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) to research natural disasters. The architect of these agreements was the then premier Daniel Andrews, a longstanding ‘supporter’ of the Zionist state.

Only recently the media unearthed details of a ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ (MOU) quietly signed in 2022 by the Victorian government and the Israeli ‘defense ‘ ministry. The two sides would collaborate on “defense industry objectives” by capitalizing on “global tensions” and countries “wanting to protect their national interests.

In 2017 the federal government signed a ‘defense’ MOU with Israel but has refused since to release any details of the document as “it could harm Australia’s international standing and respect.”

In February this year – five months after the onset of the Gaza genocide – it awarded a $917 million contract to Elbit Systems for the provision of “advanced protection fighting capabilities and sensors” for infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) being built in the Melbourne electorate of Defence Minister Richard Marles.

This deep engagement with a genocidal state was taken a stage further in September 2024 by allowing Elbit and Rafael and two other Israeli corporations to take part in the ‘defense’ exposition.

The exhibition center was fenced off and closed to the public for six days. Basically, it was turned into an exclusion zone close to the city center. No one under the age of 16 was allowed in and only those with a direct connection to the ‘defense’ industry were allowed in any way.

Although primarily anti-war, the Gaza genocide and the presence of Israeli arms merchants in Melbourne were the sharp edges of demonstrations against this marketing of the weapons of war.

According to its own propaganda, Rafael, established in 1948, “provides global warfighters with today’s most advanced technologies and life-saving defense solutions that ensure operational superiority.”

These ‘solutions’ include remote control weapons stations, add-on armor shields, laser weapons systems, the Spike ‘fire and forget’ anti-tank and anti-personnel guided missile, and variants of the Popeye air-to-surface missile. Elbit’s range includes the Iron Sting precision-guided mortar bomb supplied to infantry units. Exploding on impact, the Iron Sting ejects metal cubes that can cut a human in half and turn to shred anyone within a radius of 20 meters.

The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, had no public mandate for setting Melbourne up as an international sales center for arms merchants, let alone for Israeli corporations whose weapons are killing tens of thousands of civilians in Gaza. Children – 17,000 of them so far – are the largest single category of the dead.

Against this background, allowing Rafael and Elbit and the two other Israeli ‘defense’ corporations to market their products in Melbourne was open incitement by the Victorian government.

Protecting these armorers of the genocide, Allan set an army of police on to their opponents. The weapons in their hands – apart from the usual brute force – included stun guns, ‘flashbang’ bombs, capsicum spray, hard foam baton rounds (similar to rubber bullets) and PAVA powder (Pellargonic Acid Vanillylamide), fired in liquid form, more potent than CS gas and causing severe pain to the eyes.

Despite police intimidation and thuggery, only a few demonstrators responded with violence of their own, by throwing stones, horse manure, water bottles filled with an acidic substance, and cans of baked beans at the police. Far more demonstrators than police were hurt.

Inverting truth, Allan blamed the demonstrators and not the merchants of death or the police – let alone herself and her government – for bringing “conflict and division to the streets of Melbourne.” In any case, she said, the weapons exposition was “good for our economy” and “good for local jobs.” The previous premier, Andrews, had estimated that the exposition would bring $65 million into Victoria.

Victorian universities will enjoy the spin-off effects. Deakin, La Trobe, Monash, RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology), Swinburne, and the University of Melbourne all have ‘defense’ research capabilities in line with government priorities and money. Deakin even ‘hosts’ a ‘zone 4 classified secret-rated defense research facility’ tied to the Department of Defence and the ‘defense industry.’

Treasurer Tim Pallas said more ‘defense’ expositions would be held in Melbourne, undoubtedly bringing more ‘conflict and division’ into its streets, especially if Rafael and Elbit are again given space to flog their wares.

‘Plausible’ Now Flagrant

The federal and Victorian governments are fully aware of the ICJ’s ruling on Israel’s “plausible” genocide. That was months ago. The “plausible” is now even more flagrant, live-streamed daily for a year, and proof of Israel’s determination to do whatever it wants whatever the world thinks.

Of course, there is a vast difference between plausible genocide and actual genocide. The ICJ’s wheels grind exceedingly slow. The US is under pressure from Israel to compel South Africa to drop the genocide case and no need to say that it has formidable weapons to get its way.

Given the pressure also exerted behind the scenes on the ICJ or the countries of origin of the jurists, the ICJ may never turn ‘plausible’ genocide into actual genocide. Furthermore, the ICJ has no power to enforce its rulings. It can issue compulsory decisions, obliging state parties to act on them but the states first have to agree to accept them. Many do but the US does not.

Given this thicket of brambles, a people’s tribunal might be an effective alternative. In 1966 the philosopher Bertrand Russell set up a people’s tribunal to hear evidence on the military intervention of the US and other countries (including Australia) in Vietnam.

Even though the tribunal had no legal standing, the findings of its high-profile panelists, including the judgment that the US had committed genocide in Vietnam, had a significant effect on world public opinion.

The Russell Tribunal has since continued to fight against governments that trample on international law, including the military dictatorships in Latin America and the US administration over its invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Between 2009-12 the Russell Tribunal on Palestine (RtoP) also heard evidence against Israel, which in 2014 it accused of committing “appalling and inhumane” war crimes during its ‘Operation Protective Edge’ in Gaza.

Complicity in Genocide

Australia’s politicians know that genocide is a crime under international law but they also need to know that “complicity in genocide,” as laid down in Article III of the 1948 genocide convention, is a crime punishable under the same law, “whether they [the offenders] are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals.”

Complicity does not mean just supplying weapons to a genocidal state as a number of states are doing, led by the US and Germany, whose arms exports to Israel have increased ten-fold since October 7.

Here are some suggestions as to what complicity might constitute as argued in a court of law or before a people’s tribunal:

1. Maintaining trade and diplomatic relations with a government committing even a “plausible” genocide.
2. Refusing to condemn the war crimes and crimes against humanity clearly being committed by that government.
3. Selling arms to that government or buying arms from it.
4. Signing ‘defense’ or research agreements with that government or with corporations producing the arms being used in the genocide.
5. Allowing these corporations to advertise and sell their weapons on Australian soil.
6. Allowing Australian nationals to fight in an army, air force and/or navy committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.

On all of these counts the Australian federal government and Victorian state government would have to be found guilty, not to speak of other state governments that also might be complicit.

The lesson underlined here is that there is nothing independent about ‘independent’ Australia when it comes to foreign policy. It is a remora fish stuck to the side of the US foreign policy whale and feeding off its shit.

On Israel/Palestine, Iran, Russia, Ukraine and China, Australia sticks to the American line, with only minor allowable variations. This is why ‘tragedy,’ ‘too many civilians are being killed’ and ‘there must be a ceasefire’ take the place of what is needed to stop the Gaza genocide, which is an open, robust condemnation of Israel and punishment through the suspension of diplomatic and trade relations