The third Japanese business conglomerate, Itochu, has broken its collaboration with Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest private arms firm. The Japanese group explicitly alludes to the Israeli invasion of Gaza as the reason for its decision. However, the trigger seems to have been the incipient boycott of its Family Mart supermarkets in Malaysia.
Itochu has specified that the memorandum of understanding that it signed last March with Elbit, together with Nippon Aircraft Supply, will be annulled at the end of this month. The decision was announced yesterday, Monday, shortly after McDonald’s acknowledged the damage that the military crushing of Gaza is causing to its bottom line in markets such as Malaysia, Indonesia, the Middle East and even France, where boycotts have been activated.
Itochu has gone further, basing his decision on the order of the International Court of The Hague, which a few weeks ago obliged Israel to prevent acts of genocide against the Palestinians and to do more for the civilian population of Gaza. This was explained by its chief financial officer, Tsuyoshi Hachimura.
In 2020, Itochu – a Japanese group that is only behind Mitsubishi and Mitsui – took control of Family Mart, the second mini supermarket chain in Japan, after Seven 7. Malaysia, with nearly three hundred Family Mart, It is one of its most important markets. Experience shows that this type of boycotts, when they start in Malaysia, quickly spread to Indonesia, another Muslim-majority country, where Family Mart also has three hundred other establishments.
A little over a year ago, the Japanese government promised a historic increase in its defense budget. Three months later, Itochu Aviation – one of the group’s subsidiaries – signed an agreement with the leading Israeli company, Elbit, known for its kamikaze drones, which have contributed so much to Armenia’s recent defeats against Azerbaijan.
“Taking into consideration the order of the International Court of Justice of January 26 and that the Japanese government supports said court, we have suspended any new activities related to the Memorandum of Understanding, which on the other hand we plan to terminate at the end of February” , said the Itochu spokesperson. Family Mart Malaysia, for its part, has publicly welcomed the parent company’s decision “not to support violence and killings.”
The fact is that a senior manager at Itochu had already praised Elbit’s weapons in March, “tested in the field.” Following the Israeli invasion of Gaza, in response to the Hamas raid, Elbit had to multiply its activity to meet the orders of its main client. The company has taken advantage of the latest conflict against the Palestinian resistance to test in combat its new war toy, the Iron Sting precision mortars, guided by laser or GPS.
Itochu, for its part, has a turnover of almost one hundred billion euros annually, touching practically all the keys. From the import of hydrocarbons to the construction of nuclear power plants, including retail trade. In the last nine months of last year it obtained profits of 3,815 million euros.
Malaysia, which recognizes Palestine, but not Israel, like other Muslim-majority countries, maintains a fluid relationship with the Hamas organization, whose political front governs Gaza. So much so that, since December, the Kuala Lumpur government decided to take its own economic measures in favor of a truce, banning Israeli cargo ships from Malaysian ports, particularly those of the Zim shipping company.
On the other hand, China’s latest calls for a truce and the establishment of a Palestinian state, much more categorical than in the past, have left Japan unsettled in Asia and Africa, where the mountain of 27,000 bodies in Gaza leaves no one indifferent.
In fact, Itochu’s spokesperson justified himself to shareholders yesterday, saying that the deal with Elbit had been a request from the Japanese government. The conglomerate was also concerned that its association with Elbit was in Tokyo the target of student protests, at the moment of discreet size.
Elbit is one of the largest drone manufacturers in the world and, after selling several units to the Moroccan army, last year it announced an agreement with Rabat to open two factories in Morocco.
