Legal battles loom over supply chain keeping Israeli F-35s flying over Gaza and Lebanon

Arms experts say the spare parts critical to Israel’s air operations can and should be traced to allow for total suspension, but the political will to do so is lacking

Israel will ignore any legal judgement and the USA and the UK will simply continue to supply any / all weapons needed to continue this mass murder – Mark

A slew of court cases around the world are raising questions about the legality and transparency of the international supply chain that helps keep Israeli F-35 fighter jets flying over Gaza and Lebanon.

Israel has used the F-35, described by its American manufacturer Lockheed Martin as “the most lethal” fighter jet in the world, extensively in its nearly year-long offensive in Gaza, in which over 41,000 people have been killed.

Best known for its stealth capabilities, the F-35’s use in Gaza, an enclave without an air force where less sophisticated F-16s and F-15s are perfectly capable of dropping bombs, may seem out of place.

However, arms control experts and researchers say Israel has had to rely on F-35s to maintain the high volume of strikes conducted over the past year in Gaza and now in Lebanon, where weeks of bombings have killed more than 1,000 and displaced over 1.2 million.

“They need all of their planes to participate,” said Noam Perry, strategic research coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee’s (AFSC) Action Center for Corporate Accountability.