Campaigners say whitewash report fails to prove Stormont isn’t funding F-35 parts for Israel

Campaigners Act now, who produced the excellent report outlining Invest NI’s funding of the F-35 warplane programme, have responded to Caoimhe Archibald’s attempt to cover up the scandal. The Economy Minister had boldly said the following when announcing on October 16 the results of an internal review:

The review is categorical – Invest NI does not support the manufacture of arms or their components for Israel. I welcome this finding.

Invest NI is the government “regional development agency” set up to provide grants and other assistance to businesses. Archibald’s weasel-worded denial overlooks the fact that, while F-35 parts may not be sold directly to the Zionist fake state, they do end up in a global pool used for assembly of the deadly jet. Martin Butcher, policy adviser on arms and conflict for Oxfam has said it is certain that parts made by companies in the north of Ireland end up in the F-35s that have played a major role in the near-total destruction of Gaza.

An F-35 report that doesn’t mention F-35s

In a response entitled Department for the Economy Review of Investments Report | Initial Analysis from Act Now, the group fighting for “People Powered Change” lay out their “points of consideration”. They start by pointing out the most absurd:

1. F-35s are not mentioned in the whole review

They continue:

Invest NI never mention or accept that NI-based companies they have funded currently participate in the F-35 supply chains. Our report lays out numerous meetings with BAE Systems and other NI-based companies where F-35 contracts are mentioned.

Indeed, Act Now have produced via Freedom of Information request documents showing contracts between BAE Systems and Moyola Precision Engineering accepting the latter firm into the warplane programme. They have shown there were meetings with Dutch Ministry of Defence officials, as Invest NI representatives sought to secure the tender to supply F-35 warehouses in the Netherlands that are stuffed full of parts for the winged murder machine.

They go on to criticise:

2. The timescale under review

It turns out Invest NI, in investigating itself, had only bothered to look at funding provided after 7 October 2023. Because obviously it would have been fine to be supplying death dealing equipment to the Zionist land theft project before then, when it had already spent the best part of 100 years thieving Palestinian territory. Act Now point out that, for companies who previously received money to enter the F-35 supply chain, there is a:

…strong possibility that they continued to supply F-35 components…

Evri can track an air-fryer, but apparently top-secret military hardware disappears down the back of the sofa

Then there’s:

3. “Purpose” vs “Outcome”

The word “purpose” appears to be doing a lot of heavy lifting when Invest NI say:

The review has confirmed that no project supported by Invest NI was for the purpose of supporting the manufacture of arms or their components, for supply to Israel.

This is a pretty clear way of saying “we didn’t intend for stuff to end up as the machinery of genocide, but ultimately it has”. As Act Now point out, purpose is one thing, outcome is another. Invest NI also say:

It is not possible for Invest NI or its client companies to fully track or determine the final destination of exported goods once they enter complex global supply chains.

Now, it’s very, very unlikely this claim is even true – a report by the Palestine Youth Movement shows the extensive logging and tracking that F-35 parts undergo. If Evri can track your new air-fryer 20 times as it goes 100 miles up the road, it’s safe to say top of the line military hardware gets at least similar treatment. If it is true, then why is Stormont happy to be part of a programme that leaves deadly hardware lying around haphazardly like bits of discarded Lego?

Archibald could have come clean, but instead has opted for deception

Finally, we have:

4. Manufacturing costs and Production costs

Here, Act Now indicate there may be more linguistic deviousness from Invest NI. The agency says it couldn’t have legally supported manufacturing costs under European Union (EU) Regional Aid rules. According to Act now:

Manufacturing costs are solely the expense of making the product…

The EU has strict rules around how states invest to grow their own economies, supposedly to prevent distortion of competition within its internal market. However, that would be distinct from production costs which are:

…much wider and overall costs – for example, buildings and overheads.

It’s known that Invest NI provided support to develop factories and the workforce of the four companies involved in manufacture of F-35 parts – EAE, Moyola, RLC and Survitec. The agency also:

…provided key administrative support to win contracts – including ones related to F-35s – and support with strategic plans.

The strategy of deception is remarkable given the momentum that had built against Six Counties involvement in the F-35 programme. Simply admitting the game was up and packing in the whole sorry enterprise would have been the sensible way to go. Now however, criminality has been compounded with mendacity, and the response from the local Palestine movement is likely to be ferocious, both in the courts and the streets.

Featured image via the Canary