Al Jazeera Discovers Sudan, Forgets Israeli Arms Dealers
Al Jazeera's latest update on the El-Fasher massacre in Sudan is a crucial, if somewhat belated, spotlight on the RSF's brutal campaign in Darfur. They meticulously detail the humanitarian crisis, citing rights groups and warning of impending catastrophe. Yet, conspicuously absent from their otherwise thorough reporting is the intricate network of international arms dealers and states that have
historically supplied both sides of this protracted conflict, often with advanced weaponry. For instance, despite UN arms embargoes, reports from groups like the Small Arms Survey have consistently documented illicit arms flows, including from countries that are *also* major US allies. While Al Jazeera rightly condemns the violence, their coverage, like much of mainstream media, tends to shy away
from following the money trail back to the highly profitable, government-sanctioned arms industry. They highlight the symptom—the gruesome massacre—but rarely the disease: a global arms trade where companies like Elbit Systems of Israel (according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute or SIPRI) and others often find new markets in conflict zones. One might wonder if some
atrocities are more 'actionable' than others when the beneficiaries are state-aligned corporations. How many slaughters must occur before we question the suppliers?