¿Está Rusia pasándole armamento a Israel para cometer el genocidio a través de Serbia o Serbia ha traicionado a Rusia?
Serbia Sells More Arms, Worth 14 Million Euros, to Israel
Sasa Dragojlo
Belgrade
BIRN
April 10, 202411:31
Serbia exported more arms to Israel in March, data show, ***owing at least two major arms sales to the country since the October 2023 Hamas attack.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shakes hands with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic (L) in Jerusalem, Israel, 1 December 2014. Photo: EPA/BAZ RATNER/POOL
Serbia’s main state-owned arms trader, Yugoimport-SDPR, exported arms to Israel worth 14 million euros in March, according to the customs data of Checkpoint, a portal that collects the Serbian state’s trade information related to business entities.
The information about the 14 million euros arms export deal was also revealed by Serbian media
Nova Ekonomija on April 9.
BIRN
previously revealed that Serbia has made at least two major arms or ammunition shipments to Israel since the October 2023 Hamas attack, despite a veil of secrecy covering the deals.
Previously, Yugoimport-SDPR exported goods to Israel worth 540,120 euros in October 2023 and worth 510,000 euros in February 2024.
The data do not show whether new export licenses were issued by the Serbian state for exports to Israel in this period.
BIRN sought more detailed information about the exports to Israel, but the Ministry for Trade in March
rejected BIRN’s Freedom of Information Act request about arms exports to Israel from October 2023 to February 26, 2024, calling the data “strictly confidential”.
Serbia made no major arms exports to Israel before October 2023.
Most recently, the state-owned ammunition production factory Prvi Partizan, in Uzice, western Serbia, exported around 780,000 euros worth of goods to Israel in March and April 2023.
On April 5, the UN’s Human Rights Council backed a call “to cease the sale, transfer and diversion of arms, munitions and other military equipment to Israel …to prevent further violations of international humanitarian law and violations and abuses of human rights”.
On February 23,
UN experts warned that any transfer of weapons or ammunition to Israel that would be used in Gaza is likely to violate international humanitarian law and must cease immediately.
Serbia and Israel are close allies. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by telephone on February 26 on further closening ties.
“A good conversation with Israeli PM Netanyahu about further advancement of bilateral relations,” Vucic posted on Instagram. He said all major issues had been covered during the discussion. Netanyahu for his part praised the Serbian leader as “a true friend of Israel”.
Hamas fighters launched a surprise attack against Israel on October 7, killing over a thousand people, Israel then launched a full-on attack on Gaza, killing 31,045 civilians, the majority of whom are children and women, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health. The International Court of Justice on 26 January agreed to consider a South African case that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza. Israel has so far rejected a cease fire, also denying accusations of genocide.
According to media reports, arms exports have grown during wartime in another sign of ever-warming ties.
www.aljazeera.com
As Gaza is pummelled, is Serbia secretly sending weapons to Israel?
According to media reports, arms exports have grown during wartime in another sign of ever-warming ties.
![RTRMADP_3_WW2-ANNIVERSARY-RUSSIA-PARADE-1712750187.jpg RTRMADP_3_WW2-ANNIVERSARY-RUSSIA-PARADE-1712750187.jpg](https://www.burbuja.info/inmobiliaria/data/attachments/1882/1882872-4f291ebe70a19dac1e8474e4d64d4432.jpg)
In this image from May 2018, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Russian President Vladimir pilinguin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepare to lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Alexander Garden in Moscow, Russia [Mikhael Klimentyev/Sputnik/Kremlin via Reuters]
By
Giorgio Cafiero
Published On 10 Apr 202410 Apr 2024
Throughout Israel’s war on Gaza, Serbia has sought to publicly avoid political involvement in the conflict, with Belgrade maintaining a relatively neutral position aimed at preserving relationships.
Serbia has ties with Israel and, at the same time, does not want to present itself on the international stage as undermining Palestinian interests, analysts told Al Jazeera.
Understanding the Balkan country’s unique perspective on Israel-Palestine requires some understanding of 20th-century history.
Serbs and Jewish Israelis share an identity as Holocaust victims. Belgrade is also linked to the Palestinians and Arab states through Yugoslavia’s historic role in the Non-Aligned Movement. And in 1967, Yugoslavia showed solidarity with Egypt and Syria by
severing diplomatic relations with Israel and never restoring them until Yugoslavia’s collapse.
Since Yugoslavia’s breakup in the early 1990s, Serbia has been proud of its friendly relations with Israel as well as the Palestinians. Meanwhile, Belgrade has a record of voting in favour of Palestine at the United Nations and supporting a two-state solution.
Serbia sends weapons to Israel
But Serbian-Israeli ties have grown across numerous domains in recent years, and appear ever warmer in wartime.
On Wednesday, Balkan Insight
reported that Serbia’s main state-owned arms trader, Yugoimport-SDPR, exported weapons worth 14 million euros ($15.2m) to Israel last month, citing customs data.
On March 12, the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN)
reported that Serbia made at least two major arms or ammunition shipments to Israel since the October 2023 Hamas attack “despite a veil of secrecy covering the deals”.
Igor Novakovic, research director of the International and Security Affairs Centre (ISAC), told Al Jazeera that these shipments were likely part of a previous arrangement.
“The secrecy clause is there probably to prevent spoiling of the image of Serbia, in a sense that it could be interpreted as support to the Israeli war against Hamas,” he said.