Study: Israeli-made firearms far cheaper abroad

As it turns out, chocolate bars aren't the only thing that you can buy more cheaply abroad.

By YITZHAK KATZENJAMMER
guns cheaper abroad DO NOT USE 390 (photo credit: Courtesy Gedalya Bush)
guns cheaper abroad DO NOT USE 390
(photo credit: Courtesy Gedalya Bush)
Following the disclosure that Israeli-made chocolate bars were being sold in the US for less than half the price of what they cost here, a new scandal threatens to send social protesters back to the streets.
A Jerusalem Roast study has found that Israeli-made firearms are being sold abroad at prices far lower than their average retail prices in Israel. The report, which compares the prices of Israeli-made firearms in Israel to their retail prices in Third World-export countries (and rogue states Israeli firms sell arms to), found that such weapons cost as little as half – or even a third – of their price within Israel.
This is even after the prices are adjusted for inflation and import fees and sales tax are included.
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The report was compiled by comparing the prices of a range of firearms and crowd-control equipment (stun grenades, smoke grenades, etc.) in four Israeli test cities (Lod, Umm al- Fahm, Taibeh, and Bat Yam) to their prices in several countries in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as a handful of Mexican-border towns.
Among other figures, the report finds that an Israeli-made Jericho-brand pistol sells for as little as $200 in Lagos, Nigeria, a fraction of the cost in Israel.
The report includes testimony from narco-trafficantes from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico and several towns in Sinaloa, who describe cut-rate prices for Uzi submachine guns, Negev light machine guns and Galil assault rifles. The narcos also spoke about the cheap costs of counter- terror and small-arms warfare training from former Israeli special- operations officers, which they say cost a fraction of such private-training courses in Israel.
In addition, the report reveals that Israeli firms sold riot-control equipment and vehicles to Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe at on average of less than half of what such hardware would cost an organized-crime family in Israel.
A source at Israel Military Industries told the Roast on Monday that “Israel is an expensive place, everything is expensive here. Look at the cost of Pesek Zman! And just this week they raised the price of gas to NIS 8 a liter, nu?”