{"id":100758,"date":"2017-10-30T12:00:58","date_gmt":"2017-10-30T12:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=100758"},"modified":"2017-11-06T09:49:28","modified_gmt":"2017-11-06T09:49:28","slug":"myanmar-shows-off-its-israeli-weapons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2017\/10\/myanmar-shows-off-its-israeli-weapons\/","title":{"rendered":"Myanmar Shows Off Its Israeli Weapons"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_100759\" style=\"width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/super_dvora-burma-myanmar-israel.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-100759\" class=\"wp-image-100759\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/super_dvora-burma-myanmar-israel.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"336\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/super_dvora-burma-myanmar-israel.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/super_dvora-burma-myanmar-israel-300x201.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/super_dvora-burma-myanmar-israel-768x516.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-100759\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">An Israeli-made Super Dvora Mk III gunboat recently acquired by the Myanmar navy. (Myanmar Navy)<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em>23 Oct 2017 &#8211; <\/em>Myanmar has been showing off its new gunboats, confirming that Israel is supplying the country with weapons in spite of official secrecy around the matter.<\/p>\n<p>The Tel Aviv newspaper <em>Haaretz<\/em> highlighted photos <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/www.myanmarnavy.org\/posts\/1491884984186985\" >posted on Facebook<\/a> by Myanmar\u2019s navy of its Israeli-made Super Dvora Mk III gunboats.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWelcome to Myanmar Navy,\u201d the post states.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe post is from April, only half a year ago, when the Myanmar (Burmese) army was already being accused of war crimes,\u201d <em>Haaretz<\/em> <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.haaretz.com\/israel-news\/.premium-1.818550\" >notes<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Last month, Israel\u2019s high court <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/blogs\/ali-abunimah\/israel-covers-role-myanmar-crimes-against-rohingya\" >granted a government request<\/a> to keep a blanket of secrecy over Israeli military sales to Myanmar.<\/p>\n<p>The court issued a secret ruling on a petition by human rights lawyer Eitay Mack demanding a halt to such sales.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Up to 12k <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Rohingya?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >#Rohingya<\/a> refugee children are reaching Bangladesh every week.<\/p>\n<p>RT for <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ChildrenUnderAttack?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >#ChildrenUnderAttack<\/a>. <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/a9RsfNmkxE\" >pic.twitter.com\/a9RsfNmkxE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; UNICEF (@UNICEF) <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/UNICEF\/status\/921828563220910080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >October 21, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Both <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/get-involved\/take-action\/help-stop-the-violence-in-myanmar\/\" >Amnesty International<\/a> and <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/news\/2017\/09\/25\/burma-military-commits-crimes-against-humanity\" >Human Rights Watch<\/a> say that the military in Myanmar, also known as Burma, is committing crimes against humanity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe military has committed forced deportation, murder, rape and persecution against Rohingya Muslims in northern Rakhine State, resulting in countless deaths and mass displacement,\u201d Human Rights Watch said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ethnic cleansing<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Last week, top UN officials <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.unhcr.org\/news\/press\/2017\/10\/59e4c17e5\/joint-statement-rohingya-refugee-crisis.html\" >estimated<\/a> that 500,000 Rohingya refugees had crossed into neighboring Bangladesh in less than five weeks, many \u201cfleeing discrimination, violence and persecution, as well as isolation and fear.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The UN\u2019s top human rights official has <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-myanmar-rohingya\/u-n-brands-myanmar-violence-a-textbook-example-of-ethnic-cleansing-idUSKCN1BM0QF\" >called<\/a> the Myanmar military\u2019s campaign a \u201ctextbook example of ethnic cleansing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to <em>Haaretz<\/em>, the pictures of the boats on Facebook \u201calso reveal the weapons that have been installed on them, all blue-and-white products.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>These include a remote weapons station for firing heavy machine guns, made by Elbit Systems, Israel\u2019s biggest arms maker.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe new patrol boats are only part of a larger transaction signed between Israel and Myanmar,\u201d according to the newspaper.<\/p>\n<p>In 2015, Min Aung Hlaing, a senior general from Myanmar, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/blogs\/ali-abunimah\/israel-covers-role-myanmar-crimes-against-rohingya\" >posted pictures on Facebook<\/a> showing him and other officials on a shopping spree at various Israeli weapons companies.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cWe don\u2019t connect the two things\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In an <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mmtimes.com\/news\/myanmar-taps-israeli-expertise-agriculture.html\" >interview<\/a> with <em>The Myanmar Times<\/em> earlier this month, Israeli ambassador Daniel Zonshine said Israel was determined not to let the mass expulsions of the Rohingya interfere with growing bilateral trade.<\/p>\n<p>The ambassador said he would continue to \u201cdifferentiate the economic relations and the situation in Rakhine. At the moment, we don\u2019t connect the two things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to <em>The Myanmar Times<\/em>, Israeli exports to Myanmar reached $34 million in the first half of this year, already outpacing the $23 million for all of 2016.<\/p>\n<p>This trade is reportedly concentrated in telecoms and electronics, as well as irrigation and medical devices.<\/p>\n<p>But these figures presumably exclude the arms sales which Israel keeps secret. <em>Haaretz<\/em> estimates that the military trade alone is worth tens of millions of dollars.<\/p>\n<p>Zonshine offered Myanmar some advice \u2013 undoubtedly based on Israel\u2019s own propaganda tactics \u2013 on how to whitewash its bloodsoaked image.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen the story in the international media is framed as it is today, it doesn\u2019t help to create more markets. It doesn\u2019t help promote the [country\u2019s] image,\u201d Zonshine said. \u201cIt is something that should receive some attention from the government in order to show that although there are problems, Myanmar is still Myanmar. In other words, not to let the conflict define who or what Myanmar is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>______________________________________________<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Ali-Abunimah.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-75728\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Ali-Abunimah.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"112\" height=\"112\" \/><\/a><em>Ali Abunimah &#8211; <\/em><em>Co-founder of <\/em>The Electronic Intifada<em> and author of <\/em><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.haymarketbooks.org\/pb\/The-Battle-for-Justice-in-Palestine\" >The Battle for Justice in Palestine<\/a><em>, now out from Haymarket Books, and of <\/em><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/0805086668\/theelectronic-20\" >One Country: A Bold-Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/blogs\/ali-abunimah\/myanmar-shows-its-israeli-weapons?utm_source=EI+readers&amp;utm_campaign=847b482459-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_e802a7602d-847b482459-299191973\" >Go to Original \u2013 electronicintifada.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>23 Oct 2017 &#8211; Myanmar has been showing off its new gunboats, confirming that Israel is supplying the country with weapons in spite of official secrecy. Amid ethnic cleansing of Rohingya, Israel envoy offers PR advice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,56,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-militarism","category-asia-pacific","category-palestine-israel-gaza-genocide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100758\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}