China has managed to source Israeli cruise missiles illegally

Jerusalem – Israel has also been impacted by China trying to duplicate the US and Russian weapons and defence equipment technology using reverse engineering. China has managed to purchase cruise missiles from an Israeli company illegally. Moreover, Israeli authorities have launched an operation against three companies and ten suspects involved in the transaction. This illegal transaction between China and the Israeli companies can be deeply concerning for India, Taiwan and Japan.

According to information released by the State Prosecutor’s Office of Israel, an Israeli businessman, Ephraim Menashe, illegally sold missiles to China. Menashe brokered the deal through a small company in arms manufacturing in Israel. In February, there was preliminary information about China discussing arms deals with Israeli companies. The Israeli authorities were alerted, and subsequent investigation led the sources to Menashe.

Ephraim Menashe is an Israeli entrepreneur who owns Solar Sky Company, Zvika and Ziv Naveh named companies that developed cruise missiles for Israel. The Israeli authorities have informed that a missile test was secretly conducted, and later, missiles were smuggled to China. All three companies and ten suspects are charged under laws that involve risking the lives of Israeli citizens, compromising national security, embezzlement, smuggling and others.

Israeli has a policy to not engage with the communist regime or any company in China. In the late 1990s, China had made a big offer to Israel to buy Falcon radar systems and Harpy drones. But due to the pressure from the United States, Israel refused the deal. The United States had appealed to Israel to not supply any weapons to China, which threatened US security. Israeli Defence Ministry has since then refused to cooperate with China under the Defence Export Control Agency (DECA).

Since then, outraged by the Israeli stand, China has always adopted an anti-Israel policy on the international forums. Further, China decided to increase its cooperation with anti-Israel Islamic countries by supporting the Palestinian cause. China has also strongly supported Iran’s nuclear program. In addition, the number of cyberattacks on Israel from China have increased in the last few years. Last year, after the death of the Chinese ambassador in Israel under suspicious conditions, China had accused Israel of killing the ambassador via social media.