Did India Help Israel To Reduce Gaza Into Rubbles By Exporting Ordnance?: Report (image-instagram/mahmoudhamda)As per the recent Wire report, the Hyderabad-based Adani-Elbit Advanced Systems India Ltd. is among the most high-profile weapon exporters from India to a country accused of genocide at the World Court.
The report claims that the company- the joint venture company between Adani Defence and Aerospace and Israel’s Elbit Systems had exported munitions in the form of Indian-made aero-structures and subsystems purposed specifically for military use for over 20 Hermes 900 UAVs/drones, if not complete drones, to Israel between 2019 and 2023.
Munitions India Ltd (MIL)- a public sector enterprise under the Ministry of Defense has been permitted to ship the products to Israel and the recent shipment took place on January 2024. The company again applied to export the same products on April 18, 2024, under a repeat order from Israel. They are waiting for a response from the licensing authorities.
MIL is engaged in the “production, testing, R&D and marketing of a comprehensive range of ammunition and explosives for the army, navy, air force and para-military forces”. And its manufacturing units provide an “integrated base for production of small, medium and high calibre ammunition, mortars, rockets, hand grenades etc. with in-housing manufacturing of initiatory compositions, propellants and high explosives” and the company’s objective is “to provide competitive edge to the armed forces by equipping them with modern and quality battlefield ammunition”.
The license approved to export the items to Israel was granted by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT). Meanwhile, the MIL’s range of products falls under the Munition List of SCOMET and thus requires authorization by the Department of Defence production for export.
This shows that the products that were exported are of dual-use and not an item explicitly for military use. These products can be in the form of explosives, and pyrotechnics, initiators, fuses, and charges thereof, which, besides their direct military use, would also have non-military applications such as rock blasting, clearing mineral mines, blasting for tunnel excavations and other geo-engineering work.
Unfortunately, The Wire could not get any details regarding the items to which the export licenses were issued and no response was received when they contacted MIL and PEL.
There is every possibility that these items exported were to the IDF to meet their military ends in the ongoing bloody war waged on the People of Gaza.
The timing of the license approval and India’s vote at the UN in favor of an immediate ceasefire on December 12, 2023, was almost near and thus the pertinent question that should be asked of the government is why an export licence was given to MIL in the first place when there was a distinct possibility of its use in the ongoing war in Gaza given the timing of the export – an important criterion for consideration by the IMWG.