Israeli Importers -- France, Germany Stop Arms Sales to Israel Since Intifadah
GMP20001217000064 Tel Aviv Ha'aretz (Internet Version-WWW) in English 17 Dec 00
Reference: France Won't Sell Tear Gas to Israel; 20 Countries Refuse To Sell Anti-Riot Gear GMP20001211000086 Jerusalem Middle East Newsline E-mail-Text English 11 Dec 00 FRANCE
[Report by Nicole Krau: "France and Germany Stop Arms Sales to Israel"]
[FBIS Transcribed Excerpt]
Since the outbreak of violence in the territories, in late September, France and Germany have initiated an undeclared embargo on Israel, refusing to export defense equipment and materials.
Tomer Avnon, the CEO of TAR Ideal Concept, a company which imports defense materials for Israel's security forces, says that attempts to acquire a new smoke-grenade, made by the German firm, Buck, met with refusal. Buck, which is represented by TAR in Israel, sent a notice saying that at this time it is impossible to gain an export license from the German government permitting the sale of defense equipment and materials to Israel.
Avnon had already experienced a similar problem, at the onset of the Intifada, with a French company called Nobel Securite, from which he sought to purchase tear-gas grenades for the Israeli police. [passage omitted]
Avnon told Ha'aretz that his company sought the assistance of MKs and the defense attache based in Paris; however, the efforts met with no response.
[Description of Source: Tel Aviv Ha'aretz (Internet Version-WWW) in English -- Independent, liberal, intellectual; root URL on filing date: http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/htmls]
