Weapons of Mass Destruction

Amnesty International Report on international arms trade.

Read the full document here.

Note that:
Israel was in 2001 among the world's top eleven exporting countries (by value of exports) and still wants you to believe that Hamas can wipe it from the map !

''The case of Ukrainian Cargo Airways: The following case illustrates how one air cargo company can be used by the United Nations and NATO while also being accused of flying illegal military cargoes in Central Africa. On May 8, 2003, a large Ilyushin-76MD cargo plane operated by Ukrainian Cargo Airways(203) was flying from the DRC capital Kinshasa to Lubumbashi, in the country’s southeast, with Congolese military personnel, their families, and military vehicles on board. About 45 minutes after take-off the rear-door, improperly fastened or defective, opened. The plane depressurized, and passengers were sucked out. The pilot managed to return the plane to Kinshasa airport. Military helicopters were sent to search the area for bodies. The 18-year old plane had been hired since 2002, according to the pilot, by the Congolese military authorities through a Russian air chartering company, Hermes. According to media reports,(204) survivors estimated that between 300 and 350 passengers were on the plane and between 100 and 130 died. One of the survivors, Police Lt. Ilunga Mambaza, declared that several of his colleagues "were sucked out by the wind. I don’t know how many, because I fainted" and another policeman, Sgt. Kabmba Kashala, said that he "was just next to the door and I had the chance to grab onto a ladder just before the...door let loose." Two days after the incident, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence denied that there were any casualties involved, quoting officials of the airlines, despite evidence of the opposite. "Neither the people, nor the cargo, nor the plane itself were hurt or damaged," a representative of the Ministry told the Associated Press in Kiev. According to a South African newspaper, four Russian crewmembers were closeted in Kinshasa’s Grand Hotel and ordered not to discuss the incident.(205) To date, the exact number of casualties is still unknown.The same aircraft had participated in NATO exercises in Italy on November 15, 2000.(206) According to media and NGO reports,(207) another Ukrainian Cargo Airways plane(208) was stopped en route from Bratislava in the Slovak Republic to Luanda in Angola. It had flown via the Israeli airport of Ovda,(209) and then from Aswan in Egypt to Mwanza in Tanzania. Security officers at Mwanza airport then detained the plane and crew when they reportedly discovered undeclared weapons on board. The plane was released the next day "under instructions of top-level security organs."(210) In fact, the flight was part of a complex "multinational" operation that involved the delivery of ammunition as well as military aircraft spare parts, and other cargo to the Angolan government. Despite this, in 2003 Ukrainian Cargo Airways was also flying for the United Nations and one of the planes hired by the UN(211) was photographed in Kindu, DRC, on August 11. In 2003, the UK government exempted a Ukrainian Cargo Airways Ilyushin(212) from compliance with European Union noise regulations ban in order to use the plane at Brize Norton Airport and RAF Base in the UK for the UK Ministry of Defence.(213) Since January 2004, Ukrainian Cargo Airways has been authorized by the U.S. Defense Energy Support Center to buy fuel at its depots worldwide, for operations in support of the U.S. Department of Defense.(214) Ukrainian Cargo Airways is also one of the four air companies authorized by the Ukrainian ministry of Defence to transport military equipment.(215)''