Chile’s airforce rescinded a contract with Israel’s ImageSat International.
It is immoral, illegal and reckless to conduct business with Israel’s military companies, which are part of Israel’s ongoing genocide of 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza.
When Chile signed the US$ 120 million contract for 10 image capturing satellites, Israeli company ImageSat International (ISI) had convinced the Chilean authorities they would “enter a new space era.”
4 years later, only the first satellite was launched and failed miserably on its most important task– transmitting high quality images for Chile.
Chile decided: No results, no money, and closed the project. The other 8 satellites will be produced nationally.
ImageSat, a company established by Israel’s state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) in the 90s, was privatized to the FIMI Opportunity Funds which is an Israeli conglomerate invested in arms production, security and surveillance.
As Israel’s biggest private investment fund, FIMI is also the biggest profiteer from Israel’s regime of occupation, apartheid and now genocide.
Considering that ISI reported technical problems with other satellites this year, its failure in Chile may be purely due to ongoing technical incompetence.
Chile banned Israeli arms companies from participating in the FIDAE air show in March.
Member of the House Defense Committee MP Jorge Brito has welcomed the decision to end the contract with ISI, connecting ISI’s professional failure to meet its contractual obligations to Israel’s military aggression “against several countries: direct military aggression against civilians with the sustained use of even prohibited weapons.”
He explained: “Surely the tension of the effort that is required there has led it to disregard international commitments with several countries, which is why supply contracts of Israeli origin are being cut.”
The satellite remains for now in space and it is unclear whether ISI has or will have access to the military grade satellite images of Chilean territory it was built for, considering that the contract since the beginning stipulated that 60% of the images would be for Chile’s use while the ISI would use 40% of them.
Distrust of Israeli technological products has been exacerbated lately. In China, the world’s leading producer of electric cars, for instance, “there is growing concern over cars equipped with Israeli technology,” following Israel’s “pagers massacre” in Lebanon. “Safety systems developed in Israel could lead to car accidents due to the potential for remote takeover by Israeli operatives,” Chinese sources have said.
Once part of the celebrated “startups” built upon the experience of Israel’s 76 years of settler-colonial apartheid, and now genocide, ImageSat International is another declining company, affected by what Israel’s top economists call the “spiral of collapse” - Israel’s #ShutDownNation phenomenon - including divestment, brain drain and rotting infrastructure and education system.
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The BDS movement calls for escalating pressure on the German establishment to end its shameless complicity in Israel’s war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.
Germany, one of Israel’s key partners in its genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, announced on Friday, 8 August, it will until further notice, “approve no exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip.”
But Germany is lying yet again. On the exact same day, the parent company of German submarine manufacturer TKMS said at its AGM that Germany had just issued a license for exporting a submarine to Israel.
In a statement, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz cited Israel’s recent "even tougher military action” as the reason for suspending arms exports. As if 22 months of genocide, siege and starvation were not enough. He made no mention of suspending the current export licenses Germany has issued to Israel.
Last week, Israel attacked the Catholic church in Gaza, killing 3 Palestinians and wounding many, including Father Gabriel Romanelli, who used to receive a daily call from the late Pope Francis.
People of all faiths must pressure their faith and political leaders to take concrete action to end any form of complicity in Israel’s genocide, apartheid and other atrocities.
At the time of the attack, the Catholic church was sheltering around 600 Palestinians elderly and children, seeking safety from Israel’s livestreamed genocide.
St Porphyrius, the world’s third oldest church and a shelter for displaced Palestinians, was already bombed by Israel in October 2023, killing at least 16 people. Israel’s impunity fueled new attacks on churches and Gaza’s 4,000-year-old heritage.
In response to Israel’s deadly attack, Pope Leo XIV said he is “deeply saddened to learn of the loss of life and injury caused by the military attack.”
He expressed “his profound hope for dialogue, reconciliation and enduring peace in the region,” failing to identify the victims as Christian Palestinians and the perpetrators as the Israeli occupation forces, let alone to condemn what the ICJ determined in January 2024 was a “plausible” Israeli genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza.
These are the #BDS consumer boycott targets named in the ground breaking report "From economy of occupation to economy of genocide" by the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.
The era of impunity for Israel — and corporations — must end. Boycott these companies, now. #EconomyOfGenocide
Microsoft: “Microsoft has been active in Israel since 1991, developing its largest centre outside the United States. Its technologies are embedded in the prison service, police, universities and schools – including in colonies. Microsoft has been integrating its systems and civilian tech across the Israeli military since 2003, while acquiring Israeli cybersecurity and surveillance start-ups.”
Google/Amazon: “As Israeli apartheid, military and population-control systems generate increasing volumes of data, its reliance on cloud storage and computing has grown. In 2021, Israel awarded Alphabet Inc. (Google) and Amazon, Inc. a $1.2 billion contract (Project Nimbus) – largely funded through Ministry of Defense expenditure – to provide core tech infrastructure.”
BREAKING: 14 tons of military supplies to Israel are blocked after designating them as part of a just-exposed illegal arms trafficking scheme through Italy’s port of Ravenna, Italy!
Stop the illegal military transfers that fuel Israel’s genocide, apartheid and illegal military occupation against the Palestinian people now!
The Italian Court of Appeal confirmed the seizure of a 14-ton load of weapons components (cannon pieces) produced by Valforge, a company in Lecco, at the port of Ravenna, which were to be embarked for transport to Israel. They were blocked after reports that they lacked the necessary export licence.
The cargo contained 800 metal pieces classified as armament material, with the recipient the Israeli company IMI Systems Ltd., a subsidiary of Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest military company.
The decision of the Italian Court of Appeals has revealed 4 other shipments by Valforge during 2024 made to Ashot Ashkelon Industries, an offspring of IMI Systems.
Ashot Ashkelon Industries has seen its share price skyrocketing by 250% in the last years as the Israeli Ministry of Defense showered it with contracts.
Moroccan activists and port workers obstruct the docking of the Nexoe MAERSK, part of the MAERSK fleet shipping US military supplies for Israel’s genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza.
#MilitaryEmbargo #MaskOffMAERSK
Meant to arrive yesterday, the Nexoe MAERSK is still circulating at sea and expected to attempt docking again this evening, April 19.
We salute the steadfastness of the Moroccan people and port workers who refuse to be complicit in the illegal transfer of U.S. military cargo—fueling Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and apartheid against all Palestinians.
.@Microsoft is a new BDS priority target. Here's why you should boycott @Xbox and pressure your institutions to exclude Microsoft from its contracts. #BoycottXbox