Sufyan Al-Bali : The genocide of the Congo finances the genocide of Gaza, How does Israel plunder the African diamond mineral?

Morocco- For decades, Israel has been intensifying its plunder of the natural resources of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, especially diamonds, which it recruits its intelligence services, as well as its corrupt businessmen, to steal and smuggle, and through the means of selling them to the world, it finances its oppression of the Palestinian people and its extermination of the people of Gaza.

Since the summer of 2022, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been witnessing a new wave of civil fighting in the east of the country, a war that is becoming more complex and complex, given its close connection to foreign interventions in the African country that is richest in terms of natural resources and plundered in the midst of the instability it is experiencing.

According to observers, the ongoing civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has led to the death of more than 6 million people and left nearly 5 and a half million displaced, which has prompted a number of international human rights organizations to classify it as “genocide.”

In the midst of the bloody intersection of interests over Congo's resources, Israel is reaching out to scoop its share of the ongoing plunder of the country's resources. For decades, Tel Aviv has intensified its efforts to seize minerals and precious stones in the African Republic, especially diamonds, using a network of corrupt businessmen and Mossad officers.

Israel uses its income from these ongoing plundering operations to finance its oppression of the Palestinian people and its war on Gaza, which makes the “genocide” of the Congo one of the sources of financing the genocide taking place in the Gaza Strip.

Israel plunders Congo's resources

Tel Aviv's relations with Kinshasa are not recent, but go back to long decades of economic, military and security ties between the occupying state and the leaders of the African country. According to the Israeli media itself, Israeli intelligence carried out espionage operations on behalf of ruling parties in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including the regime of former President Joseph Kabila.

Israel has been reaping the profits of these intelligence services through mining permits and the exploitation of Congo’s natural resources, most notably diamonds. Corrupt businessmen, such as Dan Gertler, were the commercial and executive face of Israel's plunder of Congo's resources.

Dan Gertler is considered the most prominent magnate in the diamond trade in Israel. He imports them from the Congo by concluding suspicious deals with parties there. Gertler has succeeded in maintaining the continuation of this activity since the 1990s, using a complex network of relationships “similar to a parallel political system” within the African country, as described by observers of the case.

Through his suspicious Congolese diamond deals, the Israeli businessman amassed a fortune exceeding $1.5 billion. In 2017, the US administration imposed economic sanctions on Gertler, due to the “mysterious and corrupt mining deals” through which he amassed his wealth, and reimposed other sanctions in 2021, under the “Manitsky” law, which punishes corrupt foreign economic actors.

In return, Gertler contributed to fueling the fighting in the Congo with lethal weapons, which is confirmed by Congolese political analyst Kambali Musovali, saying: “Gertler supported the Kabila regime in purchasing weapons, by concluding that deal (the deal to acquire diamond mines), which allowed him “Actually reaching power, that is, he became in direct contact with the president, and he was able to achieve this by controlling the diamond trade in the Congo.”

Press investigations revealed that Dan Gertler benefited from the constant support of the Mossad in creating the network of relationships that allowed him to exploit Congo diamonds, including the former head of the Israeli intelligence service, Yossi Cohen. In 2019, Cohen visited Congo to mediate, on behalf of Gertler, with President Joseph Kabila and his successor Felix Tshisekedi. Cohen and his entourage repeatedly insisted that his interventions on behalf of Gertler were in the service of Israel's national interests.

According to Margot Mollat ​​de Jordaens, an activist with the Global Witness organization, the Congolese state lost about $1.4 billion through “Dan Gertler’s suspicious deals and his huge influence in the country’s mining sector by purchasing mining assets at reduced prices before reselling them.”

The Congo genocide finances the Gaza genocide

Diamond trade is one of the major sources of funding for the State of Israel, and the volume of Israeli exports in 2022 amounted to about $10.5 billion, enabling it to achieve profits of approximately $3.2 billion, while Israel produces the equivalent of 40% of all polished diamonds in the world.

According to the Department of Diamonds, Gemstones and Jewelry in the Israeli Ministry of Economy and Industry, in its data for 2016, diamond exports contributed the equivalent of 23.1% to Israel’s gross product.

According to Saim Mehra, Chairman of the Indian Gem and Jewelery Council, “Israel imports diamonds from various sources, including African countries such as South Africa, Liberia, Congo and Ivory Coast and Israel plays the role of a marketing center for these precious stones in the world.”

For his part, British academic David Miller says, “If diamonds are removed from the Israeli economy, that economy will likely collapse, and therefore it is a very important contributor to the stability of the country ,Therefore, the Israelis continue to exploit and confiscate these diamonds from "For African countries, it represents a real dilemma for them."

The diamond trade and the Israeli defense industries have a close relationship, as businessmen working in this precious stone are the most prominent investors in arms companies in Israel. These merchants also finance settlement projects launched by the Israeli occupation in both Jerusalem and the West Bank.

The Israeli diamond industry contributes about one billion dollars annually to the budget of the Israeli army and Israeli military industries, according to Israeli economist Shir Hever, who explained that “every time someone buys diamonds that were exported from Israel, some of that money ends up in the pockets of the Israeli army.”