EU funds Israel’s arms giant, but assures: “No funds for the war in Gaza”

Brussels – With the spotlight shining on the ongoing carnage in Gaza, where Israeli bombings have killed more than 55,000 Palestinian civilians, the European Commission is also in the dock: in addition to the unconditional support that Brussels guaranteed to Israel in the aftermath of 7 October—and that only now seems to want to seriously question—creepy and controversial links emerge between some European funds and Tel Aviv’s defence industry.

A few weeks ago, an investigation conducted by the Belgian newspapers The Echo and De Tijd unveiled the use of approximately one billion euros from the EU research and innovation fund (Horizon) by Israeli arms companies. To which was added yesterday (11 June) the publication by Investigate Europe of details on the participation of arms giant Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) in 15 projects financed by the EU Defence Fund. The same company would have a foot in 8 Horizon Fund projects.

In both cases, the European Commission has acquitted itself, assuring that it has “strong safeguards in place” to ensure that no money from Brussels contributes to violations of fundamental rights. However, there are many doubts, also shared by the EU Court of Auditors, about the effectiveness of the monitoring mechanisms for the use of European funds.

The investigation by Investigate Europe and Reporters United confirms this. In essence, the EU would have admitted Greek Intracom Defence, owned almost entirely by Israel’s largest public armaments company, Israeli Aerospace Industries, to 15 projects funded by the European Defence Fund. The EDF, established in 2017 by the Commission chaired by Jean-Claude Juncker, is supposed to be reserved for European companies only. However, it admits the possibility of extension to third countries, subject to certain guarantees being provided by the companies themselves.

A sort of self-certification, which is then scrutinised by Brussels, and which has allowed Intracom Defense to take advantage of no less than 15 projects, of which seven started after the Israeli response on 7 October and after the International Criminal Court
issued an arrest warrant for war crimes and crimes against humanity to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. In particular, the most controversial project, which aims to develop an armed drone and for which Intracom—i.e. Israeli Aerospace Industries—received €14 million, was launched in December 2024.

Athens had notified Brussels of the association of a company from a third country with the project and provided the necessary guarantees for the Commission’s green light, EU executive spokesman Thomas Regnier reconstructed today. “Regarding restrictions on the transfer of sensitive information or project results, we again have clear guarantees to ensure that no project under the EDF violates EU law, international law and fundamental rights,” he assured. According to Investigate Europe, the assessment by Brussels was carried out in June 2023, before the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas.

“Of course, monitoring and evaluation will continue, as it always has,” Regnier added, although branding any suggestion of a review of such funding as “highly speculative.”