ASX-listed Bisalloy Steel continues to export Australian-made armoured steel for vehicles regularly used by the Israeli Defence Force killing machine, in contravention of Australia’s treaty obligations. Yaakov Aharon with the investigation.
MWM can reveal which armoured vehicles Bisalloy Steel manufactures parts for and how the IDF uses them to kill Palestinians. The covert vehicles are “ideal for Special Forces” and equipped with a low-visibility weapons mount.
This is in contravention of the UN Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), of which Australia is a signatory, as well as a violation of the International Court of Justice’s preliminary determination against Israel’s war in Gaza.
It is no secret that Bisalloy Steel Group (ASX:BIS) manufactures armoured steel for military use and exports it to Israel. Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and former ambassador to Israel, now Senator, David Sharma, are both shareholders.
CEO Rowan Melrose told investors at the 2024 AGM that exports to Israel account for 0.6% to 1.9% of Bisalloy’s $153 million annual revenue. As Australia’s only manufacturer of high-strength quenched and tempered steels, the company’s role in the global arms trade is almost irreplaceable.
In 2023, Bisalloy partnered with Israeli company Plasan Sasa (simply ‘Plasan’) to provide the Royal Australian Navy with nine frigates.
Protests as Malcolm Turnbull backed Bisalloy Steel sells armour to the IDF
Killer Toyotas
In 2018, Bisalloy signed a $900,000 contract to provide Rafael – a company owned by the Israeli government – with armour for military vehicles. That same year, Bisalloy announced its partnership with Plasan Re’em, a subsidiary of Plasan Sasa.
Plasan Reem armoured vehicles equipped with Bisalloy armoured steel. Source: Bisalloy
Australia exports significant quantities of parts for four-wheel-drive military vehicles to Israel, according to government documents published by Declassified Australia.
In a 2018 statement, Bisalloy said, “Based on commercially available models, the vehicles are also designed with appearance and anonymity in mind. To the untrained eye they look like standard vehicles, which means they are suitable for covert use.”
The modified vehicles are in serial production at Plasan Re’em and are regularly used by the IDF. They are designed to have the “same appearance, different characteristics” from an original Toyota model. The IDF tests the durability and ballistic performance of the Re’em J-79, which can withstand two grenades.
The vehicle’s “highlights” include a low-visibility roll bar that unfolds into a weapons mount. The “special features” are the tie-down accessories and modified suspension, making it suitable “for internal transportation within CH47 and CH53 helicopters.”
For a nighttime ambush, the blackout headlights use a special lens to cast a beam visible to the driver but invisible to enemies standing a short distance away.
Albanese’s false claim
“There is no Australian weaponry involved in what is going on in Gaza,” Prime Minister Albanese said at the Sky News Leaders’ Debate. “That is just not the case.”
Two days later, ABC News published photos of Israeli defence officials standing next to their brand new Australian-made Remote Controlled Weapons System (RWCS). The Albanese government explained it had sold the weapon to America, which then sold it to Israel without Australian approval.
MWM has attempted to contact the Department of Defence to clarify details about Bisalloy’s exports to Plasan Re’em. If a product fits the definitions supplied by the Defence and Strategic Goods List (DSGL), exporting it requires approval from Defence.
We also contacted Bisalloy to clarify details regarding its exports for Re’em’s armoured vehicles. The response was evasive but said that Bisalloy’s products are exported internationally “with the appropriate government approvals.” The company further insisted it “does not manufacture steel products for the use in bullets, missiles, or similar weapons.”
Defence and Strategic Global List
The legal definition of munitions provided by the DSGL is far broader than bullets and missiles.
Part 1 of the DSGL concerns the Munitions List (ML), which includes goods that are adapted for military use or are inherently lethal.
Part 2 concerns ‘dual-use’ items, which are developed for civilian purposes but which may be used as military components. Dual-use items are still defined as arms.
Benedict Coyne, an expert in international human rights law, told MWM, “The information available on the public record appears to indicate that Bisalloy has been providing military-grade steel armoured plates to Plasan Re’em”.
The armoured vehicles exceed almost all of the DSGL’s criteria relevant to section ML6, Ground vehicles and components. However, a footnote in the legislation states that this section does not apply to “civil vehicles designed or modified for transporting money or valuables.” This refers to cash-in-transit vehicles, and Bisalloy’s response alluded to this footnote, stating that its armoured steel protects “people, property and valuables”.
Bisalloy does sell armoured vehicles for cash-in-transit purposes, but the product brochure does not mention Plasan Reem, which is only referred to in the military grade category.
Orwell revisited. The Government playing word games with weapons to Israel
Violations of international law
Rawan Arraf, Executive Director of the Australian Centre for International Justice (ACIJ), told MWM, “If Australian-made steel is being used in the manufacture of armoured vehicles deployed to sustain illegal settlements or the broader occupation, regardless of whether the goods are classified as dual-use or non-lethal,
this raises serious concerns about complicity in violations of international law.
He continued, “The International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) Advisory Opinion of July 2024 is unequivocal: States must not engage in trade that entrenches Israel’s unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.” He also noted that the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion not only apply to States but to corporations, too.
In 2022, Israel Defence magazine reported that a Re’em Hilux was “involved in the elimination of the terrorist in the recent attack that took place in Kiryat Arba,” an illegal Israeli settlement within Hebron in the occupied West Bank.
“While the terrorist was shooting in all directions, the security coordinator who was driving the car attacked him and ran him over to death. While the terrorist was shooting in all directions, the security coordinator who was driving the car attacked him and ran him over to death.”
Greens Spokesperson for Defence, Senator David Shoebridge, told MWM, “The Albanese Government has chosen to muddy the waters and pretend they are not complicit. This defence is now looking even more paper-thin as the evidence against them piles up.”
“We have watched in horror over the past year and a half a genocide unfolding in front of our eyes. Millions of people have been calling on the Government to do all it can to be a force for peace.”
“The call is very clear, end the two-way arms trade. Other countries have taken steps to do this, and it’s what international law makes clear we need to do.”
Bisalloy making a killing
The price of Bisalloy’s shares has soared by 119% from October 7, 2023, until the end of 2024. It has since fallen to $3.38, still up by a tidy 64% since the Hamas attacks.
MWM asked Bisalloy if it had conducted a risk assessment into whether Plasan Re’em’s vehicles may be used for war crimes. We did not receive a response.
Benedict Coyne says, “The onus is on Bisalloy, Plasan Re’em, and the Israeli Government and Israeli Defence Forces to provide evidence to establish that this is not, in fact, the case. If it is the case,
then it amounts to a direct violation of international law by Bisalloy.
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Yaakov Aharon is a Jewish-Australian living in Wollongong. He enjoys long walks on Wollongong Beach, unimpeded by Port Kembla smoke fumes and AUKUS submarines.