Liege, Belgium – Authorities in Belgium's Wallonia region have intercepted and impounded a shipment of advanced radio frequency equipment suspected of having military applications, en route from Switzerland to Israel's Elbit Systems via Liege Airport. The cargo, which arrived on October 7, 2025, was halted mid-transit, preventing its scheduled departure for Tel Aviv on October 13. This enforcement action, confirmed by Walloon Prime Minister Adrien Dolimont's office on November 5, underscores Wallonia's stringent policy against arms transits that could bolster Israel's military amid the ongoing Gaza conflict, where civilian casualties have exceeded 66,000 since October 2023.
The blockage was first revealed by Le Vif, a prominent French-language Belgian investigative magazine, which obtained flight manifests and shipping documents through collaboration with Irish outlet The Ditch and Swiss journalists from the WAV collective. Belga News Agency, Belgium's national wire service, reported Dolimont's confirmation, quoting his cabinet's statement on the "extreme vigilance" exercised over such routes. The shipment consisted of four crates containing 3D-printed antennas and RF components manufactured by Swissto12, a Renens-based Swiss firm employing over 200 engineers and specializing in lightweight aerospace technologies for satellites and unmanned systems. These items were destined for Elbit Systems, Israel's premier private defense contractor, which reported $1.9 billion in quarterly revenues as of March 2025 and maintains a $23.1 billion order backlog.
Swissto12's partnership with Elbit dates to July 2021, when the companies announced a long-term agreement for developing RF antennas for naval electronic warfare (EW) programs across multiple nations, including the U.S., Canada, and Germany. Elbit's drones, such as the Hermes 900 and Starliner—integral to 75% of Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) aerial surveillance—have been extensively deployed in Gaza, where human rights organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have documented their role in strikes causing disproportionate civilian harm, potentially violating international humanitarian law. The Swiss Federal Act on the Control of Goods Destined for Prohibited Uses (OEC 946.6) requires export licenses for such dual-use technologies, which were absent here, prompting the transit halt under Wallonia's regional decree 15/10/2024.
Wallonia's alert originated on October 9, when Dolimont's cabinet was tipped off by an Heidi.news investigation, published in collaboration with Zurich's WAV, exposing the Zurich-Liege-Tel Aviv routing via Turkish Airlines flight TR1104 and El Al LY842. By October 11, amid reputational fallout, Swissto12 announced the termination of its Elbit contract, citing ethical concerns over Gaza's humanitarian crisis, where UN data logs over 369 malnutrition-related deaths as of September 2025. A mid-October joint inspection by Walloon customs and administration yielded a late-month report deeming the cargo "military equipment" under EU Common Position 2008/944/CFSP, due to its end-use with Elbit's IDF-integrated systems and licensing gaps.
Dolimont's office invoked Wallonia's 2009 arms export ban, reinforced in February 2024 with an ammunition suspension (following €1.8 million in 2022 reroutes), and aligned with the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) January 2024 provisional measures on Gaza's plausible genocide risk and July 2024 advisory opinion declaring Israel's occupation illegal. "Wallonia does not grant any arms export licenses that would strengthen the military capacity of the armed forces and remains extremely vigilant regarding shipments to Israel and the occupied territories," the cabinet stated, directing indefinite impoundment and enhanced Liege monitoring—Europe's third-busiest cargo hub, processing 800,000 tons annually.
This incident amplifies Europe's arms restraint trend, where exports to Israel surged 147% in 2023 to €1.1 billion before partial halts. Germany's €326.5 million in 2023 licenses dropped to €14.5 million by mid-2024, with Chancellor Friedrich Merz halting Gaza-applicable exports in August 2025 over Rafah concerns. Slovenia imposed a full ban in July 2025, the first EU state to do so, while the UK's Labour government suspended 30 of 350 licenses in September 2024, citing IHL risks. Canada, Japan, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands followed with new-export pauses by October 2024, though pre-7 October contracts persist.
Belgium's federalized controls—Wallonia's the strictest—mirror these shifts. A July 2025 Brussels court fined Flanders €5,000 per non-compliant Antwerp transit after NGOs like Vredesactie blocked a Timken container for Elbit's Ashot Ashkelon, maker of Merkava tank parts used in Gaza incursions. Elbit's Belgian footprint is vast: OIP Sensor Systems in Ghent supplies IDF night-vision optics, facing 1,000-worker blockades in June 2025 and divestment by state-backed BNP Paribas. The Belgian army procured 109.5 tons of Elbit ammunition since October 2023, despite federal embargo calls. In Switzerland, Elbit's Bern operations teeter on a $380 million Hermes drone cancellation over delays and collision risks, eroding neutral export ethics.
Globally, fractures deepen. The U.S. paused 3,500 2,000-pound bombs in May 2024 but greenlit $20 billion in aid by August, including Canadian munitions. France grapples with covert Marseille deliveries, halted by June 2025 dockworker strikes decrying "genocide." The ICJ's July 2024 opinion—deeming occupation illegal—and South Africa's advancing genocide case, despite a fragile October 2025 Gaza ceasefire, fuel accountability demands.
Domestically, PTB opposition proposes a binding transit decree, lambasting Dolimont for stalling a 2024 order. Activists celebrate the block as a "Palestinian lives victory," but flag loopholes: Wallonia sues FedEx over unlicensed U.S.-Israel F-35 parts via Liege, probing Challenge Airlines' rumored hauls totaling 70 tons since 2023. As fog blankets Liege's tarmac, the crates embody Europe's reckoning: Neutral conduits like Belgium and Switzerland confront complicity in remote atrocities.
Under the EU's 2021 Strategic Compass, tying exports to rights compliance, this could spur harmonization. For Gaza's 2.3 million, amid rubble and aid blockades, each stalled crate thwarts not merely drones but attrition's engine. Wallonia's media-driven, legally anchored stand asserts transit as choice, not obscurity—potentially catalyzing a continental pivot.
