The Japanese Robot Controversy Lurking in Israel’s Military Supply Chain

Activists in Japan earlier this year accused one of the country’s largest robotics manufacturers of profiting off the war in Gaza, accusing it of violating its own company policies in aiding the Israeli defense industry.

At a protest outside the headquarters of FANUC Corporation earlier this summer, the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) protesters demanded the Japanese conglomerate cut off ties with Israel and all the defense companies that contribute to Israel’s military.

“We also call on FANUC not to be further complicit in genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity,” Taizo Imano, one of the protest organizers, said in June.

Specifically, Imano and the rest of the BDS activists believe Japan is breaching its own export controls. If true, it would significantly alter how Israel acquires high-end machinery for its defense sector. He further believes that “selling such products to a country that continues to commit genocide is itself a violation of international laws and obligations.” Experts say it may not be so simple.

FANUC has flatly rejected that claim. (And Israel has denied claims that it is committing genocide against Palestinians.) While the company has not responded to WIRED’s litany of requests for comment, a spokesperson for FANUC told HuffPost’s Japanese-language site in March that “when we sell products for Israel, we will carry out the necessary transaction screening.” If the end use of the technology is for military use, they wrote, the company will decide “not to sell.”

The activists, however, highlight how blurry the line between civilian and military technology has grown in recent years—and how difficult it can be to foresee the ways this kind of technology will be used one, two, or 15 years into the future. Trade lawyers consulted by WIRED say the law is both clear and outdated.

FANUC, based in Yamanashi Prefecture, is one of the largest robotics companies in the world, posting nearly $6 billion in sales during the 2023 fiscal year. The company’s robotic arms and automated systems are ubiquitous on automotive assembly plants, capable of doing the high-accuracy welding and laser work necessary in aerospace manufacturing, and have become commonplace in plastics, packaging, and a variety of other sectors.

As one of the world’s largest robotics companies, FANUC has also historically exported its kit to the North America and European defense industry. Its robots have been part of the F-35 manufacturing process for more than a decade; it previously worked with GE to produce onboard electronics for the M1A2 Abrams tank; FANUC robots are used in Raytheon’s missile production in Arizona; and it helped the United Kingdom create a quick and efficient production process for its 155-mm artillery shells.

Plenty of technologies that have such clear civilian and military use are classified as “dual use” technologies. While that designation can mean different things in different contexts, export control regimes are generally designed to ensure the use of this technology is controlled and monitored. Countries may exempt friendly nations from these sort of export requirements.

Japan, for example, makes it relatively easy to export dual-use technologies to the United States and Europe, and vice versa. Because they are recognized as trusted countries under Japanese export law, companies in those states are generally free to use Japanese dual-use technology to produce arms—and to, in turn, export those arms to other states (subject to their own export controls).

This, itself, has drawn the BDS activists’ ire: They want FANUC to end its relationship with American defense contractors like General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin, which sell considerable advanced weaponry to Israel. “We demand that such business relationships be immediately terminated and that the two companies never do business with each other again,” Imano said in June. But the activists go further, arguing that FANUC is, despite what it says publicly, actually doing business with Israeli defense firms.

“FANUC sells its robots and provides maintenance and inspection services to Israeli military companies such as Elbit Systems,” Imano claimed.

FANUC has denied this charge. “When we sell products to Israel, we carry out the necessary transaction screening in accordance with Japan’s Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act, confirm the user’s business activities and intended use, and do not sell to Israel if the products are for military use,” the company wrote to HuffPost.

The company added that, after reviewing their records of the past five years, “we have not sold any products for military use to the Israeli companies Elbit Systems, IAI, BSEL, Rosenshine Plast, or AMI from our company or our European subsidiary. We have also not sold any products for military use to other Israeli companies from our company or our European subsidiary.” The company identified one instance where one of their robotic arms had been sold to an Israeli company that produces military hardware “after confirming that the machine was to be used for civilian medical purposes.”

At the same time, the company admitted that when they sell through intermediaries, of which Israel has several, they are not always able to guarantee “who the final customer is.”

There is, however, ample evidence that suggests FANUC arms have made their way into the Israel defense manufacturing sector. Multiple job listings posted by Elbit Systems, the primary domestic supplier of the Israel Defense Forces, list “knowledge of FANUC … controls” as either an advantage to job applicants or a requirement. One such job listing, from June, comes from Elbit Cyclone, the division that won a contract to produce fuselage components for the F-35 fighter jet. In January, Israel’s Ministry of Defense published a video showing a FANUC robotic arm at an Elbit factory, handling munitions.

Another Israeli company, Bet Shemesh Engines (BSEL), more than a decade ago created marketing videos and uploaded photos to their company website featuring the FANUC robotic arms. The CV of a former employee suggests the company used FANUC robotics to assemble aircraft engines, which may be used for civilian rather than military purposes. Bet Shemesh counts the Israeli Air Force as a major client.

These Israeli companies did not return requests for comment.

Kevin Wolf, an international trade lawyer and partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, says the activists’ allegations against FANUC may not be quite so clear-cut. Wolf points to Japan’s Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act, which includes a schedule of what items are controlled as dual-use technology. “If it’s on the list, it is. If it isn’t? It isn’t,” he tells WIRED.

While some categories of robotics are included in Japan’s control list—including underwater robots and those used for materials processing—there is no general category for robotic arms or numerical control devices.

Wolf says it is unlikely that Japanese export controls would cover any hypothetical FANUC exports to Elbit, even if made directly and knowingly. Another lawyer familiar with Japanese export controls offered a similar analysis.

Even if it is not a violation of Japanese law, the protesters say FANUC is also violating their own policies. The company adopted a human rights policy in 2019 that reads, in part: “When it is clear that our business has caused or engaged in negative human rights impacts, we will endeavor to remedy them.”

As Israel’s bloody war in Gaza continues, and as it risks a broader regional escalation, these kinds of pressures on companies directly or indirectly aiding Israel’s efforts are certain to continue—even if export controls do not, technically, forbid it.