Japan's Itochu unit to end cooperation with Israeli Elbit over Gaza
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Itochu's Chief Financial Officer says the decision comes after the International Court of Justice ordered "Israel" last month to prevent acts of genocide against Palestinians.
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Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Israeli President Isaac Herzog in December 2023 (PM Office of Japan)
The executive of Japanese trading house Itochu Corp stated on Monday that its aviation unit will cease cooperation with Israeli arms company Elbit Systems Ltd. by the end of February over the war on Gaza.
Itochu Aviation, Elbit Systems, and Nippon Aircraft Supply (NAS) signed the strategic cooperation memorandum of understanding (MoU) in March 2023, seven months before the war on Gaza broke out.
Itochu's Chief Financial Officer Tsuyoshi Hachimura said the decision comes after the International Court of Justice ordered "Israel" last month to prevent acts of genocide against Palestinians.
"The partnership is based on a request from Japan's defense ministry for the purpose of importing defense equipment for the Self-Defense Forces necessary for Japan's security, and is not in any way related to the current conflict between Israel and Palestine," Hachimura said during an earnings news conference.
"Taking into consideration the International Court of Justice's order on January 26, and that the Japanese government supports the role of the Court, we have already suspended new activities related to the MOU (memorandum of understanding), and plan to end the MOU by the end of February," he added.
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Recently, Itochu reported a 10.3% plunge in April-December net profit as a result of lower coal prices, as well as smaller benefits from energy trading.
A profit of 611.7 billion yen ($4.1 billion) in the nine months through December 31 was shown compared with 682.2 billion yen from the previous year.
Meanwhile, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi announced last month that his government is set to freeze assets and impose sanctions on payments and capital transactions on three senior Hamas members allegedly involved in the October 7 Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.
Hayashi argued that the three leaders, who remained unnamed, were in a position to use the funds to finance alleged "terrorist activities". This comes after Japan had previously, in October, imposed sanctions on nine people and a company claiming they had Hamas links.
