DNA TV Show: How Europe is heavily dependent on Israel for defence

Europe is now completely dependent on Israel for its security. Why are we saying this? To know and understand this, you should see the latest figures related to Israel’s defence exports. In 2024, 54 per cent of Europe’s weapon imports were supplied by Israel. In 2023, this figure was only 35 per cent, and in 2022, only 29 per cent of Europe’s weapons were coming from Israel. That is, in three years, the export of Israeli weapons to Europe has almost doubled.

Another thing to note with these figures is that Israel is not exporting any one type of weapon system or weapon, but European countries are buying weapons ranging from air defence to drones. Which Israeli weapons are in great demand in Europe?

Germany has made a deal with Israel for the ARROW missile, while Spain has bought torpedoes and missiles from Israel. A deal for automatic machine guns has been struck between the Netherlands and Israel, and Ireland has received combat and reconnaissance drones from Israel. Talks are underway between Cyprus and Israel on a deal for Merkava tanks.

There was a time when Israel was dependent on European countries for weapons, but today the same Europe has become the biggest market for Israeli weapons. Not just Europe, today Israel is selling weapons to the Indo-Pacific and even to those Arab countries which were once considered Israel’s sworn enemies.

54 per cent of Israel’s arms exports go to Europe. Second are the countries of the Indo-Pacific region, to which Israel supplies 23 per cent of its weapons. After the Abraham Accords, relations between Arab countries and Israel improved, due to which Israel supplies 12 per cent of weapons to Arab countries today. Nine per cent of Israel’s arms exports go to countries like Canada and Haiti in North America. One per cent of Israeli weapons are exported to Latin American countries, and the same amount is also supplied to African countries.