The European gateway for genocide technology

Israel has turned Gaza into a laboratory for weapons and surveillance technologies, and Europe is one of the places where those technologies end up. The genocide, NATO rearmament and the war in Ukraine have sped up a process that started long before October 2023.

This report, by the Observatory for Human Rights and Business in the Mediterranean (ODHE) and Irídia – Center for the Defense of Human Rights, maps the Israeli companies and investors behind the technology used in the genocide and traces the nine gateways they use to enter Europe.

Some of these gateways are political. One is European rearmament through NATO and the ReArm Europe Plan, and another is the war in Ukraine, which has opened a path through Eastern Europe. Germany is the epicentre of the Israeli military lobby. Others are corporate and financial: soft-landing schemes and opaque structures in Cyprus, Luxembourg as a launch pad, and the purchase and rebranding of European companies. When Israel Aerospace Industries bought the Greek firm Intracom Defense, for example, it gained an indirect way into EU defence and innovation programmes.

The report also looks at technology and cybersecurity fairs, EU funding programmes such as Horizon Europe and the European Defence Fund, and Barcelona’s growing role as a hub for cybersecurity companies tied to the Israeli military-industrial ecosystem.

None of these routes would exist without the help of European governments. The technologies tested on Palestinians are also shaping how Europe polices protests, manages migration and watches its own citizens.

The report ends with recommendations to the EU and member states, including a full arms embargo on Israel, sanctions on the companies involved, stronger regulation of spyware and dual-use technologies, and the exclusion of complicit companies from EU funding and public procurement.

Download the report here.