How Israel secretly armed Argentina during the Falklands war
Published by Declassified UK
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Who is named
The characters and things this document talks about — 26 in alls. Each links to everything else the record knows about them.
People 7
48 soldiers Lord Sieff of Brimpton Margaret Thatcher David Gillmore Simon Weston Michael Fidler Jacobo Timerman
Organisations 8
Foreign Office Sunday Times Israeli diplomats Argentine forces Ministry of Defence British press Insight Israel
Places 5
Claims made
Every claim in this document. Firsthand = asserted on its own basis; secondhand = recounted from elsewhere, carrying no independent weight.
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Argentine forces invaded the Falkland Islands
Argentine forces invaded the Falkland Islands – a British territory in the South Atlantic – 43 years ago today.
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Margaret Thatcher dispatched a naval taskforce to retake the Falkland Islands
UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher responded by dispatching a naval taskforce to retake the territory, pinning her political career on military success some 8,000 miles from London.
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The conflict lasted for 74 days and cost the lives of over 900 people, with Thatcher scoring her highest ever public approval rating shortly after the Argentine surrender in June 1982.
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The Falklands War transformed the British political scene
“It is no exaggeration to say that… the Falklands War transformed the British political scene”, she later wrote in her memoirs.
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Yet Argentina was able to acquire over twenty Nasher fighter jets from Israel in 1982, the year of the Falklands war, with more Israeli weapons and supplies secretly transferred through Peru.
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It also used Israeli‑supplied Skyhawk jets to sink four British warships, including the Sir Galahad, which resulted in the deaths of 48 soldiers.
48 soldiers Argentina British warships Sir Galahad Skyhawk jets
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Declassified files now reveal how Israel repeatedly misled the UK government about its military support to Argentina, provoking a diplomatic crisis between both countries.
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The Foreign Office responded by leaking information about Israel’s activities to the British press and summoning Israeli diplomats to explain themselves.
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British soldier Simon Weston was onboard Sir Galahad when it was bombed
British soldier Simon Weston was onboard Sir Galahad when it was bombed.
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“One is still left with the uneasy feeling that Israeli denial of having supplied anything to Argentina could… be got round by indirect supply of some kind which Israelis would of course be most anxious to conceal”, wrote Patrick Moberly, the UK ambassador in Tel Aviv, in May 1982.
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In June 1982, Gillmore wrote in a secret cable about how he had “fed to the Insight people” at the Sunday Times detailed information about Israel’s arms sales to Argentina.
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The letter of credit was for over $50 million
The letter of credit “was for over $50 million”.
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Lord Sieff of Brimpton operated as an intermediary between Tel Aviv and London
Lord Sieff of Brimpton, who had worked as an adviser to the Israeli government during the late 1940s, operated as an intermediary between Tel Aviv and London.
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Michael Fidler, the founder of Conservative Friends of Israel, even attempted to offer the UK government a categorical assurance that no arms had been supplied by Israel to Argentina either directly or indirectly since the start of the Falklands crisis.
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The Israeli ambassador in London was told plainly that “the simplest way to end it [negative publicity] would be to stop all current arms deliveries” to Argentina.
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The Israeli government suggested that selling arms to the Argentine dictatorship might improve conditions for the country’s Jewish community.
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“The present crisis” in the Falklands offered Israel “an extremely attractive opportunity to develop the arms market in Argentina and Latin America, with great potential long‑term benefit to Israel”, one Israeli diplomat in London confessed.
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The Israeli government also viewed arms sales to Argentina as a “bargaining chip to exert pressure on Britain”.
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Britain’s Ministry of Defence is still censoring files about Israel’s role in the Falklands war
While these revelations come from Foreign Office documents, Britain’s Ministry of Defence is still censoring files about Israel’s role in the Falklands war.
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Syndication
Who is repeating whom. This is shown as structure, and it is the reason a chorus never moves a belief bar: forty tellings of one assertion are still one.
- possibly restates Netanyahu’s October 7 ‘generals’ revolt’ conspiracy runs into a contradiction unconfirmed
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