Arakan News Agency
Israeli writer Yossi Melman stressed that Israel is not a free democratic society as it claims, citing three reasons to refute the allegations, including the sale of undeclared arms to Myanmar.
“Israel prides itself on being a free and democratic society, and part of the Western world, well, not at least exactly when it comes to three important aspects,” Melman said in an article published on the Jerusalem Post website on Saturday.
The writer, who specializes in intelligence and security, pointed out that the Israeli occupation of the West Bank “under the iron fist of the Israeli army” comes at the top of the three aspects, pointing out that the Israeli authorities deprive Palestinian citizens of their civil rights and basic democracy.
The second aspect, according to the writer, is the “absolute presence” of security surveillance by the Israeli army, which “forces the local and foreign media in the country to comply with its volatile decisions on issues related to the army, intelligence and security.”
The third aspect, which shows the lack of transparency and the government’s attempt to conceal the information is military and security exports, pointing out that the Israeli security control is “permanent” in that area and suppress any information that could embarrass the government and the security establishment to sell weapons to systems violating human rights. Including Myanmar, which is waging a campaign of cleansing against the Muslim minority of Rohingya, has led to the displacement of more than half a million people outside the country, as well as the killing and rape of dozens by government forces, according to international and human rights reports.
“Israel has been selling weapons to Myanmar for years, including wiretapping, communications and boats, as well as training by an Israeli company for special forces in Myanmar,” Milman said.
He added that successive Israeli governments were ashamed of these deals, but encouraged the security and military industries, including state-owned ones to continue those sales, while imposing strong “military” control on the information on that aspect, to the extent that did not allow disclosure only to be reported by the Myanmar army, which published news of the deals “boastfully” through its official websites, also published pictures of its leaders on their visits to Israel.
The Israeli writer also quoted a spokesman for an Israeli security industry company as saying that the company had sold equipment to Myanmar “according to the rules of the Ministry of Defense” and with its approval.
Israel’s recent refusal to sell equipment to Myanmar is likely to be temporary, due to public pressure in Israel, especially by human rights organizations, some of which filed a petition in September demanding that the Defense Ministry To halt the sale of arms to Myanmar and thus to follow the policies of the United States and the European Union, which prohibited the sale of arms to the country in South-East Asia.
Melman added that the court sessions in that case were confidential, which he said indicates that the Israeli judiciary shares the security establishment in the lack of transparency when it comes to arms sales.
“I wish to conclude this column with a ray of optimism that the behavior of the past will be repeated somewhat, but after many years in covering this area, I remain pessimistic and afraid to see much of the same thing.”
