• Listen to this segment with Elisha Baskin

• Listen to the entire program with Sonali Kolhatkar

In the wake of revelations that the NSA was sharing intelligence information with Israel’s Unit 8200 about Palestinian Americans and others, a group of Israeli soldiers signed a letter saying they refuse to comply. Unit 8200 is Israel’s military intelligence wing. The Refuseniks, as they call themselves, said they were “conscientiously objecting” to serving the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. They were deemed criminal by the IDF and Israel’s Defense Minister.

But the actions of a small handful of Israeli soldiers will likely not be enough to thwart the might of what many are realizing is a military industrial complex in Israel rivaling that of much larger nations. It turns out that Israel is a top arms exporter world wide, selling weapons that have been battle tested in Gaza and the West Bank.

To illustrate this disturbing fact, Israel just wrapped up its annual drone conference during which it showcased drones that had just successfully been deployed during the devastating Operation Protective Edge in Gaza where 2,100 Palestinians were killed.

Israeli peace activists attended that conference holding up large posters of the Gaza devastation stamped with the words “battle ready,” in an effort to prick the conscience of conference attendees. One such activist, who is a Jewish-Israeli activist, is Elisha Baskin

GUEST: Elisha Baskin, researcher working as a fellow in the East Jerusalem office of the American Friends Service Committee, a conscientious objector who did civil service at the Israeli section of Amnesty International and continued to work with a variety of social justice organizations such as Btselem, Assaf-Aid for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Israel, Students for Justice in Palestine, United for a Fair Economy, SEIU Local 615 and Jewish Voice for Peace. She was recently traveling through Los Angeles and I spoke with her about the Israeli Military industry.

Visit www.afsc.org for more information. Click here to find out more about the film, The Lab, recommended by Baskin.