The destructive Gaza war… makes American and Israeli arms companies salivate | Economy

Arms companies are an essential part of the war of extermination. While thousands are killed and buildings and infrastructure are destroyed, these companies reap profits from every bomb that wipes out a home, and from every bomb that falls into the arms of a child carried by its mother.

In the Israeli war on Gaza strip Which began on the seventh of last October, uses advanced and intelligent weapon systems, many of which are manufactured by American companies listed on the “Standard & Poor’s Aerospace and Defense” index on the American Stock Exchange.

Since the start of the war of extermination in Gaza, the aforementioned American index, which specializes in airlines and security companies, has witnessed significant increases amounting to 5.88% during the first ten days of the war.

CEO of the American arms giant RTX, Greg Hayes, sent a report to investors days after the Gaza war, urging them to support American military aid to Israel, stressing that American aid would produce new missile export agreements.

Shares of this company, which manufactures radars and guided missiles and is a partner in the Israeli “Iron Dome” project, have risen by 13.46% since the start of the war on Gaza. In the last two years, Hayes has received $63 million.

Executive managers

In the same vein, leaks reported that Jason Aiken, vice president of General Dynamics, which supplies Israel with artillery shells, promised investors major deals as a result of the Israeli war. The company’s shares increased by 9.72% since the start of the war until the end of last October, especially with the announcement of sending experimental models of the Flyer 72 light tactical vehicles for field testing in Gaza.

Aiken is a member of the Board of Directors of the Business Roundtable, one of the most influential lobby groups in American politics that has led historic political and economic trends.

The major American arms company, Lockheed Martin, has been supplying F-16 and F-35 aircraft, Hellfire missiles, and hundreds of other weapons and equipment to Israel for decades.

The company’s shares rose by 10.65% from the beginning of the war until October 30. Its CEO, Jim Taiclet, received an estimated $66 million in shares in the last two years, in addition to shares worth $25 million that he owns in the company.

Taiclet is a member of the management of the Council on Foreign Relations Research Center, which is one of the most influential centers in political and military decision-making in the White House since the beginning of the 20th century.

BlackRock, the largest investment management firm in the world, has investments of more than $13 billion in the three companies mentioned above alone, and billions more in companies that manufacture internationally banned weapons, such as white phosphorus and cluster bombs.

The Director General of the company’s research center responsible for producing geopolitical knowledge and research for sustainable investments is Thomas Donilon, husband of the Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).UNICEF) Catherine Russell.

The war revives Israeli companies

Despite the decline in the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange index by 9% since the beginning of the aggression until the end of last month, the deterioration witnessed by the majority of Israeli companies did not affect the arms companies, but rather revived them.

Before the outbreak of the Gaza war, Israeli military industries companies were making huge profits. In 2022, Israeli security export contracts amounted to $12.5 billion. According to Israeli data, security exports doubled in one decade, and rose by 50% in 3 years.

Two central factors contributed to this jump: first: the war in Ukraine, where Europe’s weapons stores were emptied, so European stocks were replenished with Israeli industries, and second: the normalization agreements with Arab countries, which opened a huge new market for 120 Israeli security companies.

Similar to American companies, the bloody massacres turn into successive jumps for arms companies on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

Shares of the Israeli company “Third Eye” rose by 83.73% from the beginning of the fighting until the end of last month, and its value reached $20 million. A few days after the start of the fighting, the company announced a $4 million deal to provide a local customer with a “Medusa” system to detect drones at low altitudes.

The “Aerodrome” group, which manufactures drones, witnessed many jumps, the highest of which was last October 25, when its shares rose by 202% since the beginning of the war. Leonardo DRS Company, which operates in the field of tactical radars, has its shares rise by 24%, bringing its market value to $5 billion.

FMS Migon Company, which specializes in manufacturing light ballistic armor, has its shares rise by 11.4%, bringing its market value to $280 million. As for Arit Industries, which specializes in selling electronic components for missiles and military equipment, its shares rose by 25.9%, and its market value reached $61 million.

As for major companies such as Rafael, Elbit, and Aerospace Industries, they are among the 35 largest arms companies in the world, according to Defense News. Its small increase is due to its value and its already high stock prices before the war, which expose it to more risks than others, if the Israeli army receives painful blows during the course of the fighting. Despite this, the press does not neglect to emphasize the serious increase in its indicators over the past year.

Economy losses

This huge amount of new weapons, in addition to stores of ammunition and older equipment, all cost Israel billions of dollars every day.

According to the Israeli press, the government is deliberately hiding the daily cost of the war for fear of hitting the country’s global credit rating.

However, what is certain, and what cannot be hidden, is that these billions are not released into a vacuum, but rather return to the pockets of those who are pushing this war and preventing it from stopping, but in return these billions return with the bodies of thousands of people.