IndustryStandard

Israel’s largest defence company, Elbit Systems, has been suspended by NATO’s procurement agency amid a major corruption probe, Follow the Money and its media partners La Lettre, Le Soir, and Knack can reveal.

The NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) is at the centre of a wide-ranging graft scandal, with current and former staff under investigation for bribery. Several suspects were arrested in May in police raids across seven nations, including Belgium and the U.S.

FTM has also learned that a key figure associated with Elbit – an Italian citizen identified as Eliau E. – is wanted internationally for his alleged role in bribing NSPA staff.

Elbit is Israel’s biggest arms manufacturer, with a turnover of almost 7 billion dollars in 2024. The Haifa-based company – which makes drones, tanks and ammunition, among other military equipment – ranks 25th on the list of the world’s 100 largest defence companies compiled by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

Israeli forces executed two unarmed Palestinians at point-blank range after they surrendered in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on Thursday.

The killings were captured on video, which showed the two men emerging from a building with their arms raised and their shirts lifted, clearly indicating they were unarmed and posed no threat to the soldiers.

The troops then shoot them dead.

The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the victims as Al-Muntasir Billah Mahmoud Qassem Abdullah, 26, and Yousef Ali Yousef Asa’sa, 37. They were shot in the Abu Dhahir neighborhood of Jenin.

The statement said: “Many Democratic governments, including the United States government, have previously reviewed such proposals and reached the same conclusion: that classifying the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group is completely detached from reality and not supported by any evidence (..) The facts have not changed.”

It added: “But what has only changed is the level of external pressure, especially that exerted by the United Arab Emirates and Israel, to adopt policies that serve foreign agendas and not the interests of the American people”.

This year, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz pledged to build Europe’s strongest army – a tall order for a country whose military has undergone years of neglect.

The coalition government is hoping a new bill agreed upon last week will help make this a reality, bolstering Germany’s forces in the face of the perceived threat from Russia and a significant shift in US foreign policy.

The sweeping new reforms will see Germany attempt to boost its numbers to 260,000 soldiers, up from around 180,000 currently, in addition to an extra 200,000 reservists, by 2035.

Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of the Tunisian capital to protest against what they call President Kais Saied’s escalating authoritarianism and the jailing of government critics.

At least 2,000 people, wearing black and carrying whistles and red ribbons, marched through Tunis on Saturday, chanting slogans, including “the people want the fall of the regime” and “no fear no terror, the street belongs to the people”.

Some held placards that read, “Enough repression” and “Not my president”.

The rally – under the slogan “against injustice” – brought together activists, NGOs and fragmented parties from across the spectrum in a rare display of unity in opposition to Saied.

It came weeks after a Tunisian court handed a five-year prison sentence to former administrative judge Ahmed Souab, a vocal critic of the politicisation of the judiciary.