BDS warns states that fail to act are in violation of international law.
Two containers with 'tapered roller bearings' shipped by the French company Timken were transiting through the port of Antwerp (BE) to be delivered to Ashot Ashkelon, an Israeli manufacturer of aerospace and defense components, and important supplier for the Merkava tanks and the Namer APC used by Israel in its ongoing genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in the illegally occupied Gaza Strip.
One container managed to escape on the MSC Laura vessel, carrying a Panamanian flag (managed by the Italian-Swiss company MSC Group) last Friday 6 June. The other container was planned to be loaded on the ZIM Vietnam on 9 June but was put aside for control after the Belgian organisation Vredesactie was able to examine a copy of the transport documents and denounced the transit at the arms control service.
As declared by Vredesactie: "At that point, we're talking about the transit of military goods, which requires a license. The Flemish Region has long maintained a policy of not issuing licenses if the end-user is the Israeli military or government."
While customs and relevant authorities are investigating this, the containers are still scheduled to depart on 17 June on MSC Mombasa, carrying a Liberian flag, according to the shipping agent website.
The BDS movement calls on all states involved, especially Belgian and its relevant Flemish authorities to take action now: verify the cargo and halt the illegal transfer of the military supplies destined for use in Israel’s genocidal violence. If states fail to implement these measures, they themselves should be held accountable for violating international law.
We call for pressure on the Belgian authorities and control agency to block these containers, refuse to issue a license and block all ships that are part of the genocide fleet implicated in transfering and delivering military supply to apartheid Israel to carry out its genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza.
We call for pressure on Italy, Switzerland, Liberia and France to implement regulations against the corporations involved in facilitating and enabling Israeli crimes.
The law leaves no doubt: Transfers of military materiel to Israel while it commits plausibly genocide, perpetrates apartheid and continues its illegal occupation are prohibited. As top legal experts confirm, flag states, coastal states, transit states as well as all those states that don’t take action while corporations under their jurisdiction engage in illegal military transfers to Israel, are to be held accountable for their involvement in these crimes.
Allowing the transfer to Israel of these containers of military materiel destined for use by Israel in its genocide against Palestinians is in direct violation of the Genocide Convention and the orders of the International Court of Justice.
According to international treaties such as the Arms Trade Treaty and other legal texts, states, including Belgium, have an obligation not to sell nor transit through their territory military supplies, including dual-use items, to Israel, nor to buy Israeli military products (thereby financing Israel’s war machine).
All signs point to a military application for the dual-use materials in the container, described as tapered roller bearings, typically used in transmission systems of vehicles, such as gearboxes. Israel employs them on the Merkava main battle tank and the Namer armored personnel carrier in Gaza to commit war crimes and genocide through indiscriminate attacks causing thousands of civilian casualties and the destruction of infrastructure. These vehicles were spotted in every massacre committed by Israel’s ground troops in Gaza.
The port of Antwerp has already been under the scrutiny of Belgian organisations, grassroots movements and activists for allowing the transit of almost 250 tonnes of ammunition and 20 tonnes of detonators in 2023.
In May 2024, Belgian partners including 11.11.11, Al-Haq Europe, the Belgo-Palestinian Association (ABP), Intal, Oxfam, Vredesactie and others, filed a criminal complaint against ZIM. The organisations sued the shipping company and unidentified individuals for breaching the Flemish Arms Trade Decree.
The coalition also launched a petition that was signed rapidly by over 12,000 people.
‘No transit licence was submitted for any of the transits of these ships through the port of Antwerp. If a request had been made, ZIM would certainly not have obtained it. The Flemish Government clearly states that it does not allow the export or transit of weapons to Israel if the end user is the Israeli government, as this would violate several criteria of the legislation. This transit is therefore a sanctionable breach of the Arms Trade Decree’, explains Hans Lammerant of Vredesactie. Thanks to joint mobilisation, ongoing legal action and pressure of civil society organisations, social movements and activists across Belgium, ZIM had been pressured to stop the illegal transits through Belgium.