On February 20th, Defense Ministry officials repeated the word "Israel" too casually during their negotiations with the citizens. I don't think anyone would have predicted that up to five out of the seven unmanned attack aircraft or killer drones that Japan plans to import would be Israeli-made. These Israeli weapons were developed to be tested on Palestinians in exchange for their lives.
Moreover, in late January, when the candidate aircraft were selected, the Israeli military was massacring more than 25,000 people in Gaza, using lethal drones. I'm horrified by the Defense Ministry's cold-bloodedness in planning to introduce Israel's murderous drones without any remorse as if nothing is happening. This clearly violates the minimum ethics that humans should live by, that all humans are human beings. Wasn’t there anyone within the ministry to stop this?
The Ministry of Defense's choice sends a message to the international community that Japan condones Israel’s genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. This is nothing more than blatantly demonstrating to the people of Gaza and the West Bank, who continue to be charred, turned into pieces of flesh, crushed under rubble, and brutally slaughtered by Israeli weapons, that Japan sides with Israel.
On top of this, Israeli war crimes businesses are paid not with Defense Minister Kihara's own money, but with our taxes. If the Defense Ministry forces the import of Israeli-made killer drones, we, the sovereign people and taxpayers, will be chained to complicity, and our hands will be covered in blood. I don’t have the confidence to tolerate this fact. This absolutely cannot happen. 壊れているのは防衛省だけではありません。イスラエル製の殺人ドローンの輸入代理店となって、利権をあさろうとする川崎重工、日本エヤークラフトサプライ、海外物産、住商エアロシステムもまた、企業として終わっています。これだけで廃業に値する暴挙です。日本は官民一体でとてつもない堕落ぶりをさらしています。
It's not only the Ministry of Defense that is broken. Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Nippon Aircraft Supply, Kaigai Bussan (an overseas product company), and Sumisho Aero Systems, which are all potential import agents of Israeli-made killer drones that are trying to collect profits, are all done for. This alone is an outrage worthy of these companies to be put out of business. In Japan, the public and private sectors are showing tremendous depravity.
Of course, before this, the discovery of a memorandum of cooperation between Itochu Aviation and Nippon Aircraft Supply with Israel's largest military company, Elbit Systems, was also appalling. However, it is very significant that the parent company, ITOCHU Corporation, ended the cooperation due to the International Court of Justice (ICJ)'s provisional restraint order seeking to prevent genocide and Foreign Minister Kamikawa's statement that it "must be implemented in good faith”. This is because they acknowledged that arms deals with Israel were complicit in genocide. "Why is it that the Ministry of Defense cannot lay out this obvious understanding, when even a private company, though long overdue, could come to this conclusion and take action?"
The Ministry of Defense has already committed the irreparable crime of being complicit in genocide. The lives taken will not come back. If things continue at this rate, the Ministry of Defense may even proceed to co-develop weapons with Israel. However, there is still room for the Ministry of Defense to do something meaningful for the world and the Palestinian people. Just like Itochu did, they should admit to their mistakes and withdraw imports of Israeli-made killer drones. That decision will transform the crimes that the Ministry has committed into the power to stop Israel's genocide. In addition, we demand that Japan implement sanctions against Israel, which they should have already imposed. We demand that you immediately cancel the Memorandum of Understanding on the Protection of Confidential Information Regarding Weapons and Technology and the Memorandum of Defense Exchange signed with the Israeli Ministry of Defense.
I came here today to express this to the Ministry of Defense, which is failing to do what it should be doing. Our protests are what create the environment that encourages such a decision. I ask that you take this seriously. When you make a mistake, that is precisely when you should follow the sovereign people's judgment. At this very moment, Palestinian lives are being taken away. We strongly request you to make a decision as quickly as possible.
