A senior executive of the company that supplies the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) with sniper rifles will address an Australian government-backed arms exhibition, in a further demonstration of Labor’s support for companies complicit in the mass killing of Palestinians in Gaza.
Ferdi Kluever, the general manager business development of Queensland arms firm NIOA Australia & New Zealand, will speak at the Land Forces 2024 arms exhibition in Melbourne in September on “Realising the Defence Industry Development Strategy for ADF Munitions”.
The expo “is organised and conducted by AMDA Foundation [an arms industry exhibition non-profit] with support from the Australian Army, the Australian Department of Defence and the Defence Science and Technology Group”. The Victorian government is also sponsoring the event.
In early 2023, NIOA acquired Tennessee-based Barrett Firearms. Barrett is the IDF’s long-term manufacturer of choice for sniper rifles or, as a friendly publication termed it in 2021, an “integrally suppressed sniping platform”. “Barrett-made rifles are well positioned to be the primary sniping platforms used by the IDF [special forces] for years to come.”
Snipers are a legitimate tool of war and are often used to kill Hamas terrorists. However, the death toll among Palestinian civilians from IDF snipers is horrific and their use has drawn repeated claims of war crimes.
In December, IDF snipers killed two women sheltering in a church, drawing condemnation from the Pope. Gazan doctors report treating Gazan children hit by sniper fire, though the IDF rejects claims it targets children. Civilians including medical professionals and children have been shot by IDF snipers while moving near or within hospitals. IDF snipers shoot Palestinian youths throwing stones at tanks as part of a wider pattern, detailed by the independent Human Rights Watch, of shooting children in the West Bank (Palestinian terrorist snipers have also deliberately shot babies). Gazan civilians have been shot dead despite moving with raised hands and a white flag. IDF snipers have previously boasted about shooting the knees of Palestinian protesters. IDF snipers also shot dead two Israeli hostages and wounded a third despite their waving a makeshift white flag In December.
The Department of Defence refused to respond to Crikey’s questions about the nature of its support for Land Forces 2024 or whether it was aware of Kluever’s participation in the expo, continuing its longstanding policy of avoiding transparency over its expenditure of taxpayer funding. Defence has consistently refused to comment on its $900 million contract with Israeli arms firm Elbit Systems, which manufactured the drone used by the IDF to murder Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom.
Under pressure from the Greens, Labor has tried to argue Elbit has no contract with the government; after days of outright lies and evasions last week, Labor used a press gallery journalist to try to sort out its position on the subject on Monday, seeking to portray Defence Minister Richard Marles as blocking arms exports to Israel.
A former executive of Elbit Systems will also address the Land Forces 2024 exhibition: after working with Elbit since 2009, Ofir Rozenberg is now with Elbit Systems’ technology partner Accenture and will address the event on “Future Command Centre”.
Should Australia be providing a platform to the company that provides the IDF with sniper rifles? Let us know your thoughts by writing to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.
